10 ways to increase your Twitter followers

This guest post is written by Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg and the cofounder of Revision3 and Pownce. Kevin, who has over 88,000 followers on Twitter (making him the second most followed after President Obama), also “bloggs” at kevinrose.com. He is an investor in Twitter.

Ten Ways To Increase Your Twitter Followers:

1. Explain to your followers what retweeting is and encourage them to retweet your links. Retweeting pushes your @username into foreign social graphs, resulting in clicks back to your profile. Track your retweets using retweetist.
2. Fill out your bio. Your latest tweets and @replies don’t mean much to someone that doesn’t know you. Your bio is the only place you have to tell people who you are. Also, your bio is displayed on Twitter’s Suggested Users page. Leaving it blank or non-descriptive doesn’t encourage people to add you.
3. As @garyvee says, “link it up.” Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, email signature, and everywhere else you live online. Also, check out the great feedburner-like badges from TwitterCounter for your blog.
4. Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them. Quality content coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your content, they’ll add you. Learn more about #hash tagging here.
5. Bring your twitter account into the physical world. Every time I give a talk, speak on a panel, shoot a podcast, present slides, or hand out business cards, I figure out a way to broadcast or display my twitter account.
6. Take pictures. Pictures are heavily retweeted/spread around. This one from US Airways Flight 1549 has been viewed 350,000+ times. For mobile pics use iPhone apps such as Tweetie or Twitterific, both which support on the go uploading.
7. Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason added thousands of followers…brilliant.
8. Follow the top twitter users and watch what they tweet. Pay attention to the type of content they sent out and how they address their audiences.
9. Reply to/get involved in #hash tag memes. search.twitter.com lists the hot ‘trending topics. Look for the #hash topics and jump in on the conversation (see #4 for links to #hash instructions).
10. Track your results. TwitterCounter will show you how many new users you’re adding per day and Qwitter will email you when someone unfollows you after a tweet.

If you enjoy this content, add me at twitter.com/kevinrose, thank you.

Read more: http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/25/kevin-rose-10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/#ixzz0p9guSm3N

How to get started in Internet Marketing

I will be providing information on how to get started with Internet Marketing. During this time of high unemployment and high stress many people have computers but don't know they could be making money with them. Many people are loosing their homes as well as jobs.
My job is not to sell you on something that isn't good for you but if you have an interest in internet marketing and you have no money to put forth then this site is for you. I will give you lots of FREE information to help you get started. When you actually are making money from what you have learned then perhaps I'll have a product for you to purchase but only if you want to!

What I have discovered is that there is lots of information out there on the internet about this, but everyone wants some money in order to tell you exactly how to do it. I personally paid some money for an apprentice program, which fell way short of my expectations. The mentor was unavailable most of time and so was the assistant. So there was no guidance or direction. However as part of a team I was assigned a project and because of the lack of guidance and direction my team members learned some things in the process. The mentor did provide us access to information that I wouldn't have otherwise had access to and for that I am grateful.

The project we were assigned back in February 2010 still hasn't launched but is mostly ready to go pending the website. The most important lesson I learned from this is that I must take my success into my own hands. I cannot wait for other people to show me how, I must simply dig in and do it for myself (or find a better mentor). If I find a different mentor, and pay for their program who's to say the outcome will be any different?

Therefore I forge ahead creating my own path to success. I will share with you what I have learned along the way so that you too can learn.

Please comment below on what topics you would like covered in this blog. Comment on where you are with your journey in internet marketing and what you need to go forward.