Micro Blogging and Blogging are two topics frequently talked about by entrepreneurs The most common question that comes up is: “What do we need to get started and how do we become great at it?

The answer may seem simple, but just like you’re business, your job or your hobby; you have to do allot of it and you have to do it well.

I like to refer to Twitter as a micro blogging platform. Your posts cannot be longer than 140 characters and straight to the point. Twitter is a great tool to find people who are interested in what you have to say so don’t be afraid to connect with them often, everyone craves connection and recognition. Retweeting is a great way to show someone you’ve acknowledged their post or replying to a post with a question, comment or adding to the topic is another great way to connect with people on twitter. Don’t forget to follow them, chances are that if you’ve connected with them, they too will follow you back. At first, it will take time to build a quality fellowship, but as time goes by, your number of followers will increase and this will lead you to build lists categorizing your followers to make it simple to keep up with your favourite tweeters.

The “@”symbol followed by a name when you post is called a mention, this is used when you want to include someone in your post.

Example: It was great meeting @WyntersLife at the event yesterday.

A hash tag is used within a Tweet as a way to participate in a particular conversation on Twitter. For example, if you are a fan of the television show Lost, then you could jump into the ongoing conversation by including “#Lost” in your Tweet.

Example: Did you see that last episode of #Lost?

It’s a terrible idea to use twitter to directly advertise a product or service. People don’t pay any attention to them and will quickly loose interest in you. It is okay to let people know you’ve just posted a new blog post mind you.

A common mistake is not to participate with other tweeter’s conversations. If you spend 10 minutes in the morning followed by 20 minutes in the evening you should be able to reply to everyone, tweet a little about yourself and get caught up with your fellowship! If you have a smart phone you can break up your half hour in 5 minute segments, keeping up with @ mentions and posting your own ideas and experiences throughout the day.

Blogs however can be a burden on you. They require allot of your free time and rarely do they become a source of income. Much like twitter, your blog can’t be a source to spam your readers, or well at least not in an obvious way. Make sure you pick a topic and a writing style you’re comfortable with. It is possible to monetize from a blog, www.onehundredjobs.ca is a perfect example of that. Aimee is writing about one hundred jobs for one hundred or more dollars. This is a huge commitment on her part; she spends well over 2 hours a day writing her blog. Now if you do the math, she’s not making a killing, but the contacts she has made over this past year are priceless! Aimee is a rare example of blog success and this success came with allot of blood, sweat and beer! (Wine). Blogs aren’t for everyone, but if you feel up to the challenge take a look at these two blog platforms, both of them allow you to point your own domain name:

www.blogger.com
Blogger.com is one of the most popular blogging software programs available. There are two main reasons for its popularity. First, it’s been around longer than just about any other blogging software, so bloggers are very familiar with it. Second, it’s completely free and easy to use. Since Google purchased Blogger.com, the features and tools available to Blogger.com users continue to grow.

www.tumblr.com
Need a place to share your discoveries on the Web quickly and easily? Try Tumblr, a supremely easy to use blogging platform that gets you up and running with a minimum of fuss. 

I hope this helps you get started with twitter and your own blog. If you have any questions, please write a comment.

Eric

(Source: belecnet.com)