Social bookmarking is an increasingly popular way for website owners to drive traffic to their sites.
Social bookmarking sites are all about community and participation. Unlike static websites and blogs which consist of articles and other content to be read or viewed in some way, social bookmarking sites allow users to interact and even create their own content.
Social bookmarking sites generally operate in one of two ways.
First, there are sites that allow you to bookmark all your favorite links in one place. This comes in handy when you use different computers and need to access your favorites from more than one location.
But you can also make your list of favorites public, so you can easily generate some traffic by bookmarking your own sites and articles.
The second type of social site we’re going to discuss allows you to submit articles which are then voted up or down by the community.
Stories that get the most votes are featured on high-traffic homepages, which can result in an avalanche of traffic.
You should try to write at least some of your articles with these social sites in mind. Write something that you know ill be controversial and then submit it to a few social sites.
If your article strikes a nerve it could skyrocket to the top of the rankings and your site could see literally thousands of new visitors from that one submission.
Hint – you can encourage your visitors to add your sites to their favorite social sites by adding bookmarklets to the end of each web page you create.
Bookmarklets are small icons that you can download from each social site and add to your own web pages. When a visitor clicks on one, your page is automatically added to their favorite service.
Which are the best social bookmarking sites to submit to?
There are far too many to name here, and new ones are popping up every day. But here is a shortlist of some of the most widely used.
Del.icio.us
Digg
Furl
Fark
Reddit
Simpy
Stumpleupon
Netscape
Blinklist
There are countless others to choose from and you should also try to find some that are specifically geared toward your niche.
Black Hat Tip – An easy way to get the ball rolling in your quest for bookmarks and votes is to set up multiple profiles with each social bookmarking site.
If you have a dozen accounts you can automatically get 12 votes for each page you submit.
But be warned…if you’re caught your accounts will be deleted and your entire website may be banned from the service permanently. Use caution if you decide to use this method.
