social bookmarkingSocial 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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