Most business people do not use Twitter; they can’t see the point. But, shortly into the New Year, the point is going to hit them sharply between the eyes thanks to two business deals that Twitter has just signed with Google and Microsoft. If you are not using Twitter in 2010 your business will suffer – really suffer.
The new deals mean that not only has Twitter become profitable, but that real-time search on “topics of the moment” will feature Twitter above all else. To be noticed in search engine results, you will need to be Tweeting away.
In the past, all you needed to do to get noticed in search engines was to have a web site. Then you needed to have a website that was relevant and topical. After that you needed to have a website that was updated regularly. In the past couple of years, if your website did not include regular articles, or a blog, getting noticed by the search engines was increasingly difficulty. Indeed, at a meeting two years ago I said that if the businesses in the room were not blogging, they would not be in business two years later. Last week, I met one of the people who have continued to blog on public relations since that very day. And guess what they told me? Of all the people who were in the room two years ago, only two are still in business – the only two who took up blogging seriously.
Now, it’s time for another prediction: businesses who don’t use Twitter in 2010 will be out of business by the time the London Olympics begin. That’s because the tie-in between Twitter and Google and Microsoft’s Bing mean that Tweets will now get high profile in search engine results. If your business is not Tweeting away, its profile will drop. No doubt, the famed Google algorithm will get tweaked to determine whether or not your site is represented in Twitter – if not, watch out.
Ten years ago, people did not see the point of bothering to get listed by search engines or to adapt their sites for higher rankings. Five years ago, many business people could not see the point of blogging. Now, many businesses can’t see the point of Twittering away. Yet those businesses ten years ago who saw the point of search engine rankings or five years ago saw the point of blogging are thriving online. The same now is true for the businesses that Tweet.
Your company’s chances of being clicked on in search engines come 2010 will be reduced – potentially dramatically – if you don’t use Twitter. You can make a start by downloading my free guide on Twitter for business.