Extend your reach with Click-to-Tweet

If you're a regular visitor here, you may have noticed something new the last few weeks. In case you missed it, I've been throwing in a few extra links into my posts. What am I trying to do? Drive more traffic to your site without spending more time online. Tweet This!

See, there is it! That nifty little link that makes it easier for readers to share your site with others.

So here's the deal. Everyone wants to have more readers and blog visitors. No one wants to post into a void. But you're busy. You don't have all day to run around posting links to your blog on every social media site out there. But what if there was something easy for you to use AND easy for your readers to use? Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

Introducing www.clicktotweet.com. Seriously, this site is so simply it's genius. Tweet This!

Here's how it works. You pick a line from your recent post, website or other social media outlet. Head over to click to tweet and copy it into the obvious, over-sized box on their page. Honestly, they even give you a character count so you can't go over your 140 limit.

Add the link to your website, blog, etc and click the Generate Link! button. They will give you a custom link that you can then add to your post using what ever text you want (for example: Tweet This!). When your readers click on the link, they are auto-directed to twitter with a pre-filled tweet. All they have to do is click post and your link and carefully chosen line are spread to all their followers.

Here's what I love about this. First, it seriously could not be any easier. No html, no coding, no behind the scenes tom follery. Just a plain, easy to use link. Tweet This! Second, it takes the guess work out of the equation for readers who want to share your post. Have you ever wanted to tweet a link to a great article, but weren't sure what to write with it? When you use this service (which is totally free, by the way), your readers don't have to add a thing.

Third, with the simple addition of your twitter handle into the tweet, it is super easy to track how effective each link is. Every time someone clicks on one of my Tweet This! links, I get a little message from twitter because the tweet includes my name. I can see exactly which line they chose to tweet. And because I use bitly (another favorite site of mine), I can track the number of new readers I'm generating.

So there you have it. A way to make your site work for you without adding extra social media time to your already busy schedule. Give it a try with your next post and see how much farther you can extend your reach.

Have you used Click to Tweet already? What was your experience?