Twitter, a rapidly growing micro-blogging phenomenon, is taking over the internet. Day after day new companies are joining twitter and trying to get their clients. Bloggers are joining twitter to get more followers. Make connection in the industry. And so much more. In 2008 twitter’s traffic grew 752%. So I don’t see why users wouldn’t want to get on twitter. I am on twitter, Syed Balkhi. I am not used to of updating my life because if I am at Disney World, then I want to enjoy my trip rather than tweet what I am doing. But a lot of people update their lives. They get more and more followers and indirectly you are getting a lot of advantage.

Darren Rowse over at Problogger asked this question on his blog. Which would you pick, twitter followers or blog readers? I would appreciate if you guys go and vote there.

Right now the vote for Blog readers is at 701 and Twitter followers are at 107.

I voted for Blog Readers. Why do bloggers go to twitter? To get more readers. So at the end of the day, you want more blog readers. You can’t put everything you want to put in 140 characters. Twitter is too limiting. If I am selling a product, I am better able to do so on my blog. I think my blog readers are more important to me than my twitter followers. Blog readers can contact me through the contact form. Twitter, you can only Direct Message me, if I follow you back. I can’t follow everyone who follows me, so it defeats the purpose.

Twitter is great to get beta testers, perhaps get a quick poll, only if your followers are active. If not then you are screwed.

I will say that I will pick blog readers any day. The best example is that I would’ve never seen Darren’s post on twitter, but since I read his blog through my feed, I saw it.

What do you think?

I know that a lot of you have entered the contest that is going on Balkhis. But I have realized that not all of you are following the correct procedures.

This contest is only for those users who have signed up with Market Leverage under my referral.

So signing up to Market Leverage with my referral is a mandatory step that you need to do.

If you are already a user with Market Leverage, and you did not join under my referral, then you are not qualified to enter this contest.

*These are the terms that both I and Market Leverage agreed upon when starting this contest, so they must be followed in order for this contest to go smoothly.

Search Engine Optimization. Sounds confusing but really it is a system built on small and simple methods. Anchor text in Internal Linking is just another one of those small tricks. We all know internal linking is something that we should do. It increase your page views and help ranking of your pages. Well just internal linking doesn’t do the job. You need to choose your anchor texts carefully.

A lot of people when they write about their previous posts they use anchor texts such as click here or so. It is of habits. I know I do it a lot as well. But I do it for posts that I don’t really care about. If I want to rank high for some keyword I try to be descriptive in my anchor text.

For Example:

You want to market your site. Check out 13 ways I promoted my Blog.

I could’ve easily said to check how I promoted my self, click here. The click here is not the way to go for important posts.

This change might not sound like a big deal, but remember that drop of water makes an ocean. Start with a drop and you will have your own ocean.

There are so many types of blog posts. Which ones get the most traffic? Common saying in the blogosphere is that the list posts gets the most traffic. Well, I will share what is the most popular type of blog posts that I see get a lot of attention on other blogs as well as my own blog.

Instructions and Tutorials – These posts are among the most popular type of blog posts that I see on blogs. This type of post is usually most searched in google, so the if you get ranked well, you will get good traffic.

Informational – People like to know something that they don’t know. Perhaps an update, or something of that sort. Announcement of new wordpress release. This type of post gets hit if you are the first one. Even if you are not the first one, it is good to write it because of the trackback traffic. I know everytime I write about a new wordpress release, I get around 400 – 500 visitors from Wordpress site due to trackback.

Case Studies – Case Studies is also a growing trend among bloggers. This is one of the things that is being appreciated by the readers, so I would rank this third in my list because it attracts new readers as well as entertain loyal readers.

List Posts – The good ol’ list posts no longer rank at the top because it is getting old. You have to have a spectacular list in order for others to appreciate it. Make it more exciting than just a list. Now list needs more add on to it before it gets hit.

Interviews – Interview with a famous person is always a good read for readers. Interview bring you new readers because all followers of the person being interviewed comes to your site to see your conversation.

Prediction Posts – Prediciton posts always entertain your readers because your reader likes to see your predictions and your thoughts. If you are predicting something famous, then you will likely receive hits from google and other search engines as well.

Attack/Critque Posts – These posts are less and less common on the blogs now a days because there is too much sucking up going on. Almost all product reviews are positive. Those who find critiques do get a lot of traffic. This only works if there is a genuine problem with a product.

If I were you, I would focus on these 7 types of blog posts because these are the ones that takes the lead. Make sure to be original. Tutorials that have been copied over and over does not do a lot of good. If you have anymore suggestions then feel free to put them down in the comment.

Networking is an important part in our business. I attend conferences, chat with other bloggers, and try to meet as many people as I can online or in person that can help build my network. But building network is not the final step. Everyone can say I know XXXX, but how well do you know them. Are you friends, or just someone who you met at so and so conference? In this post I will show you some of the ways how you can change your one time meet-up into a long-term mutual friendship.

Lets say you meet someone at a conference. You introduced yourselves to each other, it was a three day conference. The first thing you want to do is give away your business card and ask others for theirs. You hang out with the person in other sessions, then of course the confernece ends. But now you know about their website. You should’ve already checked it out. If it is a blog then you should add comments. You have their business card, so send them an email, saying it was nice to meet them at a conference. You keep up with their next conference schedule. If you have any suggestions/feedback for their site feel free to give it to them.

Now you are not just someone who this person met at a conference, but you are one of the few that stood out. Now you will have an easy time getting replies from them if someone you met is a popular blogger. You might even be able to write guest posts easier then others.

That is just for bloggers. Lets look at a bigger picture. Companies! You go to their booths during the conference, you do the casual hello/hi and take the freebie and walk away. These people won’t remember you because you didn’t do anything to stand out. Perhaps it is good to look at the sponsors list before hands. Prepare questions for the company that you are interested in. Then when you approach the table, you are ready to have a good conversation with their representatives. You ask them questions and show that you are interested. This way the company’s rep. will remember you. Almost all of them have their business cards over there. You pick up theirs and give them yours if you think it is necessary. You come home you send them an email. Join their company if it is an affiliate marketing company. Try to become their partner.

What happens now is that you have a potential advertiser and partner. If it is a local company or a company in your area then you can ask to visit their office for your blog. You know take pictures and share the experience with your readers. Always good to build relationships.

Now I have been in good relationships with Market Leverage. We ran a successful contest before, and this is our second contest that we are running now. Check it out here.

Now you need to pick and choose. You can’t just give out your business cards to everyone, and send emails to everyone. Only send emails to those who you actually had a good time talking to. Because otherwise sometimes the emails get a little awkward.

So don’t stop at just networking, try to make business relationships.