The Twitterverse are wise too it, and even occasional tweeters are by now aware: the Twitter homepage has had a make over.

The changes are designed to help newbies find their way around the service, and understand what Tweeting is all about.

On his blog, Co-founder of Twitter Biz Stone said: “Helping people access Twitter in more relevant and useful ways upon first introduction lowers the barrier to accessing the value Twitter has to offer and presents the service more consistently with how it has evolved”.

Erm. Right.

He also said that Twitter had changed focus from a “rudimentary social tool based on the concept of status messages” into “a new kind of communication and a valuable source of timely information.”

And he added, in case we weren’t all having a good time: “Also its fun.”

There’s no doubt that what people are Tweeting about varies hugely. Just have a glance at the ‘trending topics’ for sample of this. At the same time that some are talking about Iran, others are on about blue M&Ms.

The really big change, and the one that has got all the marketers excited, is the refocusing of the homepage into a search box. ‘Real time search’ – finding out what people are talking and writing about right now – is where it gets interesting. Giving businesses the chance to tap into this is where the money is going to be for Twitter.

This change is also reflected in the more weighty strapline. Twitter has gone from “What are you doing?” to “share and discover what’s happening right now, anywhere in the world.”

This is the first of many steps that Twitter is taking to hit its user target of 1bn by 2013.

Have a look at the Twitter homepage. Does it make the point of Twitter a little bit more obvious? Leave us a comment below.

Another great but simple video tutorial this week.

Remember when online video was slow and stuttery, full of buffering and such like? Youtube changed all that. Now online video is mostly seemless and smooth.

And the great thing about online video is that it keeps people on your website. It engages visitors, it inspires them, and it makes them more likely to stick around.

Thankfully the WebEden Website Builder is fully integrated with Youtube - you can place any youtube clip on your WebEden website. Watch the tutorial to find out how.

Have you got a good example of video on your website? Leave us a comment below.

Today we’re lucky enough to have another Guest Blog by Alison Cross from AlisonCross4Webs.co.uk. Its all about getting more from websites by using RSS.

What is RSS?

You may have noticed a little orange radio symbol on your journeys through the various plains and jungles of the internet. Usually on a blog or news site it winks at you from the corner of the page, inviting you to click it.

But what is it?

It’s an RSS feed link, that’s what it is.

‘What in the tarnation is RSS?’ I hear you ask! Truthfully, I didn’t actually know what RSS stood for, but I am reliably informed that it’s short for ‘really simple syndication’. And it is just that - a really simple way to share information.

Let’s look at a normal working day. Do you log on in the morning and visit your usual sites - perhaps the BBC for news, maybe WebEden’s blog to see what Ken’s telling us about today, maybe a couple of sites to do with your business? Twitter?!

What often happens is that you go out looking for those new links. With RSS, you tell the sites to send the new stuff in to you.

Sounds Good! So how do I use RSS?

What you need to get your hands on first of all is an RSS Reader. This acts as your central gathering point for the RSS information that you want to read.

It will not surprise you in the least that I’m about to point you in the direction of the Google Reader. You can sign up to Google Reader here. You’ll need a Google account for this, which you will already have if you use their Analytics or Webmaster Tools. There are load of alternative RSS readers – just search for ‘RSS Reader’ on Google.

Google Reader

Once you’ve activated your Google Reader, you can add feeds to it in two ways.

The first way is within Reader itself. In the top left hand corner of the Reader screen you’ll see a box that allows you to add a new subscription. Here’s what it looks like:

You can either type in the actual URL of the website you want to subscribe to, or you can type in a search term and browse about until you find one that you really like the look of and then subscribe.

The second way is to click on that little orange radio button (like the image at the top of this post) while you are on the site that you want to subscribe too.

When you click on that button, you’ll probably find that you are offered several Reader subscription buttons - and Google is usually one of them. Click on that feed button and next time you log in to your Reader page, there will be the fascinating feed!

Get a Bundle

Subscribing to RSS feeds can save you a lot of time. In fact, Google has even bundled together lots of different RSS feeds for people who haven’t got time to go hunting for relevant feeds.

As of today’s date, there are 449 different bundles available to you - from news feeds..coffee ..crochet…surfing…yoga…everything! If you can’t find a bundle that interests you, why not create a bundle of YOUR niche favourites and submit them to Google for other people to subscribe to?!

Finally

Why you should use RSS? Because it brings your internet world to YOU, you don’t need to go rootling about to find it and best of all, you’ll never miss an update from your favourite site again.

About Alison Cross
Alison Cross lives on the Isle of Bute where she has built over a dozen websites using our software. She also helps people use Twitter to market their business. For more info or advice about social media or web design, visit her website alisoncross4webs.co.uk.

Last week we gave you some simple instructions on how to sign up with Twitter. Now you’ve done that, what’s next?!

Here’s a basic guide to using Twitter. Its not definitive - your comments are welcome!

Following people

1. Start out by following people who you are genuinely interested in hearing from. This might be your industry figurehead, a national paper, an industry magazine, or a commentator
2. Your customers. Show you’re interested in your customers by following them whenever you can. That will make encourage them to follow you, and open Twitter as a channel of communication
3. Don’t follow people just because they follow you, unless they are your customer. Only follow people you are genuinely interested in.
4. Avoid following people who have high numbers of followers and follows. These will just be using auto-tools to build their follower base. Lots are US based.

Tweeting your News

1. Every time you add a new post or item onto your blog or website, Tweet it with a headline and a link.
2. Every time you change your prices, have an offer, or have any other news that you wouldn’t otherwise have on the blog, Tweet it

Tweeting other people’s news and blog posts

1. Set up an Feed reader with all your important writers’ latest posts. Here’s a guide on how to set up a feed reader
2. When you see something that you find interesting, summarise it and send a link to it

Commenting on other people’s Tweets

1. For the people who you are following, read their posts. If you’re interested, reply @them
2. When people send you an @message, responding to it quickly

ReTweeting (RT)

1. If someone compliments you, your website or your company then ReTweet it by copying it into your own post and prefacing it with RT @them:
2. If you see anything of genuine interest that you want to attribute to the original Tweeter then RT it in the same way.
3. Do your customers a favour by retweeting their messages to your audience

Direct Messages (DM)

1. Keep any private messages to DM
2. If someone RTs your message then thank them privately with a DM

General Guidance for Tweets

1. Mix up your Tweets. Send some links to your site, some to others, and include no links in some. Have a mixture of general Tweets, @Tweets and ReTweets.
2. Tweet any comments you get on your blog comments including a link directly to those comments. Try to get a debate going
3. Ask questions to generate interest and get answers
4. Remember that a lot more people will be reading your tweets than responding them. If you’re using it for customer service than showcase your finest work!

Tools

1. Ping.fm Distributes your posts to multiple microblogging platforms
2. Shorten URL Mozilla Add on. Puts a URL shortner shortcut in your browser, makes for quick URL shortening
3. TweetDeck. Desktop application that lets you monitor for mentions and direct messages across multiple Twitter accounts.
4. Tweetpic. Allows you to link images to your posts.

Tracking

Twitter traffic is notoriously hard to track as it mostly comes from redirects.

1. Bit.ly: This can give you click data about the traffic that your shortened URLs are generating
2. Google Analytics. Using the URL Builder, you can manually add a tracking URL onto your website address before you shorten it.

And that’s about it! Any other ideas or comments? Please let leave them below.

We’ve discussed Twitter countless times on this blog, and I’ve just realised that we haven’t covered the basics: How to sign up to Twitter. Here’s some instructions!

1. Go to the Twitter Home page and press the sign up button on the right hand side. This is what it looks like:

2. Next you’ll be on the ‘Create an Account’ page. It looks like this:

For Full Name and Username you’ve got a few choices. You need to decide who you are Tweeting as. Will your account be:

a) Personal (EG ‘Ken Builder’). In this case put your first and last name in and, and for a username write your name straight through. If it looks better seperate your first and last name with an ‘_’ underscore.

b) Business (EG WebEden). In this case put your company name in as full name, and for username write your company name again.

c) ‘On behalf of’ (EG Ken Builder on behalf of WebEden). In this case put your actual first and last name, and add your company name as the username.

Keep the names as short as possible - it will give you more space to Tweet with!

Make sure you include your current email address as this is where your notifications and password reminders will be sent to.

3. Then you get onto a stage where Twitter can search your Gmail, Yahoo or AOL mail accounts to see if any of your contacts are already on Twitter. Here’s what it looks like, but I’d skip this step if I were you!

4. Next up you can look for high profile users of Twitter who you might want to follow. This is what it looks like, but I’d skip this bit too!

5. And that’s it. You’re on Twitter! Time to experiment…

I’m not going to talk here about what to do, what to say, and who to follow, except to explain the links across the top of the page that look like this:

Here’s what these all mean:

Home: This is where all the Tweets of everyone you’re following plus your own will appear.

Profile: This is where all your Tweets will appear

Find People: This is where you can search for other users of Twitter, and follow them. Try searching for webeden!

Settings: This is where you can:

• Change your Username and Passwords
• Add your website address
• Add a 160 character biography about yourself
• Change Your Background
• Add Your Photo (if its a personal account use your own photo, if its a company one use your logo)

Now that you’ve signed up why not follow WebEden on Twitter?

Leave a comment if you’re having any trouble signing up.

Many business owners are jumping on the Twitter bandwagon. People feel like Twitter is something ‘they have to do’. There’s talk about the need to ‘embrace your customers’ and to ‘have a conversation’ with them.

But what exactly does that mean? How can you just start talking to people, out of the blue, without a reason?

We’ve already provided a guide on how to sign up to Twitter. And elsewhere we’ve given you some ideas about how to get to grips with Twitter.

Here’s a more in depth list that business owners might want to try.

1. Tweet the headline to your latest blog post. When you add a new post to you blog, unless users are following it via RSS the chances are they won’t be aware of it. Its only when they remind themselves to check your website that they might happen along. Twitter is a great way to alert your follows to the exciting new article you’ve added to your blog.

2. Tweet when you update your prices and offers. Make sure followers are aware of price changes – especially sales – so they can take advantage of a deal. This is a way of rewarding them for following you.

3. Tweet when you’ve got problems. It might seem unusual to a traditional business, but it’s a good idea to let your followers know when you’re experiencing problems with your products or service. Rather than be put off, Twitterers will appreciate your openness.

4. Help people with customer support. Whilst Twitter shouldn’t be the primary or only support channel, it’s a good idea to help people who have a problem. To start with, they will appreciate you helping them in an open way. Secondly, it’s the opportunity to demonstrate your customer service skills to everyone watching the conversation. And lastly, others may be experiencing similar problems so you will be solving them too.

5. Ask questions. Twitter gives you a direct, open, instant, one to many channel to use for research. Find out what people like about your product and what they don’t. Ask them what they want to see more of. If you compile the responses into a poll you can then feed the results back to your Twitter community, sharing what everyone thinks.

6. Do you hold events, seminars, attend conferences or similar? Use Twitter to communicate your presence at these locations, and retweet news from other people attending the event.

7. Hold a competition. Twitter can be a great platform to run a competition on. Ask your followers to retweet news of the competition as an entry to the competition. You need to make the prize sufficiently juicy to incentivise entrees.

Don’t for get to use Twitter search to monitor mentions of your company. It might be that you can get involved, ask questions, and address concerns even though a question or comment hasn’t been directed specifically to you. Be aware though that this may be a bit intrusive – many Twitter users forget that the platform lets anyone see what they’re saying

That’s all I have for now. Do you have any other suggestions about good things to say on twitter? Leave us a comment below.

Ever since we launched our domain registration service in September 2008, thousands of you have registered a domain name.

Most use these domain names to replace the .webeden.net bit of your website address. And many others have made use of the 5 free email addresses that we give away with every domain name.

These email addresses mean that you can send and receive emails on your very own domain name. You can either use our webmail service or use a desktop client such as Outlook. You can read more advice and watch a video tutorial on how to set up your email.

Should you ever encounter a problem getting to your webmail service from the WebEden Domain Names page, or you get errors in your email client (Outlook), then there is a quick and easy way to access your Webmail.

All you need to do to access your account is to use:

http://webmail.yourdomainname.com

In other words, replace the ‘www’ bit of your domain with ‘webmail’. This brings up your webmail login page.

You need to fill out the boxes with:

1. Top Box: Your full email address

2. Bottom Box: Your email password

Make sure you use your email password and not a password for anything else.

Every email address with a mailbox on that domain can access webmail in the same way. Don’t forget to use the mail box name not an alias.

Bookmark it for later

Remember, you might need this page again so bookmark it to make it quick and easy to find later.

That’s it!

Good luck collecting your Webmail in this new way!

Due to popular demand we’ve added more templates into our website builder. These give you lots of new starting points for your website building journey!

Here are a few of my favourites

I don’t know about you but I find these new templates inspiring!

Don’t forget, you don’t need to use a template, you can always start with somethink blank.

Like the new designs? Any others out there that you’ve seen and you’d like us to have a go at? Leave us a comment below.

I’ve long been a fan of iGoogle. You can add all sorts of Gadgets, RSS feeds, information and customisation to your very on version of Google.

Well thanks to the HTML widget, you can now add any Google Gadget to your WebEden website too! Any of the cool stuff that developers have created for iGoogle can now appear on your website. Watch the video tutorial to find out how:

Any comments or feedback? Please leave them below.

One of the primary reasons people build a website is to make money from it. And a popular way to make money from your website is to sell advertising on it.

You can choose to sell advertising space on your website to specific companies. Or you can let Google AdSense do the hardwork and sell it for you.

Google Adsense scans the text on your website and automatically serves relevant advertising around it. You get paid when someone clicks on those adverts.

Any WebEden customer can run ‘Ads by Google’ on their website, and make money from the the impressions and traffic that your website delivers.

Find out how to place Google Adsense ads on your website by watching the tutorial below.

Any questions or comments? Please leave them below.