If you have been a steady reader here at Jimvesting, you may have noticed that about a week ago I added a “Net Fool Twitter” widget to my sidebar. So what the heck does it do? Well basically, this is an online system that lets me update my current “what am I doing” status to let you guys connect with me on a different level. Sounds a bit strange/useless at first… but I am convinced that Twitter can be not only a tool for networking, but for increasing your traffic!

Let’s start with a general feel for what Twitter is, both on the surface and underneath it all. Here is how they define it:

“Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” -Twitter.com

So really, I would think about it as a blend of Facebook, Instant Messaging, Email and Text Messaging. It is what is known as a “mini-blogging” tool, because it is essentially a low-end version of a weblog!

I know what you are thinking… “wow, how useless is that… what does anyone care about what I am doing?” I thought this too, but the system is actually a lot more practical than it appears on the surface. Using it is easy and completely free, which is always nice. All you need to do is make an account any you are on your way. They give you ways to generate code to put right onto your blog (as I have done), but you technically only need the website to let people know what you are doing.

When you log into your user account at Twitter.com, you are shown an obvious interface with a box to type/update what you are doing. Below this, a listing of all of your friends recent updates. This is a fantastic way to get a view on what people are like, what they are doing in their free time, which really is an advantage in building a relationship. For example: I have written on mine when I am in the Penn State Trading Room, and just what I am doing there. Am I researching a particular stock, am I updating my blog, did I find a funny video link or am I just watching a movie. Its just a simple one line of information, and I think that because it is so simple, people actually like to hear about it!

So how can you update your Twitter status? Do you really have to log into the website every time you just want to let people know you found an interesting YouTube video? As the network has expanded, so have its features. You can always opt for IMing the Twitter username your status, and they update it right away. But now you can do things like text messaging and even G-Chat messaging (my preferred ). All you need to do is write what’s up, and BAM! its updated in your feed (or in your blog’s sidebar or wherever you have it displayed), they call this a badge. Convenient and easy.

Twitter goes beyond just you updating your status, you can now communicate with friends by sending messages with “@username MESSAGE” as the format. In this way, messages are sent back and forth so you can talk on a whole new level. In addition to this, you can opt to “follow” certain members, and they can opt to “follow” you right back. This means that they will see all of your updates, and vice versa. I haven’t even advertised me doing this and I have picked up a few followers… nice .

Okay, okay. But how can Twitter increase your traffic?! I am a firm believer in networking and trade. All you really need to boost your traffic is more people visiting your blog more frequently. By having a Twitter feed embedded in your website, I would say it is up to 25% more likely for your readers to come back. Why? Part of blogging is establishing a connection with your readers. There is no better connection than a personal tab where you can both communicate. It’s easy, and by expanding on your “followers” network, more and more people are going to come around and read what you have to say. Bottom line: friends visit friends’ blogs

There are a few voices of concern around Twitter, but this is mainly about some bugs. For example, the servers seem to have problems with all of the updates, and it seems that a small percentage of “tweets” don’t go through and get updated. I have maybe had this happen once or twice, but it’s really not too much of a concern. There are also a few complaints floating around about the speed of things, but I feel like it updates fast enough that it shouldn’t be a problem.

Is twitter worthless and a waste of time? Perhaps, at least a lot of people will tell you. Can it be effective if used correctly? Yes, I believe so. Many people will tell you that using Twitter to update your status is a complete waste of time, but I feel that it can allow you to network in ways not before possible, so it can help your traffic along! Judge how you may, Twitter is worth checking out!

-Jimvesting

Checking up on the traffic your website or blog receives is one of the most fundamental basics of operating a successful site. But there is a lot more you can be doing than simply checking out the bare-bones “views” your website is receiving each day, month, year, etc. I want to dive into just how much of a difference analyzing the viewers of your website can make, as well as a few of the best ways to do this with ease.

I want to start out by saying that anyone who is telling you that “focusing on stats is a bad thing” is living in a dream world. There is just no possible way to work on improving your traffic flow if you don’t know where to begin. Other than providing good content, which is the most important element of course, there are ways you can adjust your blog/site in order to optimize your page views and make sure that you are driving more interested readers to your page.

With the help of some free tools, all you need to do is run a small logging script in the background (completely legal, don’t worry ) and you can find out things like where your viewers are from, what operating systems they are running, which internet browsers they are using, how old your viewers are (kidding… this feature not yet available), which pages they came from and even how your keywords are performing in search engines. There is a lot to look at, and while you don’t want to get too obsessed with every detail, not having this resource is a major disadvantage in determining how to structure your posts to your reading audience.

Let’s explore three of my favorite options:

1. Google Analytics
I recently stumbled across Google’s very own traffic analysis website off of a friend’s recommendation. Anything by Google has been reliable and easy to use in the past, and Google Analytics is no exception. They have the most statistics that I have ever seen, and they are laid out in the classic Google Web 2.0 style, very nice. Not only this, but the service is completely free and the size of your logs are unlimited, much unlike your typical web-based service.

Google Analytics works through your main Google / Gmail / Adsense / Etc. account, so you are essentially pre-qualified for the service. In order to start tracking your viewers, all you need to do is insert a simple script (comes in two forms for cross-compatibility) anywhere in the body of your website. Once this is in, the results start coming in without any noticeable slow-down in loading times. There isn’t much else to say about the service besides it is the best, and all you need to collect all of the information you want completely free.

2. StatCounter.com
StatCounter is the web-based service that I was using prior to discovering Google Analytics, and it is a similarly great option for analyzing views. I actually like their style a bit more, as they tend to give you bar charts of performance versus line graphs… this is of course personal preference. StatCounter.com allows you to track a full onslaught of statistics in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and I highly recommend that you use them.

What is wrong with StatCounter? Well for one, the free service offers only a 500-entry log file (then $10-$50 per month). I honestly don’t know what this means, other than the fact that I have filled it and it appears that my results are now skewed toward the short-term. For example, my “popular pages” analytics only accounts for some of the more recent pages I have had viewers on. This can be a problem for growing blogs, and Google Analytics offers a free solution to this. But hey, due to the fact that my Google Analytics script hasn’t been operating long enough for me to get a nice sample of my viewers… I am happy to be using StatCounter.com for the time being.

3. FireStats WordPress Plugin
Finally, I want to recommend something a little more close to home, the increasingly popular FireStats plugin made for WordPress bloggers especially. This plugin is great, and I use it on theNetFool.com to track users as well. The setup couldn’t be easier, as all you need to do is activate the WordPress plugin just like any other, no messy code to insert directly into your coding!

The FireStats system installs a new tab onto your admin panel “dashboard” section that allows you to go more in-depth into your analysis. No complex graphs here, but hey, its simple and it offers almost all of the statistics featured on Google Analytics and StatCounter.com. Try this alternative if you need a free and easy stat analysis area set up for your blog!

Looking at the traffic stats for your weblog can be one of the best ways to see how you are doing traffic-wise and to figure out the best methods to improve your readership. Granted, you should never over-obsess with your traffic stats, but if you aren’t looking already… its time to get interested! I, for one, have noticed improvement in the amount of unique viewers I receive when making posts more frequently, so using these tracking services is a free and easy way to unlock the true potential of your blog.

-Jimvesting

One of the questions I get all the time is how to you monetize your WordPress blog with plugins. This is probably the most efficient and easy-to-use method of getting advertisements up on your website. The best part is, most of these services allow you to take payments and disperse ads automatically! Cutting out the middleman is an excellent option for any blogger. If you can manage your ads yourself, you can take 100% of the earnings instead of having to pay commission fees.

There are many ways to utilize ad space on your website. Some of the more popular methods are 125×125 banners, 468×60 banners and text links. As the internet develops, websites are becoming more and more slick with Flash, AJAX, Mootools and other ways to become Web 2.0. With this, advertising has branched off into “peel away” ads snug in the upper corners websites, bar ads across the top of the page and even video ad units. I think that a lot of this is overkill, so we will focus on traditional banners and text. Lets take a look into the top WordPress plugins for placing ads on your blog.

1. OIOPublisher
This is a brand new WordPress monetization tool that is by far the best in class, luckily for us it is also the most cost-effective . With a solid amount of options (review posts, text links, banners, inline text, etc), OIOPublisher is what I use here at theNetFool.com! This is the only plugin that I have ever paid for, and at just $37 one-time cost, this thing literally pays for itself and almost anyone can afford it.

When you install the plugin, it opens up a whole new section of your WordPress administrator backend, a “business” tab that offers extensive options and tracks all of your clients. Everything is very easy to use and understand, I had mine up and running in just 30 minutes! One thing I especially like about OIOPublisher is the built-in widgets to encourage readers to buy ads. All of the unused banner spaces can be automatically filled with ads of your choice and redirect to your purchase page. There is even a widget that comes with the plugin to show how many ad spaces are available on your site at all times.

I think that $37 is totally reasonable for this awesome WordPress plugin. Not only do you get an easy to use administrative section, you have everything automated for you and your one-time fee covers the plugin on multiple websites! If you are looking for an easy way to link directly with WordPress and get your blog monetized, look for OIOPublisher.

2. WP Text Ads
This was the popular monetization solution before OIOPublisher went public, and it is without a doubt a very good product. My problems with WP Text Ads are:

1. The product is overpriced at $127
2. There is no support for banner ads, text only

With these factors in mind, I am really not too bullish on the WordPress plugin. However. Taking the service as is, I think it is very good if you are interested in providing mostly text link spots to your advertisers. The ads are very easy to style, and you can even set the rates at which they run differently to ensure the maximum payback efficiency. Again, the one-time $127 is expensive… but if you are selling a steady stream of ads it should be too much of an issue since it is a one and done type deal.

3. WP Bankroll
This blog monetization service really only applies to selling blog posts, paid reviews and paid plugs on your blogging website. It is definitely not as professional as OIOPublisher or WP Text Ads, but it gets the job done and can be used completely free if you are willing to provide a backlink to their website (else $20-$50). There are definitely some interesting features to point out. You can determine how many links are allowed to be active in each post, minimum word count and cost. There is another very clever feature that allows you to randomly allow your guest posters links to appear in your sidebar.

Overall, I wouldn’t really recommend WP Bankroll unless you are solely looking for sponsored/guest posting on your website and do not have any money to spare on a plugin. If this is you, then by all means use Bankroll… but I’d rather see you with OIOPublisher or WP Text Ads .

4. Text Link Ads
I figured that it is only fair I include this opportunity, although they are really not what we are looking for by “cutting out the middleman.” Text Link Ads is a service that offers 50% commission for text ads, where they essentially handle all of the work for you. This is a nice option if you don’t want to go out and look for people to advertise on your blog, but I still figure that you would be better off with a down-payment and 100% of the gains.

This program is a lot more like buying into an Adsense or a BidVertiser type advertising program than the previous options. The plus here is that they install the ads for you and pay commission based of views and clicks. Downside is that the minimum payout is $25 and you are only getting half of your potential income. Still, a popular option that many choose as an alternative to Google Adsense.

Monetizing your blog can be the smartest or the dumbest thing you can do to your blog. Before you intend on placing ads, you need to make sure that your design can handle it without looking cluttered and that you are seeing enough visitors to render the decision. Think of it this way, if you wouldn’t want to pay a toll to read your content, you are not ready to place ads on your website. These awesome WordPress plugins are just some of the monetization programs, and I wanted to focus on those that operate direct with your blog’s administration center. Stay positive, and keep posting new content… you’ll be seeing income in no time!

-Jimvesting