I generated my first Twitter account back in 2007. Shortly thereafter, I performed a few contextual posts to Twitter (Tweets) and audio posts to Utterz (now called Utterli).  This included posts generated from remote location at local races such as Mojave Desert Racing (MDR) and Mojave Offroad Racing Enthusiasts (MORE) but also SCORE Primm 300 and SCORE Baja 1000 races. During that time, all formidable websites offering coverage for these races, specifically the Baja 1000, were weak efforts. The only exception would be the Race-Dezert.com Weatherman Race Radio Live Audio Feed. But even that is rather limited in its redeeming value, which is an entirely different conversation.

It wasn’t until mid-2008 that I began consistently using a Twitter account. My spike in Twitter activity was do in part to public relations guru Jim Graham (@RonJon), who is also a self-proclaimed pretty boy Class 11 VW racer, whose race addiction is delivered via @DesertDingo. There were other things that truly interested about Twitter, but it’s just as easy to blame it on Graham. Should you follow him, you might find his ever-changing array of avatars entertaining and even perplexing.

While my fervor is for off-road racing, my primary interest in engaging Twitter was from the e-commerce perspective, since I have realized that e-commerce is indeed the driving force for financial sustenance behind the off-road industry.

Anyhow, during initial Twitter tests, I was heavily engaged in the use of Google News Search and other associated platforms such as Google Blog Search, using such resources to deliver targeted content to key pages of e-commerce shopping carts. Not only did this offer a greater resource to shoppers, enabling greater return visits on the month, but it also complimented the performance of search engine-derived traffic.

In mid-2008, I began consistently using one of my Twitter accounts. I made a more formidable showing of virtually-live coverage at the SCORE Primm race as well as the SCORE Baja 1000, using Twitter & Twitpic for text and photo updates and Utterli for audio updates.  While I did not market this, the interest garnered a considerably amount of residual traffic to several websites. The inbound links had a lot to do with this.

Perhaps the most engaging aspect of the one-man and two-man web effort was the mashup of live search widgets. Just as I had done with Google News and Google Blog searches, I had also done with Twitter live search, enabling key pages of these sites to feature live updates from Twitter without having to refresh the web page. This was particularly cutting edge when partnered with PROCOMM Race Radios Chuck Dempsey to use the International Racing Consultants live satellite vehicle tracking flash application upon my experiemental editorial e-commerce off-road website. The website was only live for no more than a month and at race’s end had garnered over 50,000 unique visitors within a 30-day period. Because of the addition of a photo gallery that contained off-road race photos, forums and, amid other assets, a an e-commerce shopping cart loaded with applicable off-road vehicle parts, the page became quite lively and was an excellent resource for fans and web editors. It harvested a bundle of resources, including the live vehicle tracking application, Twitter live search application, Utterli real-time  audio application, Google News keyword search RSS application and a few other interesting widgets.

The IRC live vehicle tracking application has once again taking a new twist and includes new licensing agreements. Likewise, the conglomerate of business partners, Dempsey included, have other endeavors that are more lucrative. Therefore, the effort is more of an afterthought but does still maintain meaning in the grand scheme of things. We’ll be discussing the grander scheme of these things later this evening over some @Starbucks.

Anyhow, what ignited a renewed interest in this live search technology was when I stumbled upon the Zappos GoPro Twitter Search Page through a Google search I executed in hopes of finding a link I posted upon Twitter sometime last week. The link happened to be on the DIRT FORGE Forum but was also posted upon Twitter, which is how Zappos got a hold of it. And coincidentally, who was once a retail store manager and clothing and accessories buyer prior to becoming a stay-at-home mom over six years ago, is interviewing with Zappos sometime tomorrow for a position within a new atheletic deparment. But let’s move onward.

You see, Zappos using Twitter search to provide additional information on manufacturers they carry product for. How I found the Zappos web page proves how valuable an asset this approach is to targeted search engine optimization. It also proves its redeeming value to customers and the industry at large. Brand marketing is not always overt in nature but can become quite covert.

For anyone interested in an in depth insight into where you need to be with your e-commerce shopping cart effort, simply gander at the Zappos page referenced above. To better integrate such an effort into your search engine optimized e-commerce game plan may prove increasingly critical in this destitute economy. This is even more true as we embrace a more savvy customer base and highly extensible web applications that are highly social in nature. From product reviews, to customer relations, to news aggregator, to blog search to the search engine magnet and beyond, you’ve got to give these trends some serious thought before the short attention span of your customer is lost upon the web.

Right now, with the release of JoomlaWorks K2 Joomla Component, I am giving serious thought to deploying the concepts alluded to here and earn a few bucks to serve my addiction to dirt.

Back to work.