You can increase traffic, or visitors, to your website by using what’s called social bookmarking websites. It’s a place where users submit links - essentially giving them the OK or thumbs up – and then other users browse the listings and check out the most popular links.   They can be very powerful tools for gaining new visitors or they can be a huge time suck, depending on your approach.  Let’s discuss a few do’s and don’ts, shall we?

What are the best social bookmarking sites?

There are literally hundreds.  The main four that I like and like are:

• Stumbleupon – this is a great site for travel websites; nearly every customer I know that does social bookmarking uses Sutmbleupon.  I find the site’s layout rather quirky (even with the most recent changes) but once you get the hang of it, it works.
• Reddit – another super-simple (almost too simple!) link-sharing website.  It also does very well for travel-related topics.
• Digg – This is the juggernaut of all social bookmarking. If you can get a page to do well in Digg, it will easily melt your web server. However, as many well tell you, it’s a difficult site to do well on.
• Delicious – someone different than the other sites, this is essentially making your browser bookmarks public. Others do the same, and then you can see what pages have been bookmarked with lots of people. (Click through and check it out – it’s simpler than it sounds!)

Don’t limit yourself to these, particularly if you’re in a unique niche.  Spend some time on Google to see what your other options might be.

The Good and The Bad

People either love or hate social bookmarking.  Why?

How can you make social bookmarking more fruitful?

As with anything, your mileage might vary on using this techie tool.  However, there are a few ways to help get better results:

Use a Strategy.  As with everything we talk about here at TOP, go in with a plan.  Haphazard bookmarking means haphazard results.  Look to a few sites where you’ll spend most of our time, because let’s face it: you don’t have time to be everywhere, right?

Be social – that means recommend others. As with most parts of social media, it’s not all about you.  In fact, on many sites, to only submit your own content is a violation of the site rules, or terms of service.  So join in the conversation – bookmark and recommend other sites you like and enjoy (they don’t have to be competitors of yours!) and then add yourself into the conversation where appropriate.

Use great descriptions and specific tags.  Most of these sites will ask you for descriptions of content submitted.  Be sure that your descriptions are well-written — specific, punchy, descriptive.  ”A great article” doesn’t cut it.  ”An excellent trip report on biking through Switzerland during the summer.  Must-read for cycling fanatics!” does.

As for tags, you’ll need to think about keywords that describe the article.  ’travel’ of course is a popular one, but be sure to also include more specific takes, such as ‘biking’ in the previous example.

Monitor your Results.  If you’re using analytics, and you should be, pay attention to:

a) what sites give you the best results

b) what content gives you the best results

Tip: Anything to do with photography does really well on social bookmarking.  Perhaps these bookmark surfers love a good photo essay.

To Learn More…

Want to be successful in social bookmarking and add it to your online marketing strategy, then our How to Nail Travel Marketing in Unfamiliar Territory DIY guide can help.  It’s our new do-it-yourself guide and it is packed with tips to make your online presence a success.

Photo by NightRPStar