A very effective way of getting your content to go viral is by utilising Social Bookmarking.
Obviously, you can bookmark your own content, but if you can get others to do it as well, then it not only spreads across the internet more quickly, it will achieve a higher page rankings and possibly even front page placement on the social bookmarking website(s).
The front page is where you want your content to be in order to get the most benefit from new traffic. So here are some pointers on getting visitors to bookmark your content.
Make It Easy For Others To Bookmark
The first thing you need to do is make it easy for anyone reading your content to bookmark it. This is simple to accomplish by adding a widget such as “Socialize This” to your site, or to each post on your blog. This type of application aggregates the most popular Social Bookmarking sites so that a visitor can easily access his or her accounts with a click.
Content Is King
Of course, the easiest way to get noticed for your online content and have it bookmarked is to write really good content. Seems simple enough, but many website owners forget the basics in their quest to post as much as possible in as little time as possible. The best content is not rehashed subject matter, it may revolve around a popular topic but with a different spin, or add further information.
The truth is, unless the reader finds your content unique, informative, or particularly helpful, they are not going to bookmark it. Keep in mind that for some social bookmarking sites, like Technorati, there is a particular focus for the content. Don’t expect to get bookmarks on a site with technical subject matter if you are writing about movie stars.
Get Involved
Remember the law of reciprocity: people will do for you what you do for them. The best way to get noticed on a social bookmarking site is to participate as a member.
Update your profile, send messages, and get involved. Take a few moments to go through other members’ content and give it the thumbs up, chances are they will do the same for you.
Social Networking
Remember to create a post on all of your social networking sites that draws attention to your new content. Include the URL along with a little blurb that thanks your contacts for reading it and then bookmarking it.
Use this tip with caution, however. If all your contact list ever sees is blatant self-promotion, they will quickly tune it out. Remember to create new, interesting posts, too, and comment on others’ posts.
Ask For Help
If all else fails, ask for help. You can do this in a couple ways. For one, add a little line of text above your social bookmarking widget that says something along the lines of “if you like what you read, please spread the news”. For another, consider sending an email message to the list of your contacts and asking them to read the content, and then bookmark it, if they find it useful.
Social Bookmarking is a powerful marketing tool. Use whatever ways you can to get your content noticed on the largest number of social bookmarking sites in order to achieve high ranking, improved SEO, and authority.
Have a most outstanding day.
Sean RasmussenAussie Internet Marketing
www.AussieSEO.com 2010
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I love my social bookmarking & have been blown away by the difference it makes when you treat it seriously as an internet marketing tool . I would be the first to admit, that at first it is time consuming, and many people do not have the time .
You will get your time back down the track I can assure you, so it is worth making the effort to use the FREE tools available .
Allen Sentance
Fisherman
Allen Sentance Fisherman´s last blog ..Fishermans Blog Launch
Hi Allen,
Great to see you getting stuck into social bookmarking and enjoying the benefits. Effort put into anything that is worthwhile will give results, even if it takes time, it’s time well spent
Regards – Sean
I agree with you regarding your tip for self-promotion. There have been some Twitter people I’ve followed who all they want to do is market. 75% of your time should be engaging with your followers. Talk to them, answer their questions and ask them questions of your own. Build real trust. Then when you let them know you have a product they might be interested in, they’ll consider it.
Hi Alyssa,
Marketing is quite rife on Twitter, and what you say it totally correct. Trust, personality and some good old human touch goes a long way in any form of social media conversation.
Regards – Sean
still don’t understand bookmarking, been trying to understand it on Facebook but haven’t got it yet. And what is RSS feed? GH
It’s early days yet Geoff, you will get a grip on it all as we move forward
that will be awesome Sean. I can see straight away the benefits of this strategy if you do it right. I mean I can see already that the whole thing you are talking about is just networking but it’s about using all the resources you can make use of to radically increase the Circle of Influence and then decide on strategies that are going to be most effective to the personal cause. I really appreciate your taking so many roadblocks out of that process for us. Just fantastic!! GH
Great read…i didn’t understand what social bookmarking was! by what I understand now is that by people sharing on fb etc then you get more backlinks and also it allows others to view a link back to your page which they may share..allowing potentially viral spreading…cool \m/
Hi Sean,
I agree that social bookmarking is a very powerful tool. But, I think you get back what you put it. I think if you want other people to share your content, you have to put the time and effort in to sharing theirs.
I find that it takes a lot of time to build relationships with people and at the time you can’t see the benefits. But, it does pay off. If you can build genuine relationships with people in your niche, they will help spread your content further than you could ever have imagined.
I think the bottom line is to create great content, make it as easy as possible to share and work on building those relationships. I am still a work in progress.
Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn – It’s a Marathon Not a Sprint
Hi Sean
A very interesting article full of wisdom. Content is king obviously and it is something I am having to really build on my blog as I start to get it out there into the world.
Building relationships online has a great bearing on ones success as an Internet Marketer, and I am sure that I would most definitely push my friends and clients away if I was to begin spamming their sites!
I have to admit I have been very reticent to use social bookmarking tools as it was something I just didn’t ‘get’ but you really explain it well here Sean, thankyou very much.
Blessings,
Elly
Elly´s last blog ..
I have been submitting a fair bit of stuff onto social bookmarking sites from other peoples blogs lately mostly on Digg but they are starting to tell me that there has been too much submitted from my url so I suppose the trick is to share your submissions around. Since I have been doing this, other people have been returning the favour for my blog.
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