Destination Marketing Association

By Jerry Nihen

Social bookmarking, basically, is a way for users to organize, store, and search for bookmarks of resources online. These websites – like Digg, StumbleUpon, Delicious, etc. – are basically a way of storing your “favorites” or bookmarks on a web based level, rather than on your browser (like you would by “adding to favorites” in FireFox). These posts and submissions are “tagged” with keywords, which will quietly grow your websites ranking in search engines.

Businesses can harness this power to drive traffic to their websites, articles, videos, and more; while also increasing the SEO of their website. A great way to increase the “index” of your blog or video (like a YouTube video) in Google is to index it through social bookmarking sites. Basically, you are creating the back links back to your article/site, that can last for years and help not only drive traffic to your site, but also to increase the PageRank of your site.

While social bookmarking is a powerful tool, this is one of the online marketing tactics I do recommend you use an automated resource to submit. This is a long term strategy of repeatedly bookmarking multiple articles and videos, to grow yourself over time. Manually submitting to these websites can take up a ton of time that is better spent elsewhere.

Why get on social bookmarking? This is not a complex technology, and I fully believe that more users will be using web-based bookmarking in the years to come. It is important for business owners to get a strong foothold by submitting their OWN articles to these websites (as you control the keywords and information related to the article, rather than having someone without the knowledge doing it.

Also, you’re quietly driving traffic and tapping into the viral power of these bookmark sharing sites, and we all know that long term traffic strategies are the key to a successful online marketing campaign for ANY business.

Free Resource for Easy Social Bookmarking I use a resource called “Social Monkee” which is a free resource that allows you to submit to 25 social bookmarking websites with the click of a button, all for free! The free option allows you to submit one piece of content a day to these platforms, which is more than enough for me. There is also a paid version, but I have found the free version works perfectly fine for me.

I highly recommend you use this resource to submit your own content (even if it’s just your actual website right now, or a page on your website) to these directories. It only takes me a couple of minutes to do, and has really helped increase the back link traffic to my websites.

The only downside I have hit so far with the free version is that it randomly selects the 25 out of 100 top social bookmarking sites. So, the article won’t necessarily submit to your favorite one every single time. They do offer paid versions that allow you to do this, I just haven’t used them yet.

By Adam Chris

As with anything on the Internet, social bookmarking is a delicate process and it’s important to know what the best social bookmarking practices are. Today I want to focus on just a few, which are usually mistakes newbies make, leading even to them getting banned from certain sites.

My first and most important advice is this: do not Spam social bookmarking sites. Only submit your best posts to them occasionally. Otherwise, you’ll be viewed as a spammer and people won’t read your posts. Let’s face it: few of us consistently write great posts. Some are just weaker than others. It’s up to you to be able to discern which is which.

Even though traffic from social bookmarking sites usually works like a high mountain – peaks of traffic which quickly disappear – the idea is that you keep a percentage of those visitors interested in your future posts. That’s why it’s interesting to not only focus on the short view, which is links to social bookmarking sites. You also have to make it easy for your visitors to sign up to your RSS feed. You would be surprised to know how many regular Google Reader or Feedreader users don’t even remember to sign up to a good website’s RSS feed unless you place a noticeable link or an icon.

In other words, the best social bookmarking users know that these kinds of websites have a limited use. Basically, getting peaks of traffic and publicity that you later want to turn into a loyal following by the work you do on your site. But you will only get a bad name by spamming bookmarking sites, making people angry and leading them to think that you don’t know your stuff and wondering: if this guy uses social bookmarking so poorly, will he be any good at his business? The question might not be completely fair, but it does show that you haven’t done the research before jumping into the world of social media.

Well used, these sorts of sites can really effectively expose your best work to an appreciating audience. But what can you do on other sites in order to start gathering an audience?

I always recommend taking part in a limited number of social bookmarking sites as a member. That way, other members will be able to know you better and will be more willing to do business with you. This is a work of love and patience, so don’t push your product all the time. If you are a respected member of an online community, users will come to you. It may seem time consuming, but few systems are better at exposing your work and talents than this.

In short, don’t spam, send your best work, do good onsite work to turn occasional visitors into loyal fans and participate in online communities. By following these simple rules, you will be that much closer to having the best social bookmarking strategy.

By Cherlyn Teramoto

If your business is a bit disappointing a new method is needed to turbo charge your result. If you are searching for new methods to get consumers you have to consider social bookmarking. This process will provide higher ranks and much more visitors to your web-site.

You should think again regarding your website or even build it again. When you’re able to or get someone else to investigate the market for you to find a gap in the market, or better yet a need in the field that your web-site can offer.

The 1st golden rule of any business is to discover the demand. By working with affiliate programs you will probably be offering a number of things to promote. Take a look at demand of these kinds of items. You should try to stay away from trendy devices. They’ll sell like mad one time however you will likely to be giving them away the next. You want things that you simply know anyone would like. That way your long term sales and profits targets are certain to be met.

Second is try not to limit yourself to one product. You will need to offer a variety of items. Numerous affiliate marketing programs supply you with a collection and it’s also best to select those. Making your business on one unit may work in the short-term. Still, someone will finally come along with something more suitable or less pricey.

3rd, you need to set your internet business a step above other types. You must establish what makes you and what you may offer far better from many others. What can you supply that puts you above and beyond other companies? You should always use tact when referring to your competitors. Putting them down or being vulgar is only going to backfire on you. Reveal the benefits which you deliver and then leave it in that.

Fourth, you must insure your home based business. All the things could be good one day, but yet life can always have a weird turn. Accidents could happen to anyone. Think about what can happen in the event that one of your products affects someone. In today’s times, people could be sued for just about almost everything. Make sure you are insured if the worst happens.

5th, be sure to do your very best in order to ensure fast and valuable services to your clients. Even then, there will be a period when there’s a problem. You should keep the clients informed and aware of what’s going on. Things happen which can be beyond your control. The vast majority of customers are very forgiving if they’re made aware of this. Trying to keep your clients badly informed can end in losing them permanently.

Lastly, keep the customers satisfied. The more satisfied they are, the more likely they will come back again. Give your customers offers like savings in their next purchase. It may cost you more, but only in the short term. Keeping your clients pleased will result in them suggesting you to some other people.