Have you fallen into the social marketing trap? How much of your time should you spend in the social networking arenas (twitter, facebook, my space etc.) trying to market your web business? Can it pay off? Let’s take a look at Twitter……..

What Is Twitter?

Simply put, Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. Huh……. The best way to understand Twitter is to picture a bunch of people conversing around a water cooler, except in this case, you can only communicate in text and you have a limit of 140 characters!

According to Wikepedia:

“Twitter (twitter.com) is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read each others' updates, known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters, displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to other users - known as followers - who have subscribed to them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends or, by default, allow open access.”

So how do you connect with other Tweeters? You can access other individual’s "conversations" or “tweets” through Twitter's search tool. You simply key in various terms of interest and then scroll through the results until you find a comment that grabs your attention. Next step? Introduce yourself and share your own thoughts. If you like where the conversation is going, add the person to your twitter feed by hitting their ‘follow’ button and when there's something new about that topic, you'll know. That's it in a nutshell...

So Can Twitter Help Build Your Web Business?

Yes and No……The key is to find time-effective ways to use Twitter for building your business. There are many strategies that can be used to build a following for your web site or blog, establish joint ventures and build your ‘brand of one’, but each needs to be weighed according to time invested and return. If you find yourself spending 5 mind numbing hours a day ‘tweeting’ you should ban yourself from Twitter and reconsider how your time could be better spent. Remember, we only have so many hours in a day. Prioritizing that time is critical. And it's easy to lose lots of time at Twitter, 140 characters at a time.

Here's a one-time strategy (perhaps repeated monthly) for Twitter that you may find effective... Search for someone interesting and influential in your field. If you find someone, open an account, make a couple of good tweets, and follow that person. Try to strike up a personal contact and take it from there. If you're good, it may yield something, especially if you don't shoot for the super-stars. Following major players in your niche and staying up-to-date can benefit in multiple ways from providing you with fresh content ideas to striking up unique joint ventures. But keep your mind open and your time tweeting to a limit.

Twitter Tips

1. Twitter Settings. Use these wisely...

• Choose username carefully, making it as close to your domain name as possible.
• Upload a profile pic of yourself, basically a nice head-and-shoulders photo.
• Upload a custom background image, one that is related to your site's theme.

2. Twitterfeed (twitterfeed.com) Use this to distribute your new pages to Twitter.

3. Other "Feed Services" Other services (ex. Ezinearticles ) enable you to update your submissions at Twitter.

It's All About Leveraging……. If you find that you are working or communicating only one-on-one, that's not leverage -- it's just fancy e-mail or messaging. But if you get folks involved in your site or if you can reach out to a large player (or YOUR equivalent) in your niche that tweets and strikes a deal, THAT's leverage.

Bottom Line?

Twittering, as with all social networking tools, is about leveraging your time as much as possible. Keep in mind all communication can be a waste of your time and energy, it’s about leveraging your time wisely whether you are communicating via twitter or having a face-to-face conversation with a prospect. The bottom line is, make each tweet count…… OK I have taken the plunge and joined Twitter. You can follow me here, Natureheals Twitter. Happy Tweeting!

You can check out my web sites Healthy Holstic Living.com and Home Remedies and Natural Cures.com. To get more great tips, like the ones above and to see how and what tools I used to create a successful on-line business go to http://sitesell-sbi.com