I see a lot of Twitter users who don’t have a pinned tweet set up on their Twitter account.
The main reason may be that they don’t know what a pinned tweet is, how it works or how to set one up.
Pinned Tweets: What Are They and How Do They Work?
Pinned tweets help drive traffic to your blog or website and are a brilliant way of getting you, your books, your blog and your writing some free promotion.
What is a pinned tweet?
A pinned tweet is a tweet that users attach to the top of their Twitter timeline. It’s the first tweet people see when they visit your Twitter profile and is often the tweet that gets the most attention.
You can pin any of your tweets for which you want to get more attention. For example, upon publishing a new blog post, you may want to pin the tweet for the post to your Twitter account.
How do I create a pinned tweet?
Find a tweet you want to pin to your profile. As I’m being featured on the blog of Teri Polen today, I tweeted the post via the Twitter share button at the bottom of her post so that it appears on my Twitter timeline.
Click on the meatball menu (the three horizontal dots in the top right of the tweet).
Click on the meatball menu
A new window menu will open.
Select ‘Pin to your profile‘ from the dropdown menu that appears.
Pin To Your Profile
Press ‘Pin‘ on the window that opens that asks ‘Pin Tweet To Profile?).
You’ve now created a pinned tweet that will stick to the top of your Twitter timeline until you either replace it or remove it.
Pinned Tweet
How often should I change my pinned tweet?
At least once a month.
Pinned tweets over a month old can look out of date and may contain out of date information.
Old pinned tweets can also make the user look lazy because they are not changing or updating their pinned tweet. Visitors who have visited before will see the same pinned tweet and may not want to retweet it again.
I always share fresh pinned tweets, whereas I don’t retweet pinned tweets I know I have shared before.
I update my pinned tweet at least once every couple of weeks. Doing so encourages visitors to my Twitter account to share and retweet my new tweet. This results in lots of new referrals to my blog or blogs where I’m being featured.
It acts as free promotion for my blog, books and my writing.
As a way of saying ‘thank you’ to those that share my blog posts via Twitter, I retweet their pinned tweet. However, if I’ve retweeted it before, I won’t retweet it.
Ensure you change your pinned tweet at least once a month.
Can I pin the tweets of other users to my Twitter profile?
No. You can only pin your own tweets to your own profile.
Do you have a pinned tweet on your Twitter account? How often do you change it?
Looking for more blogging tips from Hugh? Check out these posts.
Yes, it’s all about your blog post titles. Give your blog posts amazing titles, and you will see lots more new visitors flocking to read your posts or visiting your website.
Why Blog Posts Titles Are Like The Titles Of Books and Movies
I look at blog post titles like I do the title of a book or movie. If they entice me, I’ll start reading the book or watching the film.
Blog posts titles are as important as the content of blog posts. Get both right, and you’re on to a winner.
If your blog post title isn’t enticing, how many visitors looking at it move on without stopping by to check out your post?
I do it all the time. I look at a blog post title and move on quickly if it does not entice me to click on the ‘read more’ link.
Okay, I could be missing out on reading some great content, but ask yourself how many more visitors to your blog or website are like me and move on quickly?
Tip – When creating titles for your blog posts, ask yourself what title would make you want to click on the ‘read more’ link.
How To Make Your Blog Posts Titles More Enticing
Certain words in blog post titles entice readers to want to find out more. Here are a few –
How
How to
When
Have
Have you
Don’t
Did
Do you
This
This is
Who
Why
What
Where
Other things you can use in your blog post titles to entice readers
Numbers
Yes, numbers work just as well as certain words do. For example, which of these two blog post titles do you think have more of an impact?
Some ways to get people to read your blog posts.
7 blogging tips that will get your blog posts read.
According to blogging guru Janice Wald of MostlyBlogging.com, odd numbers do better than even numbers in blog post titles. And prime numbers do even better.
Odd numbers generally perform better than even numbers in blog post titles because they appear less conveniently packaged than even numbers.
It’s why you’ll find the majority of my blog posts titles (that contain a number) have an odd number in them.
Tip – When using numbers, make sure you use a numeral rather than spelling out the number. Digits stand out better in headlines and take up less space.
Hashtags
Do hashtags work in blog post titles? Yes, they do. Not only can they help boost your blog post on SEO sites such as Google and Bing, but they help catch the eye of visitors who may be looking for specific information.
It’s certainly worth checking out what hashtags are trending at the time of publishing a blog post. Twitter is an excellent source for checking out trending hashtags, but never add a hashtag that has nothing to do with the subject of the post.
Warning – using too many hashtags in a blog post title can result in SEOs considering your post as spam. As with adding hashtags to tweets, don’t add more than three hashtags in a blog post title. More than three will make your tweet or blog post look spammy.
Twitter Usernames
If you’re adding the name of somebody who has a Twitter account to the title of a blog post, always include their Twitter Username. Why? Because every time somebody shares your post on Twitter, the person you’ve included gets a Twitter notification. In turn, they may retweet your tweet to their followers, giving you and your post more exposure.
Here’s a great example from author and blogger Graeme Cumming.
Adding Twitter Usernames to the title of your blog post will give it a boost
See what Graeme’s done? He’s included three Twitter usernames of those mentioned in his blog post.
Word Count
According to CoSchedule.Com, blog post titles around 55 characters long tend to earn the highest click-throughs. Blog post titles between six to ten words also tend to achieve the highest number of click-throughs.
To get you started creating some great blog post titles, here’s some suggestions.
How To ______
How To Find _____
How To Completly Change _____
How To Create _____
How To Use _____
How To Get Rid Of _____
How I Made _____
How To Save _____
How To Help _____
How To Develop _____
What To Do With _____
Here’s How To _____
Where To Find _____
What No One Tells You About _____
(#) Questions You Should Ask Before _____
(#) Secrets To _____
(#) Signs You Might _____
(#) Rules For _____
(#) Facts About _____
(#) Ideas For/To _____
(#) Essential Steps For/To _____
(#) Foolproof Tips For _____
(#) Handy Tips For _____
(#) Tricks For _____
(#) Key Benefits For _____
(#) Reasons You _____
(#) Wrong Ways To _____
(#) Most Popular ______
(#) Tips For _____
(#) _____ Mistakes You Won’t Make Again
(#) Things I’ve Learned While Writing My Book This Month
Why My Weekend Was Amazing
You’ll Never Believe What Happened To Me Last Week
Why This Is The Only Chocolate Chip Recipe, You’ll Ever Need
Meet _____ _____ Who Reveals Their Secrets About Writing
Why I’m Recommending These (#) Television Shows To Fans Of _____
Book Review: (#) Reasons Why I’m Giving _____ by _____ _____ (insert Twitter username here) 5 Stars
Insert a number where you see (#)
I’ve already used some of these titles and had great results from them. Many of my blog posts’ titles also include words that entice readers to want to find out more.
Warning – Don’t forget to add a title to your blog post. Any title is better than none. WordPress replaces blank blog post titles with a five-digit number. How many visitors would click the ‘read more’ link if seeing a random five-digit number in place of a post title? Not many!
Let’s wrap it up
Blog posts titles are the first thing visitors read, so make them as enticing as you can.
Blog posts titles are as important as the contents of your blog posts.
When creating a blog post title, ask yourself what would make you click on the ‘read more’ link.
Get the title of your blog post wrong, and you could be missing out on hundreds of new readers, likes and comments.
Make sure you’ve given the post you’re about to publish a title. Any title is better than no title at all.
Use specific words such as How, How To, Why, Where, in your blog posts’ titles to entice readers to click on the ‘read more’ link.
If using a number, odd numbers generally perform better than even numbers in blog post titles because they appear less conveniently packaged than even numbers.
When using numbers in blog post titles, use digits rather than spelling out the number.
Don’t add more than three hashtags in your titles. Doing so makes blog posts look spammy.
Adding Twitter usernames to blog post titles help get your post noticed on Twitter.
How do you come up with titles for your blog posts? Do you have any tips for creating them that you’d like to add to my list? Do you have any questions about creating blog post titles? Share them in the comments section.
Do you have a secure way for visitors to contact you on your website or blog? Are you missing out on opportunities because you don’t have a way for them to contact you? Here’s what to do.
Adding a well-written excerpt to a blog post or page can help generate lots more traffic to your blog. This post shows you how to add excerpts to your blog posts and pages.
WordPress is moving more and more options that were only initially available via the WP Admin button to the new style dashboard on WordPress.Com blogs.
It’s something I’ve noticed happening a lot and makes perfect sense while they improve security, and update and redesign their platform.
You may ask “What are these options, Hugh?”
Well, I’ve decided to update some of my older posts where the WP Admin button was used so that I can show you how to make the same changes via the new style WordPress dashboard.
I’m kicking off with one of my pet hates – bloggers who haven’t connected their Twitter account to their WordPress blog.
Blogging tips from Hugh
For me, Twitter is a great place to give my blog posts some free publicity. And who doesn’t like some free publicity?
Twitter is also an excellent place for promoting blog posts I’ve enjoyed reading, and is the third biggest referrer of traffic to my blog.
Have you come across this problem?
You click the Twitter sharing button on a blog post you’ve enjoyed reading, and instead of the blogger’s Twitter username appearing at the end of the tweet, you see @WordPress.Com instead!
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
Why does it happen?
Because the blogger has not connected their Twitter account to their blog.
Of course, they may not know they can connect it or just haven’t done it.
But it’s a problem that’s easy and quick to fix.
Let’s get started.
On the dashboard of your blog, click on Tools and then on Marketing.
Click on Tools and Marketing
On the Marketing and Integrations page that opens, click on Sharing Buttons.
Click on sharing buttons
In the Options block, look for the Twitter Username box and add your Twitter username in the box.
Enter your Twitter username in the box
Click the Save Changes button.
There is one last job you need to do to connect your Twitter account to your blog.
On the Marketing and Integrations page, click on Connections and click the connect button next to Twitter.
Click on the Twitter connect button
A new window will open.
Click on the Authorize App button.
WordPress will look for your Twitter account, and in an onscreen message will show you your Twitter user name.
If the username is correct, click on the Connect button.
Click on the connect button
Your Twitter account is now connected to your WordPress blog.
Now, every time you publish a new blog post, it will be shared on your Twitter account. Your Twitter username will also appear at the end of the tweet.
Layout, content, settings and format might differ on self-hosted blogs.
Are you on Twitter? Leave your Twitter username in the comments section so we can follow you.
Categorising and tagging your blog posts correctly is one of the most powerful way of getting your blog posts noticed. My post will show you how to add categories and tag words correctly, resulting in more visitors to your blog.
Hugh's Views & News 