But regardless of how popular Twitter is, it doesn’t do you any good if you don’t know how to maximize its potential. And that’s where all those apps come in. Unfortunately, there are tons and tons of those apps – which ones should you choose?

Here’s my list of the top 8 must-have applications for your twitter profile:

Twitter Feed

Twitter Feed is a nifty little tool – it feeds your blog’s RSS to your Twitter profile so anytime you make a new blog post, it’s automatically posted to your Twitter account as well.

You can even set a prefix phrase such as “From Our Blog” or “New On MyBlog.com”… cool, huh?

The only caveat to using this app is that you don’t want to rely solely on Twitter Feed to do your posting as this defeats the whole purpose of having the Twitter account to start with – which is, in case you’re wondering – creating a personal venue where you can interact with your followers.

Seesmic

Seesmic is great for those who have multiple Twitter accounts which, if you manage several blogs, you probably fall into that category.

You can see and post to all your Twitter accounts simultaneously and (and this is the biggie) you can also immediately see who’s mentioned you on their Twitter profile, either through retweets or replies.

You can install Seesmic on your desktop or use it as a web-based application.

Matt

And speaking of managing multiple Twitter accounts, I LOVE Matt… Matt is simple, straightforward and great for saving time.

Add all of your Twitter accounts to your Matt profile and then pick and choose which ones to post to as you tweet. If I want to post to all, I can do that. If I want to post to these two Twitter accounts but not those, I can do that too.

But I only have to type the tweet once.

Twhirl

Twhirl is an interesting little application – it allows you to cross-post your Twitter updates to other social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. It allows you to create shortened URLs via Digg, Tiny and other such services and it automatically finds tweets that mention your @username.

TwitSig

Another must-have, TwitSig turns your last tweet into an eye-catching graphic that you can use in your signature files. Use this to promote your Twitter profile in your email signatures, your forum signatures and wherever else you’d like to get some free PR.

Here’s a sample:

TwitScoop

While Twitscoop let’s you manage your tweets and followers from their interface, that’s not why I like it. Instead, this app’s most savory feature is the fact that it lets you see what other Twitterers are talking about in real time. This is important if you’re trying to see what’s hot and what’s not, information many social media marketers consider to be golden.

TwitPic

This is a simple app but a powerful one – TwitPic allows you to share images on Twitter and we all know just how important images can be. Use of the app is free – just sign in with your existing Twitter account login.

Bit.ly

If you’ve used Twitter at all then you know that those long URL links take up some of your precious character count. Enter bit.ly, a free, online URL shortener. But that’s not all this app does – register (free) and you can track those links to see what’s getting clicked.

Sign up tomorrow and you can download some great freebies, including a graphic opt-in box collection, mini-site templates and tons of PLR content, all totally free! Join as a contributor and you can add your own gift to the mix and build your list with almost no effort at all.

Ready to get your freebies and start building your list?

Well, to kick things off, I’m going to do something that I’ve never done before: I’m going to give my stuff away for FREE!

That’s right… FREE! Since I wrote Casting Some Link Bait last year, I’ve periodically offered some special discounts to you – my readers – because I wanted to make sure that everyone had a chance to learn more about “baiting” your links with enticing titles to increase your traffic.

After all, that’s what we’re all working for isn’t it? More traffic? And I have to say that the response to this special report has been really amazing!

But what I’ve recently realized is that the best way to make sure everyone has access to this really important information is to just give it away for free.

And, at least for the time being… that’s exactly what I’m going to do!

So, if you’d like to get your copy of Casting Some Link Bait without paying a penny… here’s your chance!

Try out my free newsletter and when you subscribe, you’ll get an email with an exclusive link where you can download your copy of Casting Some Link Bait for free. And because you’ll be on my mailing list, you’ll be the first to learn about new specials and services as well as the latest trends that can fast-track your online success.

Its been a while since I’ve posted to the blog and I want to start by apologizing for that. I’ve just been really busy working on some things that I think are really going to change the entire look and feel of this site.

But in the midst of all my hard work, I realized that I was still missing one really important piece to my puzzle – YOU! So… I need to ask you for a favor…

I’ve put together a really short survey and I’d really appreciate it if you’d take a couple of minutes to fill it out. See, I’m kind of nervous about some of these changes – I mean little tweaks are no big deal but some of the things I’ve been thinking about are pretty big and to be honest, that’s a scary concept!

Not only are we talking about a ton of work but there’s also some logistics that kind of limit how many people could take advantage of these ideas at one time. I don’t want to go into a lot of detail yet – I’m not ready for that but I do want to see what ideas might be most beneficial to you first.

And that’s where you come in!

So, go ahead – tell me what you think! Its really a short survey and you’ll be doing me a big favor by completing it! Plus, if everything goes as planned, your answers could play a big part in how this site moves into 2009!

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Peace & Abundance!

Kate

Enter Peter Blomquist and Jeff Wiens, co-creators of the Get Hit series at IFC. Using some brutal yet symbolic scenarios, the funny, funny pair of video gurus show you how to master viral video success.

Okay, no more introduction from me – just go watch: http://www.ifc.com/GETHIT

And that’s a good question.

What you shouldn’t do however, isn’t as difficult to decipher and after finding this on JackHumphrey.com, I thought I’d share – here’s a good look at how NOT to use Twitter:

What can an EMV tell you?

Well, the EMV is supposed to gauge the amount of emotional value that your headline will convey. The higher the score, the more likely your headline will be successful and for those of you interested in link baiting, EMV would obviously be key. So, for example – the headline “You Deserve All The Riches That Life Has To Offer” has a 20% EMV rating out of 100, not bad but certainly nothing to write home about.

Theoretically, an EMV of 30 to 40% is considered average for a proficient copywriter while a truly gifted and talented writer might score somewhere between 50 to 75%. A perfect score is supposed to be 100% but according to the tool, that’s hard to do unless your headline is 5 words or less.

So, that got me to thinking: just what makes a good “emotional value” headline? And more importantly, does that really jive with what people are likely to read? So, I decided to test the process.

Before racking my brain, I went to my trusty email client where despite my spam filters, sits tons of spam emails begging me to open them. First, I tried ” baby eraser pebble adult meat”. Yes, that’s actually the subject line on a spam email I received yesterday. And surprise… it scored a whopping 60% EMV!

Next, I tried “software festival spice vacuum toilet”. This ranked much lower, only coming in at 20% but the fact that it rated at all makes me wonder what people are actually reading out there. Interestingly, “Discover Unlimited Success” has an EMV of 0. Yep, zero. Funny isn’t it, since you would imagine that “unlimited success” would catch a little attention.

Here’s some other spammy-headlines:

• Become more manly and sexually attractive – 50%
• Next big market winner – 25%
• Your order approved – 33.33%
• Quality medications at lowest prices – 40%
• Milk library fork god pepper – 40%

Okay, so obviously, we’re either reading some real crap or this tool doesn’t take human common sense into account. After all, I don’t know about you but I’m not likely to read anything entitled “Milk library fork god pepper”, although now that I think about it… I am a little curious to know what those things have in common

To test my theory, I then tried some common legit headlines often used by copywriters and webmasters alike:

• Just in time for the holidays – 16.67%
• Last chance for savings – 0%
• The secrets to online success – 40%
• Get the wealth that you deserve – 16.67%

Hmm…with the exception of that third one, these didn’t even rank with an average copywriter’s skill. So, let’s look at some popular EMV word combinations:

• Free – 100%
• Abundance -0%
• Success – 0%
• Take charge – 50%
• New secrets prove success – 75%
• Unlimited success instantly – 33.33%

Okay, so we knew “free” would rank up there but the rest is a little intriguing isn’t it? Because while some words will certainly catch our eye, the truth is I’m only going to read the stories with headlines that sound legit. I want something interesting, useful and certainly with more meat to it than “software festival spice vacuum toilet” could possibly produce.

Which brings me (in a round about way) back to the original point of this post: when you’re writing headlines, you need to be aware of the emotional value that they will convey. Regardless of how much weight you decide this little tool carries, it still makes a good point – some words attract readers better than others and if you want to master link baiting, you have to make the most of those words.

Incidentally, the headline for this post ranks in at 30%… do you suppose its because I included the word “free”?

Now, you tell me – what kind of headlines makes you want to click?

The idea is simple but genius and gives “viral marketing” a whole new twist.

Dubbed the Reciprocal Review Carousel, the idea has the potential to really increase those all-important incoming links and thus, boost your traffic and search engine ratings. Follow the directions carefully and let me know how it worked for you.

— copy and paste the Reciprocal Review Carousel and instructions below this line —

Reciprocal Review Carousel idea is based on a few simple yet effective link-building and blogging techniques I have learned:

• Build value of the blog by creating a helpful link from within content.
• Provide value to community by doing a review on a blog you personally like.
• Link to YOUR blog has exact anchor text you want and helps you boost Google Rankings.
• No more than 30 outbound links from any page to prevent penalties for link farming.
• Viral effect of the link – as more bloggers participate, link to your blog with YOUR anchor text, coming from quality content post will spread.

Here is How to participate:

• Copy the entire text between the specified lines.
• Create a post on your site and put at least one paragraph explaining how you joined the Reciprocal Review Carousel.
• Paste the text you copied into your post.
• Remove the Bottom Review and At the Top add your own review with a link to a site reviewed, at least 2 sentences about the site and a note – Reviewed by: Your Anchor Text. Link your anchor text to your site. Here is an example:

WordPress Web 2.0 Guide is a blog providing very useful information on building your very own Web 2.0 portal based on WordPress. Detailed instructions and howto guides make it possible for anyone to create a sparkling and engaging blog and join the community of like-minded individuals. Reviewed by: WordPress Web 2.0 Spot-er

Sites Reviewed:

• Get the most from life at HappyGoKate.com. From blogging to saving, spirituality to mastering the law of attraction, you’ll find it here. As the tag line says – “life is what you make of it… why not make it something amazing?”

• Peter Lenkefi writes about Web 2.0 marketing strategies at Web2Center.com. He has some killer videos over there you should check out along with a ton of good information on blog marketing and various “new media” promotion tactics. Reviewed by: Link Building Maniac, Jack Humphrey, for the Friday Traffic Report

• Andy-Coates.com is an original creator of Viralink concept and a blog publishing information on Magic, Personal development and blog development. I have found a wealth of information on getting your blog noticed and generating the traffic for free. Reviewed by: WordPress Web 2.0 Guide

• FitForFreedom is well-established blog where you can find multitude of information on achieving financial freedom. Blog is run by Marco Righter and his writing style greatly adds to the value of information he provides. Reviewed by: Alex

• Secure Your PC For Internet blog run by Colin and provides essential information everyone accessing internet should know. Identity theft is becoming more and more of an issue and by visiting his blog you can minimize the risk of being compromised. Reviewed by: Alex

• VI-SU blog is all about WordPress, AdSense, SEO and Internet Marketing. Although mostly written in German I have found that using Google translate is worth the effort for his posts. Reviewed by: Alex

• Home With Heather is a great informative blog targeting WAHM (Work At Home Moms) and run by … you guessed it – Heather Masson. Information on what works for her in Internet Business written is very easy to read and comes from her personal experience. Reviewed by: Alex

• A Copywriter’s Blues blog published by Alex Badalic, a veteran of advertising turned musician gives you great food for soul. I have found some nice old videos of Johnny Cash performance and he has a lot more of vintage videos to satisfy fans. Reviewed by: Alex

• Did You Smell That blog authored by one of the veterans on network marketing filled with business ideas you can use. David Ledoux is well known and respected in online community and now he makes his experience available via blog posts. Reviewed by: Alex

• Best Damn Blog run by Richard Wing is all about Internet Marketing. Your visit will be rewarded by honest reviews, freebies and information you need to succeed in this cut-throat business without sacrificing your integrity. Reviewed by: Alex

— copy and paste the Reciprocal Review Carousel and instructions above this line —

And that’s all there is to it!