Twitter is all the rage in the world of social media today. People of every demographic are now on Twitter, promoting (some call it spamming) their wares…yes, me, too. Like it or not, promoting your business or website, regardless of manner, is marketing. We could all use more marketing. The focus of this article is to help you pimp your twitter background and have used my twitter account as an example.

To stand out from the crowd, you need to differentiate your brand. The majority of Twitter sites I visit use the default background and color scheme. This is OK if you only communicate to the world your comings and goings, what you had for lunch, the weather you’re having, etc. However, if you want to utilize Twitter as a tool to promote your business, I would suggest hiring someone to customize your Twitter background design to fit your brand or business, or learn how to do this yourself .

Twitter Image, which does custom Twitter background design, has published an excellent how-to article for the technically capable. I wish I’d seen this post earlier, but I had fun figuring out of my own. This is a very doable project and you’ll be surprised at your results.

Here is a sample of my twitter background design from this afternoon.

Step 1 – On paper, sketch out your design. This process goes much faster if you have a clue of what you want the final image to look like.

Step 2 - Using your photo editing software ( I use Photoshop CS3), start with a 1600 x 1200 canvas

Step 3 – Add a header for styling. For my design, I used the rectangle marque tool to create (2) black elements across the top of the page (on separate layers) and later moved them together to create the right look.

Step 4 - Either import a  logo or use the text tool to create your name. I chose the text tool.

Step 5 – Import image for the main element of the page. I also added a small photo of Polly and me.

Step 6 – In Twitter, go to Settings> Background Design and import your newly created image. Remember to save after importing.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-tutorial. If you have any questions about the topic, kindly post your comments below. If you would like for me to create a custom Twitter background design for you, please contact me using email.