Every week we tweet a lot of interesting stuff highlighting great content that we find on the web that can be of interest to web designers.

The best way to keep track of our tweets is simply to follow us on Twitter, however, in case you missed some here’s a quick and useful compilation of the best tweets that we sent out this past week.

Note that this is only a very small selection of the links that we tweeted about, so don’t miss out.

To keep up to date with all the cool links, simply follow us @DesignerDepot

Illustrator & Type Tips Worth Knowing: http://bit.ly/dm9W8D

Smilevetica – the younger, happier little brother of Helvetica http://bit.ly/bgGQ8W

Fish Eye Dock Style Menus: http://bit.ly/cSn8p6

A camel is a horse designed by a committee. — Sir Alec Issigonis

MVRDV Unveils Mesmerizing Water Cube Pavilion for 2012 World Expo: http://bit.ly/9DODdr

Vancouver 2010, part 1 of 2: http://bit.ly/bhrbYR

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Most freelancers agree that Twitter is a fun and useful social media tool that can help you network with peers and potential clients.

Twitter applications can help a freelancer to get even more benefits from Twitter.

Last summer we took a look at 15 Useful Twitter Tools for web workers. This post examines 18 more Twitter apps that freelancers might find useful and briefly explains what each one does.

Helpful Twitter Apps

Here are 18 helpful Twitter applications to help you get the most from your tweets:

1. Twitpic–Fun application lets you share pictures on Twitter. You upload your photo on the TwitPic site and the URL is posted to your Twitter account. This could be a great way for designers and other whose work is visual to share.
2. Twitterholic–Rates Twitter users by the number of followers, friends, and updates. The utility could be useful if you are looking for influential Twitterers to follow. However, I think this is mostly for fun.
3. Twitturly–Site supposedly lists the most tweeted URLs in four categories: everything, news, pics, and videos. This could be useful for those looking for trending topics such as bloggers and web content creators. In my test, it didn’t seem consistent with other tweet counters.
4. Twtpoll–Create a poll or survey and then post the link to your poll on Twitter. Be aware that unless you specify otherwise, advertisements will appear on your poll. This could be used for product or marketing research.
5. Seesmic–You can stay involved in Twitter conversations without logging into Twitter, plus you can conduct searches and find users with similar interests. Seesmic has web, desktop, and mobile versions.
6. Tweetmeme–Provides a Twitter button plug-in for posts and articles. It also tracks the most popular posts by category. You can also review which twitter users have tweeted a specific URL.
7. Tweet Later–This is a full-featured Twitter/social media app that comes in a free and a professional version. Users can perform a variety of tasks including scheduling tweets in advance, tracking key works, and auto following.
8. HootSuite–Another full-featured Twitter app that allows you to perform a variety of Twitter/social media tasks. Some tasks that you can perform include scheduling tweets, importing and managing Twitter lists, and tracking statistics.
9. twtQpon–Helps you create coupons for a variety of social media sites including Twitter. This app could be really useful for small businesses and other companies who are Internet adept.
10. DoesFollow?–Very simple app helps you discover which Twitter accounts are following each other. Answers the question “Does User A follow User B?” It could help you determine if those who you are following are following back. Despite the simplicity, I wasted a lot of time here.
11. Tweet2Tweet–Helps you to see back and forth dialog between two Twitter users. This could be helpful to new Twitter users who find the Twitter interface confusing. In my tests, this app did not show direct messages or really old conversations.
12. TwitHire–Microblogging service allows employers to post jobs. Freelancers and others looking for work can follow and will receive the job posting tweets. This is potentially a very useful service for freelancers.
13. twInfluence–Discover the most influential Twitter users online through this analytical tool, or determine how influential your Twitter account is. Includes Twitseeker. (When I tested it, Twitseeker was not fully operational due to a change in Twitter’s policies.)
14. Tweetie–Twitter app for mobile devices and the Mac. It allows you to share bookmarks, handle multiple Twitter accounts, search trends, and more. This looked like a fantastic app. Not having a Mac, I couldn’t test further.
15. Twibs–This is basically a Twitter business directory. It could be very helpful to freelancers and those who hire them. If you know what type of business most of your clients are in use this to find and follow similar businesses.
16. Twitter Alerts–Set up alerts to notify you when certain terms (like your name or your company name) are mentioned on Twitter. Freelancers can use this to help monitor their online reputation.
17. TweetStats–Track a number of stats such as when do you make the most tweets and trending topics. It looks like parts of the site are still in development.
18. TwitterCounter–Another application to track Twitter usage statistics. Find out who is the top user, how quickly you are gaining followers, and so on.

A Word About Security

Be careful about giving your social media passwords out to unknown applications. Several Twitter applications have been hacked in the past and the user’s data exposed. Always check the reviews of a social media application carefully before you entrust it with your personal data. Twitter support has some specific recommendations for users.

What Is Your Favorite Twitter App?

Do you use any of these Twitter apps? Which ones? What do you think of them?

Do you have a favorite Twitter app? Whether it’s on the list or not, why not share it here?

Leave your answers in the comments

A couple of days ago our follower count crossed over the 10,000 mark – which is simply awesome! A little flattering, but awesome all the same. Thanks to everyone that follows us.

Anyway this is our weekly Twitter Design News Round-Up, a collection of fresh design related resources that I have shared via Twitter in the past week.

Just in case you are not one of my Twitter followers, click here: twitter.com/speckyboy, and you’ll be kept up to date.

As always, if you have any cool links that you would like to share, do not hesitate to share them here: Submit News. Thanks to everyone that has been emailing.

A new global visual language for the BBC's digital services

Once in a while there is a design article published that simply blows you away – and this is one of them!
The BBC website is probably my favourite website, well its certainly the site I visit the most. I follow daily its world, tech and science news updates and its Football section is set as my homepage (I am sorry to say that its Football first, design second). If you were to stand back and evaluate the BBCs web site ,not only as a designer but also as a user, you would be hard pushed to find anyother site better, making it the best web site in the world… it really is.

Anyway, this article from the BBCs Internet Blog describes how after ten fast growing years online they decided to embark on an ambitious project, called Global Visual Language 2.0, with the aim of unifying the visual and interaction design of bbc.co.uk and its mobile website.

The Definitive Guide To Styling Web Links

Hyperlinks (or links) connect Web pages. They are what make the Web work, enabling us to travel from one page to the next at the click of a button. As Web Standardistas put it, “without hypertext links the Web wouldn’t be the Web, it would simply be a collection of separate, unconnected pages.”. So without links, we’d be lost. We look for them on the page when we want to venture further. Sure, we pause to read a bit, but inevitably we end up clicking a link of some sort.

10 Things I Hate About Clients!

Clients can be a pain the gluteus maximus. What is the most irritating experience you have had? How did you resolve it?

How to Build Web Cred as a Designer

Credibility on the web is not easily earned. To be a successful designer, you need people to recognize you as skilled, competent and professional. When someone needs something designed they turn to you because you’ve proven yourself to them as capable and reliable. That’s web cred!

The ABC’s of a good design proposal

50 Useful Coding Techniques (CSS Layouts, Visual Effects and Forms)

Pros And Cons Of 3 Popular CSS Meta Frameworks

A lot of perennial attention is given to the use and evangelism of CSS frameworks. By “CSS framework,” we don’t mean Blueprint or 960, but rather SASS, xCSS, and Less. These are also referred to as CSS “metaframeworks,” but the distinction between them and Blueprint lies in the distinction between form and function.

The Sign Scene

The Sign Scene is a newly launched site that showcases the cool, the funky, the weird and the funny side to streets signs and billboards.
The Sign Scene is the perfect place for sign makers to display their work. Whether it is simple paper signs or elaborate metal storefront signs they’d like to see it displayed.

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If you’re on twitter and reading this blog, chances are you’ve already customized your profile with a cool twitter background. In this tutorial, we’ll create one of our own around a central mascot: a highly detailed twitter bird, that you’ll have to draw yourself! Get ready to do much more than clicking in this artistic tutorial!

Introduction

When creating a twitter background, there are various things to take into consideration. The biggest problem is the fact that you can’t center align an image in your twitter profile. So give up any ideas you may have about wrapping graphics around the body. You can either create a tile-able design, or left align the image. Since the body size doesn’t change according to the resolution it’s being viewed at, you also have to worry about keeping your main content visible over multiple screen sizes, and fading out your illustration seamlessly.

If your text goes too far to the right, many people may not be able to read it. If your illustration is highly detailed and ends after only 250 pixels, it will look odd on large screens, because it does not fade out to the right and bottom. And lastly, you’re working in web format so think about your file size when designing it.

To cope with all these requirements, we’ll create a relatively small background that will align to the left side and fade out toward the bottom and right. And by fading out, I don’t mean erasing half of the image, but gradually using fewer and fewer elements. It’s a common practice for twitter backgrounds to include a short bio and links to where the person can be found online.

My own background does not have these, because I feel that the profile bio is visible anyway on the right and you also get to chose one link that people can use. I link to my portfolio, where there are multiple links of my online presence, in case anyone is interested. Anyway, for the sake of making this more practical, there’s a short bio (in this case total bogus due to lack of inspiration) and a couple of links.

Final Image Preview

Take a look at the image we’ll be creating. Want access to the full PSD files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Psd Plus for just $9/month. You can view the final image preview below or the full-size image here.

Step 1

The first thing to do here, is to draw the mascot, a twitter bird. There are lots of cute, bright and shiny twitter birds out there so I wanted one that was not only different, but that represented my style. After all, a twitter profile is all about the owner.

The process seen below is very stretched out, but can be shortened. I don’t want you to think that this is only way you should do it, but in case you don’t have a lot of experience with line art, it’s good to take your time, and get every stage right. In time, after becoming more experienced, a simple doodle can be enough to get you started in Photoshop.

For now though, start by getting a regular piece of paper and drawing out a few basic sketches of the bird. Focus on getting the posture right, and don’t worry about the details. those will be covered later.

Step 2

As you may notice, the position of the legs in the screenshot below is not identical to the final result. As a matter of fact, I changed them at every stage because it’s a bit difficult to make them look natural and aesthetic at the same time. Just trace a rough image of your bird in this first stage.

Step 3

Now you’ll need some tracing paper. It’s basically a semi-transparent paper that allows you to draw something on top of a reference image, in this case our rough sketch. I used two pencils: a 2B, and an 8B. The higher the number, the softer the tip. I used the 2B to trace the outlines and 8B to draw shadows. The eraser is cut in half, so that you can use the sharp edge to erase small areas. That’s helpful for adding highlights.

I also slipped an extra sheet of tracing paper in between to make the rough sketch less visible. If your image has too much contrast, it’s a good idea to fade it out more so you don’t get confused.

Step 4

Use the pencil to trace the outline of the bird. You can now start to worry about the details.

Step 5

You should now have completed the general outline of every part of the bird.

Step 6

Begin to add shading, so that the bird looks 3D. Notice that the shadows are very basic, and don’t need to look very realistic. This is only a part of the whole process, and not a final image so don’t worry about making it look great. All you need to do is clearly define shapes and lighting.

This part is important because all the shadows will become continuous lines in the future steps. Blank spaces are highlights and parallel lines are shadows. Make the lines more distant and shorter, and the human eye will perceive it as a gradient. This is basically a hand drawn halftone screen.

Step 7

Grab another piece of tracing paper and place it over the pencil sketch you made. This time we’ll use this one as a reference for the final, line art bird.

Step 8

Now all you have to do is draw parallel lines across the shadows. In order to fade them out, just draw the lines shorter and shorter.

Step 9

Remember that you can fade out the outline too, not just the shadow lines.

Step 10

This time, be very careful about all the details. Make those shapes look like real feathers, not simple curves.

Step 11

Continue this process across the head and body. Make sure to leave out enough highlights.

Step 12

Like I said, the feet went under one final modification. I wanted something in between an attack position and low level flying.

Step 13

I made the second wing generally darker than the first. That makes the drawing look more dynamic and realistic. Casting an equal light over the entire bird can make it look less interesting. Even if the posture is too symmetric, you can always rely on lighting to spice it up a bit.

Step 14

And there it is, all done. Perhaps a bit too tall and stretched, but it doesn’t matter since you can’t see it all in the twitter background anyway.

Step 15

Scan it or take a photo of it and put it in Photoshop. Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and boost up the contrast considerably. Darken out the lines, but bring up some of the highlights too.

Step 16

Go to Select > Color Range. Inside the window, click on a black area of the photo so that you have a selection of the black lines. Press OK and copy the selection (Command + C).

Step 17

Create a new Photoshop document that is 750 px in width and 700 px in height, and at 72 dpi. Paste the bird (Command + V), double-click its layer and add a Color Overlay effect. Chose a dark blue (#387ebc) and press OK. Create a new blank layer (Command + Shift + N), click on both layers in the layer menu and merge them (Command + E). That will flatten the Layer Style.

Step 18

Now in a new blank layer underneath the line art, use the Pen Tool (P) to give the bird a background color (#33ccff).

Step 19

For this part it would be best to have a pen tablet, but it’s not completely necessary. You can either use a regular brush, or the pen tool to create the highlights and shadows. I did it with a tablet. In this step, trace the first few highlights with white and make it a clipping mask so it only appears inside the bird.

Step 20

Now draw larger strokes of a bright cyan (#7ff4fe). Make a separate layer for each of these.

Learn here how to create a this bird using a few techniques in Corel Draw. Successful completion of this tutorial requires an intermediate knowledge of Corel Draw. We think it’s easy as there is no need for Art school sketches that are usually needed in the first step. Let’s get started!

Final Image Preview

Below is the final image we will be working towards. Want access to the full Vector Source files and downloadable copies of every tutorial, including this one? Join Vector Plus for just 9$ a month.

Step 1

Create new document, whatever size. A4 is fine. Draw the shape of the bird’s body using the Free Hand Tool and make it nice with the Shape Tool. This part requires a bit of creativity

Step 2

Color the shape blue. Then Copy the shape and paste in the same place. Now using the Up Arrow key, move the second shape 4 pixels up. And then change the color of the second shape to a lighter blue. For better a effect use the Radial Gradient Fill Tool with a lighter to darker blue. Still the first shape should be darker to get that dark line at the bottom.

Step 3

Copy the shape and place it in the white area. Copy it again and paste it. Then make it a bit larger and put it over the smaller one (green on pink example). Using the Back Minus Front option Cut the shape off. Then change it to blue (or use the gradient that we did in last step). And place it on our main shape.

Step 4

Do the same again but cut a smaller, thiner part. Those steps are needed to add some light effects, which make it more 3D.

Step 5

This step uses only one simple option: Intersect (marked by red box, shown below). Just as in the steps above, select two object and Intersect. You will get the shape that both object share.

This technique is an easy way to get shapes that you want in many other situations. In the picture below, notice that we used circles on the main shape, then the eye, then the eyeball, etc. Be sure to apply a radial fill to the eye as shown above.

Step 6

Do the same thing again. This time create the bottom part of the bird (that’s the way birds are built, a white patch makes the bird look more real).

Step 7

Coming back to using the Back Minus Front option. Cut off the shape of the first eyelash. Than copy, paste, resize, and rotate to put them together. Now copy the whole thing and paste in place, change to a darker blue, rotate a bit, and move it to the back. Lastly, group it and place it on the bird.

Step 8

To draw the legs and nose you need to use the Free Hand Tool and make it nice with the Shape Tool. In this step, we want to show you how using the same color, but in different brightness, adds more depth and dimensionality.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay — at least for a while. More importantly, if you are not using the various social media tools that are available to grow your freelance business, you are missing out on a prime opportunity. The audience is global, the tools are almost all free and, with proper time management, the return on your investment could be phenomenal.

I have heard from numerous peers of their struggles to grasp the reigns of the wild stallion that is social media marketing, but I have had measurable success learning how to utilize Twitter in ways that have increased my clientele, enlarged my network of connections, and strengthened my standing as a member of the freelance and design community. In fact, without Twitter I would not be writing for Freelance Folder!

In this post I will share some basic transferable principles I have discovered that could help you not only get your feet wet with Twitter, but quite possibly could open doors you thought were locked to you and your freelance business.

Get Started

For those of you who are not yet convinced you should be on Twitter, here is a brief explanation of how it can benefit you and your business.

• Twitter provides a global connection. If you can learn how to provide quality information combined with interaction that is personable and engaging, you will strengthen your online reputation as well as gather loyal followers who will tell others about you. Of course, if you present yourself in a negative way, the opposite can happen. The risk is worth the reward, though. Many freelancers — especially web workers — conduct most of their business online, often without ever meeting clients face to face. Twitter provides another vehicle to make those connections, and reaches to every corner of the globe.
• Twitter gives you a stronger voice to a larger audience. As your follower base grows, you may find that more and more people are listening to what you have to say, many who you would not have ever had contact with otherwise. Twitter gives you the ability to reach hundreds to potentially thousands of people in an instant. The power of the spoken word is immeasurable, and it can be used to your greatest benefit in the Twitter context.
• Twitter connects you with your peers. I have met countless web and graphic designers and freelancers through Twitter who I know without a doubt I never would have otherwise. Now I interact with many of them on a regular basis. They read my blog and I read theirs, we chat or Skype, we critique each other’s work when asked, and more. I have grown my skills and the quality of the services I offer because of this. And I’ve made new friends with common interests!
• Twitter spreads the word (good or bad) like wildfire. If you can build a solid reputation through your interactions on Twitter, free word-of-mouth marketing will be yours. I can’t count on both hands the number of new projects and clients I have gained due to the kind recommendation of someone else on Twitter. If you can endear yourself and your work to others, they will send people your way.

Still not convinced? If so, all I can say then is, “What do you have to lose?” At the very least, you may waste some time if you don’t see results that have a positive impact on your business. And yes, I realize that time is money. But, the investment can be so relatively minimal with the possibility of remarkable results, why not give it a shot?

Set Up Your Profile The RIGHT Way

Once you’re ready to dive in, you just need to sign up and set up your account. Signing up is easy, but how you set up your profile can be fraught with mistakes that could cost you later. Here are some things I’ve learned from some mistakes I’ve made and successes I’ve stumbled upon.

• Account Name. Make sure when you sign up that you create an account name that is easy to remember as well as associates you with your business. Mine is @bkmacdaddy, which pushes my business name out there every time I tweet. Settle on a name that will be beneficial to your freelance business and memorable to others.
• Bio. There are numerous ways you can go with this, but whatever you do, understand that people do actually read your bio. In 140 characters or less you need to communicate who you and your business are. Some bios are hilarious. Others list services offered. I don’t personally believe there is a wrong way to populate the bio section — just make sure you do it in a way that is advantageous to your business.
• Avatar. The avatar very quickly becomes your Twitter “identity”. It is the most often seen element others will identify you by as it flows through their Twitter stream in whatever app they are using. It is important to create an avatar that is memorable, unique, and communicates something about who you are. Some use logos as their avatar, but I have found it is better to include a photo of yourself in some manner. When I first started, I only had my logo as my avatar, but when I changed it to a photo of myself integrated with the logo the response was overwhelming. People loved it! They expressed how the change helped them identify the person they had been communicating with and the humorous spin I included gave them an insight into the type of personality I have. Determine what you want to communicate with this tiny 72 x 72 pixel space and utilize every inch of it.
• Profile Background. Dump the standard background as soon as possible. For many, it is the first sign of a noob when they visit your profile, and it can be interpreted as a lack of desire to make a serious commitment to becoming a part of the Twitter community. More importantly, it provides valuable real estate to share information about you and your business. Whether you utilize a free background generator or hire someone to create one for you, seize the opportunity to share the addresses of your other social media profiles, your contact information, your logo and possibly more photos of yourself. I still get compliments and laughs from my Twitter profile background, and I’m aware of a few people who followed me because of it. Be sure to use this space wisely.

Find People to Follow

It is pointless for you to be on Twitter if no one is following you, and it is difficult to gain followers without following others first. Take some time to find others who share similar interests and/or are in similar fields of business. There are several directories and tools you can use to narrow your search as well as hashtags (i.e. #design) that you can look up on Twitter Search to identify people who you may want to follow. Check out their profiles, read their bios and a few of their recent tweets to see if they will add value to your stream. Investing a good amount of time here will pay off great dividends in the long run. In my first few weeks, I followed about 100 new people a day, all with some type of connection to what I wanted to focus on.

Establish and Maintain Your Twitter Presence

Now that you’re all set up, what’s next? Tweeting, of course! For those that are new to Twitter, this can be a daunting moment. What should you say? Who is listening? So many possibilities. My recommendation is to just go for it! Realize that you will make mistakes, but ultimately true transparency — which includes making mistakes — is highly valued in social media circles. Rather than stress about what to do or not do, just be yourself. Of course, if you are a jerk you may want to consider an alternative approach, but most of us just need to share who we are and what we’re all about in order to begin tweeting. Once you get going, you will realize the only rules of etiquette you should be armed with are those that are common to humanity: respect yourself and others, treat people the way you want to be treated, be kind and generous and humble. I am a strong proponent of each person bringing their own personality to the party rather than sitting back with the wallflowers and trying to figure out who the popular kids are and how they behave. So far, it is working well for me.

Here are some tips for establishing and maintaining your Twitter presence in ways that will grow your business:

• Give more than you receive. I realized pretty quickly that no one wants to be bombarded by self-serving or self-absorbed tweets. People are on Twitter for a variety of reasons, but I have yet to meet someone who is there to hear all about me and my business. Instead, I have set out to share what knowledge and assistance I can in my field. I blog about it. I tweet about it. I ask questions about it. Ultimately, I interact with others about web and graphic design, freelancing, family, and anything else that others seem interested in. I believe that is the key — I’m not there to promote myself. I am there to connect, and the promotion of my business comes from others who have discovered value in who I am and what I offer. The beauty of word of mouth marketing is that the best results come from someone else’s recommendation of you, so you must establish yourself in ways that others will want to recommend you. Give, then give some more.
• Don’t Abuse Your Podium. In many ways, Twitter is a broadcasting channel for every individual. The problem with this is that, just like any other broadcast, viewers or listeners will change the channel whenever they get annoyed or bored or offended. I encourage you to be yourself, but to the end that who you are is someone others will find engaging and interesting. If all you ever do is tweet links to your blog posts or ask people to hire you or other self-promotion, you quite possibly will never see any return and many may stop following you altogether. Consider what you would pay attention to, and offer the same value. On the opposite end of the spectrum, tweeting once a day or even less can be just as damaging. Find a balance that invites your followers to interact with you, get to know you and provides value to them in ways that doesn’t completely disrupt your life or schedule.
• Integrate Your Blog. While it is unwise to tweet your latest blog post every five minutes, which would have the opposite of the desired effect, Twitter is a fantastic way to bring new readers to your blog. For the freelancer, it is even more important because your blog can be a great tool to help potential connections and clients get to know more about you, your business and what you have to offer. Operating from the understanding that, as a freelancer, you can provide more personal service than most larger organizations or agencies, use your blog posts to share personal and professional insights that will help visitors gain confidence and interest in you. Then, of course, be sure to tweet your blog posts. I usually try to tweet my posts every three to four hours on the day of publishing, and then once a day thereafter for the next week or so. (If you don’t already have a blog for your freelance business, I highly recommend starting one.)

Set a Schedule

One of the biggest concerns that people have about using Twitter and other social networks is the time investment. The truth is that anything of value will take an investment of some type, so it is important to know and accept this when you start. I have found that the key to not being overtaken by your social media usage is to set a schedule. If you work from home, Twitter can become quite the distraction, so try to identify your best times to use it and best times to disconnect. I recommend checking in at least two to three times per day minimum, especially when you first start out, in order to maintain a presence and build familiarity. If you engage at the same times each day, you will begin to interact with a lot of the same people because they also choose those times. This can be another aid in establishing relationships and connections.

One of the best solutions I stumbled upon is to make Twitter fit into your preexisting schedule, rather than make adjustments for Twitter. For instance, I tweet in the morning while reading my RSS feeds and share articles I think others may be interested in. I usually do the same around lunch, during breaks and in the wind down time of the evening. I confess I am a bit of a “Twitterholic,” but I have never rearranged my schedule for it. Instead, I have learned the best ways to integrate Twitter into my day, and it has worked very well so far. Do what you can to stay in control of your Twitter usage and don’t let it control you. Set a schedule, and then modify it as you go until you have found what works best for you and your daily routine.

Offer Assistance

Since we are focusing on word of mouth via Twitter, why not step outside the box a bit and create the most positive of buzzes about yourself? Early on, I learned that by offering assistance to those in need I was establishing my online reputation as someone who cares, who is willing to help, and who is not solely on Twitter to promote myself or my business. I have helped others with website problems when their current web designer was MIA. I have given direction or provided links to help people set up their RSS feeds or Gmail. I have assisted others in relatively small ways that were easy for me because of my skills and knowledge, and in return they have expressed their gratitude by keeping me in mind when someone asks them if they know anyone who designs websites. Again, the word of mouth has sent numerous clients my way, and my willingness to help others has helped strengthen my reputation in the Twitter community.

Use search tools to find people who are tweeting questions that you may have the answers to, or requests for help that you may be able to assist with in a quick and painless way. I’m not suggesting giving away your services left and right, but you can definitely help some people out in ways only you can at little or no cost to you, but with great dividends in social media status.

What’s Next?

After taking the above steps, you should be able to navigate your own way toward a successful Twitter engagement. Of course, this list of tips is not exhaustive, but it should help you get started with or improve your Twitter usage to help grow your freelance business. The bottom line is to get out there and do it! Your freelance business can gain so much from the social media exposure and connections, so don’t miss out on the opportunities and possibilities that a small time investment can unleash. Above all, just be yourself.

What tips have you tried? Do you have some that were not included that you can share? What has your experience been with Twitter and its impact on your freelance business? Be sure to share your thoughts and tips in the comments.