Confessions of a Six Figure Professional Blogger

Is Twitter Useless and Over-Hyped?

View Comments | Posted In Social Media by David

Is there any doubt today that Twitter is worth using? I mean, I constantly tell people how valuable Twitter is. But, the answer to the question is: YES. There are still a LOT of people out there who think Twitter is a complete waste of time. Do they have a point?

This post was inspired by a commenter named Vu Tong on my post about going viral on Twitter. He started out saying:

Has anyone ever had real substantial traffic boost from using twitter? And by substantial, I mean thousands of unique hits.

I hear the hype about twitter on almost every blog I’ve visited, but no one has really showed proof of it being a success. I mean, practically everyone on twitter has one thing in mind, and that is marketing their product or site. With everyone doing the same thing, who else is left on twitter?

I responded, and then we got into an exchange which you can read more fully on that post. His position was that Twitter was hyped up and that people like me are getting results from Twitter simply because of our position. People like him (new bloggers) can’t get benefit from Twitter because they have no leverage. What I found even more interesting was that Tong was getting rather argumentative about his point, too:

Prove to us how valuable Twitter can be with your results. Otherwise the tips found here and on many other “problogger” blogs are completely useless.

Brutal, I know.

My position is that if you’re not getting any benefit from Twitter, it is because you’re not using it correctly. Apparently, he didn’t agree with that.

Is It Twitter’s Fault?

Twitter is simply a conversation medium. What you do with it and how you use it are up to you. It is just like a blog. When you install Wordpress and start posting, is it the fault of Wordpress if you don’t get traffic? Would the conclusion be that Wordpress is over-hyped? I think not. The logical conclusion would be that you’re not doing what is necessary to get traffic.

In other words, Twitter is a TOOL. And it needs to be used correctly in order to gain benefit from it.

As a second point, everybody on Twitter started out with zero followers. It isn’t as if everybody who joins Twitter and has done well with it had immense resources to leverage off Twitter to get to that point.

How To Use Twitter Correctly

I have no idea how Tong is using Twitter. Since he seems to be only using Twitter for traffic to his blog, my guess is that he is simply broadcasting blog links to his Twitter account. Therein lies a mistake…

The two things you DON’T want to be on Twitter are a spammer or a broadcaster.

A spammer simply uses Twitter to blast sales links and draw attention to an offer. A broadcaster simply throws out random stuff (and links to a blog or something) and rarely uses Twitter to interact with people. In other words, it is a one-way flow.

Neither of these work. Twitter is a TWO-WAY medium. So, to get the most bang from Twitter, you’ve got to proactively go out and interact with people. Send tweets to them as public replies. Find out where the conversations are happening and enter them.

Imagine being in a party. People tend to gather in groups and have conversations about various things. If you just stand in the room and start talking randomly, nobody is going to hear you because they’re having conversations with other people. In fact, they’re probably going to look at you and think you’re nuts (sitting there talking to yourself like a crazy man). Obviously, that’s stupid. The right approach would be to enter yourself into one of the conversations and start talking with the people there.

I was recently listening to a talk by Coach Deb in Las Vegas and she said the following about using Twitter: Seduce, don’t molest. In other words, you get people to your blog by being interesting and captivating their attention. You don’t just throw blog links out broadcast style and expect people to click.

Old Versus New

Some people have the hardest time adapting to new media. I suspect Tong may be one of them. Instead of questioning his use of Twitter and seeing what he can do differently, he proceeded to bash the medium as “hype” and me for being the messenger. Some people are really quick to make judgement of the medium because they are immensely impatient.

Listen, EVERYBODY who starts using Twitter goes through the initial stages of “this seems stupid”. I did. When I signed onto Twitter for the first time, I thought it was hype, too. I thought it was a fad. I thought that only the people who were expert marketers would have that many followers. However, I stuck to it. Being in the market I am, I am surrounded by many of the big names on Twitter. So, I decided to see what I could to do make it work. I knew Twitter was just a tool and that, more than likely, I was just using it wrong.

If you want some laughs, look at some of my earlier post on this blog about Twitter. See related posts below. I called it a blowhard platform. I even questioned whether it was of any use to anybody. Makes for some fun reading nowadays. ;)

So, remember, it is NORMAL to have those thoughts. However, if you continue to use Twitter to actively ENGAGE with people and find people of similar interest to you, that little light bulb will click in your head and pretty soon Twitter will not only be second nature to you, but you’ll find it incredibly engaging and useful.

So, we know what Tong thinks. You know what I think. What about you? Do you think Twitter is stupid? Did you go through an initial phase of thinking it was stupid? Share your thoughts below.

If you enjoyed this article, you might also like...

  1. Twitter is Great, But Take The Conversation Back To Your Blog
  2. Twitter Marketers and Gaming The System
  3. Follow Friday Is Useless
  4. Top 10 Signs You’re Not Worth Following on Twitter
  5. Top 5 Mistakes People Make On Twitter
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  • andy
    Totally agree. twitter as well as marketing profiling sit.... sorry.... social networking sites are a complete waste of time. GO OUT IN THE WORLD. SOCIALIZE IN DA REAL WORLD.

    I've erased my myspace, facebook accounts and find that I saved myself a ton of time!
  • Thwippp
    Wretched noise.
  • Ian
    ...now that we are entering 2010, I have ended my Twittering Days. After the Kutcher fiasco, the site has turned into sales pitches, dumb and meaningless comments and a place for hookers to find "dates"..... I found that my own twittering slowed to net zero posts as I don't feel the need to update my followers on random thoughts, reactionary opinions and wasting time with others posts. If bloggers, new businesses find this useful, great. However, if they ahve time to constantly post on twitter and use social media as their entire marketing plan - great...whatever....but is it sutainable and do REAL results come of this....I have yet to see the proof - meaning $$$$
  • Have you noticed that Google Analytics doesn't count twitter traffic in there results? I monitor traffic on some sites with up to three different statistical options. Two programs show all kinds of twitter and twitter derivative traffic. Google shows none.
  • davidMA1
    Here's what is happeneing. Get back to your DOT COM sites. MYSPACE is declining at a rapid rate, Twitter will follow. Here's exactly what is happening. People have opened up so many portal sites and they can't keep up to maintain them. In the end you have information that has not been updated, it has dead links. People end up getting hit with, see my Twitter, sign up for my FACEBOOK, do this, do that, I'm on LinkIned, follow me on this, look at me...........................it goes on and on. It's become frgamented to the point where there is so much, in so many places. For business, I'm back to the dot com site. It's better than ever. People are getting tired of it all...............look here, look at this, I'm updating this, and that

  • Vince
    For someone not advertising a product/blog twitter is useless. I have always been on the leading edge of technology but all I see with twitter are people being advertised to and loving it.

    For the average person the only point of twitter is for you to be more interested in things you already care about, and to advertise new products, every other thing twitter does for you can be done using facebook.

    A useless tool only meant to advertise to the user
  • It is hard as hell to get any revenue from Twitter. I have been using Twitter for months now and only made a few sales. Maybe it is my marketing techs that are not working. But using Twitter for sales only will just stale the market for everyone, so I think I will market else where.
  • joe
    just google "twitter is" and you will see the general consensus of the web via g's suggestions.

    1.twitter is retarded
    2.twitter is over capacity
    3.twitter is down
    4.twitter is useless
    5.twitter is lame
    6.twitter is pointless
    7.twitter is a waste of time

    the web has spoken......

    ============================================
    i think this blogger put it best...
    -------------------------------------------
    It seems as though Twitter is a vehicle for people who have both narcissism and A.D.D.

    “Who the hell cares about your 140 character, cry for attention.”

    I’m convinced users are those who are so self-absorbed that they think the world MUST be kept abreast of the minute-to-minute details of the most inane parts of their life, yet don’t realize how inane the details are, when they can fit the important info into 140 characters.

    Don’t know if you caught this one, but Business Insider / MarketingVOX released a study last month that shows that more than 60% of US Twitter users fail to return the month after signing up.

    Twitter’s growth has come, in part, as a result of celebrity exposure, which fueled a record number of people to sign up in March. A Nielsen report estimates that over 60% of Twitter users quit after their first month. Twitter’s 40% retention rate is higher than it was a month ago. (Pre-Oprah retention averaged below 30%.) But social networking giants MySpace and Facebook manage a much higher retention percentage (60%) of new users each month.
  • John H.
    oh and by the waym just so the author of this site doesn't get his ego bloated thinking I came to his blog because it is so popular -- I don't know who you are nor have I ever heard of you in my life, nor will i visit this site again,. I only came across your blog entry here when I searched Google on twitter uslessness.
  • That's fine, John. I don't know who you are either, nor could I care any less.
  • John H.
    There is no doubt that twitter is utterly and totally useless. Unless of course you are the sort of self important person who craves attention. For a picture perfect example of how boring and pointless twitter is, look at this average person's site: www.twitter.com/debbie

    People who are into twitter and praise it are either people like the author of this site (ie. children or teens, or who act like them), businesses, artists or celebs promoting products, or those sort of self-important types who need to inform others of their comings and goings.

    Six in 10 Twitter Users Jump Ship Each Month:
    http://www.marketingcharts.com/interactive/6-in-10-twitter-users-jump-ship-each-month-8928/

    Twitter is full of users, but no actual customers. Customers like me don't rely on this sort of BS. when we are interested in a product or service, we go to www and search google then click buy.
  • Robert
    lets be honest.

    twitter is completely useless unless your a celebrity. All the rest are uppity douchebags that cant get off his smartphone, blackberry, iphone or macbook.

    do you have 10,000 friends? amazing..no problems there..but why dont you actually call them? oh wait..because you actually dont have 10,000 friends.. forgot didnt you?
    in reality who prospers from your updates??
    what happened to the good old instant message..because in reality your only interacting with a select few people in your lives, and those people you can just as easily stay in contact with by making a phone call
    …oh but your impersonable..thats right..

    does everyone need to know when “jack” is taking a shit… no
    nor does anyone care when “jack” is eating a delicious meal.. its irrelevant.
    if “jack” cared so much, why didnt he specifically inform YOU? and not his “10,000″ friends..because “jack” isnt there for you, hes there for him.
    “jack” likes the spotlight, he likes that bandwagon, and he will keep on riding until the next “facetwitterspace” comes out.
  • I have a twitter account, but rarely use it. I don't like spamming people, and as for getting involved with conversations, I usually get the "Do I noe u?"

    But, then again, I have a blog that is more useful to younger women and teens than anyone else, so that's expected for that age and gender group.
  • @Raul
    Hey man, I am all the things you stated and it does not bother me one bit. I am glad you have risen above such things, good on you. Your WordSmithing is very impressive. I wish I was still in 9th grade too.
    BTW--I think you should have your Mom lay out the light blue polo shirt for you today instead of the brown one...
    AL
  • Firstly; your last point: I realise that I made a typo with the "a" in "fuel". I didn't notice it until after I'd submitted the comment. - And there's not a lot anyone can do about it at that point. Spell-laming is so lame in itself.

    Point 2: If David were a loser he'd hardly be making a six-figure income now would he? I mean come on, get real.

    I see losers almost every day; sitting in the sun, procrastinating and "philosophising" about why society is so unfair and wrong. - Complaining about their lot in life, yet not doing a single thing to improve it. Making excuses about why they can't improve it. Finding ways to escape from reality any way they can, rather than face it and change it. David's no loser; in fact quite the opposite.

    - And the people who buy David's products? Everyone has to start somewhere. A good place to start is to learn from someone who's already done it and got the T-shirt. I suppose, as an alternative, you could always spend many years discovering things by trial and error. - But why go through all that pain and hardship when, for a few bucks, you can buy all the knowledge you need from someone who knows what they're talking about?

    Anonymity and wearing an e-mask may be useful to some people on the internet; for reasons best known to themselves. - But, in the online world of social networking, doing so is a bit self-defeating if you want to become a member of the online community. On Usenet (newsgroups), for example; there are numerous trolls, kooks, nym-shifters, flamers, lamers, etc; but that's a completely different world to Twitter and the like. Things are moving forwards.

    I once heard Twitter likened to a huge online party. Go in there wearing a mask and people will soon see through it.

    Why do you say that I love anonymity? The truth is, in fact, quite the opposite: I have an established online identity, as does David as well as most other bloggers and entrepreneurs. - It's a very useful commodity to have too. You may note also that we use our real names. - So much for "anonymity" eh?

    There's no need to take everything that someone says at face value: Having established an online relationship with an individual, read between the lines and check for consistency. - You'll soon be able to tell who wears a mask and who's for real.
  • Raul
    ...and you folks aren't self-centered and narcissistic? Look at the banner on this blog - all pics of the author. 'Nuff said.
  • Raul
    1) The Internet allows anyone to be anyone they want. You believe everything someone says about themselves? I could be an attorney making $500k per year ("shedloads" of money as you say) or I could be a janitor in an office building. Anyone can make claims about who they are, what they know, how much they make - we have no idea whether they are true or not. The Internet allows for anonymity - which is what folks like yourself love.
    2) The sad part is that you all equate money with success. David may actually make "six figures" per year. That doesn't mean he's not a loser taking advantage of bigger losers than himself by selling them junk on the Internet.
    3) The Internet also is contributing to the dumbing down of society. Please, if you're going to communicate - verbally or in written form - learn how to spell and use proper grammar.
  • Well Raul, I guess someone had to say it. - And quite obviously you no doubt have a good bunch of friends that you socialise and do business with with offline. It's good that you're doing so well.

    I guess that we "narcissistic, lonely, insecure, ADHD, introverted" people will just have to make do with our online lot and communicate with the entire planet online, building valuable business contacts and making shedloads of money, while the "real" people such as yourself enjoy yourselves offline in your local-area-cliques, limited in your scope by the constraints of your immediate environment, coupled with your travelling time and how much fual you can afford in order to travel around.
  • Raul
    You all spend too much time online! Please, get lives - all of you. Online socializing is pathetic. It's attractive to folks who can't deal with face to face socialization. Twitter and Facebook are fads - they will fade. People who have blogs or use Twitter or Facebook have one or more of the following personality traits - narcissistic, lonely, insecure, ADHD, introverted. Go outside, be with your families, call a friend on the phone (gasp!). We're going to evolve into beings with just a head and torso - won't need arms, legs, etc... since everyone's sitting in front of their computers or pecking away at their smartphones!
  • It certainly is incredibly useful -- it counts for over 10% of my site's traffic.
  • Great post David -- though I have to admit I got sidetracked by the SEO duel between Allyn and Absurd_Human. Good stuff!

    In any event, I'm still in the Twitter feels silly phase. But I've read enough of your posts to realize there is some sort of value, so I have to give it another shot. From what I gather, the goal is to balance between social interaction and sharing information (i.e. marketing opportunities). I'll be curious to find out how often people update their status on a daily basis and whether the frequency becomes an issue.
  • Twitter is over-hyped, especially the speculative evaluation of its total worth around $15 billion. However, I will not call it useless, because useless is relative. There is a big difference between using twitter to drive traffic or using it for making money on the internet and or just to tweet. Majority of users do not use it to make money, rather to be annoying with their self proclaimed millisecond updates about their "current" activity. What exactly is the charm of stalking each others lives every few minutes? And people who indulge in this are the first to drift away from such service, with the advent on something more annoying to keep tabs on each other. Twitter does not have a long term sustainability, as those tweets becomes less and less frequent with time. Anyone who thinks it is necessary to update their earthly activity every five minutes has some issues and humans who subscribe to these updates have even more issues. Not trying to generalize everyone, like i said, it is all relative. But majority of the casual users of twitters have to be very annoying in real life. Oh i just generalized..great.
  • Twitter is great. I'm relatively new to it, but I've met many really nice people there and it's a great source of information and news as well (with proper use of Twitter search). And it's a good source of traffic for my blog too. I love it.
  • Great article. Twitter is what you make of it. The only reason I found you was through Twitter...and I follow your stuff and have even purchased a few recommended products...there you go!
    Thanks!
    Janet
  • I have 20% of my traffic coming directly from twitter. Not because I post interesting stuff but because I search for people sharing their problems and offer my product that is designed to solve them. Most of the feedback is very positive and only few people complained. One of the guys I found on twitter made a blog post about my way of using twitter - if you want to check it out http://blog.gadodia.net/using-twitter-for-commercial-reasons-the-right-way/
  • This is really interesting stuff. It may just help those of us who are still blogging newbies and teach us how to get some real directed traffic. Although I am starting to think that marketing is a talent. You either have it or you don't and no amount of learning can help.
  • When I first found twitter I thought it was kind of silly, a bunch of people sitting around talking about what they had for lunch, or telling everyone that they were getting on the bus to go home.

    since then I've come to see it is so much more. It is a promotional tool for your blog. It's a way to meet and interact with your readers. It allows you to put a human face on your brand. It keeps you top of mind and in front of people's eyes.

    I think the key to twitter - as in life - is in moderation. don't send out too many tweets about blog posts, it'll get old really quick. don't send out too many "i'm eating a sandwich" type posts, or people will unfollow.

    Engage, add value and twitter will become a useful tool!
  • Hi guys perhaps he is not sure how twitter works. It isn't meant solely for marketing and publicity, it is also a means of communication between people.

    As of now a lot of websites its adopting its technology. The great thing about twitter is that I don't have to update so many sites at once.

    And my tweets will appear in Facebook, myBlogLog and my own Blog.

    Even though I don't have that many friend in twitter, I have that many friends in facebook and other sites. So Twitter is superbly cool as I don't have to update all 3 sites. All I need is update one. :)
  • @absurd,
    the site you were looking at was the dot com version of bloggillus that I started jacking with a couple years ago. It hasn't been touched in months (I just took it down to avoid confusion) I knew nearly nothing back then. those sites don't make money and I had forgotten about them. I forgot that I had the dot com version of blogger illustrated going as well. (gotta update my domain dashboard I guess) so yes, I made tons of mistakes in the beginning.

    Onto buying key words... that may be a blue collar concept to you, but it is how I like to make money. I study people and see what their needs are when they turn to the web (not savvy users, just everyday people who don't know about social media) and I target the words they use with a website that solves their problem with content and a monetization method. It's not shady, it is how things work offline too.
    I look at things that I search on the net and think to myself, "Dang, if I needed that and had trouble finding it, could others need it too? could I capitalize on that?"
    I also realize that most people search the net in ways that are strange to you and I.
    Most people talk to the Google search box like it's a human.
    They will search "who has the cheapest red widgets in town?"
    You and I who are savvy would search "cheap red widgets" but chances are that key word is tough to dominate.
    But the long long and practical tail word that I mentioned above can be dominated with a single relevant link. That person searching for "who has the cheapest...etc" is looking to BUY something! If I get 10 hits per week on my widget site and make 3 sales, that is a win for me!
    I hope you don't think that is shady. That is just marketing and it is my style of marketing.
    That is why I don't use Twitter in the same way you do (I must admit I lashed out in haste at you looking to start a fight, sorry) you use Twitter to make relationships and drive loyal followers who may or may not become clients.
    I use Twitter as "smash and grab" fun only. My monetization methods would not work on Twitter, or Stumble or Digg either.
    But again, I am not a black hat (flattered you think I could be) because I am just not so knowledgeable. I am a writer, not an IT guy like you. I can't even hack my kid's PS3, let alone some network or whatever you talked about.

    that's all there is.
    I will ponder the contest stuff and get you something by this weekend. I like your idea about engaging the readers too. I will, of course, use my low quality video and some beer in my post.

    finally, i wish more big business would get on Twitter. I, as a savvy social media user, love it when I see Home Depot and Comcast on there. makes me loyal as a follower, and customer! So I do see the value, FWIW


    AL
  • jkirby83
    I have used social media including Twitter and its not conducive to every business. It's good for customer relationship management, branding, and for viral Web sites that thrive off of word of mouth. OVERALL, there are better uses of your time when you evaluate the alternatives.
  • If you are going to hold that those are old and you don't promote them anymore, why exactly do you promote your blog with links to them? Do you not make money from them?

    I'm not trying to hurt you, but you started off with a sarcastic comment denying Twitter's validity, and now you are saying you did it to validate yourself? Your comments here seem like a strange way to do business and attract attention to me.

    Keep in mind my first comment was this:

    "Great post! To those who still think that newbies can’t have any success on Twitter, check out my results with a new blog and new Twitter account:

    http://tweakandtune.blogspot.com/2009/03/twitter-blog-marketing-tactics.html

    Not thousands sure, but anyone who expects thousands of visitors in days can go get a few hundred parked domains and ad pages, etc. and do some black hat stuff… If you want legitimate, engaged Twitter followers and blog visitors, why bother to disagree with a free and effective marketing tactic? [...]"

    I was responding to the request for new users that have had success with Twitter to "prove" that it *could* be done, and suggested that everyone should consider this free and useful method of using Twitter to promote your blog or website.

    You were the one that started getting agitated:

    "[...]do you understand the concept of a buying term?
    I await your answer…
    cricket cricket cricket…"

    If you want help making an honest living online then that is different, and we may part as friends afterward if I can get over my initial impressions that you use "questionable" techniques to drive traffic for money. If you produce some original and useful content for humans - not just for searchbots - that would help my impression of you significantly, as would an open mind and open discussion versus just bashing each other endlessly.

    As far as keywords - we each make a blog post and let readers suggest say, 3 or 4 word key terms, and pick from those available? Research similarly "difficult" keywords, say according to the keyword difficulty checker at http://seochat.com and then let the users vote among those similarly difficult? I don't think it is a good idea for us to optimize for the same key phrase, but they should probably be similar in number of results and popularity. Any suggestions from the audience on how to pick the keywords?

    I understand that there's a niche for everything, including many things I'll never understand, and I'll admit that I was a little upset by the closed-minded sarcasm about Twitter as a marketing tool (I'm sorry) <- I'll consider doing this without the parentheses if you show me some real drive to do good business on the 'net.

    Please just have an open mind about new ideas and perspectives... for your own sake.

    Let's hear from everyone on key terms (how to pick or specific terms), suggestions for "rules" for the game, prizes, etc.
  • yes, those sites are old ones I started out with and learned from. they suck, obviously. I have never claimed to be a guru.
    why are you being malicious now? Are you trying to hurt me?
    if so , please tell us all so we know.

    if you'd like a good hearted competition, let's get after it. I will set some terms and email them to you, cool? I don't do black hat, I am not that sophisticated.
    I just build anchored links and write optimized content.

    can we at least part as 'friends' when it is over? the last thing I wanted to do was get you so fired up in a negative kinda way. I like a good debate, but you are getting pretty personal dude.

    look for the SEO terms soon in your email, then you can tweak, etc


    AL
  • You still haven't told us the LLC - I'm assuming it involves the "lawn care" and "human growth hormone" links in your first post - they both lead to rather unrelated made-for-adsense sites. Or was that an old online accident that you got involved with also?

    Let me know the terms of the challenge - I'm not willing to put white hat against black hat on a short term bet since I'm not that stupid. Black hat will win every time for the first month or two. The contest would have to run for a year or more to have any results, and even then it's not going to be a valid experiment. And I hope we are both competent enough to get into the "new blog post" results.

    Give me some reasonable terms and define what "your SEO" and "my SEO" are exactly, and I'll consider. I think it would be more realistic to take two existing, lower-ranked sites of the same type (e.g. blog, product, brand, topic, etc.) and see how much we can improve their rank (this is, after all, what an SEO professional does) within a certain period.

    I'm all for keeping things fun, but I absolutely despise black hats, spammers, scammers, and people who think they are better than everyone. I'm not in it to win - I think I mentioned that the money wasn't important. I started doing this in order to help people - and I gladly give out help, tips, and even some optimization for free. I don't really have to sell anything, and I certainly don't have to use "buy key phrases" and other marketing fluff to get people interested in what I'm doing.

    If I wanted to show off some crazy algorithms, automation, and black hat tricks, I could make and host a network of probably a few thousand sites and scam together a bunch of money in a few days. But I don't. Just like I don't break encryption or access systems without explicit permission. I simply engineer solutions, answer questions, and try to help people as much as I can.

    For the challenge, give me your ideas. I would like to either optimize existing sites or measure over at least 9 months if we are to start fresh, but I will evaluate other options.
  • Awesome gents. Make it super public so we don't miss a thing. You totally have to do it. And David has to be absolutely loving this ( I think?! ) I've personally been on this site all day checking things out as updates come through the inbox...
  • here is the text I sent to Peter. Keep in mind I am wanting to have some fun with this, I hope Pete feels the same:
    ___
    hey big hitter, you want to have a contest? you choose a keyword phrase (something obscure maybe) and you and I will see who can rank higher in a given period of time?
    we'll do it on blogspots, brand new.
    You seemed to take me to task pretty well today on David's MMO blog. Wanna put it up in public?
    It's just good fun to me as I drink beer and act like an idiot.
    can you hang? let's make it fun or hateful, you choose, it's all good to me.

    and "12-yr-old perverts" was a little strong of a comment, seriously man.
    chill eh?
    AL

    _____

    what do you all think?
    David--hope it's ok we use your comments for this, you gotta be lovin' this too.
    AL
  • Don't leave us out of the loop now. You have a ton of people following the comments on this post and we want to know what the challenge is. I am interested to see what where this cat fight goes from here. C'mon make the details of the SEO challenge public..
  • You guys are providing a lot of entertainment. Glad this may potentially go beyond a little cat fight and back into something productive.
  • I like the arguing also, it is driving me some traffic too! funny how that works right?>
    Plus, David is getting lots of good free content in the process.
    as far as my LLC, it is not named Blogger Illustrated. Sheesh man. (you actually tried to search for that? stalk much?)
    I issued you a challenge through your site contact form and would like to know if you will accept. Your brand of SEO vs ny brand of SEO. It will be fun for me, angry for you methinks. you seem angry Peter, angry. wanna turn your anger into a contest with me?
    smile a bit and let's have some fun and create a buzz

    I don't know what links you refer to in my first post. I usually link to friends. (you mention that in one of your SEO posts)

    AL
  • So if it's no skin off your teeth and you don't care at all - how long are you going to keep type-type-typing away putting in your precious time for no money arguing a subject you admittedly don't care about? And how exactly does your blog "validate" this mysterious LLC that I can't seem to locate? Wait - are you talking about the totally irrelevant links in your first blog post? LMAO Good one! Guru lesson 1: If you do nothing else in the way of SEO, at least keep your links relevant. I won't tell anyone if you subscribe to my feed - my SEO tips will work even on your made-for-adsense sites.

    Please keep responding, this is getting me some good traffic.
  • @ absurd
    yes, I am a childish douchebag. it does not bother me to know that. I have many many online friends. Maybe just not in your circle. The interweb is kinda big.

    ...There is an audience for everything. i am what I am and that is what I must live with... i like it.
    as far as the one way back link scheme, I don't know what that is all about.
    I once tried to do some link exchange on BIZNIK and realized it was dumb (was caught up in MLM offline BS) and it never panned out. is that what you refer to?

    I don't really know who you are but the way you talk to me, you must be a guru.
    can you point me to somewhere I can learn from you? seriously...what do you have to teach? I don't see much originality on your blogspot. that is not a slam, just my take (being a douche and all)

    just so you know, there are plenty of profitable niches outside of MMO and IM.
    that is where I focus. The bloggerillustrated is just for fun. It's not even monetized outside of one text link in the sidebar. Can't you see that? you accused me of being a typical "sell shiz to people on the internet" guy. you must now see that I am not that.

    I drink beer there, spout off, do my low quality vid, and move on. If the cussing bothers you, then stay on pretty Christian sites. no skin off my teeth.

    take care
    AL
  • @allyn - I hate to say this, but don't quit your day job. You will be sorely disappointed when you realize you have burned all bridges and have no contacts willing to help. Have fun when you are at the bottom of even the Internet marketing food chain.

    Your cussing, childish crap, and poor quality video with no meaningful content has no hope of getting ranked, so it's probably a good thing you don't intend to. You might create a quick fad, maybe even make a quick buck, but people quickly see though the BS.

    Now please get off the Internet, you are wasting everyone's time and bandwidth with childish crap - the people who are willing to work and provide value will come out on top. And I'll point and laugh and say I told ya so.

    Enjoy your audience of 12 year old perverts.

    Funny aside to the audience: If you Google "Allyn Hane" one of the first 5 results is a post about a $12-a-month one-way-backlink-exchange tool! No spam here, though, eh, Allyn! I also love the reuse of the Twitter bio on the blog - classy! Ah well, I should have seen that you were just a corporate beer drinking drone, maybe I wouldn't have wasted my time trying to clarify the points made in the original blog post (it's up there ^ somewhere), which is that Twitter is useful, even for beginners. I have to agree that if Twitter isn't useful to you - you have no clue how Twitter works. And if you don't want to read and have an open mind, then why even butt in to the conversation? And where's your proof you useless hotshot? I haven't seen anything other than your complete inability to rank, foul mouth, and general douchebaggery...

    I also think it's just a touch ironic that you said "It's all about the money" and "I don't want this page to rank, I don't care" - well at least you made it quite clear that you are not a genius right on your blog...
  • @ absurd-- oh wait, you did link a site... a free blogspot! no less ! LMAO
  • @absurd,
    you are correct, we do have differing business models. I DO NOT want to deal with customers and clients. I can do that in my corp job. I want recurring income that does not tie me down.
    FWIW--once I dominate a niche, I monetize and walk away. that is passive, recurring revenue.
    that is my model. Search engine traffic is highly targeted and constant if you target a profitable key word or long tail. The only time I go back to a site is when I notice the traffic drop. I throw it a few links and move right back up.

    my personal blog linked in my sig (you did not link a site so I can't call you out) has been on line for about 6 weeks and if you read the about page, you will see that it is purely social and not an MMO blog (actually serves as a spot to validate my LLC). I just use it to spout off and have fun. so you are right, it does not rank and never will really.

    I also don't know why you are getting all up in arms about all the money I supposedly make. I quoted no figures. I am a part timer and try to encourage other part timers to use their time wisely to make money. And, yes, it is about making money... why else do you work?


    I just think that you are on a different playing field than I am. To each his own.

    and finally, I do not buy any ebooks or other marketing crap. Everything I learn is from making friends on the web who have taught me to do things at no or little cost.
    Go ahead and watch a couple of my vids, you will see that I am against all that "MMO" and buy this next big ebook kinda crap!

    AL
    PS--where did I say that I failed?
  • @allyn Here is the difference in the way we do business:

    You will always need to drive that click to your site (maybe, possibly) get a purchase and then next year, and 10 years from now? Yup, you'll still be driving clicks to get people to buy your "cheap credit card" ??? and fake Rolex...

    Within 3 weeks of opening that Twitter account I've Twittered myself 1 great client and have several potential clients, and I've added 15% to my (day job) salary online in my first month. These are not only paying customers, but they are so much more - industry contacts, business partners, friends. Even if I never made money this would be worth it. In fact, the only reason I make money is this: I don't need to. It's not about the money.

    And I am sorry for your failure, @allyn. I failed when it was all about the money, and I can only hope someday you will learn about the value of building long-term relationships and things like recommendations, testimonials, letting others sell for you, and how to listen.

    But really, you will probably get into the "buy any marketing tool" mindset. Yes you might make money, but do your customers ever recommend you, unprompted, to their friends?

    Enjoy your $$$$ - Oh, and just to prove that you are so rich and mighty, PayPal me $500 right now. It's nothing with your exponential SuperAutoMoneySystem right?

    And let me know if you want help actually getting to the first page for some keywords... I didn't check all of them, but you're not ranked for your main 4 key phrases, let alone any "buying terms."
  • @Gina: So you're saying that You can't use Twitter be4cause it's called "Twitter"? Would you use it if the name were changed to "Online Social Media Interactive Experience"? isn't that judging the book by its cover to all intents and purposes? Surely it's what goes on inside that matters?
  • Going viral to me doesn't necessarily have anything to do with money. If I were to have an article go viral, I would anticipate it being reprinted, republished, re-read in a ton of places that had nothing to do with the original place where the article was published. If a video goes viral, tons of people see it, link to it, it gets a million plus views in a week, everyone is talking about it, it becomes something bigger than anyone originally could have conceived.

    I think I just explained that without saying anything about money. Right? If I'm wrong, then I'm wrong. Maybe others want to chime in on this?
  • @Portland Roofer:

    To quote David's post that sparked this discussion:
    "5 Tips For Going Viral On Twitter [Retweet]"

    What exactly do you think viral means?
  • Seems to me that everyone on favor of Twitter is talking about the exact opposite of what you are saying, Allyn -- it's not about direct sales. It's about saying/pointing out interesting things, gaining a loyal following, bringing in some traffic and then traffic is traffic, like when it comes from anywhere else. Right? No one ever said use Twitter as a sales tool.
  • @ absurd human
    how much money did you make from that twitter traffic? proof?
    also, why would you want to rank for your name? Is your name "cheap credit card?"
    As far as Twitter being ranked in the search engines, please illustrate by providing one single "buying keyword term" where a tweet or twitter profile shows up on the first page of Google.
    do you understand the concept of a buying term?
    I await your answer...
    cricket cricket cricket...
    AL
  • I'm waiting for the next social medium to appear, something with a less silly name. I just can't use something called Twitter, sorry!

    Gina
  • Great post! To those who still think that newbies can't have any success on Twitter, check out my results with a new blog and new Twitter account:

    http://tweakandtune.blogspot.com/2009/03/twitter-blog-marketing-tactics.html

    Not thousands sure, but anyone who expects thousands of visitors in days can go get a few hundred parked domains and ad pages, etc. and do some black hat stuff... If you want legitimate, engaged Twitter followers and blog visitors, why bother to disagree with a free and effective marketing tactic? Also - did every single one of you "SEO pros" commenting on how small of a percentage it is forget that Twitter is ranked - and well - in the search engines? Backlinks, relevance, key phrases, long tail - ah, forget it.

    I've had days where Twitter drives the majority of traffic - and boy did Twitter help me get indexed fast! And the traffic from Twitter is great while my posts are in the mini-sandbox (between "fresh and relevant"/"Blog Posts" and actually "indexed") But no, it's not worth using. And don't try Googling your name or anything (my Twitter is #2).

    I've been using Twitter just over one month (since Feb 21), and have seen amazing results. Everyone please continue to hate Twitter so I can easily dominate the market and take all of the free money you willingly and gladly leave on the table.
  • Never got into twitter. Until i read this article! HAHA i just got my new account :D
  • Great post man. Please, keep telling people to use Twitter to the max! In fact, you should write an ebook on the subject and give it away for free on Twitter! Serious! I hope all of your readers spend hours and hours engaging in Twitter convo in an effort to someday, maybe, eventually convert those relationships into some income. (of course, Twitter itself has lost millions, but you guys will figure a way)

    Meanwhile, I will continue to get small amounts of highly targeted traffic from search engines. Ya know, the kinda traffic that converts and requires no babysitting. :)
    AL
  • First off, thank you David for actually being inspired enough from our conversation to post this. (Although this wasn't what I was trying to accomplish)

    I'm sorry if I was getting "argumental", but that was only a result from your last reply to me:
    "The simple (and somewhat brutal) truth is that if Twitter isn’t working, it is because you’re using it wrong. Period."

    For those that are just joining in on this conversation, please refer to the previous post to see this:
    "Keep in mind, I am not saying Twitter will not give you any new traffic whatsoever, but I am saying it is not considered substantial based on all the hype building around it."

    So no, I am not saying Twitter is completely useless. I am saying the hype built around it by probloggers like you are.

    For those that are critiquing me based solely on the fact that I am a brand new blogger, well stop. I may be new to blogging, but I am not new to the internet. I have several successful sites up and running. Many of which are receiving over 40,000 unique hits PER DAY. Traffic is all search engines and backlinks, no PPC whatsoever. So yes, I know a thing or two about substantial traffic.

    Anyways, clearly you don't wish to take up on my challenge mentioned in my comment in your previous post. Pity, because if you had results to provide, I'm sure I would be convinced, as would many others who are probably reading that know a thing or two about substantial traffic.
  • zhu
    I believed that used it wrongly ):

    If the stuff you are posting are interesting, I will defintely follow.
  • But let's face it though: There are those in the social networking circles who would need to go out and commit public genocide, sacrifice their offspring to whatever their impression of the devil character is, and donate millions to Al Quaida, in order to not gain friends and followers in social networks. This is because FriendFeed suggests that all new users follow them from day 1: Scoble, for instance, among others.

    Once they get followed by everyone on FriendFeed they automatically get followed everywhere else too, on every other social networking platform.

    How much they pay FriendFeed for this and/or why FriendFeed chooses to promote them particularly I have no idea; but they can't really fail. Does anyone know why this is? Is there a way that others can gain following recommendations from FriendFeed and/or other social networking sites? It does seem unfair that they have the advantage from the outset; especially to newcomers.

    I remember when I first joined FriendFeed I was instantly shown pictures of the rich-looking godlike elite and urged to follow them before all others. Did I get the wrong impression? I was totally new to social networking only 9 months ago when this happened. Maybe this deserves an article of its own?
  • So what is the difference between a user taking 6 months and a user taking 3 weeks to have overwhelming success then? Just how interesting one is?
  • I went to Twitter in the first place because I got a job from it (someone tweeted a request for an SEO pro and a reader of mine recommended me), so it seemed sensible to sign up. I don't get thousands of hits from Twitter, but I like it for networking, learning, and quick communication with people in my virtual neighborhood.
    So maybe it's fair to say that if the only way you use it is for advertising, then it's not useful, since that's not what it's for.
  • Many of us equate the internet with instantaneous results and effortless functionality...but using relationship-building tools takes work, which is probably why Tong is frustrated with his initial results.

    People on Twitter will happily read the blog of someone who is actively relating to them in the community. You have to (ugh) talk to people, but you should be having fun doing it. Twitter is best used casually. I think of it as an exercise in being interesting: if I provide good content, I'll be in someone's RT or #followfriday, which connects more people to my blog. And for the record, my blog traffic is driven by

    1. My twitter profile.
    2. Twitter updates with blog links.
    3. The same updates, cross-posted to Facebook.
    4. My facebook profile.

    Almost no traffic comes from search engines or blog comments. I don't get thousands of hits, but a small loyal following is pretty good for a personal diary where I talk about internet memes, office coffee shortages, and burp noises.

    Creating expectations for Twitter is setting it up for failure. Twitter doesn't deliver anything--it's just a platform. If you get up, start talking, and nobody's interested, Twitter doesn't suck--you do.
  • My good friend @Squidrich managed to get over 13,500 followers in 21 days.

    I'd say that's pretty quick. He commands a lot of attention now.
  • Great article here David.

    Twitter is fun and addictive, but you don't achieve success over night. I think you have to give it between 3 - 6 months before you will start reap from the various seeds you put out there.

    And you want succeed from Twitter alone, like Mike shows here you need to use several other tools to support your Twitter actions.

    I also participate in various webinars to educate myself, and get awesome info from people that have achieved the kind of success with Twitter that some of us also want to achieve.

    Plus I have also a couple of books on Twitter to learn more.

    If you want success with Twitter you have to do what it takes to get what you want... :)

    Cheers...
  • While my personal Twitter account isn't used as much as it should be. I also have Twitter accounts for 2 of the niche projects I work on. One of them has given me a few new followers which has been a bonus however the second one has landed me new followers, new sources of information for the blog, and an additional advertiser for it.

    It's as always, something you need to work on and not something that will help everyone. It IS useful though at building online relationships and finding new information.
  • I am a new blogger. I set up my site and joined Twitter in December. I use Twitter to promote the blog, BUT I work hard at being an interesting and informative person on Twitter as well. I have many followers who have no interest in my blog. I limit myself to promoting new posts 3/4 times a day - the rest is just general chat and information.
    Now here comes your proof Tong. Here are my top 8 referrers:
    twiturls
    twitter.com
    johnchow.com (guest post)
    twitter.com/mikecj
    powertwitter.me
    blogging.alltop.com (discovered them via Twitter!)
    tweetergreeter.com
    davidrisley.com (guest post)

    So apart from the two guest posts (and I chat with both John and David on Twitter) it's my best referrer, to the point that my blog would still be nowhere without Twitter.
  • Still waiting on the sidelines to see if it's worth the time and effort or not... seems to be enough evidence both ways. Again, like many things (online) -- if you're not involved with sincerity and actively, it's not going to pay any dividends.
  • Hey David,

    First off - great post. This blog post is definitely of the size that I like, and packed full of though-provoking content.

    Secondly - I think that Tong has a point whereby he mentions that if you're a newbie you're not going to have as much success with Twitter as someone that already has a lot of credibility and followers.

    Thirdly - I use Google Analytics and Twitalzer, and from those services alone I can tell how effective my Twitter activity is - Twitter is not currently bringing in a large portion of my blog traffic YET, but it's growing exponentially with new tactics that I'm implementing to get more followers and engage with them.

    So in conclusion - I think that Twitter is an ESSENTIAL tool for any startup business or blog owner, and I think that Tong is right on some of his points. However, I agree with you that he must not be using it right if he's not getting a massive amount of interest to his blog from his Twitter account.
  • Still fairly new to Twitter but enjoy it for the serendipitous finds. Whether it's over-hyped is just a matter of opinion. My family still thinks it's a bit odd, or that I'm odd for using it, but it's a great way for me to converse with the rest of the English-speaking world.
  • I watched the Twitter video and went to the site (without an account) a few dozen times thinking to myself this is worthless, why is it getting so much hype. Then I finally heard about it so much that I needed to give it a shot.

    I signed up for an account and started following a few people. It instantly became clear on what it was all about and how it worked and more importantly, how it could work for me. It's one of those things that you just need to dive into and try before you truly understand it.

    I think it is clear that Tong is missing the point completely. Here is his comment from your original post.

    "Why don’t you set up a brand new blog, without ever mentioning it on here or any of your existing site."

    The point is your not a new blogger and you don't need to do that. Although I am sure you could do it and it would be a great video course for you to do. haha. I found your site from Twitter as I am sure hundreds of people have. The fact is that your not going to get instant traffic overnight, just because your on Twitter.

    Twitter is just another outlet that you can use to find people and information that is interesting to you. And more importantly from a marking standpoint it allows you to put your information and personality out in order for people to find you interesting.

    Maybe Tong needs to be more engaging and interesting??

    I am sure the link that you put to his blog succeeded in getting him more traffic than he has ever received before. Now if he were just interesting maybe he could convert them to regular blog subscribers or possibly twitter followers.
  • I agree. Twitter will be what each individual user makes of it. I've gotten a few friends and family to start using it, but after a while their tweets have slowed to a trickle. I don't think they see the fun of it because they're only following me and a half dozen other people.

    I keep telling them they need to follow more people, even if it's celebrities that will likely never converse with them.

    When I first heard of Twitter, I also thought it was stupid. I didn't think anyone would want to hear what I was doing during the day. But once I started following people with similar interests, as well as celebrities like Wil Wheaton, I started to see the appeal.

    Twitter will only be as fun/interesting/engaging as you let it be.
  • I was introduced to twitter last year sometime - and I literally didn't see the point. Of course that's changed now...
    I have gotten GREAT traffic from twitter...met amazing people and have to sort of limit myself to the valuable links I pursue from other tweeters! (otherwise I lose a couple of hours too easily).
    It's simple - just like anything else, you have to be consistent with it....and engage with people.
    I find it interesting that people spend money on networking with multiple offline groups, yet something free like twitter gets overlooked? Go figure...
    Thanks!
    Kim Doyal
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