How a Twitter Client like Twhirl will generate more than $1,000 this year.
What would you do for a thousand dollars? Would you write 127 words? Say, maybe, three short paragraphs and post them on a blog?
That’s exactly what I did, and because of it, I’ll put more than 1K dollars in my pocket over the next year because of it. Here’s how it happened…
Bloggers love to tell you when they’ve made a new post. But instead of relying on the blog, an RSS feed, or a newsletter, they turn to Twitter to get the word out.
I saw a post from one of the people I follow on Twitter. I was busy and couldn’t read the full blog post right away, but new that it was going to be a popular story. I just didn’t know HOW popular.
By the time I read to post 45 minutes later, it already had 50 Diggs. (That’s votes on the digg.com web site, which is the 176th most popular site on the web.)
Luckily I put down what I was doing to make quick comment on the post. Anything that gets 50 Diggs in under an hour is going to go viral. And if you have a chance to comment while the post is fresh, go for it!
Within 24 hours the post had 365 Diggs and 34 comments. Last I checked it had over 800 Diggs and 53 comments.
At the time of writing, my comment has brought over 100 visitors to my site. And because my comment is one of the first on the blog, the link to my site will continue to get clicks for weeks, and even months into the future.
Now, because of my stats, I know that 57% of all unique visitors to my site, subscribe to my newsletter. I also know that the average reader will spend 4 dollars per year on products they see advertised in my newsletter.
If I do some quick math, and suppose my link gets clicked an average of twice per day, that’s 730 clicks. (Remember the web is open 24/7 365, so there’s none of this 200 work day per year nonsense.)
So following the stats, that’s 416 new subscribers, spending an average of 4 dollars per year each. That’s $1,664, based on very conservative numbers, over the next year from a single blog comment. (Just over $13 per word. 
But I never would have seen the original post if it wasn’t for the little tweet on Twitter. (A tweet is a micro blog post on Twitter.)
(You can get a comprehensive list of all the major Twitter Clients by visiting this ReadWriteWeb.com blog post entitiled, "How We Tweet: The Definitive List of the Top Twitter Clients."
The moral of the story? If you follow prominent "A List" bloggers and thought leaders on Twitter, you’ll find out about blog posts, tech news and live video coverage of events, before anyone else.
And if you make "intelligent" comments on the blog posts they make, your words can be very profitable, so long as you’re one of the first people to jump into the conversation.
So what would you do for 1,000 dollars? Would you install a Twitter client like the one from twhirl.org and follow the thought leaders in your industry? Sounds like a winning idea if you ask me.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice article Michael. I like how you break this down into the value. I’ve mostly been “lurking” on Twitter, and I’m now seeing the value of it more and more. As a way to stay in touch with friends and colleagues, and a way to keep your finger on the pulse of what is going on at a conference or in your industry, and now as a way to get the word out about a new blog post.
Thanks!
Twitter does look like one of the Web 2.0 resources that is valuable at the moment…but for how long is anyone’s guess.
Your effectiveness with it reminds me of Seth Godin’s book Purple Cow and the idea diffusion curve. The innovators and early adopters lead the way in new product acceptance and if they start using consistently the rest will follow.
Your internet marketing knowledge probably ranks you in the innovator category and you’re an early adopter of Net tech so you have a head start for sure.
Hi, this is my first time on your blog. Very interesting. Now I will head over to twitter. Thanks.
Hi Michael, great article. I have been using twitter for around a month or so but never really thought about looking for big markerts to follow. I now see even more value to using twitter after reading your article.
So, I am now following you and will be checking out who you are following too :0)
Thanks for the info
Hey Michael,
Glad you mentioned about other ways of twittering other than the internet marketing crowd. I kept seeing more and more people talk about it but I just kept feeling it was an IM thing but after reading your post, the light bulb came on how I can start benefiting from it.
Thanks,
Van
Hi Michael, good post, and it illustrates how important it is to know the "metrics" for your sites / newsletter, as it makes it easy to judge the "real world" value of just that one post. think I’ll go take a look at Twhirl, I’m still hitting refresh…
@MattGarrett
Michael
I liked the way you used twhirl as a “canary” for digg. Very cool.
alex