Ok, all you Twitterers out there, listen up. Whether you're an affiliate guru or just a beginner, these ideas can help you. In a recent article on brand integration, Adage author Larry Dobrow gave a great example of crossing the line of validity when it comes to celebrity endorsement. Bret Michaels apparently gave a plug for how much he likes hanging out at Dave and Busters on the air.

Adage asks (and I echo): seriously? I'm expected to believe that Bret Michaels hangs out at Dave & Busters on a regular basis? This is most certainly not the venue of choice for Hollywood residents.

So, what can you take from this as a Twitter user looking to up your stock and make some dough of our links? Or, any links for that matter--blog sidebar ads, email footer links--anywhere you might hock a product for a referral fee.

It's simple: be real. I see far too often that Twitter users are so eager to make any money they will share any link, whether they believe in the product or not. Around here, I call that bordering very close on the line of spam, if not indeed crossing it. Your followers would agree. In theory, they're clicking links for two reasons: yes, they're intrigued enough by the tweet text to learn more; but also, they are clicking because you said you liked it too!

When you understand this influence you can have, and resolve to use it well: that's socially responsible!

There's a distinct difference between search engine marketing and search engine optimization. What a lot of people what to know is, "will Twitter links boost my SEO?" That's a great question. Let's think about it.

First, for the novices reading, what we're talking about is what some people call "link juice." It's the value that Google places on your website for every time it finds another website linking to your own. In other words, when Google realizes there are lot of other sites out there that link to your site, it thinks there must be something good there and you move higher in search rankings. Now, this is an incredibly oversimplified illustration, but that's the gist of it.

So when you tweet a link in Twitter, that must have amazing impact, right? I mean, Twitter is the epitome of fresh content, dynamic, full of links, keyword rich... it's got the perfect mix for high Google authority. So, if they link to you, that must be the golden link, right? Wrong. See, Twitter actually tells Google via their back-end code NOT to follow any links in the tweet stream. In other words, its as if Google turns a blind eye to the links in the stream.

So, is there SEO value? It would seem that the answer is in fact no. But, while the link juice isn't there, I would suggest this is still a pretty powerful SEO tool. Why? Because of the shear number of visitors you get. Visitors equate to subscribers (provided you have RSS... a must for anyone whose serious about SEO). And, what you may NOT know is that Google not only loves to see that you offer RSS, but they really like it when your RSS gets read a lot. Didn't know they looked at that, did ya?

In short, no, you won't instantly jump to page one just by having links to your website in the tweet stream. Just like anything in life, it takes time for the benefits to come. But, if you use Twitter responsibly to build genuine traffic that subscribes to your content, you'll find that it's a pretty useful tool for upping your page rank.

I've read this release syndicated on so many different sources today, I didn't know who to cite in my blog article. I'll go with PCMag since they were at the top of Google search. So, according to an article at pcmag.com, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone is not interested in advertising as a revenue model.

His reason? He says that they aren't interested by that prospect, first of all, but also adds that their current staff isn't prepared to do advertising. They don't know advertising and so they don't feel strong in that venture.

His alternative? Tools for the trade. Twitter has always believed there was something significant in their new minimal-character communication medium that would undermine the way we analyze "trends" in real-time. Now, they're asking businesses to believe the same thing. I think it could work. Their search tool has been wildly popular, especially since it was recently beefed up in capability.

The irony, however, is in the details. Stone's major cited reason for not going into advertising was the skill set of their personnel. So, what's all this analytical business going to mean for their staff. Well, at least doubling by year-end for starters. Which begs the question, if you're willing to hire 40 people to create a business model around something virtually unheard-of before, why not put a few ad reps on the low-hanging fruit while you're at it?

Oh well. More ad sales for me, I guess.

For anyone who has been following betweeted for any amount of time, you've probably heard us say that we're anti-spam. We believe that Twitter advertising can be done tastefully, in a not-so-spammy way, and in a way that we call "socially responsible." This morning, I have had it up to here [puts hand near forehead] with people who even abuse our system to facilitate spam.

So, just to let you know we're serious... no, I mean really serious. You're going to start seeing a regular #spammer report from us. You guessed it, this will include our own non-compliant users. No favoritism here. Everyone must play nice on Twitter or its going to be ruined for the rest of us.

Here's the latest spam report.

[should I label this post "sleep-deprived rants"?]

Any time I hit a website that looks like crap on a stick AND it appears to be a bad idea, it's pretty easy for me to dismiss it as a bad idea. When I begin to second-guess myself is when I find a website that looks very professional and well-designed, and yet the concept strikes me as purely absurd. I wonder, is this the worst idea you've ever heard, or am I missing something?

Check out Tweet Traffic Ads. You pay $50. You get one tweet. Your audience is 25k followers who receive nothing in their stream but ads all day long.

What am I missing here?

Or, is it the most genius idea you've ever heard of? After all, their value proposition is incredibly simple. The purchase process is incredibly simple. If they can get mentions in blog posts like this one enough to sell their service, I guess I can't argue with profit. What do you make of it?

I've seen some pretty cool twitter apps in my day... and I've seen some really crummy ones. The API is getting better every day, and yet we're still seeing mainly low-effort stuff coming out. What if someone as innovative as Biz Stone decided to build on the already amazing platform an equally amazing app? It might look something like this:

1. A Twitter-Based Chat Room.
   This would be managed by a unique hashtag, most likely, and in order to join the chat you'd simply start hashtagging your tweets appropriately. However, with an app that reads these hashtags (and likely also generates them) the public convo can become a manageable beast.
   
2. A conversation tracker.
   I'm sick of having to visit my old tweets to figure out what in the world someone is replying to. If I could view ongoing conversations in unique windows, much like AIM, I would love it. I know, someone will say "why not just use AIM." Because, you dolt, I like using Twitter. This is where all my friends are at!
3. Tweet Deck Multi.
   This one's pretty simple, and I can't wait until it's out... I love tweetdeck, but I also have several Twitter accounts to manage. If they'd get on board with multi-account management, it would be the best app ever.
   

Okay all you public relations pro's and marketing mavens out there, are you offering "social media" services yet? Perhaps you're still waiting to see if it's just a fad. Maybe you're unsure how to deliver it as a service model, or maybe you view it as a competitor. Well, Phil Johnson, a blogger over at Advertising Age thinks you're missing the boat -- and I agree!

If you make your living charging any company, large or small, for your advice and/or services in the area of public relations, marketing, sales, or just plain business consulting, then your customers need to hear you say "Twitter." It's not about being trendy. It's about offering best-in-class service.

There are countless services that you could begin to introduce, or perhaps you're already offering and can enhance by using Twitter. Here are a few:

• Thought leadership. Gain a following to build the persona of your client as a thought-leader in any relevant industry topic.
• Lead generation. Yes, it can work. If your client has the right type of business, you can generate leads using Twitter. Good, solid, qualified leads.
• Customer service. Especially for software or computer-related services, Twitter is a great way to have instant dialogue with needy customers.
• Sales & Promotions. Offer a sale, a deal, or a discount using Twitter. This is obviously great because of the ability to track the results very clearly.
• SEO. Yep, it can work. If you can make sure your links are followable by bots, you cannot deny the obvious benefit of links from Twitter.

The list goes on. And, of course, if you're interested in using BeTweeted as part of your services to the client, check out our Affiliate Program to see how we can work together.

Advertising Age published an article over the weekend that offers just the sort of stats that an analytical type might need before jumping on this "trendy" new Twitter bandwagon: Twitter Proves Its Worth as a Killer App for Local Businesses. According to Jeff Leach, co-founder of Naked Pizza in New Orleans, they were able to affirmatively track 15% of their sales as directly resulting from a Twitter-exclusive promotion.

When small businesses pay thousands each year in directory advertising, email marketing, and direct mail -- Twitter's first appealing trait is it's low barrier of entry. It's free to join, and free to build a following. I will freely admit that advertising services like BeTweeted aren't required for success on Twitter, although they sure do help a lot!

The other low barrier of entry described in Advertising Age's article is the simplicity of Twitter. It's not nearly as overwhelming to get started as, say, designing a blog in Wordpress or creating a page on Facebook. With so much to distract and occupy a small business owner's time, Twitter's ease of use is very appealing.

So, if you've been looking for some proof in the pudding before you jump on the Twitter bandwagon, Advertising Age's article is worth the read.