I prefaced my response by saying that I’m probably not the best person to ask about networking, advertising and getting the word out. But, I did say that I would post the question here because I have a great group of knowledgeable readers that can answer the question better than I.

My Thoughts on Social Networking

Social Networking is a great tool for getting the word out if you know how to work it right and do it often. There are some freelance writers who are very successful at it and earn a lot of money as a result. I’m not one of those writers.

I like to write, I like to earn money, I like to meet solid interesting people and I enjoy sharing what I have learned with other writers. No hidden agenda (I’d make a lousy politician).

If They Really Want it They’ll Find it

I’m old fashioned and believe that quality will be discovered over time. A few people found this blog because they were looking for information and found it; no media blitz, no flooding the social networking sites, no paid advertising. I probably could have a larger reader base if I went on a social networking blitz and paid for advertising, but I’m not sure I really want to do that.

In my experience, posts that have been Stumbled get a huge influx of traffic for a short period of time and then die off. The momentary high is nice, but it takes work to sustain it. Then there are those pieces that have been submitted to Digg, Reddit and Mixx. Their traffic is steadier, but it’s a steady trickle, nothing too impressive. I think it takes time and constant effort to make Digg, Reddit, Mixx and the like truly work.

Product, Service or Just Plain Talk

Since I’m not selling a product or service (and really offer nothing but freelance writing talk), I guess my thoughts differ from someone who has a product to sell. Maybe if I had invested money in creating a product and wanted to get it out to the general public to help recoup my expenses, I might view everything differently. Since my expenses are extremely low and easy to recoup, I don’t have that type of urgency.

Bringing it Back to the Point

Forgive me; I got a little side tracked. The original questions were:

• How do I network with other freelance writers?

• How do I quickly spread the news about my new blog?

Here’s what I came up with and I welcome additions to this list:

Networking with other freelance writers:

1. Join Freelance Writing Groups. I recently received a LinkedIn invitation from Robin Margolis to join her recently created group Freelance Writers Working For Internet Content Mills. If you haven’t done so already, check it out. Robin has assembled a group of high-quality writers and artists from various backgrounds who share their experience and expertise in an attempt to help fellow writers become more successful in their online writing endeavors.
2. Check out a few forums. I say this with bated breadth. Understand the caliber of forums before you enter. Forums, if run correctly, can be a great source of information. If not run correctly it can be a breeding ground for strong opinions, bickering and negativity.
3. Contact freelance writers directly. Most online writers have links to either a website, blog or email address. If you find someone you respect or would like to contact, do so. That’s a fine way to start a networking relationship.
4. Follow a few worthwhile blogs. I’ve found that the most popular blogs are not always the most worthwhile blogs (I tend to like underdogs). Check out Master Dayton , Write Moms, My Online Income and Freelance Home Writer just to name a few.
5. Here’s a link I found on  networking effectively. There are at least 5 more tips there

How to quickly get the word out if you have a new blog/site:

1. Write free articles for places like Ezine Articles
2. Write guest posts
3. Add meaningful comments on blogs that offer linkbacks
4. Use Google AdWords
5. Submit to search engines
6. Use Social Networking sites
7. Write a press release
8. Try blog carnivals (I’m not too familiar with blog carnivals, but I understand some folks have been successful with them).
9. Check out these sites for more tips: Seth Godin’s 56 Tips on How to Get Traffic and SEOmoz.org’s  21 Tactics to Increase Blog Traffic

These lists are a great start and are by no means all encompassing. I’d like to hear how some of you guys network and gain traffic.

Over time, I acquiesced and signed up. I checked out a few Twitter services and set up Tweet Later, automated my RSS feed through Twitter and maybe a couple of other things. I even spent a little time playing with my TwitWall. However, after the Twitter novelty wore off, I realized that I’m not a Twitterer.

I did tweet a time or two, but I just couldn’t keep up. I guess I’m too old fashioned. Too many conversations going on at one time overwhelms me (it’s like being at a loud party with everyone talking and no one listening).

The other aspect to Twitter that I couldn’t warm up to is the constant updates and need to update. Some tweets are very informative and some, well some are just plain unnecessary. I mean, some folks tweet about going to take a shower or walking to the store or even drinking a glass of milk. Maybe it’s me, but that’s just too much information that I’d rather not be privy to.

Twitter Direct Messages

I frequently get direct messages informing me that the sender has the answer to my online earning problems or, if I auto follow (a feature that I have to disable), I usually get a reciprocal follow or direct message telling me to click on a link to read, buy or sign up for something.

The ‘always on’ quality of Twitter turns me off. I believe Twitter has its usefulness and there are many folks who utilize it well. Me, on the other hand, I don’t tweet well. After all, I’m one of the few people left on earth that doesn’t IM (instant message) and barely uses a cell phone (a habit that drives my daughter crazy).

Maybe one day I’ll really gain a liking for Twitter. In the meanwhile, I’ll stick with the forms of communication that work best for me (face-to-face, telephone and email).

The Twitter community is as diverse as they come, but in my short time using the technology, I couldn’t help but notice a few emerging trends. Just like walking into a party, you can quickly tell the Alphas from the rest of the crew, Twitter isn’t much different. Using ornithology to help categorize my observations, below is a short list of my findings:

Eagles: The eagles fly high above the crowd. Their majestic tweets offer great information for their followers, but they never fly low enough to interact with their followers. This is not a put down, just an observation. I happen to like Eagles as their tweet are usually informative and right on time.

Peacocks: Peacocks are leaders in their field in the Twitter world. No matter what your Twitter style, you tend to gravitate to those who discuss topics you’re interested in. Each topic has an industry leader or two that proudly struts his/her stuff. When they tweet…people listen. They are different from the Hawks in that they fly low enough interact with their followers.

Swans: There are those who are not quite industry leaders as yet, but they have a grace about their tweets. A nice mixture of curious information along with a soft promotion of their products, blog or website. They tend to help their followers more than they promote products (or so it seems to the untrained eye). Swans draw you into their tweets with their warm engaging personality. Once you begin following a swan, you will soon read, click on or purchase just about anything the swan recommends.

Humming Birds: Theses are the folks who seem to tweet incessantly. They share information non-stop from the time they wake up until the time they go to bed. It’s similar to an online journal of 140 character entries. Every once in a while the humming bird takes a break (I guess for a short nap or so), and then they come back rested and humming at a feverish pitch.

Vultures: These are the folks who start a new Twitter account, follow as many people as they can, in an attempt to get a reciprocal follows and then they come in for the kill. They promote their products relentlessly without any attempt to build a sense of community. You will often find that Vulture accounts are quickly suspended by the folks at Twitter.

Chickens: Everyone is a chicken at one time or the other. As a matter of fact, I’m struggling to get out of this category. The chickens are usually the new Twitter users. We’re excited about using the new technology, or we feel that we must use the new technology or else we’ll be left in the dust, but we’re not quite sure how to go about it. The fact that your mistakes go live instantaneously might be one reason why we’re chickens.

There you have it, a newbie’s ornithological take on the Twitter scene. I’d be interested to hear which category best describes your Twitter habits. Don’t be limited by my short list above. Tell us what bird best represents your habits and why.

Post Dated/Timed Tweets

With tweet later I can post date my tweets. I can schedule them for a future date or a future time on the same day. This works great for things like wishing your friends and family who follow your tweets happy birthday, happy anniversary or Happy Hanukkah. You could conceivably go through your entire calendar, enter the tweets in Tweet Later, and never miss a birthday or anniversary or holiday.

Auto Response and Follow Option

Even more than having fun with post dated tweets, you can choose to automatically send a direct response to new followers when they begin following your Twitter account. This option has its drawbacks, however. Because Tweet Later automatically follows anyone who is following you, you must go through your list of followers to delete anyone whose Twitters don’t line up with your Twitters. I’ve had to manually remove a few spam followers.

Since followers are not flocking to my Twitter account at this point, manual removal isn’t too bad. I’m not quite sure which is more labor intensive. Manually reviewing each follower before reciprocating or removing the follower after you’ve reciprocated. I’m also not to sure of the Twitter etiquette on this one.

Free and Easy Setup

It’s simple and easy to setup. Rather than reinvent the wheel here, I’ll link to an article I wrote on how to set up a tweet later account. Check it out if you interested.

Extra Features

There are some features that I have yet to utilize with Tweet Later. You have the option to set tweet keyword alert to find out when and how people are talking about you and/or your blog or whatever keywords you wish to track. They also have an RSS feed function that I’ve yet to configure. I like taking things one step at a time so those options are on my to do list.

I do like to fool around with Twitter, but I have yet to become a full-fledged Twitterholic. I see the benefits of using twitter and I also see one or two minor drawbacks. As with anything new, it takes a little while to get used to. Since I’m not on a time clock, I’ll take it slow.

If you interested in following my rather random tweets on Twitter, you can follow me at Twitter.com/nojobformom. If you do decide to follow me and receive a direct response from, you’ll know that Tweet Later is at work.

Twitter World

Check out my past couple of posts on my transition into the Twitter world. Now that I’ve discovered it, I’m finding there are a whole slew of ancillary sites, tools and downloads to help support/perpetuate the Twitter habit. The feature Du Jour is TwitWall.

TwitWall comes in handy for the occasional verbose tweet. You know, the tweet that takes more than the allotted 140 characters? When you have too much to say and your Twitter window character notification is displaying red negative numbers, it’s time to to take it to the wall, the TwitWall.

Each Twitter account has a TwitWall. I found out quite by accident about this wall as I was reading someone’s tweet. The link brought me to the wall. I was so intrigued that I did a quick Google search on TwitWall to find out more about it.

Creating My Own TwitWall

So, just for grins, I decided to play with the TwitWall. I apologize to all of my followers for the resulting tweet. I didn’t realize that TwitWall went live immediately. I guess now that I think of it, it only makes sense. It is, after all, a sister to Twitter (DUH).

I took one of my defunct web pages and decided to TwitWall it. It was my original landing page for Maria O’Brien’s book Discover How to Increase Your Online Passive Income. She has since created a much better landing page so my initial creation is sitting in cyberspace lonely and unviewed. So, I figured, what’s the harm of trying out the TwitWall with the old landing page.

I copied and pasted the code onto the TwitWall and lo and behold, I ‘tweeted’ it to my followers the minute I clicked ‘Update.’ Whoa! No margin or room for error.

After doing a little more research, I found that TwitWall allows you to put AdSense code on it, so of course I went back to the same page and edited it by placing a small line of AdSense code. Imagine my surprise when it worked.

Uses for TwitWall

The TwitWall seems to be a nice add on to the Twitter account, but I’m not sure how often I’ll use it. It’s nice to have, but if you already have a blog, why not place your additional information on the blog and link to it rather than placing it on the TwitWall.

I’m sure there are reasons for the TwitWall. After all, Google indexes it and you can create a few more backlinks to your sites and your articles. I guess I can’t hurt.

As I dig deeper and deeper into the world of Twitter, I guess I’ll find more treasures and more reasons to use the TwitWall. In the meanwhile, I’m still getting used to the Twitter features and am trying to figure out how best to use it.

Back to the Real World

Gotta run, my son made it into the All Star game and we have to go, sit in the freezing cold to cheer him on! Nothing beats the thrill of motherhood in frigid temperatures!