By admin
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I wrote on my twitter account a couple days ago, “So has anybody been trying any twitterflipping? And the response, was a ton of emails asking what was twitterflipping. I didn’t think this was that new an idea, but apparently I’m one of the first who thought of it. Now I’m not really advocating this because of the potential of annoying twitter and getting suspended, but I’m writing this post to explain what it is, and to show links proving it’s out there.
If you don’t know what twitter is, read these other posts I’ve written on twitter, for help on setting it up, and using it to help your blog. Tips for maximizing your Twitter, and How to Use Twitter.
Twitter Flipping is similar to site flippping. Which in case you don’t know, is essentially buying domains to sell them for a profit. When you buy a domain to sell it, there are lots of factors that go into it, especially if it’s one that is expiring, and thus already has links and subscribers. If your interested in siteflipping here is a great site to help you with finding good ones to buy.
But Twitter Flipping is slightly different in that, it’s free. All you do is make an account for free, and then you can potentially sell it. However, because they are free, most likely nobody wants it. So the question is how can you make it worth anything? There are several ways to make a twitter account worth selling, which I will explain in steps below.
1. Make your own custom design
Twitter has included the option, of allowing you to create your own unique design. Because most people don’t really understand how to valuable twitter is, very few people take the time to create a custom design. If you are good with web design, then you can create a nice unique one, the will really help the price of the account.
2. Make sure it have a lot of followers
I wouldn’t recommend selling a twitter account that has less then 1,000 followers. There are many different ways to get more followers, putting a link up on your site, being active on the twitter, writing a post about it asking for followers… This is one of the most attractive points when you’re selling a twitter account, and largely what they will determine whether to bid or not. Although a twitter follower is no where near the value of an RSS subscriber yet, we may be quickly reaching that point. Not in a 1 to 1 ratio, but in like a 7 to 1 or maybe 5 to 1 ratio. Twitter followers are very useful as a way to get traffic, and can be just as devoted as subscribers. Having alot of followers, makes a twitter account worth buying, because of the great marketing potential.
3. Make sure the account has a good reputation
If the account’s reputation is for being a spammer, who just posts his blog links every time, then you won’t be passing on a good piece of merchandise. If you have a reputation for answering questions, being polite and helpful, and your able to pass that onto to the buyer, then people will continue to follow the account. Look at it like if you were flipping a site, spend time, get to know your followers, and be helpful to them.
4. Keep the account for several weeks at least
Don’t sell the account in the first couple weeks. Like a blog domain, it appreciates in value, give it a chance to grow some. Don’t put it on the blog forums to fast, let it grow.
5. Look for a valuable account name
This is the most important one of them all, and the one is the most valuable. Look for a twitter account that has the name of a popular site, or movie, or famous person… If someone was able to get twitter.com/problogger it would have been worth a lot of money. Twitter accounts are going Fast! so now is the chance to grab up potentially valuable accounts before they are gone.
Those are some tips that should help your twitter account be worth more in value. Now you may have read all that and gone, isn’t that illegal? The answer is surprisingly no, there is nothing in Twitter’s Terms of Service that talk about selling accounts. Now, does that mean this will stay that way for long? probably not. However, for now it is legit, so take advantage of it while you can.
Your second question is, “now who in the world would buy a twitter account?!?!” This all started when Andrew Baron from rocketboom.com thought,
“It would be silly to just delete this account I have here, especially if there is someone out there that had like interests and had something to say or wanted to get involved in some relevant conversations. In terms of monetary value, I have no expectations or needs at all so I decided not to put a minimum bid on this. Whatever will be, will be. The winner of this auction gets my account with all of my followers.”
And so he put the auction up on ebay, and it sold for over 1,200 dollars. That’s quite a bit of cash, especially when he self admittingly had no idea what he was doing with the site, and didn’t even use his account very much.
Now your third question is, well even if somebody was stupid enough to buy it, he would immediately lose all of his followers once the blog changes right? Wrong. The followers of the site under Andrew Baron was, 1397. Since then, the number instead of decreasing, has jumped to 4324.
Now all of this I find very interesting, becuase I never thought that people would actually be able to make money from this. Does this article mean I am telling you to go do this? No. Am I telling you that people can do it, and can make money from it? Yes. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to do it or not. But I just find it all very interesting, and if you want to do it, these are some tips to show you how.
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By admin
I apologize for having this site be so messed up for so long. I’ve been hammering out some template issues, and then upgrading wordpress… and all kinds of other fun stuff. So this is the template I’ll be having for now, I’d love to hear your comments. And yes, you can comment now as well. The comment boxes weren’t working for several days, but they are now up and active.
If you missed it, I wrote two great posts in the past week. One on increasing your RSS subcribers which you can, and another on how to use twitter. I’ve been using twitter more and more recently, so if you want to follow me on twitter you’ll be a lot more updated, and I look forward to interacting with you on it.
Once again I apologize for all of the confusion, and thank you for bearing with me. I’ll be getting back into a routine with blogposting, so make sure you subcribe to my RSS or Email feed, by using the box in the sidebar, for more updates on How to Blog.
By admin
17 Uses for Twitter
The more I read and use twitter, the more valuable it has become. I wrote an earlier post a couple weeks ago on some basic techniques for it, but it’s uses have been growing and growing. When I first looked at the site I was like what is the point of a site where all you do is have 140 characters to write about how you are doing. Well actually, it’s incredibly useful.
Pretty much every blog related to blogging, has written a post about twitter. Using my typical strategy, I’m going to combine the strategies of all of these posts into one, as well as including many of my own. So here is my list, of 17 uses for twitter.
1.
Bragging Rights
Have you seen on blogs that more and more regularly, you are seeing their amount of followers next to their amount of subscribers? It’s becoming very popular. I found a figure for how much a twitter follower is worth, now I realize it’s based on completely sketchy and unreliable information, so it’s not really true. But some guys came up with the figure 6.19$ now it means absolutely nothing beyond the fact, that you can now brag that your site is worth xxxx$. But hey, it’s just as unreliable as Alexa, and Technorati and everything else on the internet right?
2.
Getting RSS Subscribers
I read a great guest post by Nathan Rice over at dailyblogtips about this. Twitter friends will often turn into RSS subscribers if you can help them out. People ask questions a lot on twitter, just help them out, and then politely tell them you could do even more for them because your blog talks about what they need. And so if they subscribe they can get more information. Don’t be a spammy about it, but if it can help them out, then it really works.
3.
Getting Friends and Fans
Twitter is a good way to build some relationships, because it is instant. It is like a site designed solely for the purpose of writing your facebook update, and allowing others to comment on it. People love talking on this, and so not only can you help your site out, you can make some good friends, and learn things as well.
4.
It’s Easy
Twitter is a great program for Social Networking because it is so simple. There is only the chat box, and then followers. The only slightly difficult part in the whole thing, is figuring out how to reply to people. Have you ever heard the term, “retweet” ? This means when you write a twitter update, and others like it so they retweet it on their site as well. But the question is how do you do this? All you have to do, is write this symbol @ and then their username. So to retweet something I said, you would write @mastersofseo to start the message, and then type the message.
5.
Viral Effect
If you write a good enough tweet, then it can get fired across the twitter world very quickly. Because it’s all instant, and everybody is refreshing the page constantly, if you write an interesting enough thing, then it can fly across the internet instantly. You can receive a flood of traffic, if it’s done well enough.
6.
Help with Digg and Stumbleupon
If you’ve been a good twitter person, and you’ve been nice to your followers, then you can occasionally ask for stumbleupon and digg requests. If you do it rare enough, and make sure it’s only one of your “killer” articles, then your followers will be happy to help you out. And depending on how well you write your twitt, you can experience two viral effects at once.
7.
Feedback
Do you have any questions you want to ask an unbiased opinion? Here is your chance. Ask your followers what they think of your template, ask them if they think your blog content isn’t up to par. Twitter is a great way to ask people for help, and to actually receive it. Twitter users are very kind, and I’m sure they would be happy to help, if you aren’t being a jerk about it.
8.
Gathering News
Things on Twitter fly so fast, it’s crazy. By just reading your homepage, you can pickup all that is happening around the world. All the new releases, tech updates, and latest blog posts, on twitter you can get it all, fast.
9.
Keeping in Touch
Twitter is a great way to realize what your blogger friends have been up to. You can learn all of their latest updates, and be able to keep in touch, even though you are far.
10.
Getting Traffic
You can install an application for firefox here that allows you to update your twitter without even going to the site. By updating it a lot, then people will be interested in what you do. Too often people make the mistake of only writing on it when you write a post, people get sick of only links. Tell them what your doing, and they will in turn visit your site, this application makes it easy.
11.
Twitter users have Alexa Toolbar Installed
Take a look at this Alexa picture from the last three months, see that jump on Nov 22?
I didn’t receive more traffic then usual, I actually received less then usual, then why the jump? Well one because Alexa is a piece of junk, but besides that, because almost 60% of the traffic that day was from Twitter. So even though the traffic number wasn’t that high, a much higher percentage had the alexa toolbar, thus exploding my Alexa ranking. Do you see that number for yesterday?
41,139, that’s really low, in case you know nothing about Alexa. Using Twitter can greatly help you lower your Alexa ranking
12.
Every Tweet Counts
Each one is like a digg submission, make it right, and it will pay off. Use the right type of words that won’t diminish your reputation, and that will entice people to talk to you. That’s right, I said talk to you, not to visit your site. This is about relationships just as much as it is about traffic. Tell people how you are doing, and when you are telling about your post, then do it in a nonspammy way.
13.
Be Original and Smart
Just like with every other social site, don’t try and pass off old information as new. Don’t do stupid scams, and lies to get attention. Use the site as it was meant, and tweet you information, that’s helpful to people.
14.
Hiring People
Are you looking for a web designer, programmer, or for blogging help? Then send out a tweet looking for recommendations. It’s a great way to interact with people, and the Twitter users will surely be nice enough to help you out. This is a great way to fine freelancers as well.
15.
Creating your Image
Twitter allows for the options of creating your own layout. You can use your logo to create a unique twitter site for you. This helps to broaden your personal image, because you have essentially another site that is purely your own.
16.
Planning Meetings
Twitter can be used as a simple facebook. Instead of sending a personal email through facebook, just give them a quick tweet on twitter. This can be used for all kinds of information, that only needs quick messages.
17.
Twitter Flipping
The new wave of siteflipping is twitter flipping. Thanks to free accounts, and the uniquness they allow with only one allowed per site, people are grabbing up free accounts, for the purpose of selling them on auctions. Twitter sites like @lifehacker or @problogger if grabbed early enough could have been worth a lot. But the pickings are quickly decreasing as the accounts are snatched up. So grab your free twitter accounts now, for selling later.
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