I have found the various functions that occur on Twitter, like #Follow Friday, is a great concept. Think about it. You are being offered a free ticket to one of the biggest events, every day, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Think of it as a huge cocktail party. You now have a choice of whom you follow and whom you want to talk to. There are so many users that don’t engage, no matter how many times you chat with them. Are they worth it? Hey that’s up to you. Would you continue talking to someone if they never responded? That’s one of the reason I don’t follow any of the A-Listers; you know, the Super Stars, Rock Stars, or self proclaimed Guru’s.

The information I have been able to gather by being a passive watcher is amazing. Therefore, as a Twitter user my time  fluctuates with the projects we have at hand. I have tried to continue my end of sharing some great names, but the busier we are, the harder it is to really engage on Twitter. Again, Twitter gives you back as much as you put in. To some it’s a waste of time, while others (in my opinion) still don’t get it. But as we all know, every one has an opinion (we won’t talk about what else everyone has).

I follow a little over 2600 people (on two accounts); our accounts are followed by a little over 3700. We are not crunching numbers; we are following real people. I don’t mean to say that people who follow over 10K are not doing it right, but our company’s strategy is really simple. There are thousands of people using Twitter worldwide, but our focus is on a certain target of that market. How we find them is not easy.

We know that Twitter is a great tool that continues to drive traffic to our site. What we offer is not only unique, but we are driven by the client’s success. What and how I use the Follow Friday list is time consuming yes, but well worth the effort.  I am still testing different approaches. I can tell you #Follow Friday used to be one of the ways, but now it seems most recommendations come as a long list with @yourname @hisname @theman etc. I have to admit, that just doesn’t look very personal. Maybe if people would use a header like “this is a list of my favorite graphic designers ” or “women that rock” would be more palatable but, as it stands, people have ruined the personalized experience.

Now that I have time again, the first thing I changed was the way I use Twitter. I have stopped following people just because they follow me. I grit my teeth when someone DM’s me with complete nonsense and immediately unfollow them without wondering why they turned out to be such a looser. As soon as a new person engages me, I engage them (by engage, I do NOT mean with a “come check out my site” Or “lets play Mafia wars“, or worst yet the consummate spammer that inevitably sneaks into your list of followers and swears they have the answer to all your woes for $19.95).

Which brings me to the reason I insist on continuing to share my picks for the week of great people to follow on Twitter. Because they’re worth it. These people continually and consistently have knowledge, humor, questions and theories to share. They make me think, smile, listen and often teach me something. Thank you, my #FF list!

@nicole_harrison Her posts have been entertaining. One thing I can tell you about her when she sets her mind to something she is an Eveready battery.  Does Kutchner ring a bell?
@MarjyMeechan Out of Fort Lauderdale this woman has some great posts. She is engaging, smart and always ready for a dip.
@Nicolamenicacci A countrymen and a wonderful writer. He & his business partner run a coaching consulting firm. As they say in Italian “Qualcuno da seguire” Grazie.
@StaceyHood I really love this guy’s site.  Stacey is from the Deep South you can hear his Southern hospitality. Great find if you want to add value to your twitter feed.
@soultravelers3 Would love to do as much traveling as this family of three. She always has a kind word and some great links. For example “I am sitting outside at night here in Italy w/ 5 other folks from several nations, each with a laptop, chatting & working. Small world! ” How could you not dream with a post like that!
@Santamistura Patricia is my favorite DJ on Twitter. She is also a great textile designer. Always has great tunes & amazing links to share. Granted she doesn’t do much talking (I think her English is not up to par) But who cares when she has great music, videos, design, trends, fashion, illustrations and great links.
@Spideas Scott Peters a wonderful fun guy to follow. Great ideas man that sends out interesting links. Always a kind word very engaging on Twitter. Check his site out.
@RyderMedia Erika has a great personality and is extremely engaging. As a social media consultant she always has great tips. Great thing about following her is her noise is minimal … unlike mine on some days lol
@Joycebossom I started following Joyce because of this post “My false sense coolness has been crushed…
@eFusionman Okay so he doesn’t share a link to his site… but, he is very funny. What value is he adding to my day you ask?  “Q: Do you know how to save a drowning lawyer? A: Take your foot off his head.” Classic funny guy lol.
@KimBrater There is something about Oregonians and dry sense of humor that go hand in hand.  She shares some funny videos, and  has a great sense of humor.  A marketing lady who is the Co-founder of Ant Hill Marketing, Certified Brand Strategist and news junkie. So what’s not to follow here. After all we are on Twitter to forge relationships.
@medlinksolution These guys are serious when it comes to information. A medical SEO copywriting company is rare in my industry. I am still amazed that doctors twitter from operating rooms.
@LouPage Lou is down to Earth. He always has nice things to say, with informative links. One thing that was nice to see was his “if you desire, in your walk with God. (Don’t worry, I promise not to be obnoxious about it.)”
@SocialNetworkTV William is someone you should follow if you want updated news on Social media, marketing, and someone who doesn’t produce noise. He has over twenty thousand followers and has only posted over four thousand posts.

Search-Engine Marketing Power and Achieving the Targets:

It will be extremely advantageous if a person figures out the keywords which customers generally use to seek particular services and products and then present those keywords to several search engines. Duhhh right? Well, when web site visitors type those keywords, the search engine results display the person’s owned web site prominently, thereby resulting in better exposure and sales.

A better alternative compared to organic or free search-engine marketing is search optimization. This definitely enhances the outcome. The more a person bids per keyword the greater will be the search engine guarantee to place the owned web site on the engine result page. But I say don’t get too caught up in getting on top of the search engine. Become vigilant about giving your readers good copy, important information and lots of good advice. They will become loyal to you because they can see that you are not trying to sell a product or service but you want to share your services with them.

I mean really don’t you hate when someone tells you hey I have a great web page with tons of free information only to go there and what do you find? Lots of useless information and lots of crap and you realize you have wasted your time and hopes for another shmuck.

Search engines typically bill on a cost-per-click or a pay-per-click basis. A person is charged only when an Internet visitor clicks on the owned link. The pricing depends on the categories and keywords. However, a person needs to outbid competently the competitors or else all the money is a total waste. The main aim is to attract only those customers who are eager to purchase the owned products and services.

A recent development in search-engine marketing is a novelty called contextual advertising. Content aimed advertising or Relevant paid search. It connects the sponsored link present on the search result page to the web sites themselves. Instead of giving money for the placement on the search result page a person can pay the engines to place the owned web site on those content pages related to the products.

For instance, if a person is looking for the weather condition in Miami Beach the engine will also display a listing for Miami car rentals and hotels. A person can now target the web site visitors the very moment they show interest in knowing more about the service and products that the person is marketing. A shrewd combination of all these search-engine marketing strategies will improve a business in several ways.

Search-engine marketing:

1. Gains business exposure and boosts the brand profile
2. Helps in gaining new customers
3. Increases the traffic that is necessary for building affiliate revenue or advertising
4. Creates leads for following up calls
5. Advertises sales and offers
6. Launches or increases online sales
7. Creates publicity
8. Markets events and off-line goods

These days every business has to offer several varieties of products to customers. Search-engine marketing makes this easy by getting an Individual’s attention from the Internet visitors. Now don’t believe everything you read either. I mean really don’t take what I have to say as the end all. After all I am only human, I try to give you the information the best way I know how. By reading and testing things out. Hey I make mistakes too, the beauty is that I make them before I give you the info. So they have been tried. I offer a full turnkey product. That’s what drives me failure. Read it and weep you sly competitors, feed me, but love me.