One of the most attractive things about advertising with Twitter is that it's free. Radio, television, and newspapers can get quite expensive - even the telephone book ads cost. So it's worthwhile to learn how to apply some of the techniques and tricks in order to advertise on Twitter. Here is how it works.

1. People are online

Today, more and more people are online. They turn to the internet for entertainment, shopping, socializing, and so forth. It's where people are, and if you want to advertise, you need to be where people are! The number of Twitter users is growing daily, and it's a great way to get your name out to a large number of people quickly and easily.

2. Research your market

You can use Twitter to research your market or target audience. Then you can fine-tune your advertising to focus on those in your demographic. Your followers will be those who share a common interest - your business. This helps make your advertising more focused, too, which saves you time and effort.

3. A friendly face

Advertising with Twitter provides some personal contact with clients and customers, and that can make advertising much more effective. Twitter advertising works like a conversation or chat, and casual, familiar language is typical of Twitter. That tends to make people more comfortable with your business and product.

4. Increased traffic

Twitter users claim that traffic to their website has increased tremendously when they share information, links, and other pertinent tidbits. You can send out information that has a link to your website included, and will therefore draw people to your business.

5. Power to the consumer

Twitter advertising gives the consumer power over what advertising he or she is exposed to. This actually is good for the business owner, too - businesses don't have to sweat over obtaining all kinds of contact information. You need only send out tweets to those who are interested in your business. And since you've done your research, this type of targeted advertising can be a real time saver.

6. An ad campaign

You can launch an advertising campaign on Twitter. You can subscribe to an advertising network, such as Magpie, that can facilitate this. This application matches keywords in your tweets to those of various advertisers.

7. Be on the cutting edge

Twitter means updates in real time - it's about what's happening now. When you advertise through Twitter, and you keep abreast of the latest tweets and such in your demographic, you have the potential to be on the cutting edge of your field. The instantaneous nature of Twitter helps make that possible.