If you ever googled “twitter backgrounds”, you noticed that one site – TwitterBackgrounds.com – always comes at the very top of the search results list. This site offers the largest selection of free high-quality backgrounds for your twitter profiles. Today we are talking to Jason Moore, the mastermind behind the site.

If you’ve been on Twitter for any length of time and ever got interested in the subject of twitter backgrounds, you surely heard the name of Hugh Briss (@HughBriss), the founder of TwitterImage.com and one of the most sought after twitter background designers.

We want to thank Hugh Briss for taking the time out of his busy schedule to do an interview for Twitter Backgrounds Gallery.

Ultimately, non-profit organizations are still companies, and in as much need of branding and identity as any other company out there – in fact, more so: NPOs need brand loyalty to survive, as they exist on handouts and goodwill and donations. and the stronger the brand, the more the brand loyalty. With the emerging popularity of Twitter as a marketing medium, NPOs can no longer afford to ignore the ability to get their message across to this potential goldmine of loyal followers.

This time we decided to try a slightly different approach in selecting weekly favorites. Only twitter backgrounds with at least 20 of your votes were considered. This week’s six finalists:

Another great week is over. 40+ backgrounds were featured and a lot more submissions and recommendations received. Huge thanks to all! If you are still looking for a background design inspiration, don’t miss an insightful article “Need Inspiration?” by @OhDaniB. And for those of you who wonder which twitter backgrounds were public favorites last week, the list is below. Congrats to all!

Creativity is fun. Creativity is exciting. Creativity is joyful. Unfortunately, creativity does not always show up on demand. So what to do when you’ve got a great but vague idea for a background and need that extra little something to take that idea through execution?

Truth is, inspiration is all around you. From the way the rays of the sun shine through the leaves of the tree outside your window, to the way the magnet got knocked askew on your fridge, any visual can be that trigger that sends your imagination soaring. But for those times when you’re really stuck the web is a treasure-trove of inspiration, if you just know where to look.

It was a great week! The Top 10 backgrounds for March were announced and many new fantastic background submissions and recommendations received. Many thanks to all of you! And if you wonder which of the features were public favorites this week, the list is below. Congrats to all!

The background is entitled “The Beginning.” It’s a background that we offer for free on our KillerTweets website. It’s been downloaded over 5000 times as of writing this tutorial. Feel free to visit the site and download it for yourself.

There are many ways to work within the layers (i.e. blending modes, layer properties, etc.) to create your desired effects and including them all in one tutorial would make for a really long one. So, I tried to be as concise as possible with my explanations.

Starting now we’ll be posting a weekly roundup of favorite twitter backgrounds featured during the previous 7 days. How will we choose favorites? The selection will be based on the number of votes the backgrounds received and your actual ratings. How many backgrounds will we be selecting every week? We don’t know yet. This week it’s going to be 10, but in the future roundups – who knows? Let’s see how it all works out! Whether you agree or disagree with our weekly selection, you’re invited to leave a comment

Why not put a new dimension to your Twitter avatar by making your own hand drawn image of yourself, your character. There are many ways to create an avatar. So many sites now that you can visit to create an avatar to use on your profile. But I think the best way to do it is draw it yourself.

Before making any avatar, consider 5 things about your personality or interest or just a character you might want to portray. For this tutorial the subject asked me to do an anime type. She says she wanted to be a sword wielding ninja. Popular in Japanese anime.

What I love most about Twitter is how willing people are to help each other. Ask a question, and you immediately get a response. People want to help each other, so when I saw the tweets about Good Will Wednesday, it stuck in my mind.

I will use my most recent St. Patrick’s Day theme as the example. Whether you use Photoshop, Gimp, or any other graphic program to create your designs the concept is pretty much the same. Each new process is a new transparent layer.

Twitter backgrounds are rapidly becoming a BIG deal. They are an important identifier of who you are and a visual peek into your personality. Up until now, those who don’t “know Photoshop” were really limited to the 6 backgrounds Twitter offered. But now there are tools under development to give the non-designer a way to put some flavor into their Twitter background. Being a graphic designer myself, I was interested to try one out and see what creative doors it could open for the Twitter world.

I checked out www.freetwitterdesigner.com. My first impression was one of uncertainty because you are greeted with background choices to jumpstart you” that seem too similar to what you are stuck with in Twitter itself. But I skipped over those and chose “blank slate.” And that’s just what I got – a white page – but one with lots more things to explore.

Twitter is probably one of the biggest social media websites out there. Twitter offers a great opportunity for people looking to market their goods and services, leads on new clients or landing that next big job.

By sharing, connecting, engaging and retweeting, that opportunity becomes even greater. Over time, you gain trust and credibility: resulting in being an expert in your field. It’s a good way to build your brand.

When marketing yourself, you want all pieces to look similar and cohesive: logo, business cards, letterhead, envelope, website, brochure, media kit, marketing materials, signage, etc.

Twitter profile backgrounds are another tool to help market and promote your self. The background should match your existing brand or look. Twitter backgrounds get noticed: if they’re unique, fresh and stand out from the crowd.

I know everyone is not a professional designer. Here are a few tips to help you get started with your own Twitter background. This is what has worked for me.

Oftentimes I am asked “Why should a person care about having a custom Twitter background?” Or I might hear a statement such as: “I don’t follow people or check Twitter from the web interface, so having a custom background doesn’t matter.” It’s quite possible that you might not check Twitter from the web interface, but there are many people out there that do, and some could be potential followers.

It seems to be pretty common knowledge throughout the Twitterverse that, roughly, the first ten visible tweets on your profile give a first impression about you when someone is considering whether to follow you or not. Therefore, why would you not care enough about your image to have a unique background which says something about your personality or business to add to that first impression?

Social media outlets are one of the best ways for small businesses to gain exposure and a following. Because you’re essentially investing your time, not your money, you can put as little or as much effort in as you see fit. This is often a great formula for entrepreneurs who don’t have a huge startup or advertising budget.

Small businesses can use Twitter to find new customers, make businesses connections, and to alert existing customers about events, sales, or new products. There are plenty of resources available to help you optimize your use of Twitter. Just remember—no one likes a spammer. Make sure your updates are informative, with a nice mix of announcements and replies. Consider Twitter a conversation, not a podium.