Wherever you can find a lot of people, you can use that to improve your business. After all, the reason any business is established in the first place is to make money. Today we have the internet and social media and a host of different websites designed to bring people together. Why not use that to your advantage? Why not earn profit online? Twitter, for example, is a great way to build a network of followers that you can convert into customers for your business.

If you think you don’t have that much impact, you might be surprised that even powerful companies rely on Twitter to effectively market their product. From big players like Oprah, Southwest Air and the New York Yankees to small cake decorating or catering companies and real estate consultancies, everyone has realized that Twitter is much more than a fad, but a real money maker in terms of generating new business for online profit. Why you and your business should be any different

Twitter can help you profit online in three phases, all done within the website: lead generation and marketing, relationship building until a deal is closed, and finally, it even allows you to keep in touch with your customers and follow up. You pay nothing on the site. Membership is free and posting tweets and ads is also free. There is no option to get a “premium” account, so everyone is on an equal footing with everyone else.

So how exactly do you use Twitter to make a profit online? After you get an account and complete your profile, you can start tweeting. While you can get straight to the business side of things in your tweets, it helps a lot if you start tweeting about non-business matters. Start by telling people about yourself, your interests, and what keeps you busy on a normal day. You can even post a short video about yourself. The goal at this point is to make yourself real, human, and likable to other users. Once you have that covered, you can start browsing profiles and following people. Be sure to connect with the people you keep mentioning via @replies (i.e. @twitterusername) and strike up a conversation with them. Once you start getting people interested in you, start introducing your product and before you know it, you’ll already be making a profit online!

Twitter is making a splash in the way companies market their products. There’s simply no reason why you shouldn’t have your business on Twitter, too. It’s easy, free and effective. You have nothing to lose and much to win.