By Robert Lockard

I know it sounds counterintuitive, but according to one blogger, the key to getting more website traffic from your Twitter account is to tweet less frequently. Of course, Dan Zarrella is not just any blogger – he’s a self-proclaimed social media and viral marketing scientist. That’s a pretty cool title.

In his blog entry, “Want More Clicks? Tweet Less,” Zarrella made the bold statement, “If you want your Tweet to get noticed and ReTweeted, you should slow down your posting rate.” Twitter is all about speed, though. It’s an instant message service. Why would a smart blogger suggest you slow down your tweeting?

According to this study, Twitter users who only tweet one link an hour have a much higher rate of getting that link retweeted than those who post two, three or 13 links an hour. The same is true for days. One link a day gets a better click-through rate and more retweets than multiple links a day.

What does all this mean? I’ll try to interpret. I think it means Twitter users can tell the difference between people sharing genuinely interesting news, ideas or offers and robots or marketers who are just trying to sell their products through Twitter. Twitter users like people who listen as well as share. That’s called a conversation, and it’s what customers expect more and more from ecommerce companies in our current marketplace.

What does this mean for your Internet-marketing strategies? I think it means you should be just as eager to talk about your company as you are to talk about your customers’ needs, industry trends and other things outside of your company. Twitter may not be easy to navigate when you first start out, but as you learn what you’re doing you should try not to focus too much on yourself. Sharing one link or one promotion a day can be more effective than sending a barrage of offers in a short period of time.

Think about your audience. Think about how you respond to tweets. Sometimes it seems like there are way too many to ever keep track of, just from the people you follow. Keep that in mind as you formulate your Twitter strategy. Keep the line of communication open, and try not to jam the line with too many messages.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Successful Twitter strategy: Tweet less.” The photo of the birds on a fence is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Sister72.