by Jo Linsdell

Created on: February 12, 2010

First you'll need to set up an account. This is simple and quick to do. Navigate to https://twitter.com/signup.  This will take you to the main sign-up page.

When you fill out the from use your real name under Full Name as this will help increase familiarity with your followers. Next you will be asked to create a user-name. This will be the name your followers use when sending @replies, direct messages and retweets. It will also become part of your URL for twitter e.g. http://www.twitter.com/jolinsdell. It's a good idea to use your pen name, the title of your book or the word that best sums up what you write about.

The next step is to enter a password and then an email address. Twitter uses this email to confirm your account before you can finish the signup process. Hit on the "Create my account" button and your ready to tweet.

An important factor in making the most of of Twitter is to follow people relevant to your interests. Obviously you'll want to search for those posting about freelance writing, the writing industry in general and the particular topics you write about. A travel writer for example, should also search under travel and the countries they are most interested in. It's also a good idea to follow a few of the best marketing tweeters as they can often offer great tips and advice relevant to promoting your writing. If you freelance writing content for websites it's advisable to search under social media too. Many publications are represented on twitter and can make good contacts for assignments in the future.

There are thousands of applications that can be used with twitter that are far too numerous to list here but these are a few that freelance writers may find particularly useful:

http://thenextweb.com/TwitterKeys/keys.php Allows you to add special graphics and other symbols to your tweets.

http://www.twibs.com Features businesses on Twitter. Great for finding new contacts but you can also add your own business. Twibs allows you to add keywords ("tags"), promotions, and additional links to help people find you.

http://www.twitrbackgrounds.com/ selection of free Twitter backgrounds. A good way of helping to create the right image relevant to your writing.

http://vidly.com/ post videos to twitter. You may want to share videos related to the topics you write about e.g. a travel writer who writes mainly about Italy may post video's giving information about places to visit in Rome. Someone who writes about Social Media may choose to post a series

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