Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a 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 will 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 short list 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.