Comments are like Crack Cocaine for Bloggers

Motivation for this post was a Tweet I saw in #BlogChat on Sunday night. “Comments are like crack cocaine to a Blogger.” If true, than ReTweets are a blogger's Dealer, and Tweets her/his wallet. Tweeting drives traffic to our blogs, ReTweeting expands our audience. Comments may fuel the addiction, but of their own, they are like preaching to the choir. A comment boosts our ego, encourages us, makes us feel like someone is listening. When someone ReTweets us to their audience, we are enlarging our reach, gaining new readers, the torch is passed.

Twitter is like a hit engine as I posted last week. According to statistics, more blog hits are derived by Tweeting than from SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ) or AdWords Campaigns or any other method. Regardless of topic, the likihood that someone will find your article simply based upon using Google, Bing, Yahoo or Metacrawler organic search is very low. But when we use Twitter and to a lesser degree Facebook to drive traffic we strengthen the odds in our favor.

Being able to write interesting and compelling tweets gives us all a lesson in the Journalistic art of headline writing. Which sounds better? “Man finds sandwich on sidewalk” or “Major New Discovery, Washington, DC Resident Finds New Preservative” 

The Ability To Write Compelling Tweets Proves More Valuable Than the Blog Itself

Twitter outpaces Facebook with this phenomena. Now of course there are exceptions, but Twitter drives more blog hits than any other search engine. Stop thinking of Twitter as Social Networking Site for a moment, and think of it as a Search Tool. When we use hashtags, we are making our subject available to the entire Twitterverse. So I might include in that same Tweet such search tags as #Food #Science #Washington, DC.

  Rather than obtaining hits/readers from the few dozen or so people who actually might see the tweet live... ( Remember, there are only about 12 tweets above the fold on any computer monitor ) now my tweet may be read by anyone searching for those keywords.

Bloggers and more generally writers should be and are slowly adapting to the world of search engine optimization the better they become at mastering keyword and headline writing on Twitter.

Which brings me back to my main point. Getting ReTweeted may in fact be easier from someone who is searching for a keyword, doing research, or looking to expand their own follower list by typing in keywords in the first place. So when someone uses Twitter as a search engine, and finds your Tweet, you stand a greater chance of being ReTweeted than if you use no hashtags at all. Invariably they are going to open some links and do some reading, and after investing some time, even a small commitment they may A. Comment in a Tweet and mention our blog; B. Comment within the body of the Blog and/or C. ReTweet a TinyURL of our blog to their followers.

So remember, bloggers, when you get a comment, you are getting praise from a follower, someone who is already reading your blog. But when you get a ReTweet, you are expanding your audience, you are growing your network, you are growing your influence. So go for the ReTweet, and thank the person who sends out your Blog URL to others, they are expanding your audience 1,000 percent more than any comment you receive. Comments don't expand your audience, ReTweets expand your audience.


Adword vs Organic Search: http://pronetworkbuild.com/adwords-vs-organic-search/

The Most Important Decision Any Small Business Owver Will Make: http://pronetworkbuild.com/the-most-important-decision-any-small-business-owner-will-make/

Use Twitter to Get 1,000 Local Connections Per Week: http://pronetworkbuild.com/use-twitter-to-get-local-followers-and-clients/


_______________________________________________

http://facebook.com/ProNetworkBuild 

Lon Dunn writes on Evan Carmichael as a productivity and efficiency expert. He wrote and edited The Thesaurus News from 1995 to 2001 with a specialty in Telephony Infastructure Stocks. With over 20 years following the Mobile Industry, Lon helps Companies, Professionals and Organizations develop Mobile Marketing Strategies combined with Social Media Strategies to strategically target specific markets and demographics to rapidly increase revenues. His most recent book available on Amazon is “How to Use Twitter for Local Business” with Tips and Mobile Marketing Strategies that anyone can do themselves. You can download the free “Kindle App for PC to download the book to your Desktop available on the Kindle Site:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Twitter-Local-Business-ebook/dp/B007VSR6Y2