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Use Twitter to effect social change on a massive scale, 140 characters at a time.

Blogger used to be a excellent blogging platform, especially for beginners. It was simple to use and setup, and not much technical know-how was required. There’s one major setback to using Blogger, though. You can’t take advantage of social bookmarking sites, at least not as effectively as you can with using Wordpress. There are numerous Wordpress Plugins, and some take advantage these sites.

These social sites act as a “vote” for your website. When people bookmark your blog posts or articles, they are sharing them with others. Other people pick up on your content, and they might bookmark them as well. The more votes the better. Google likes content, that’s no mystery. Google will reward your site for that content and the fact that high authority social bookmarking sites are linking to it. This means more traffic! A lot more in fact.

So how do we take advantage of these social sites when blogging? The answer is Wordpress Plugins. Blogger doesn’t give us any way to automatically bookmark every post we make. It has to be done manually. That’s very time consuming! Services like OnlyWire or SocialMarker can make this a lot simpler, but you still have to take the time to use those services.

There is a much simpler way to drive this traffic to your blog. You have to be using Wordpress to take advantage of this. Wordpress is probably the most well loved blogging platform, and it’s no wonder why that is. It requires a small more technical knowledge, but don’t be frightened away. The benefits are far greater!

Wordpress makes use of Plugins. Wordpress Plugins are basically small applications that perform a function or process. There are numerous Plugins that were made for Wordpress, and there will be many more no doubt. They all serve a different purpose.

Here are some Wordpress Plugins that you DON’T want to be without so that you can utilize the power of social bookmarking sites:

ShareThis – Allows users to share and bookmark your posts.

AddThis Social Bookmarking Widget – This allows your readers to bookmark your posts.

ShareThis and AddThis are pretty much the same thing. It doesn’t hurt to have both. You want to make it as simple as possible for your visitors to bookmark your posts.

OnlyWire Autosubmitter – This will automatically submit your posts to your OnlyWire account.

Sociable – Automatically adds links on your posts to well loved social bookmarking sites.

Tweet My Blog – This will automatically post a tweet to your Twitter account when you make a new post, bringing more traffic to your blog. You can sign up for Tweet My Blog at my blog; there is a link in the resource box. You’re also going to need a Twitter account. So grab that and start getting followers, the more the better.

This is just a small example of the Wordpress Plugins that are available. You want to make sure you have these Plugins installed so you get traffic from the social bookmarking sites. The potential here is huge, and you don’t want to miss out. If you’re not yet using Wordpress to blog, I suggest you get on board.

Product Description
Your clients and peers are already using Twitter and other social media tools as a critical means of collaboration and business development – are you? This micro-blogging tool has become increasingly well loved amongst leading law firms including: Allen & Overy; Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Deacons; McDermott Will & Emery; Dechert LLP and more over the last two years and is now used extensively by forward thinking lawyers to make contacts, share information, buy new clients, communicate with colleagues and publicise their expertise. Initially dismissed by many as a pointless fad, there are now a growing number of tales of individuals and firms who have had fantastic success from using Twitter to promote themselves or… More >>

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Product Description
Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in

Traditional “outbound” marketing methods like cold-calling, email blasts, advertising, and direct mail are increasingly less effective. People are getting better at blocking these interruptions out using Caller ID, spam protection, TiVo, etc. People are now increasingly turning to Google, social media, and blogs to find products and services. Inbound Marketing helps you take advantage of this change by showing you how to get found by customers online.

Inbound Marketing is a how-to guide to getting found via Google, the blogosphere, and social media sites.

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Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs

What is Twitter?

Twitter has to be the fastest growing Social Media sites online today.  It is taking the internet by storm and there are around 10,000 new users per day signing up to participate in this new online revolution.

Twitter is best described as a micro blogging network.  Users are limited to 140 characters of text each time you do an update, which initially, may seem a small amount.  But, as you play around more, it’s just incredible what you can fit into 140 characters.

But, Twitter is much, much more than that.  It is like one huge global forum, but then again, it doesn’t have to be.  It all depends on how many people you follow on Twitter.  If it’s in the thousands, then your “Tweetstream” will be running quick and furious with everything that’s coming in.  If you are only following a few hundred, or even less, then things are much simpler to keep up with.

Twitter is also a fantastic way to meet new people online, particularly those with similar interests to you.

How To Set Up Twitter Account

Setting up Twitter Account tand o have your own account is simple, but there are a few things that you should be aware of when organizing your account.  This can apply even if you already have an existing twitter account too, so consider these tips and it can improve your entire Twitter experience.

The first thing to do if you don’t have a twitter account is go to twitter.com which is the main page of Twitter.  You will be questioned to either login or register. If you don’t have an account, then of course you will need to register for onw.  So let’s go through the registration process and clarify it all here.

How to Register Twitter Account

The Twitter screen will question you for your first name and last name and will then check this is entered correctly.  A green tick will appear next to the box.

The next screen questions you for a user name and this is where you need to consider how you are going to present yourself on Twitter. You should remember that you can set up more than one account on Twitter, but you will need a different email address for each one.

Now this is where the thinking bit comes in.  The first account you register should always be in your own name if you can get it.  Naturally, common names like JackSmith (there are no spaces in usernames) will already be taken.  But it is possible to get variations on your own name such as Jack_Smith, or Jack_Smith23 or some variation like that.  You can only use an underscore in a username. Hyphens are not permitted in the field.

It isn’t absolutely critical that you register your own name, but I would advise you do if you can, particularly if your name is a special one.  I’m sure the last thing you want is someone else impersonating you on Twitter, or anywhere else for that matter.

If you wish to register a business name, then you can do that of course, but make sure you use your own name in the sign up process so you are identifiable and connected with the company name you register.  The concepts and reasons for operating under each type of registration will be discussed later.

You are now questioned for your email address. Email addresses are linked to accounts and you will only be able to use your email address once. For every account you register, you will need a different email address.

The last thing to do is to fill in the Captcha letters and then click on Make My Account.

The next screen will question if you want to add any of your friends from the well loved web based email programs.  You can do this later if you wish.

The next screen presents a small list of people who Twitter questions if you want to follow. Choose some if you like, but I wouldn’t bother. I prefer to find my own friends on Twitter.

When you click End, you will then be taken to your very own Twitter account.  You are logged in and ready to go!

To learn more about How to use Twitter to market your business and drive traffic and sales to your business, take a look at these Video Tutorials on Twitter