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The Art of Social Bookmarking!

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Social Bookmarking

Several years ago, social bookmarking was all the rage, and people were bookmarking en masse trying to out-SEO their competition. And it worked – social bookmarking was a viable traffic getting strategy for several years.

But then things changed, and Google started weighing results a bit differently. Not only that, but there are now so many social bookmarking sites that it’s hard to keep up. Yes, there are sites that help you cover more ground, but they are becoming less and less prominent.

So, what do you do? How can you use social bookmarking in a way that helps you build SEO and traffic – today?

To answer the question, we’ll have to dive into why people use social bookmarking, and in doing that, I think you’ll get the answers you are looking for.

The Purpose of Social Bookmarking

Why do people use social bookmarking today? They use it mostly to remember links so that they can go back to their favorite sites. They also use it to share with friends. One service that works really well for this is Trunk.ly, which automatically stores the links you share on Twitter and Facebook in an easy to search format.

If you share good links, people will likely follow, and if you don’t, they won’t.

So, we have these two dynamics at play:

  1. People use social bookmarking as personal bookmarks.
  2. People use social bookmarking to share.

What people don’t use social bookmarking for is to share sites that suck, and it’s because of this that many marketers go wrong. Let’s talk about that next.

Becoming Valuable in Social Bookmarking

Let’s use the previous example of Trunk.ly. If I want people to follow me there, then the best way to do that is by generating great content. I can’t do that by spamming every blog post I’ve written, but by sharing good content all over the web.

The same goes for sites like Tumblr, which is more popular now than it was in the social bookmarking heyday.

Value = Traffic

The surest way to drive traffic is by sharing only the best of what you write and find, not in sharing everything that comes your way. This means no obligatory sharing between friends, and preferably, content that is tailored to a specific audience.

For example, instead of creating an all-purpose account, why not create an account for each niche or sub-niche? You could create an account for running links, and another for playing guitar, etc.

Bottom line – be interesting, relevant, and valuable.

How to Get People to Your Site

Some people might find your site from blog posts you’ve bookmarked, but most will find out about you from a bio on a social bookmarking site first. In today’s world of blogs and Twitter profiles, people often read about the person behind the profile before they take the profile seriously, and if you ask me, this is your ticket in.

If you share great links, and craft a stunning bio that people can’t help but to click through and check out your website, then you’ve won. In today’s world of information overflow, this is the surest way to traffic and a solid reputation that sticks.

What do you think? Is value and reputation overrated? Weigh in below.

About

Wong Chendong is genuinely concerned about bloggers’ efforts in the blogosphere. While many online and marketing gurus prey on the uneducated and impressionable, he share his blogging knowledge instead of robbing people blind like the wicked of the web. He has been where you are and knows for a fact that he can help you. Find out how you can improve your blogging techniques by visiting TheBadBlogger.com

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{ 27 Responses }

  1. Alex Gracian says:
    The golden rule that I have learned when it come to blogs, social bookmarking, article marketing and so on is the importance of an excellent and relevant content. People like me would definitely bookmark sites or pages that provide excellent information on a particular niche.
  2. Avelina Marshall says:
    You can not rank your account value just on the base of you bio neither on your bookmarks only. But you have to carry both equally. Where people search for you on by your bio there is also a big number of people who just go for keywords. So if the search engine of the website you have chosen for bookmarking, found the relative keyword in your description or in your URL (depends on its algorithm) then it will show your bookmark. And then by this way you would be able to get relevant traffic.
  3. Matt says:
    The "secret" to success when using any form of traffic generation is to create good content, at least, if you want longevity. The good stuff always floats to the top. Just look at Digg - sure there are millions of spammy articles on there but the ones that really get dug are the good ones.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      Yes, usually Digg focus more on big news around the globe and to get dug, is not an easy way to really go for it, unless you have found a group of friends in Digg that love your content, or else is really hard.
  4. Bjorn says:
    I think the power on DB lies in bookmarks made by others. I think sharing great content like you write is the right way to go. If people see your bookmarks they might share or like your posts. I also bookmark posts I make comments on. This is posts I find interesting, and it also makes people following the bookmarks see a link back to me...
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      It's a great way to bookmark posts you have commented and that's how sharing is being done, it is not just great sharing way but also a great way to connect others between you and the post author.
  5. Kavita says:
    Whatever be the number of twitter followers or facebook fans, people will only look at your content for two reasons. One is content quality and the other is how active you at social bookmarking.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      Yes, you are right, quality and activeness are important in social bookmarking success.
  6. Amy says:
    I think to really make your social bookmarking efforts count, you need to create a good profile and you need to bookmark other interesting stuff - not just your own content. As a back linking tool, Social Bookmarking helps as many scraper sites pick up the RSS feeds from them.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      Your right, having a good profile is very important and submitting other content which is good is also a great way to punch up any social bookmarking effort.
  7. Andreas says:
    Social bookmarking is a great tool, but it needs other people to vote on your resources in order to be effective, which also involves you bookmarking and voting on other bookmarks. Just bookmarking and forgetting does not get any significant traffic.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      Yes, consistent traffic comes only if you do your work and by forgetting to further doing discussion or replying to comments will eventually make the sharing of social bookmarking to go cold...
  8. Asif says:
    It's all about the Impact, even if you have 1000 followers on twitter, your Tweets could get many RTs then someone who has got 5000 followers. And if we talk about social bookmarking. It still works for many websites and blogs. The thing is, you have to keep doing something for at least six months before you start getting real results because building an Impact takes time.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      First off, I do not believe in having lots and lots of followers will have better results in terms of tweets and you should avoid listening to people who tells you that because to get more tweets is to have great followers who does follow you niche closely which in this case having you to give out valuable content and there is no such time limit of six months to start to get better results, it is the value of the content and also the engagement of further discussion that will turn social media to a success reach.
  9. Riya says:
    Hi Wong, If people find you interesting and genuine only then they're going to follow you and share your bookmarks as well. By sharing only selected and best post or article will certainly help you to get more and more targeted traffic. Avoid spamming that's what everyone hate including me as well. Be real and share good things that's the basic for getting huge traffic from social bookmarking.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      ya, by sharing good stuff, people will always follow, and spamming is one thing that almost I can't stand and I believe most of the people doesn't like... unless the spam is good spam... is there a good spam? I don't think so...
  10. John says:
    Hi Wong, Social Bookmarking is still playing great role in SEO, it is true that most of SEO's used it just as a tool to grab keyword ranking easily and for immediate effect. I agree with you on points you mention in this post about Social Bookmarking Thanks for information John
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      No problem, and thanks for commenting, letting me know you agree with my point, talk soon...
  11. James Pruitt says:
    I think social bookmarking is still valuable, but you have to use the right bookmarking sites for your niche. For some niches Stumbleupon works better for me, and in others, Digg and Delicious do better (although we will have to see how that pans out after they change owners...) Either way, its useless as a backlinking tactic, pretty much but if you share good content, and not just your own, but other sites as well, then it can be benefitial.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      Yes, some social site do really converts better results then others, and by using the right social site, you won't be wasting time on less results site. Good point!
  12. Jane says:
    Hi Wong, With social networks, content is still king just as blogs. When people know that you share quality and useful content, then follow you. I must say that over the last month I have really had a blast in traffic because of social media. The more you give the more you get noticed. Cheers, Jane.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      "The More You Give, The More You Get Noticed" that's an awesome sentence because that's how people get famous and such. I mean it doesn't matter who you are as long as you are giving something valuable to the social media sites, eventually you will get notice and it will go viral as the shares and likes get click...
  13. Allie says:
    Hey Wong,Social bookmarking has brought me great traffic.You made a great point in saying that you need a profile.I always check profiles and very disappointed when I see nothing.One thing I make sure I do, with most sites, is keep my gravatar, my name and my general description constant. This helps to brand me and people will hopefully remember me and my site.Thx. ~Allie
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      At first, I though of putting my logo as the profile picture, but in the end I realize, I doesn't want people to know me as a logo, I mean I want people to know me as a real human and real person, not someone who hides behind a logo. So having a good profile and good general description of who you are is really a crucial point between whether visitors to your social media profile trust you as "real person"
  14. Wasim Ismail says:
    Value and Reputation both go hand in hand, i wouldn't say it's over rated, but if you consistently share Google Relevant topics and articles, you will start to build your presence, which will than lead to users clicking though to your website.
    • Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
      No doubt about what you say because value when go hand in hand with reputation will eventually get people to notice you quickly and of course relevant topics and articles are the most important points in building the value...