When you first set up a Twitter account, you have a number of options for your profile. What goes into your profile is of vital importance, because it’s your public face on Twitter – but this is where lots of people make mistakes. Let’s look at the elements of your profile in turn.

1. Your name

On signing up, you’ll be asked to include your name, Use your real name here, for two reasons. I'm generally a big fan of using real identities over brand names at every opportunity:
A real name sets the right tone for making positive personal connections. You want your real name because Twitter profile pages rank highly in search engine results but that will only work if your Twitter profile corresponds to your real name.

2. Your Twitter username

Your Twitter username is your Twitter ID or “Handle”– it’s what you’ll quote any time you want to tell others where they can find you on Twitter, and it will also form your Twitter profile’s unique URL For all these reasons, your choice of username is a key decision.
You want one that’s closely associated with you and your business, and preferably memorable.
If your real name is still available, use it and shorter is generally better – short usernames are easier for everybody to remember and type.

3. Your profile image – the do's and don’ts

Profile image is one area where many, many Twitter users are making what is almost always a huge mistake.
Twitter is a social network; that means individual people interacting with other individual people. I DON’T therefore recommend using any of the following for your Twitter profile image…

Profile image DON’Ts:

The egg; The egg is the default image provided by Twitter. it fairly screams out either ‘neglected account’ or ‘this person doesn’t know what they’re doing’, and even indicates a certain carelessness,

Company logo; Impersonal and does nothing to increase personal recognition of the individual ‘Twitterer’. I know some people will take issue with that, but, as always, people buy from people, not faceless corporations, so for all but the largest, most well-established organisations, I think using a logo is usually a mistake.

Animated graphic; Just annoying!

A full body shot; You know the sort – maybe a holiday snap of you at a famous landmark. It looks fine on your laptop or even Smartphone in full size, but reduced down to about 1cm squared (the actual size most people will see it at) it’s just another incomprehensible image and recognition is impossible.

A vaguely suggestive picture of an attractive young man or woman; Nothing says ‘Twitter spammer’ more obviously than a profile picture of a scantily clad young woman.

A head shot, but with effects added; It’s very easy, with software like Instagram, to add cool effects to photos now. That’s fun, but don’t do it here. Keep it nice, clean and clear.

Profile image DO's:

Be recognisable; One of your goals on Twitter – as with any social network – should be for people to recognise and get to know your face, so if they saw you in real life they’d recognise you.

Use a good close up shot of your face;

 Use the same photo on all your social profiles; If the goal is to be recognisable, it follows that it’s a good idea to use the exact same photo on all social networks where you have a presence.

Consider getting a professional shot taken; It may be worth spending a small amount of money to get some professional head shots done; these have applications beyond Twitter and social sites too – your website and any press kits being the most obvious examples.

4. Location

Twitter is an international environment so I recommend specifying your town/city and country here. Providing this information allows people to get a better picture of where you are and start developing some trust towards you.

5. Your Bio

Your bio is arguably the most important part of your whole Twitter profile, because:

a)      It’s what you will be judged on by potential followers;
b)      You will sometimes be found on the basis of your bio by searchers looking for interesting people;
c)       As we shall see, your Twitter Bio plays a key role in determining whether people visit your website as a result of your activity on Twitter. Lots of people don’t make the most of this opportunity.

You have just 160 characters for your bio, so use them wisely. In particular:

Make it obvious what it is you do;
Include your keywords 
Include a ‘call to action’ (tell readers what you want them to do next).
This is all key, because your bio, along with your photo, is what is sent to people in an email each time you follow someone new, 
 At the time of writing, my current bio is as follows:

"Providing effective training & support tools for business owners wanting to gain more qualified sales leads. Follow me & visit my website to find how!"

I have chosen this because:

• It’s clear.
• It includes one of my keywords (“qualified sales leads”).
• There’s a call to action both to follow me on Twitter (“Follow me”) and to go to my website (“to find out how”).

6. Website URL

The website URL you associate with your Twitter account is a huge opportunity because it’s the natural thing for interested parties to click on when you connect, interact or post an interesting tweet.

7. Background image

It’s worth getting your own custom background and having at least one or two calls to action on the left hand side of the background (the natural place for it). These won’t be click-able but many will type them in.

For a more in depth look at how to create a profile that will drive results why not click here to attend one of my workshops! You will also learn the other 6 steps to building an effective Twitter marketing strategy to attract more customers for your business.

Guy Outram