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Twitter can be a great way to get traffic to your website. Just popping on once in a while and posting a link isn’t going to do much for your cause, though. In order to really succeed, you need to really use Twitter as a social networking tool. That means networking with others should be your main focus, not advertising.
To increase traffic, there are two main techniques which will serve you well. First, focus on making friends. Not just any friends but those related to your niche. Look for the big names in your niche and then take a look at the people they follow and their followers, as well. For example, if you are in the blogging niche, you would follow ProBlogger. Then follow the people he is following (Chris Brogan, Men with Pens, etc.).
Make sure to interact with people, replying to things they say. This catches their attention and if they like what they see, you will have gained another follower. Most people will also check out your website before following you. If you are regularly posting quality content to Twitter, you can be sure that anyone checking out your tweetstream will be interested in following you. Avoid posting junk and try to stick to your niche if you want targeted traffic for your business.
Don’t forget SEO when you’re on Twitter, either. These days, Google and Bing are indexing tweets, so using your keywords actually has an impact on how much traffic you get to your Twitter account. This, in turn, affects website traffic.
Your profile should also contain your keywords and be descriptive. Don’t use just two or three words, make sure you give people a reason to follow you by explaining who you are in the space you have available. Be sure to upload a photo of yourself, which tends to instill trust in potential followers. You want to impress when they click through to your profile to check you out.
Twitter can be a very valuable source of website traffic, but only if you actually participate in the network of fascinating people there. Simply throwing up a link or ad every few days will only show you up as someone who doesn’t play by the rules and you’ll be ignored. Take the time to interact, seek out new people to follow and stay on topic and you will rapidly see a boost in traffic.