So you’ve jumped on the Twitter band wagon and you’ve heard you can make money via Twitter and you want a gazillion followers. First stop right there, TwitterPants! This blog is about what NOT to do.

He who is without sin, let him cast the first tweet. Yes, I have been guilty of some of these things when I first started tweeting. What’s worst…I have witnessed some of the so-called social media gurus and big name bloggers  (especially tips #3 and #4) commit these offenses.  Perhaps they feel since they have numerous followers they can get away it.

If you are yearning to get reported for spam, unfollowed or blocked,  just take up the following Twitter practices.

10 Twitter Practices To Avoid:

1. Tweet @ replies to people who are not following you with your affiliate links. Instead just send a regular tweet and give people the option to click on your link if they want. Most won’t, especially other “serious” affiliate marketers. Sure clueless newbies will click your link and I assume that’s what you are wagering.
2. Tweet a direct message with an affiliate link or the latest product you are promoting. If someone is interested in more information on your product, they will ask you. Isn’t that what your Twitter URL is supposed to do…refer followers to your web site. (Which brings me to the next offense.)
3. Use a URL shortener for your Twitter bio URL. That just screams spam or affiliate link to God knows what! Most likely it’s always a link to a porn site to which you have to register to view pics or a new fangled program to gain a million Twitter followers overnight. Don’t be so shady.
4. Tweeting a link that takes the user to a bookmarking or social media site. Most annoying. Why take some one half way around the world to read the information? Tweet a link that takes the user directly to the link. If the user wants to vote your post up or down or bookmark it, they will more than likely do so from your web site or blog. Surely you have some of those neat little buttons on your site to let the reader bookmark or share via their favorite social media site. Using this technique might get your post voted down by someone who is ticked off at your twitter tactics.
5. Retweeting other people’s Follow Friday tweets. Follow Friday is about recommending people whom you think are follow worthy. If you are not following someone on Twitter, why the heck would you want to recommend them? No one will take you seriously. Research and get to know the people you are following and make your own recommendations.
6. Twitter Fights. Name calling and fighting on Twitter is  juvenile and makes you look very unprofessional. I have seen some ugly things go down on Twitter. Be the bigger guy/gal and hit that block link on your side panel and go on about your business. Trust me, it ain’t that serious and certainly not worth your time.
7. Get a Twitter profile pic. Again this just screams spam. Take the time to upload a picture. The picture doesn’t necessarily have to be of you…just pick a picture that reflects your personality or your business. You might want to refrain from posting a pic of boobs unless you are a porn star and they are your boobs.
8. Write a Twitter Bio. Take the time to write a Twitter bio and it might gain you a few followers. Tell  users about yourself with your bio. Bios can be witty and funny or as serious as you want them to be. If people don’t know who you are, why would they want to follow you?
9. It’s not all about You. I hate to burst your bubble, but it’s not all about you! Add value to your tweets. Tweet and retweet other links besides your own. Get to know people by interacting with them…after all this is social media and it’s all about being social.
10. Just say “No” to cutesy Twitter apps and games. This is Twitter. This is not Facebook or MySpace. Invites to join Mafia Wars or Farmville, play games, or cutesy hearts are just down right annoying. If you do not personally know (in the “real” world) the person, think twice about sending these annoying little tweets or direct messages. They will get you blocked faster than you can say “Tweet, Tweet.”

For additional information on the correct way to use Twitter, you might want to download or read online Mashable’s Free Twitter Guide Book.

BTW the adorable little Twitter Queen graphic on this blog post was downloaded from the Little Box of Ideas and was designed by Sneh Roy.

These are some of the major annoying practices on Twitter. Feel free to add your own comments.

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1. My Twitter Philosophy, Do You Have One?
2. Domain Name Purchase Offer…Scam or Spam?
3. Comment Policy

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After countless spammy and useless comments, I have decided to write a comment policy. Please, take a moment to read the policy before posting a comment policy.

We welcome comments from all of our readers and definitely want your feedback.  Rather than just totally turn off the comments, I have implemented this policy.

You will find a permanent link to the comment policy in the top link bar. Thanks.

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After countless spammy and useless comments, I have decided to write a comment policy. Please, take a moment to read the policy before posting a comment.

First of all, Renee Thronson.com reserves the right to delete or edit any comment submitted to our site for any reason. Period.

We use Akismet and WP-Ban to combat spam on our web site. If you submitted a comment and do not see it posted, the reason could be: (1) It is being held for moderation for first time commenters (2) It was caught in the Akismet spam filter and is being held for approval.

Please keep in mind that we run a network of websites and we are extremely busy and it may take awhile before we get around to approving your comment.

The Rules Are…

• Do not post something off topic (Example: Cheap Airline Flights. This site is about affiliate marketing, internet or social media tips. If your comment does not pertain to the aforementioned, it will be deleted.)
• Do not post racist, obscene or threatening comments
• Do not post spam
• Do not post personal or private information of another person
• Do not post content that you do not own or did not write
• Do not violate trademarks, copyrights or other intellectual property
• Do not put your signature in your comments (If someone wants to visit your web site, they will click on your name).
• Do not post “lame” or useless comments (Example: “Love Your Site”, “Great Post”, or “Interesting”)
• Use your “real” name. Do not post “Cheap Airline Tickets” as your name with a link to your site. This is off topic and does not add any value to our site whatsoever. Your comment will be deleted and you will possibly be banned from posting comments on our site.

By posting a comment on our site to agree to indemnify Renee Thronson.com, it’s owners, employees and officers from and against all liabilities, damages, judgments and costs (including any court and attorney’s fees) incurred by any of them which arise out of or are related to the content that you have submitted or posted on Renee Thronson.com. In a nutshell, You take full resposibility for your own actions and words.

Quite simply: If you do not agree to these terms…do not post a comment.

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A couple of weeks ago I added this new Word Press plug-in, WP-Ban to my site. This plug is by Lester Chan and I might also add he has a number of other awesome Word Press plug-ins.

WP-Ban gives you the ability to ban users by IP, IP Range, host name, user agent and referrer URL from visiting your WordPress’s blog. It will display a custom ban message when the banned IP, IP range, host name, user agent or referrer URL tries to visit your blog. You can also exclude certain IPs from being banned. It also gives you statistics on how many times they attempt to visit your blog. It allows wild card matching too.

So far I have blocked 70 attempts from banned IPs.

The beauty of this plug-in is that when they are banned their comments don’t show up and and you don’t have to worry with deleting them…very time saving

I have blocked some IPs and they are still sneaking through…it maybe a user problem (mainly me) but I will continue to play with the features to learn how it works. All in all I’m pretty happy with this new plug-in. Great work Lester  Chan!

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About two days ago I received an email from a lady inquiring about a domain name that I owned. Now I have owned this domain name (Pour Me A Shot.com) for 5 years and was in the process of building the site to upload when I received her email.

Here’s the email: Hi,
Would you consider selling your POURMEASHOT.COM ? What is your asking price?

Best Regards
(Her name was here)
Manager, Business Development
(Her URL was here)

First I was excited…I invisioned me retired and I had just purchased that new jag and was sipping a frozen concoction on some tropical island…oops….wait a minute….

Who the hell was this person? I did a search by name, company name and visited the site she listed in the email. The link took me to a site that was selling web page templates. I searched some more. All searches on the net were leading no where…then I stumbled across a post on a forum. A member of the forum had received practically the same email and offer I did just one month ago.

First I thought maybe this was a scam to get personal banking information. I went back to the email and clicked the link again. Hmmmm….her link/company name said one thing but it took me to another site (the template site). How clever…this time when I clicked the link I noticed very briefly it displayed an affiliate link.

The purpose of the email was not to purchase my domain but to get me to click the link and maybe buy something through her affiliate link…perhaps a shiny new web page template for my site that I needed to design. No I don’t think so!

I forwarded the email that I received to the affiliate company advising them that their affiliate had sent me spam. I don’t know if they will do anything about it but I did want to post this to alert other people. So when you get that email don’t get too excited they are just trying to sell you something.

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