Twitter is a big source of traffic for my blogs � especially the newer ones.� When you can tweet a new post and see hundreds of visitors within hours, that�s pretty darned cool.
I have started to compare all of my social networking activities to Twitter, figuring out my ROI.� Last month on Profitable Mommy Blogging I shared my results comparing time spent using Entrecard to promote a blog versus time spent on Twitter.� Minute for minute, Twitter is a much better use of my time.
There�s no doubt that Twitter is a powerful promotional tool.
One mom blogger commented to me recently that she never used to get more than ten visitors a day to her blog and now she sees over a hundred from Twitter alone.� She has about 750 followers at this point and can�t wait to see what happens when she had twice that many.
Another WAHM told me recently that she has been using Twitter to double her traffic since the beginning of fall.� She�s been so impressed with her results on Twitter that she hasn�t been doing much of anything else.
That�s great.� Twitter rocks!� But here�s a really important message:
You can�t rely on Twitter for everything.
Twitter traffic is wonderful, but if you pursue Twitter to the exclusion of other important marketing activities you�ll be shooting yourself in the foot.
Why?� Well, Twitter is as Twitter does � if you take a break from Twitter, Twitter takes a break from you.� Those hundreds of visits that flow in response to your tweets disappear.
I know, some of you are thinking �Take a break from Twitter?!� � and I know that sounds crazy but believe it or not, you will eventually, at least occasionally, want to disengage from the constant flow of information.� Or� simply slow down a bit here and there.
While Twitter is and will continue to be an amazing resource for all of us, we need to make time for other important marketing activities as well.
Think about Long Term Results
If I spend an hour or so tweeting, I can draw anywhere from 50 to 150 visitors to my sites in one spurt.
If I spend that time writing a good article and distribute it to a few popular article directories I can draw hundreds or even thousands of visitors to my sites over the next year and for many years after that.
If I spend the time writing a guest post for a popular relevant blog I gain immediate traffic and build an important authority link to my website, helping to boost my search engine rankings.
Create a Good Marketing Mixture
Do use Twitter � but use it smartly � in tandem with other good long term marketing activities.