Ok, so you have decided to finally throw in the towel and join the online community known as Twitter. Should you really do it, even though you are not to sure about it? I say YES, YES, and don't even think about it. Twitter is a great way to build your online presence and can actually be alot of fun. Just to give you an idea of how popular twitter is visit www.alexa.com which tracks the most visited websites in the world. Twitter is currently #23 up from #26 a few weeks ago and #38 a few months ago. I believe twitter will be in the top 10 within a few months. Here are 5 Steps that I believe will make your experience much more enjoyable.

Step 1 : Unless you are using twitter to market your Brick & Mortar Plumbing Company, always use a real picture of YOU. Preferrably your head shot. It doesn't have to be a professional shot, but must look friendly. No unwanted facial expressions, sexual body shots, or flipping off the camera, just a friendly smile. I personally, won't add anyone who doesn't look like someone I would have over for supper. I would recommend a custom twitter page like mine, but if you don't have the $50 - $200 to spend than you can go to a website like twittbacks.com.

Step 2: Try finding your friends or family members who are already on twitter. This is pretty simple, once you log into your account just enter their name or username. Obviously if people already know you, you will have a much better chance of building your following with people you know first.

Step 3: try to connect with like-minded people. There are 2 websites that will allow you to stay in touch with others who have the same interests, they are www.twollow.com and www.twellow.com (The Twitter Yellow Pages). I highly recommend you use both of these sites as who wants to follow people who don't have the same interests???

Step 4: Find people on Twitter who you look up to that are leaders in your industry or hobbies. Obviously most of their followers are going to have the same interests. Just click on their followers and start following. But don't follow too many people at one time, as Twitter could suspend your account. I personally, wouldn't add more than a 100 new people per day to any one twitter account. If you want to gamble and do more, just keep twitter in the background and only add people intermittently throughout the day.

Step 5: Find People in the area: You can do this by doing an advanced search on twitter, but I personally find it just as easy to use www.twellow.com and enter the name of your city or local cities in the search look up. This is great! Especially if you are offering a service/product/business that caters to your local market.

Step 6: Use 3rd party apps to build and manage your following the 2 most important ones that I recommend are Tweetdeck and Huitter. Tweetdeck will let you manage your twitter accounts much easier and Huitter will allow you to eliminate those that don't follow you back. The latter is very important, as Twitter puts a maximum on how many followers you can have versus those that are following you.

If you couldn't be bothered with the above, or would like a one on one coaching session on Twitter you can always email me directly at john@sellingwithintegrity.net I have helped many getting started on twitter and I can help you as well. To visit my 2 twitter pages go to: www.twitter.com/homebiztrainer and www.twitter.com/integritymktg