If you are using WordPress as the structure for your blog, then you have a ton of resources available to you to pull Twitter data into your site as well as send your blog data to Twitter.  I have found a TON of PlugIns by typing in Twitter into the terms when searching for PlugIns.

Over on the right side of my blog in the Sidebar 2 there are a few different PlugIns I am using.  The first one is TwitterCounter and it is just a counter of the number of followers you have on your Twitter profile, very simple to set up and use and the colors are even customizable to your blog theme.   I thought it would be interesting for you readers to keep an eye on how my follower count grows (hopefully) over time as you keep returning to the site.

One of the others I am trying out is Twitter Remote.  This lists recent visitors and their profiles, it also allows you to search their conversations,  @reply them, and see their stats directly from your blog, eliminating visitors from having to leave your site.

The last one on the sidebar that I am trying out is the Twitter Friends widget.  It has a few display options and right now mine is set to just view pictures.  I think it adds interest and credibility to your page, showing REAL people that are following you.

Keep checking back for more updates on these and the several other widgets and plugins I am using or not, and why!

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Twitter Grader is a great site to see how you are growing in the Twitterverse!  I have some great tricks on how to use TwitterGrader in the book.  I have been having problems loading the site lately, still not loading after 4 minutes of waiting.  I guess there are a lot of tweeters out there looking for their grade.

Today my Twitter Grade is 99.93 and I am #16 on the San Diego Elite list, up from #49 last week.  What is more important to me though is my influence and how others view me in the Twitter World.

Getting graded can be an ego boost if your scores and position continually grow.  One of the best things to do for your own records is to take a screenshot when your just starting out and then compare it on a weekly or monthly basis to see if your growing.  If your not, well then you need to make some adjustments.

This was on 2/25/08 and today its up to 99.93 - just two days later!  Follow Friday always helps my grades on sites like these.  There are some pretty controversial debates going on as to whether you should grade yourself or not.  Some people hate the grading sites and others enjoy them (like me).  TwitterGrader does NOT grade you on the number of followers you have.  There are many factors that go into grading your site.  The ratio of followers to unfollowers is important as well as the quality of those followers, the quality of your tweets and much more.

If you are hoping to use Twitter as a marketing tool by building relationships with other tweeters then your own credibility as a tweeter is important, therefor you should keep an eye on your grade. IMHO

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