Here's a strategy article about bluffing tells, what causes them & what they are.
More about bluffing: Texas Holdem Bluffing.
I don't like to bluff too much unless I know there's no reason to fear getting called. I'd rather have a strong hand and bet or raise with that. However, you can't espace the fact; bluffing is a significant part of poker. I guess you don't "have to" bluff, but you'll have to in case you want your game to be as profitable as possible. If you never bluff, you'll be way too passive and other players will simply run over you. There should always be a reason of some kind when you bluff. For some there isn't any.
Why Bluffing "Causes" Tells? - When we start thinking about this question, the answer isn't as simple as it sounds. People bluff for different reasons, and why can come up with a few just by creating different categories of other players. "Players who bluff when it's profitable" & "Players who just want to outplay their opponent in given time". You already know these two aren't going to bluff the same way (quite likely, at least).
Therefore, I think, their tells will be there for different reasons and you're going to have to judge them differently. Other two kinds of players, "experienced" and "inexperencied" will also have different tells for different reasons. One might be, if they're in a same kind of situation, an inexperienced player thinks he just made a successful bluff - the experienced one thinks he just made a mistake and regrets the way he's going to have to bluff. See, there's always, or there *should* always be a reason behind a bluff, and that reason is most probably why a player gives out tells.
In poker, you're going to have to look at stuff happening from all kinds of perspectives. Even if there was no real reason behind the bluff, other than the player thinking he wants to outplay you, he gives out tells by bluffing without a reason. Because there's no reason, he's going to give out tells. If you knew a player, or if you knew what kind of mood a certain player is in, plus how he's done during the session he's now playing, there would definitely be legimitate justifications for his actions. For every single insta-call, fold, raise or whatever. Which leads us to the next "chapter".
Online Poker Bluffing Signs/Tells
There are not many, first of all. When you play live poker, you could bring up at least a dozen of different kind of tells, whereas when you play online poker, there's really no way to see your opponent. So basically you can only limit your tells to what you can see. You can see what he does, but the important thing is to know *why* and *how* he does it. Because of the lack of tells, you'll have to take a hold of whatever you possibly can.
Clicking Tells - Clicking tells are my favorite kind of tells, and you'll actually get a lot of help from these tells if your instincts work well enough. When you hear some players say "I got that feeling I had him..." - that's usually outcome of a clicking tell, because how his opponent clicked whatever action he did, they did it with a speed that just fits into whatever you feel like he's doing. I've heard some crazy talk about how trusting in clicking tells is more than stupid, and there's no sensible relation to winning poker. Once again, poker is played against people, it's a people game and we should use all the tricks possible to get as much information as possible from other players.
Why it's hard to talk about clicking tells and how you can use them to your advantage? Because I think it's slightly a natural gift to read clicking tells correctly. But, at the same time, it's about how well you can relate to your opponent's situation. What hands would he bet fast in this situation? Why would he insta-call? Answers to these situations come through how well you know your opponent, how well you can relate yourself to his situation and how well your natural instincts work.
Player Chat - Some players can master the art of successful "player chat manipulation". Most of the players I've seen make stupid comments and give their hands up for nothing, but there are some who really know what they're doing. I have never used chat to get my opponent to call or fold or anything, ever since I became a winning poker player.
If you want to get good at this, you need a good understanding of psychologics, I think. Also, a huge portion of players underestimate or completely ignore the fact that some people can be good at this chatting stuff, which (against certain players) can lose them some big money. 99% of the time ignorance won't work in poker, same with arrogance. The purpose of chatting is to get into opponent's head and finally try to manipulate him into doing certain stuff. You might actually get good at this by developing your "chatting skills" at lower limits, but it's basically like you'd be talking in live games - it might backfire, and if it does, you'll lose money.
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