Increase Traffic - Social Bookmarking Basics Explained
This article or report is going to introduce you to social bookmarking which is going to be one of the ways that you truly start increasing traffic to your website.
You’ll find a ton of introductory information as well as some intermediate discussion throughout this .
Social bookmarking is based on the concept of sharing information on the web, and has evolved rapidly with the growth of the internet communities and interactive sites. As more people turn to websites to learn, research, and even read the latest news, the ability to track and monitor this behavior is becoming even easier.Collective intelligence is leading the wave of sharing information based on specific keywords and subjects, and can help marketers and business owners in many ways. Today’s social networking sites are incorporating many social bookmarking elements into the platform. This allows users to learn even more about each other, and is engaging people online by building communities, opening up new networking channels, and giving marketers and business owners a chance to track behavior.
The Wikipedia definition for social bookmarking states: "an activity performed over a computer network that allows users to save and categorize a personal collection of bookmarks and share them with others. Users may also take bookmarks saved by others and add them to their own collection, as well as to subscribe to the lists of others. - a personal knowledge management tool."
Each social bookmarking site is designed differently, but ultimately allows users to create a profile, update their preferences, and share this information with friends and family. Since they are creating this growing network of information, a pattern of tastes and preferences is established—and made publicly available.
This profile is the key element of interest to marketers; it’s created with basic registration and in most cases, an e-mail address and login name allow complete access to the social bookmaking platform. The visitor can begin publishing their activity to share with fellow social bookmarkers, and this creates a network of categories.
Discovering and sharing information with keywords in specific topic is what allows social bookmarking networks to grow; as more information is provided, the categories of interest also develop to provide key information.
Digg.com is a perfect example of social bookmarking that is growing rapidly. Users can rate and comment on articles, video content, and podcasts on thousands of topics; the more popular items are posted on the Digg.com front page, while others are rated and logged for the community to review.
While Digg.com is primarily a news site, it is just one example of a valuable social bookmarking network that has developed into a proliferating online community. Any articles or information that is posted on Digg.com has the potential of being viewed by millions of visitors. Getting to the Digg.com front page ensures thousands of page views, all at a very low initial cost. Of course, the information that reaches this level must be valuable to Digg.com readers; since the votes are all user-generated, it allows anyone submitting information to learn about their audience from the ground up.
People Love Building Their Own Bookmarking Pages
The fundamental reason why consumers build social bookmarking profiles is to create an identity to share. After doing so, they are able to interact on social networking sites on a regular basis, and marketers can use this behavior to their advantage by:Ø Monitoring their favorite brands
Ø Reading about new products
Ø Learning about competitor products
Ø Identifying with other users
Ø Seeing what friends and family find interesting
Ø Finding out what the latest trends are
Ø Identifying new products to purchase
In order to create a profile on many of today’s leading social bookmarking sites, a user simply creates a screen name, login information, and possibly uploads a picture. Depending on the theme of the site, the user will then go ahead and ‘upload’ the relevant information such as links or products to their profile pages. After that, they can become a part of a community.
Community members and leaders rise to the top ‘ranks’ of the site based on a variety of factors including:
Ø Level of activity
Ø User feedback
Ø Number of products reviewed or discussions created
Ø Popularity within the community
Ø Number of fans
In many ways, social bookmarking is considered to be a form of collective intelligence. Collective intelligence based on a few trends in the marketplace, news, or other information can provide very important data to a third party observer. Filtering data has become even more important today as it provides insights and information on direct experiences with many of the goods and services available in the marketplace.
Planning Social Media Into Your Site
Social media offers the latest roundup of online technologies that is based on the concept of community. Sharing opinions, posting comments, participating in discussion boards, and simply exchanging media files are all facets of social media on the web today, and social bookmarking and networking are just a couple of these online activities.Knowing how to develop your website so that it is conducive to social media applications can help you interact with your customers in a variety of new ways, and ultimately, lead to the traffic levels you desire. Increased traffic is a necessary result of innovation, and attractive websites that encourage user interaction are making the business of marketing much easier.
Social media sites encourage users to set up a profile and interact with other community members. Communities and niche channels develop organically, with limited effort from a company or site owner. By joining some of these networks as a business entity, you can create a valuable presence with a variety of customers and find out what they are most interested in.
Submitting valuable articles and content, and then sharing it in a niche community, is an excellent way to create a positive presence in the world of social media, but there are some specific steps involved when publishing on the web. SEO-friendly content is not the only way to develop a presence, as there is an element of interacting with community members involved as well.
But why is social media so important in your everyday business and marketing efforts? What role does it play in reaching your target market?
These are both questions that many website owners and businesses ask, and determining the effectiveness of social media will be a part of your internet marketing strategy.
Social media is quickly becoming one of the web’s fastest growing online activities, a place for customers in a variety of markets and niche communities to learn, educate others, and interact with other buyers. As a result, it is in your best interest to track and gauge different patterns. Consider social media just one channel to accurately gauge your customer’s interests, tastes, and preferences.
Each contributor is essentially volunteering testimonials on products, likes, dislikes, and other information that was once only available from direct market surveys or interviews. Social media platforms offer you some insight on what the customer truly wants at any given time.
Developing your website so that it uses at least two to three of today’s leading social media technologies can help boost traffic with less and less direct marketing efforts. Consider the value for social media activities such as:
Ø Wikipedia
Ø Social networking communities
Ø Video sharing
Ø Virtual reality and events
Ø Online audio episodes
Ø Livecasting
Ø Media sharing
Wikipedia Explained
Wikipedia is quickly becoming a valuable way for businesses to attract fresh visitors, simply through educating and informing them on a specific subject. Developing an article with your business link, and then submitting it to a Wikipedia directory, can easily help you reach a variety of targeted visitors who have a specific interest in your subject. The only effort you need to make in this case is to provide a quality article or material, and submit it to the appropriate category on Wikipedia. Wikipedia receives thousands, even millions of web visitors each day. Simply creating one link to your information can be all it takes to reach a wider audience. In the event that a visitor finds the information especially useful, you have the chance to join a social bookmarking network as well; social bookmarkers are always looking for valuable content to link to and submit, and you have a chance to join a new community with each submission as a result.
Social Networking Sites
Social networking communities offer another opportunity to join the social media channels. Every effort you make to identify your brand and web presence can be increased tenfold when you join a consumer-driven and user-generated community such as MySpace, LinkedIn, or other social networking platform. These sites encourage regular interaction in a casual and conversational style; although you won’t be submitting specific articles or content, you will be growing your brand presence with your users. IN addition, you can use the Search features on any of these sites to narrow down your target market. This Big Time – Video Sites
Video sharing can work well in conjunction with your article and content submissions, and is becoming especially popular with social bookmarkers. Creating and publishing videos to deliver a message can easily be picked up by many social bookmarkers and shared instantly; the idea is to create something unique and creative so that more people are driven to view it—and ultimately, head back to your website! Interactive Sites With A Focus On Events
Virtual reality and events are another way to attract new viewers to your website, and can create an instant impact with other marketing efforts. If you submit a press release about your event or the latest innovations on your website to different social bookmarking networks, the chances of increased exposure are much higher. Making sure all of your submissions are tagged and indexed in the right categories will help you create a strong presence in the community; essentially, you are notifying your community of the upcoming event or news in press release form. If you catch onto a trend or other newsworthy subject, you can gain instant favor on a variety of social bookmarking communities such as Digg, Technorati, or Reddit. This is a great example of buzz marketing at its best, and can benefit your website promotion efforts in multiple ways.
Podcasting
Developing online audio episodes of content is quickly becoming a popular activity for bloggers and website owners, and including this type of media on your website can help you promote your work in a new way. The immediate attraction of audio on your website can also be submitted to social bookmarking sites and other media channels, and once you have a system in place for publishing these files on your site, you can start sharing the link on a regular basis. Sites including Digg and Technorati now have a section for podcasts and audio files; more people are becoming interested in simply listening than reading, and you can begin to reach a much wider market by taking advantage of this trend.Streaming Media
If you have a business or website that can create news, tips, or advice, then Livecasting may be another opportunity for you. These segments of online video are designed to share an idea, showcase an event, or even stage a seminar. The idea is to generate enough interested users who ‘join’ the session from anywhere; livecasts are online events that can be used to generate buzz. A press release that highlights the event can easily be submitted to social bookmarking sites and directories for instant exposure.Distributing Files
Media sharing is one of the precursors to social bookmarking and networking, developing from the concept of photo sharing and music exchanges. As these sites have grown, more people are learning to share and create profiles so that they can fit into different communities naturally. Flickr and Zoomr are just a couple of examples of these, and you can create a small profile of your own to join. Always remember to include al ink back to your main website, as this will be the ultimate driver of new traffic.All of these social media platforms offer you an opportunity to establish a presence within a community, and then start to network with other individuals. Always keep in mind that any piece of content that is published on the web has potential for sharing; the link is what will be submitted to social bookmarking directories and networks, and you can work on building a profile of your won, or counting on your customers to do this for you. The goal is to create a valuable and consistent presence in a variety of social media outlets so that the chances of being bookmarked and shared are much higher.
Web 2.0 Explained
Building a network of like-minded users and visitors is the basis of Web 2.0 applications on the web today, and social bookmarking is just one element of this growth. Web 2.0 sites are based on a few key principles that encourage interaction and sharing information with ease. By using tagging and breaking down information into keyword structures, everything is organized in a way that makes it easy to search and find specific information. From blogs to shopping sites, Web 2.0 has allowed new, media-rich applications to serve as platforms for all users. Sites such as Digg.com, StumbleUpon, LinkedIN, ThisNext, and dozens of others are building communities and creating networks. An Internet Marketers Take
Web 2.0 applications are essentially doing what market research departments have been working on for decades; filtering information on consumers, and segmenting the market. Market segmentation is an essential part of consolidating demographic information, and has often been compiled through surveys, focus groups, and other market research initiatives. Web 2.0 applications allow many marketers to simply skip these steps; if your consumer market is voluntarily sharing information about their tastes, preferences, and other ideas through social bookmarking channels, it becomes much easier to learn and develop new tactics to keep them engaged. Many industries can gain significant insights and information from experimenting with social bookmarking and networking tools. This concept of creating a knowledge economy is growing rapidly in areas such as:
Ø Retail banking
Ø Pharmaceuticals
Ø Education
Ø Research and Development
Ø Communications
Ø Retail and Shopping
Social bookmarking allows marketers to:
Ø Segment and augment their market
Ø Help with branding
Ø Develop relevant RSS feeds
Ø Open up a platform for visitor comments
Ø Monitor and track how specific products perform in the marketplace
Ø Increase revenues
Ø Reduce expenses
Social bookmarking is influential, and many sites develop a format where similar products, articles, or items are conveniently located next to the current one for easier navigation. This creates a more enriching experience for the visitor, but also helps track basic preferences for a variety of users. This recommendation concept has been very successful on shopping sites such as Amazon.com, and is gaining speed in multimedia, articles, blogs, and other information hubs as well.
Social Bookmarking And Its Effect On Your Site
In addition to the marketing and branding benefits of participating in a social bookmarking network, there are other benefits involved. The following metrics can be generated as a result of ongoing participation:Ø More Traffic - articles and submissions posted to social bookmarking sites can be tracked easily
Ø More Profits - customers that are continuously participating in a specific genre or community are more likely to simply buy something through this portal or channel. This gives rise to increased revenue
Ø Higher SE Rank - determining how well a specific product is doing becomes much easier as it reaches the high ranks of a specific community
Ø Reduced Costs - social bookmarking and marketing on the web offer the added benefit of reduced costs. Businesses are more likely to reach a wider audience with minimal effort
Online Promotion
Social bookmarking offers many benefits to bloggers, consumers, and visitors, but there are additional benefits for marketers and businesses owners. Both of these groups can take advantage of a plethora of information readily available. Social bookmarking allows users to share and promote their tastes, preferences, and brand choices. Not only are they doing this without prompting, but there is an element of creating a network with like-minded users involved. The old ways of conducting market research and finding out more about target markets and customers are long gone; with today’s web tools and freely distributed information, tracking down the target market and identifying new trends has become much easier.
It’s interesting to compare and contrast the old and new ways of marketing on the web. When website and internet marketing first became effective, the most common applications included:
Ø Surveys
Ø Online newsletters
Ø Direct e-mail campaigns
Ø Auto responders
Ø E-mail collection services
Ø Visitor feedback through comments
With the surge in Web 2.0 technologies, blogging, and a higher level of interaction on the web, the focus has shifted to interaction and community building. As a result, the most common applications for marketers on the web today include:
Ø Blogging
Ø Social networking
Ø Wiki-style site building
Ø Online chat
Ø Vlogging
Ø Online events
Ø Social bookmarking networks
By seeing exactly what consumers are looking for online, a business or marketing team can even increase their own exposure in the right channels. Branding by increasing exposure is an excellent way to cut costs on marketing budgets; social bookmarking is an inexpensive way to simply ‘insert’ and include a brand in a growing consumer activity.
At a very basic level, social bookmarking allows users to create a profile and share information. When building a profile, users are looking for other people with similar interests. Any business or brand can create an identity and join various communities. By doing so, they can reach well beyond their target market and join various networks after a few simple steps.
It’s easy to attract and maintain a steady presence by using the following guidelines when developing a submission:
Ø Make the content easy to read and understand
Ø Offer useful tools
Ø Use keywords
Ø Make the best use of tagging so users can find information with ease
The Basics Of Tagging
A large number of websites are implementing tagging systems in an effort to control and organize the information on their site, and categorize various pieces of data. A tag is a relevant keyword or term associated with a specific piece of information; it can be used to describe or represent a picture, media file, article, or product and is used by social bookmarking sites to organize and categorize the data.In most cases, each media file or piece of information will have one or more tags associated with it. Tags are essentially a way for categorizing data, and are the critical first steps in developing a niche subject. Even though there may be some contextual issues involved with specific keywords, most tags become a part of a collaborative effort to organize all data available.
After collecting and organizing this data, the following options exist:
Ø Facilitating networking
Ø Analyzing source tags and keywords (essential for article marketing)
Ø Increasing branding
Ø Improving user communications and interaction
Ø Developing new products
Ø Developing new blogs or online channels
How To Find Your Niche
A typical business can not only position themselves within each of their relevant channels on social bookmarking sites, but can also work on presenting themselves professionally after learning about their target market.Tracking down the target market has commonly been done with parsing technologies and only possible after collecting large amounts of data based on surveys or other input. Many of these research studies are conducted by expensive marketing departments, and can take months and even years to consolidate.
Still, tracking down a target market is worth the effort; finding out exactly where potential customers are, learning about their buying habits, and engaging them in new ways of interaction with a company, can help improve brand presence and create a shift in consumer behavior.
With social bookmarking sites, the information about consumer behavior and preferences is readily available. Social bookmarking sites that create a community based on preferences pave the way for reviewing trends, patterns, and basically learn what the market is interested in at any given time.
Reviewing independent profiles and trends on a regular basis can make trend forecasting much easier. It can help with identifying market leaders, and learning first hand from the consumer about feedback on specific products. Engaging within a community can help create a brand presence, but also learn about direct customer experiences.
Think Like A Web 2.0 Head
Social bookmarking offers many opportunities for marketers to collect information and learn about the behavior patterns of their customers, as well as firsthand reviews for particular brands and products. Social bookmarking sites are chock full of different perspectives and information, and all of this is stored in an easily searchable database.Since like-minded individuals are creating tags on every item they post, it becomes easy to find relevant products and related subjects within each area of interest.
Social bookmarkers are primarily interested in learning more about products and ideas that interest them, and will network accordingly. They are more exposed to new information, whether this is pulled from blogs, media sites, or simply a product page from a business. The more involved marketers are with these social networks, the higher the chances of increased brand exposure. As more social bookmarkers participate in their communities, the buzz about a particular product or idea can easily be broadcast across multiple markets with very little effort.
The thinking process of a social bookmarker is relatively simple. First, they find an idea or product of interest. They then upload this information to the social bookmarking platform, whether this is a news site such as Digg.com, or a social shopping sites such as ThisNext.com. Next, they describe the product or idea, usually posting a brief summary that includes keywords and other relevant information. This is noted on the social bookmarking site’s search engine, as well as the tags that are added to the item after this. Once complete, a picture or other media clip may be added, followed by the social bookmarker’s signature (if it does not automatically get posted as part of the profile). Once submitted, the new item is organized and implemented into the appropriate category on the site.
Any new information posted to the site can now be viewed by the entire audience; subscribers to various channels will see new topics posted immediately, in a very similar format to an RSS feed on a blog. In either case, this fresh information will be on the ‘roster’ of all the people in that community. If others find it important as well, this increases the chances of sharing as they are more likely to ‘note’ it and include it on their lists.
But what does all this mean for the marketer?
Essentially, this means that the marketer or business can create unique content and products to send to various social bookmarking sites. Once they create a valuable presence, it becomes much easier to influence the decision makers in each and every community. This is the essence of social bookmarking and networking at its best; community building can create a network of influence that can now also be enjoyed by marketers and entrepreneurs on the web.
Getting Big Time Traffic
Given how simple it can be to get information in front of influential customers, it only makes sense to take the steps to get on the front page. The front page of social bookmarking sites offers an opportunity for increased page views, visitors, and increased exposure across multiple channels. Getting on the front page makes it easy for millions of visitors to get the ‘first impression’ with very little effort. Still, it’s not an easy process. Sites such as StumbleUpon.com, for example, can generate as much as 20,000 page views after just one showcase on the front page. But how is this possible?The first step in reaching the top ranks is to develop a creative headline. All articles on social bookmarking sites that have some leverage contain a unique and compelling opening; they encourage readers to click on the link, and essentially draw people in. It may be helpful to brush up on article-writing and effective web copy to understand the guidelines for writing compelling headlines.
The next step is to right an appropriate description. Descriptions are essential for ensuring your captive audience stays with the article through completion. The first 10-15 words can make or break the article, and this is the time to keep the information short and concise but informative enough to keep the reader engaged. Some social bookmarking sites don’t allow more than 150 characters, so you may need to edit the text down according to site standards.
After reviewing the headlines and description, you will need to make sure the first paragraph is just as compelling. You’ve grabbed the user’s attention, and now it’s time to continue on with a unique presentation. Posting irrelevant information may result in banning from the site, so it’s important to stay within spamming guidelines.
If you are posting information from a blog, it may be simpler to just add a bookmarking button on the site. Bookmarking buttons can be pasted within a website or blog with some simple HTML code. You will simply copy the code and implement it on the site so that others can link to it easily. Or instead of adding bookmarking buttons one at a time from each social bookmarking site, you can run simple scripts that will add multiple buttons all at one time.
Here’s a great little script for this that we found…
http://addtobookmarks.com/
Once you’ve submitted your piece, it’s important to network and ‘socialize’ with other people in the community. This can help you create an active profile with various communities, but also provide added exposure for relevant posts or links. Cooperation and collaboration on social bookmarking sites are essential for creating a valuable network, and you can gain an even more influential presence as you find the right networks and communities to join. Responding to comments, posting information on other people’s articles or blogs, and just staying connected to various channels will help you build a positive online reputation.
It’s Vital That You Integrate Community Into Your Site
Building a brand in the offline world involves maximizing exposure and creating easy access to your business. Online, this takes the form of communities and social interaction. It is even more important to become engaged and get the right level of exposure on the web today, and community building is a part of this process. Joining relevant networks, providing appropriate content, and building an online profile are all effective ways to make this possible, and building a strong foundation requires some skill and knowledge about social networking overall. Ensuring that positive feedback, comments, and relevant information are posted is one way to promote a brand or identity with ease. As more readers begin to learn about your particular topic or niche, it becomes easier for them to associate and grow with you.Where Your Business Fits Best
Finding the right networks and communities to join will take some time; you will need to set up your profile first, highlighting key areas of interest, tagging your information appropriately, and sharing the information in already-established web communities. After that, you can start communicating with other social bookmarkers to learn about the different groups available.Many social bookmarking sites are organized by topic and subject, and you’ll want to narrow down your fields of interest to about 4-5 different areas. If you are selling beauty products, for example, you may choose to set your sights on Fashion, Lifestyle, Shopping, and Style. If you are promoting a home products-based business, you may choose to focus on Stay at Home Mom groups, Entrepreneurs, and Small Business networks. It’s important to think in larger terms when choosing communities and networks to join, as you can narrow down the crowds after entering and introducing yourself.
Introductions are very informal on social bookmarking sites, and are different than joining a discussion forum, group, or portal. On these sites, your ranking and seniority is largely determined by the date you joined, and the level of activity. It may also be calculated by the number of positive ratings or comments you have received, as well as a calculation of page views. Whatever the case may be, it’s important to learn about community rules and guidelines, and then begin posting in areas that are relevant to your identity.
More Links For Your Site
Link building is a natural by-product of social bookmarking sites, since you are using your links and blog posts as leverage while you network. It becomes very simple to locate groups of interest, and then to proceed with sharing your links through article submissions and relevant posts. Building a profile with a link to your website is the first step, since the more prominent your position on the network, the more that other community members will want to learn more about you.Increasing links to your website can be done in a few different ways, without spamming:
Ø Commenting on blogs, articles, and posts and providing link back information of relevance
Ø Including your link as a tag on your profile name
Ø Making sure people are aware of new information that you have posted, by copying and pasting the link on relevant discussions or comments
These are all effective traffic builders for your website, and can start to spread the message about a particular topic or article of interest.
- Leon Edward
Leon Edward helps people to start, build, market and promote internet home business and ways to earn money at home at http://www.HomeBusinessIT.com Get Your free legitimate internet business kit bonuses and training articles, visit http://www.homebusinessit.com/newsletter/
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