Social bookmarking is fast becoming a popular way of promoting your blog.
Although it is a relatively new concept, most blogs I visit offer numerous buttons for me to click in order to promote and socially bookmark the blog post I’m reading.
So why should you socially bookmark other peoples blog posts (and even your own, sometimes!)?
Relationships
Building relationships is an absolute must if you want to have a successful blog. I am going to say that again because I want you to be more successful than you are today and you can be if you build on-line (and off-line) relationships.
I’m going off tangent here but bear with me…just for a minute or 2.
I’m not saying I’m super successful or anything like that but I do make my living via my on-line business…and I would not be able to do that without relationships.
I have products which I sell on-line that have been created with business partners.
I have on-line friends who I can turn to for advice whenever I need to and they know I am there for them as well.
I have friends who are affiliates of my products and I am for theirs.
AND we promote each other’s blog posts via Social Bookmarking.
Why am I mentioning this?
Because one way to build relationships is via Socially Bookmarking other peoples blog posts. If you like a blog post, add a valuable comment and then socially bookmark. Do this over a few weeks and the blog owner starts to see your name appearing each time they publish a post.
Then you could ask for one of your posts to be posted on their site as a guest post.
Then they might guest post on your site.
Then you could become an affiliate of their products or services and the two of you build a great relationship.
That’s why I mention social bookmaking and relationships.
What else is there to say about Social Bookmarking?
It’s Free, Easy and Quick!
Most of the social networking websites are free to join. Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit, for example, do not have any joining fees. These 3 websites alone have a massive customer base. Thousands of individuals go to these sites for information and to see the latest news and gossip.
If you join up to these 3 sites, you will be joining thousands of others and will be able to start socially bookmarking blog posts you like. If you have a Digg account, you will be able to ‘Digg’ other peoples blog posts, just by clicking on the Digg icon. And it’s the same with all the other social bookmarking sites.
Sign up, get an account and start socially bookmarking. You could start off by having a target of writing 10 blog comments per day and then socially bookmarking each site. The owner will start to realise you are becoming a loyal visitor and may even come to your site and start commenting and socially bookmarking your posts.
Plus when you social bookmark a site you have commented on, someone sees it, likes what you are saying and clicks on your link to your site…voila – a new visitor.
Powerful advice: Do not over promote your own blog posts, otherwise you can be classed as a spammer and be banned.
Word Of Mouth Is Priceless
If a friend of yours recommends a restaurant or service, you are much more likely to try the restaurant or service yourself, right?
When you social bookmark someone’s blog post, you are saying to others, “I like this…I recommend you read this”. So others read it and also social bookmark it. That’s the real power of social bookmarking.
Also, make it easy for your visitors to social bookmark your blog posts by using one of the many WordPress plugins. I like the Sexy Bookmarks plugin. See below to see the icons I display. Click on one while you are there!
Popularity Wins
On many social bookmarking sites you can add sites as your favorites. With sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon, you can recommend sites. People browse these sites to see what other people recommend. Search engines also love sites that have been ranked well by visitors to such sites.
Getting Indexed
By having your bog posts added to Social Bookmarking sites, they will be indexed faster. This helps your blog posts get listed quicker which can create extra traffic.
However there are some downfalls to social bookmarking.
Everyone is Doing it – Meaning There’s More Competition
Social Bookmarking is catching on fast. This means that you are now competing against more and more people on the popular bookmarking sites…and that means there is less chance of your blog post being noticed. So the more relationships and people you can get to bookmark your posts, the better.
Spam
People are getting used to spam. Many people ‘spam’ the social bookmarking sites with crappy blog posts promoting the latest flavor of the month.
Don’t do it. Only social bookmark your best written blog posts. Simply write naturally and people won’t see you as a spammer.
Used sensibly, social bookmarking can bring you loads more traffic and help build relationships.
What experience have you had with Social Bookmarking? Share your views in the comments below.
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Andrew is a website builder and helps small businesses with their on-line presence…so they can grow their customer list and increase sales. That’s it! That’s what we do each and every day.
Andrew – It sounds so simple on the surface, right? Research, write, tweet, comment on blogs and in forums, leave a review in top 3 social bookmarking sites and WALA! People will visit you non-stop.
There is just so much isn’t there? Thing is, I just have not quite grasped how to be functional in all this.
You can digress so easily and there never seems to be time in the day. I think someone needs to dicuss time management. Seems like everyone is telling what to do and why, yet I’ve never seen anyone explain how.
How does one get this all in in a day?
Guess I need to go check my StumbleAccount. I’m worn out and it’s only lunch time 🙂
.-= CJ@Online Technical Writing´s last blog ..Video Killed the Online Technical Writing Star =-.
CJ,
You are so right and we all work differently!
I have daily targets and work through them. I also have a white board where I add what I want to finish that day. I have to focus real hard and not allow too many distractions. Your points have given me ideas for more blog posts – thanks.
Andrew
You are right when you say that people SPAM the social bookmarking sites! But sometimes it can be the smallest post, or the one you think will be the least successful socially – that is.
However, I’d recommend not to submit those posts yourself, but wait for someone else to.
.-= Tom@Market Samurai Discount´s last blog ..Niche Suggestions Please…For Free Keyword Analysis =-.
Tom,
Once your relationships are built, you can get them to start the ball rolling on submitting posts for you.
Andrew
Hi Andrew, you have mentioned some nice point here. I think now SMO will kill SEO. People are going to interested to promote their service by using social media sites rather than by search engine.
I recently joined in one SEO firm and the people there also more interested to promote client sites by social media sites.
Chandan,
You have made an excellent point. It will be interesting to see how things shape up. If only I had a real crystal ball.
Andrew
Competition on the social bookmarking sites has definitely increased over the last couple of years. To get much value (from either a SEO or traffic perspective), it now requires more effort.
I definitely agree that it’s worth it to build those relationships online. Most bloggers will definitely notice an increase in traffic from a certain source and will investigate it further. If you’re the reason for it consistently, you’ve likely made yourself a new friend. 🙂
Very true, John.
It takes a lot of effort – the very oppostie of those spammy adverts like “earn a $million by next week blogging. Here buy my book for $27!”
Andrew
The competition in social bookmarking really taft so it may be working optimum if we choose tiny bookmarking but focus instead.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..Is Google Buzz competitor of Facebook and Twitter? =-.
Dana
Are there any ones you recoemmend?
Andrew
I do not know the social bookmarking exactly — but for social networking (blog directory?) i suggest blogengage.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Update´s last blog ..New Domain Adding in Web Hosting Service by use Cpanel Addon Facility =-.
I don’t see how social media can kill SEO, they are two completely different types of visitors.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I’m Looking For Launch Partners – $20 OR Three DoFollow Links For You! =-.
What types are they then Dennis?
Andrew
You know how many say search engine searchers are buyers, social media surfers are not?
Kinda what I mean; it’s a different mindset, for the most part.
The way I see it, most using search engines are on the “outside” (non-marketers, etc)…I’m not sure how else to put it.
.-= Dennis Edell´s last blog ..I’m Looking For Launch Partners – $20 OR Three DoFollow Links For You! =-.
I do agree that there is a lot of benefits in social bookmarking. I think the difficult thing is sticking with them, especially when you don’t see a lot of instant results (kind of like blogging itself). However, I do realize the power they can provide so I will continue to use them (and recommend others do the same).
.-= Mike´s last blog ..No easy road for Eagles in 2010 =-.
Mike,
You are right the results are not instant. They take time but it can be worth it in the end.
Andrew
Well, this is a battle I have never been able to win or lose. I am constantly adding social media links to sites than taking them off. I have had my Mixx account deleted and domain blocked before because of “Spam”, yet it was my visitors that were adding the links…this was a bummer.
Right now I have sort of a “no bookmarking”. This has allowed me to focus my time and effort in adding quality content across my sites as opposed to spending so much time bookmarking and so forth. I figure if someone truly likes my content than they will go out of their way to bookmark it. Plus, most “bookmarkers” tend to use their own Firefox add-ons as opposed to those on the page.
My only exception is twitter. This is crucial. There is no effort involved and many people will tweet a post because it is fast and easy.
.-= AJ Clarke@Gaming WordPress Themes´s last blog ..Mammoth Gaming WordPress Theme =-.
AJ,
You are right aout twitter – it does only take seconds.
Re: Social BookMarking – Have you used any of the automated sites like onlywire.com? They speed things up.
Andrew
i think social bookmarking is good way to get into networking as well as increase the traffic on one’s website. but i think there are only few social bookmarking website which really prove to be a help.
And which ones are they, Donna?
Andrew
Social bookmarking can be somewhat of a mystery because it is so specific to the blogosphere – there really isn’t any equivalent in the “real” or “brick & mortar” world. And, like all else in the blogosphere, it’s a constantly moving target. And everyone has an opinion, as I found when I was looking for one :-), confirming the old adage, it works for you if you work it. Best social bookmarking thing I’ve stumbled upon is Caroline Middlebrook’s. Does your comment policy allow links [to other people]?: http://www.caroline-middlebrook.com/blog/do-follow-social-bookmarking-sites/ She even offers new still-in-beta-testing social bookmarking automation [free, as near as I can tell]: http://www.imautomator.com/
.-= Beat Schindler´s last blog ..Finding Back to the Good Life =-.
Beat
I have yet to sign-up for Caroline’s new tool – not too sure what it deos differently to the others out there.
Andrew
As each new medium for advertising is developed, it becomes a slow diminish on return. Advertising in general has seen a diminishing return on investment for a while. So my question is: Does it have a better return then other options or is it just the hot new thing? Social Media is great if used properly like Andrew suggests; to build relationships, network. Andrew nails it, relationships are key. Getting to know the right people can make all the difference and now it is easier than ever to network. I am also a big proponent for quality and creativity over quantity. You create one viral video and you could be set for life it seems.
Brian,
Thanks for sharing your views.
I must admit I have built many great relationships via social media.
Andrew
.-= Andrew @ Blogging Guide´s last blog ..Blogging Guide: How Add a Contact Page for Maximum Effect =-.
Social bookmarking sites days are numbered. Facebook and Twitter being the clear winners. Both of these sites choose to not pass on value to outbound links, which is a pitty. Would they loose creditability if they did? I doubt it. More spam? I doubt that too, most SEO firms already use those sites in at least one of their bookmarking packs.
Delicious, Redit, Digg were once useful, now there’s way better things to see and do online, quicker, easier more fun more sociable.
.-= Andy@gameplayers´s last blog ..Red Dead Redemption DLC =-.
Hey, sounds interesting I’m not a FB’er expert. I want to give it a try, when I read your comments, I feel that I really need to give time to myself surfing the net.
Shiloh Street
Hi, I’m sorry. I duplicate my comments. There is a problem happens to my connection and then when it backed, I thought it was in the same page. Anyway I’ve done bookmarking before and I already sign up for those free social bookmarking sites, and it’s true it is an advantage for website trafficking.
Shiloh Street
Not a big fan of social bookmarking, I simply use caroline middlebrooks free bookmarking tool IMAUTOMATOR. It’s quick and so easy to use and will get your posts and articles indexed fast.
I’ve heard about social bookmarking and some people say it doesn’t weight much in online marketing however if you’ll think about it, Andrew is right. This is one way to interact, build relationships and look for partners!