Search Engine OptimizationTutorialsWeb Design

Add Twitter to your iWeb site

add_twitter_link_to_iwebLet’s face it, iWeb is (and still will be when the new version comes out) pretty unfriendly when it comes to search engine optimization. So to get our iWeb sites noticed, we Mac users have to play a bit smarter and find other tried and tested methods of promoting our beautifully hand-crafted content. One such method is through social media and over the next few weeks I am going to publish a series of posts on how social media can help you get your site noticed along with tutorials on getting your linked up.I mentioned in my post about iWeb 09 that one of the new widgets included when the next version of iWeb comes out has the ability to update your Facebook profile with a link to your blog/iWeb site when you publish something new. Why is this a good thing? I hear you cry; because people who have you as a friend on Facebook but don’t necessarily subscribe to your RSS feed will know you haveĀ a new post published and will come visit your site to investigate.

The same thing applies to Twitter. This micro-blogging platform seems to have become a bit of a phenomenom of late and you either love it or hate it. In a nutshell Twitter gives you 140 characters to tell your ‘followers’ what you are doing at any moment in time, be it from your Mac at home, your mobile phone or your iPod Touch in Starbucks. What you can also do, it that case is promote your latest post or product and leave a link to your site in your ‘Tweet’.

I have been using Twitter for only a few weeks now and only have 13 followers (at time of writing) but when I published my last post and mentioned it on Twitter 7 of my followers visited my site throughout the next 24 hours. Okay that doesn’t sound like much at the moment, but like I said, I have only been Tweeting for a few weeks.

So Let’s Add Twitter

There are several ways to add a Twitter link to your site, each resulting in a different outcome. You may have noticed that sites with Twitter links either show there current post (like I do on the right), the last few posts or no posts at all. All three versions include a “Follow Me” back to the Tweeters site. In this tutorial I am going to start with the easier option and publish another post concentrating on the other options.

So start by heading over to Twitter and sign yourself up for an account. You will be given the address of your personal Twitter page, for example mine is http://twitter.com/allaboutiweb. Make a note of it.

Now you need to find yourself a ‘Follow Me’ style Twitter icon to add to your site; here’s a list of some good links to download some free ones.

Once you have picked the image or icon you like open iWeb and add it to the page(s) of your choice.

Open ‘Inspector’ and select the ‘Hyperlink’ tab.

With the image or icon selected add a tick in the ‘Enable as a hyperlink’, leave the drop-down as ‘An External Page’ and then add the URL of your Twitter page.

add_twitter_to_iweb

That’s it. You now have a Twitter link on your site. Every-time someone wants to add you to their list of people they are following they can click on your link and then view your Twitter page and click on the ‘Follow’ button.

If you enjoyed this post you may want to check out my More Twitter for iWeb post as well.

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10 Comments

  1. Thank-you so much, you’ve really helped & I can’t wait to delve into some more of your great tips…p.s I shall be now be following you on Twitter!

  2. does this really improve the overall rank on google?

    1. Syrus,

      Thanks for your comment. It doesn’t improve your standing in Google however it gives another way of having your site ‘advertised’ around the world. If someone twitters that they like your site and they have 100 followers, then that is potentially 100 new clicks to your site.

      Tim

  3. how do you include the twitter status updates in the iweb site though?

    1. Nick,

      Thanks for your comment. Your question will be answered in the very near future I have a post scheduled to publish this weekend on adding Twitter widgets to your iWeb site. Stay tuned.

      Tim

  4. When I hear this, I am really becoming a fan of twitter.

  5. Thank you, really helpful to find advice here about making iweb sites easier to find.

  6. Tell me how to get my comments to work. I publish with mobile me. This doesn’t look like an iweb comment. I can’t find one that works.
    HELP!

  7. I am trying to figure out how to get my twitter feed to actually show up on my website. I have an external host. It works on my static iweb page, but as soon as I post it, it disappears. Any suggestions?

  8. Thanks

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