Guest posy by Roxanne Manning

The social networking website, Twitter has become extremely popular and for good reason. It is a pretty cool website that allows individuals to keep up with their family, friends and associates. Savvy business owners and entrepreneurs are also using it to not only grow their businesses but to get repeat business. When used correctly, this is exactly what can happen.

The best way to use Twitter if you are looking to make money (and if you are an internet marketer, of course you are), is to encourage your customers or web visitors to follow you on Twitter. Promise them that they will be notified of any specials or sales that you will be offering. Make these special prices and deals available only to Twitter members. This will encourage them to sign up.

Make sure that you promote your Twitter account on a prominent place on your website. Add it to any e-books that you are selling or giving away as well as any articles that you write and submit to article directories. You want to grow your Twitter followers as much as you can. These people will act similarly to an email list. You will be able to keep in contact with them and sale them products in the future.

Once you get people to join and follow you on Twitter, you now can update them on any other products that you are selling or you can offer discounted prices. However, be sure to not only send out sales messages. Instead, provide some information that is informative and helpful. You want your followers to get some real value from you. If they begin to feel like they aren’t, then they may begin to simply ignore your messages.

If you decide to provide discounts, you need to provide some pretty significant ones. Try to offer 25% discounts or more. This will make people feel like they are real getting a deal. This will also encourage other people to follow you. While you will be charging less, you should increase the number of people that make purchases from you. Over time, if you can build up your “list” you can make a good amount of money simply from your Twitter account.

Twitter allows you to answer the question “What are you doing?” Your readers, i.e., friends, family, co-workers and/or customers can easily be updated on what is going on in your life or business. Provide well-written, relevant and informative posts and you can quickly develop an audience that can’t wait for your next update.

Twitter is much easier to manage then an email list. You don’t have to worry about fake email addresses, people complaining about spam, bounce backs or your messages being ignored. You simply provide updates to people that have already made a decision to follow you. Offer them good information that they are interested in as well as special discounts and sales. This will allow you to make first time sales and also create repeat business.