Roaming around on Twitter, I found a gentleman who goes under the alias of “AlanzEyes “. Initially, he appeared to be your average Twitter user, but on closer inspection I determined otherwise.

One of the greatest aspects of Twitter is that it allows users to share a URL/link to their favorite web page.  It’s a great means of promoting your site.  Sure, you can link to your own personal site and hope that you acquire your newest, avid reader, but let us be honest…it’s not all that original.

AlanzEyes has taken a slightly different approach in his use of the URL feature.  He has created what I call a “gateway page” - a web page dedicated to those users who visit his personal site via Twitter.

Not only does the the page encourage individuals to track him on Twitter, but he offers an incentive: “I’ll follow you if you follow me, and we can share with each other.”

For those users who have never visited his site, the page functions as a personal message.  Right off the bat, the author is able to develop a relationship with his visitors.

So, just how successful has Alanzeyes’ gateway page proved?  AlanzEyes has managed to grab a total of 131 followers in 506 updates (at the time of publication).  With a bit of Math, that equates to an average better than 1 new “follower” per 4 Twitter updates.

Due to the success of AlanzEyes’ gateway page, I have decided to adopt his strategy but with a bit of variation.  I have created my own gateway page which can be located through my Twitter account .  Let’s see how well it works…