How to get noticed via Twitter

Posted on: Monday, November 24th, 2008

Last week, I managed to bring a few hundred visitors to my unknown blog thanks mainly to Twitter. But I am far from a Linkerati on Twitter. I started using it about 1 month ago. Since then I have acquired a modest 50 or so followers.

What I did was get the right people’s attention. If I got someone who does have 1000+ followers, then I would be able to achieve my goal of simply getting my name out there (that is the whole point of this blog, BTW).

Here is how I went about attracting a relatively high number of visits to my blog in one week, simply by Tweeting:

1.) Watch Twitscoop

There was all this talk on Twitter about Twitterank stealing passwords etc. on Nov 12th. So I had already started following some of the Android tweeters (I am planning on getting a G1). I noticed that @AndroGeek mentioned something about Twitterank. So replied letting him know about the recent news, and he retweeted:

The news may not have been accurate, but it does not matter. Others followed suite, retweeting. What came of this? I got a few more followers.

2.) Use real-life acquaintances to your benefit

I allowed my blog to get indexed starting Nov 17 (I am still really not happy with the design, I just don’t have the time to fix it.) In my first post I mention Brent Payne, a cool SEO, who many people know for his various YouMoz articles. I met him in person at SMX East just last month. I tweeted him to let him know that I had started a blog and that I had mentioned him. He replied:

So that got me a few more visits as well as a few more follows by real people (those who aren’t trying to sell me their SEO services for $10.99/month.)

3.) Reference the Linkerati

This was not planned in any way (nor were any of the events above), but sometimes things just work out. I went to Big Apple Con 2008 2 weeks ago for a new project that my company is working on. There, I was photographed wearing an SEOMoz Linkscape t-shirt along side a member of Public Enemy. So I posted the photo and Rand Fishkin, who probably searches for Tweets about Linkscape, replied:

4.) Provide quality content

Okay, so enough of the little Twitter mentions, it was time that I provide something worthwhile. On Thursday I published “10 ways to piss of an SEO“, which to my surprise, not only got retweeted a few times but also got Sphunn. My first ever. It got on to the homepage of Sphinn (which was easier than I had previously thought):

I am pretty sure that Twitter had a major role to play in Andy Murdoch finding my post.

So there, that’s what it took to start getting my name out there and becoming part of a community. I will look to grow my number of contacts both on Twitter and elsewhere, improve my social media profiles (ie Digg, Stumble, etc) so that they become slightly more influential in the future.

As I wrote in my first post, I am simply looking to get my name out there, so that next time I go to a convention, maybe I won’t have to introduce myself to EVERYBODY.

Here are my “secrets” to being successful with Twitter (it’s basically common sense):

- Don’t be a douche.

- Don’t self-promote too much.

- Be a real human being.

BTW: I know that the design of this blog is not great right now and not exactly SE-friendly. I am working on it, but really don’t have much time to put into it. I would rather write than play with Wp.

4 comments...join the discussion!

Fred McCoy Says:
November 24th, 2008 at 09:31
Thanks for the advice. The only one I haven’t really been applying to my own Twittering would be ‘referencing the Linkerati’. I’ll have to start. Twitter Grader is another good tool at finding people who are a part of the Linkerati to get on good terms with.
andymurd Says:
November 25th, 2008 at 17:32
You’re absolutely right that it was Twitter that led me to your post. I wasn’t following you at the time but someone re-tweeted your blog promotion, I had a read and thought it would be perfect for Sphinn.

Glad you got to the front page the first time one of your articles got submitted.
styletime Says:
December 2nd, 2008 at 16:00
it was me the chain of twitter, gotta love it
No Pants Tees Says:
August 25th, 2009 at 11:44
Thanks for the tips! It seems like your best off going into Twitter already having some sort of fan base or networked into some other community besides Twitter. Easier said than done.

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