ARTICLES FOR WEBMASTERS 
 Promote Your Website with Social Bookmarking
Sometime in 2001, website owners started to learn that it's a lot
cheaper to get others to promote your website by word of mouth than it
is to purchase advertising. Fast forward to the present day, and
marketing your website is all about generating social media buzz.
Social networking sites like
Myspace
and
Facebook
, microblogging sites like
Twitter
, and popular blogs like
TechCrunch
carry a lot of weight
in the online world. But by far the easiest and least time consuming
beast to tame is social bookmarking, a form of social designed
specifically for sharing links. In this article, you'll learn about
what social bookmarking is, how it works, and how you can translate
your new knowledge into increased traffic to your website.
The internet offers the average user access to an unprecedented amount
of information from news and advice to humor and vacation photos. But
the web is a big place, and it's becoming harder to sort through the
information overload every day. Social bookmarking is one solution to
this problem. Essentially, social bookmarking sites allow visitors to
democratically elect their favorite links. Anyone can submit a link,
and members of the community can vote up or down on content. Links that
get the most positive votes rise to the front page of the website and
receive the most exposure.
The biggest and most well-known social bookmarking sites are
Digg,
Reddit,
StumbleUpon,
Delicio.us, and
Yahoo Buzz.
These mainstream sites
tend to cater to those looking for eye-catching news, political banter,
tech breakthroughs, and, above all, a good laugh. Though these are the
staples, almost anything can become popular through social bookmarking
if the content is accessible, compelling, and unique enough. There are
also more niche-oriented social bookmarking sites like Sphinn, an
internet marketing oriented website. These niche sites can be
invaluable in directly reaching your target visitor demographic.
The key to getting yourself noticed on one (or many) of these sites is
offering people something memorable that they can get interested in and
forward on to people they know. This means making a vivid impression on
visitors. Make your site design clear and easy to read, and be sure to
include some of the buttons provided by social bookmarking sites so
that visitors can vote for your page. These come in the form of little
snippets of HTML code that are fairly easy to find at
Digg,
Reddit,
StumbleUpon
, and most of the others. If you use a blog platform like
WordPress for your site, there are numerous plugins that will display
these buttons for you. Having these available means that people who
like your content don't have to jump through any hoops to vote for it.
There is no magical formula for writing "sticky", media-friendly
content. Having said that, there are definitely some things you can do
to make your message more attractive to visitors. Don't spend too long
getting to the point, because social bookmarking visitors are
notoriously fickle. But don't write obvious sales copy either, because
people hate to feel like they're being sold to. Instead, simply write
in a clear and informal style. Offering a relevant personal anecdote or
a few well-placed, striking images can really make your page stand out.
If your content is just a photograph or a video, make it look
professional quality. Remember, though, that all these factors can only
complement the subject you're trying to convey.
Your account on a social bookmarking site is an important asset,
understanding this concept is vital to doing well in social media.
Resist the urge to submit every page of your website or every blog post
to Digg
or StumbleUpon.
Instead pick the pages that are already getting
visitors and those that you feel represent your best work. If you find
something interesting somewhere else that is in the same niche as your
site, submit that as well. This way, you can build up a following of
people who value your ability to find things that interest them. This
trust can be very valuable because, over the long run, it can make you
an authority in your chosen niche. Even if you're not a blogger,
building up a following will help you promote any website.
Although this may seem contradictory to your mission of building up
trust, don't be afraid to cast your net wide. Once you submit something
to Digg, put it on Reddit, StumbleUpon,
even
Diigo and
Propeller as
well. You never know what might become popular somewhere. Everyone who
has become social media savvy will tell you that some seemingly perfect
blog posts, photographs, videos, or submissions will fail to capture
the public's attention. Don't let this discourage you the first time it
happens. Keep trying, refining your skills, and eventually you'll win
your first 15 minutes of internet fame.
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