Boost awareness with Twitter

Now that your website is sorted it's time to start getting people to visit it.

Twitter is a micro-blogging tool. It gives you 140 characters to tell people what you are doing, what you're looking at, how you're feeling, what you're thinking about. It's a quick and easy way to update your site and keep people informed without having to write whole blog posts.

I have previously covered how to use Twitter so I won't repeat it here, but here are some suggestions on ways to make the most of your Twitter account.

1. Find people

Spend some time searching for people who will help spread your message or that you want to speak to. If you are looking for sponsorship follow local businesses. Find people involved with the cause that already tweet who will re-tweet your messages. Find your local press to help promote events.

2. Talk to people
You can either send people a private message (Direct Message) or you can tweet @ someone, which everyone can see. Twitter is about building relationships, so spend time talking to people - even if it has nothing directly to do with your cause!

3. RT people
In Twitterland RT means re-tweet, and there is a button available for you to quickly RT a tweet you find interesting. This is a quick and easy way of getting useful news and information to your followers.

4. Don't spam people
Don't write the same tweet over and over, yes you want people to visit your website, but telling them to visit your site every 5 minutes is one of the quickest ways to lose followers! If you add a news article, tweet that with a link to the article. Every now and then tell new followers about your aims. This doesn't mean to say you shouldn't repeat ever, for example if you are running an event tweet about different aspects of it, who will be there, when does it start, where will it be, what's the theme. Remember different people will be on Twitter at different times.

5. Keep it up
You don't need to tweet once an hour, but you should try to keep it regular, one good tweet a day is better than 24 'visit my website' tweets. To begin try spending 10 mins a day writing a tweet, finding one tweet to RT and looking for new people to follow. As you get to know Twitter and can see benefits you may decide to spend more time on it.