How to Customize Your Twitter Background and Stand Out From the Crowd

1. Keep your logo or promotional image at least 100 pixels wide or smaller. This doesn't leave a lot of room for creativity but keep in mind that almost half of your potential visitors are using a browser resolution of 1024x768. Are most people in the world of business and internet marketing using larger browsers? Maybe--maybe not. You can check out some browser resolution stats here: http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_display.asp

2. The background color of your image should match the background color of your Twitter page. You can easily change the colors of your Twitter page by going to Settings --> Design --> Change Design Colors.

3. To create a unified and consistent look, make your Twitter page match the theme and colors of your blog or website. That way visitors who haven't seen one or the other before will be more likely to recognize that YES--it's really you!

4. Like always--keep it above the fold. This is even more important on your Twitter profile because guess what--the background image doesn't scroll. DOH! To play it safe, expect to keep your image at a height of around 500 pixels or so.

5. Don't put anything TOO important on the top of your Twitter background image. Chances are it'll get lost behind all the other Twitter tabs. Leave yourself a ceiling of around 83 pixels or so.

6. Don't make your readers dizzy. Unless you have an image that was specifically created to be used as a tile--please leave "tile background" UNchecked. Thank you!

7. If you can't make all your information fit into a 100 pixel wide space try rotating it sideways. This creates an interesting appearance and is fairly easy to accomplish using most image-editing programs.

8. Test to see how your image looks on different size browser resolutions. Trust me--it's easier than you think and might save you a bit of embarrassment! A background image that looks goofy or is formatted incorrectly reflects poorly on your business.

9. Avoid harsh edges on photographs. If you want to put a photo on your Twitter background make sure it blends in nicely with the background. Nothing screams "amateur" more than an image that looks like it's just been slapped on the screen. Create a smooth edge by using the gradient tool or a soft-edge brush or eraser in your image-editing program of choice.

10. When in doubt--test it out. Not sure if it's going to look right? There's no better way than to upload the image onto your Twitter page and check it out for yourself.

Eek! Think this all sounds just a little bit too complicated? No worries! I created a blank .PSD template you can use to get started which has some nifty guide lines to make sure your most important details stay in the "safe zone."

To download the template simply right the click the link above and choose "Save Link As" or "Save Target As" to save the file to your computer. If for some reason the guidelines don't show when you open the file in Photoshop or another graphics program hit Ctrl+H. You can also view the ruler by hitting Ctrl+R.