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Do you have a hard time expressing yourself on Twitter? Do you not totally understand the purpose of Twitter? Well, until about 2 days ago I had no idea what to tweet about on Twitter, or even what purpose Twitter serves. I see tweets as they pop up while I’m working, and some of them are pretty silly. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know why hundreds or thousands of people should know that I just took a shower, or that I’m having a doughnut for breakfast, etc… (WHY would ANYONE even WANT to know these things!?) I also noticed that there are actually little “cliques” like in High School. I would have felt as if I were intruding if I were to try to join the conversation! The whole Twitter thing just seemed like a waste of valuable time. Until now, that is!

I have a free twitter account and the tweet my blog plug in. This plug in is really very helpful, it connects Twitter to my blog and posts a tweet whenever I post something. I also go into my Twitter account once a week and follow people back that are following me. That has been the extent of my involvement on Twitter so far.

In the past two days I’ve accidentally come across three really great posts that helped me to understand the purpose of Twitter and the best ways to express yourself on Twitter. Well, now I’m really excited about using Twitter! I finally know it’s purpose, and I now understand which ways are the best ways to express yourself on Twitter. I’m beginning to see Twitter in a whole different light.

Here’s what stood out most for me after reading the posts about Twitter:

- Provide valuable content in your tweets, such as something funny you read or saw, a great post you just read, a helpful quote, something educational that people can use, anything of interest!

- Remember that most people don’t want to know what you are doing at that exact moment (such as brushing your teeth!). You can tweet about what you’ve been working on (make sure you’re not promoting though), something you did earlier that day (went to the beach), a cause you’re involved with, a free gift you have available, embarrassing moments you’ve had, etc. The list could go on and on, just make it interesting!

- Twitter is for building relationships and credibility, not pushing for sales!

- Don’t keep repeating yourself. If you put up a new post, or submitted an article, or read something great there’s no need to go on and on about it all day long. One or two tweets about it is enough.

- If someone posts a link you like you can “re-tweet” it (it’s a great compliment to the tweeter who posted the tweet!). All you have to do is copy the tweet, paste it into a new tweet, and add RT to the beginning.

- On Twitter you can follow the people who interest you and join in on the conversations.

- If exchanging tweets back and forth with the same tweeter for a long time, it’s probably a good idea to use the send a Direct Message option.

- Have fun, be yourself, and you can develop new relationships, potential customers and potential partners. Twitter is also a great place to share your message, get information and news, and research your market.

For more information on Twitter here are the links to the 3 posts I read:

check out Derek Gehl’s post for some great tips on interacting using Twitter. Derek has the best tips for using Twitter and how it can benefit you. There’s also a short video that shows you how to set up a new account.

Jeff Shecter’s video post is called “What’s Your ROI? – The 4 E’s of Social Media” (ROI doesn’t stand for return on investment!). I really liked Jeff’s video post a lot because it applies to Social Media in general.

The last post I read was at TwiTip, which is edited by Darren Rowse from Problogger Blog Tips. The particlular post I read is “How to Be a Good Dog on Twitter in 8 Easy Steps” by Krista Travers from Whippit Snippets. I thought this was a really “cute” post about using Twitter, and she has a very creative writing style.

You can set up a free Twitter account at www.twitter.com.

Free stuff you can use for Twitter:

Get the “Tweet My blog” plugin here: Tweet My Blog Plugin

TweetLater is a great tool to have, you can set up automated replies and much more!

Tweet Getter is getting around fast – it’s viral! Get thousands of followers quickly!

Well, that’s it for now! I hope this helps you understand more about expressing yourself on Twitter. You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/bizathome

Take care,

Lori James
http://www.everythinghomebiz.com
lorijames@everythinghomebiz.com

Is Your job in limbo? You might want to consider ways to earn extra cash online! More and more people are being laid-off every day, what happens if you’re next?

Please know that I’m not posting about this to try to sell you anything, I just want you to know that there really are people making money online every day. Some are earning a part time income, some a full time income, and there are many who earn a huge amount of money. It IS possible, and with so many people becoming unemployed I wanted to let you know that you have other options to make a living.

What prompted this post? Well…

I read a news article yesterday which stated that a lot of people feel their jobs are in limbo, and that they fear they will be the next in line to be let go. Then there’s the large number of people who are on unemployment. I was curious so I looked through the help wanted section in the classifieds, (which sadly didn’t take very long), and there were only 18 job listings! It’s still so unbelievable to me that the “credit crisis” has had such a widespread effect, and there doesn’t seem to be an end to it in sight. It’s really scary.

How about you? Are you afraid you might lose your job? Have you already lost your job? If so, then maybe you should consider ways to earn extra cash online. If you’re still thinking you can’t really make any money online, you’re wrong! Again, there are so many people these days who are earning a regular income online.

When I started trying to earn money online over a year ago I had no one to turn to. There was no one to help me learn how to make money online. It was very frustrating. Now I have a lot of people I can turn to for help, and I’ve learned so much more than I ever imagined!

So, if you’re interested in earning extra cash online, be assured that there are people out there who really want to help others, and that I will help you in every way possible.

I’m not saying you’re going to “get rich quick“, or that you won’t have to work to make money online. It can be hard work, especially in the beginning, but knowing others are there to help makes things much easier.

If you’re ready to start a new career online, whether part time or full time, you can learn how to make money online! Take Action Now! Change your life for the better. We all need to pull together and help each other. If I can do it, then so can you.

Take care,

Lori James
http://www.everythinghomebiz.com
lorijames@everythinghomebiz.com

When you finally make the decision to start a home based business it can be difficult to know where to begin. There’s so much information out there and it can become very overwhelming! So, where do you start?

Well, the first thing you need to do is come up with a plan according to your own personal goals. Where do you want to be in a year? In 90 days? In a month? What steps do you need to take to get to where you want to be within those time periods?

What do you need in order to set up your online business? Here are the essentials you would need to start a home based business:

-A computer with an internet connection; a printer; a few notebooks; some file folders; basic office supplies: a quiet place in your home where you can work without too many distractions.

- A “TO DO” list to write down your list of things to do for the next day in order of importance., a “DID” list where you can write down exactly what you did that day, and an “IDEAS” folder where you can put any ideas you have (even if you just jot your idea down on a slip of paper) for future use. It’s very important to be organized!

- A Wordpress Blog, which you can get for free at www.wordpress.com

- A Domain name for you blog: you can get an affordable domain name at NameCheap.

- A Hosting Service: you can get reliable, inexpensive hosting at Hostgator.

- An Autoresponder: one of the best is AWeber. AWeber offers a lot of quality services to help build your online business.

- The Dedication and the willingness to put in the time it will take to start a home based business and to build your online business.

You will need to put some good “valuable” content on your blog to offer your readers, and you will need to get traffic to your blog so that you have readers.

A great way to get readers is to have an opt-in list. List building is a huge part of starting a home based business. You’ll also gain traffic while building your list.

Lori James is the owner of Everything Home Biz. For more information on how to build a mailing list here: FREE List Building eBook

Hi Everyone,

I heard Kompozer was one of the best “free” html editor’s available. I already had Kompozer, but just recently used it, and it really is very good.

Kompozer is a great tool to have for getting a PLR (Private Label Rights) product ready for JV Giveaways. So, give it a try!

Talk to you soon,

Lori James
http://www.everythinghomebiz.com
lorijames@everythinghomebiz.com

I just submitted an article I have on my Squidoo lens to Associated Content. Associated Content pays you for your articles! The articles you submit must, of course, contain unique content. You can submit unpublished articles or articles that you have already published.

I had heard of Associated Content before, but just now signed up and submitted my first article. I’m going to submit more articles this week.

It doesn’t take long to sign up or to submit an article, so why not give it a try? You can go here to sign up: Associated Content

I’ll let you know how it’s working out for me and how much money I get paid for my articles!

You can read the article I submitted on my Squidoo lens, here’s the link: Read My Article Here!

Take care,

Lori James
http://www.everythinghomebiz.com
lorijames@everythinghomebiz.com