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There are two very distinct reasons for using Social Bookmarking. The first is a way to allow internet users to share, organise, search and manage resources they find on the web. This might include: information you find on websites, blog posts, videos, articles, useful forums or pod casts.
The second use of social bookmarking that I use every day is a way to generate free traffic and to then direct that traffic to a piece of web space that you own, such a blog. It is also a free and easy way to increase your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) or in plain English, increase your presence on the Web.
There are literally tons of different Social Bookmarking Sites. The most common Social Bookmarking Sites include: Del.ici.ous, Digg, Stumbleuponand Reddit.
For the purpose of understanding how you can utilise social bookmarking sites to share, organise, search and manage web resources you find on the internet I am going to show you how you can easily get started with Del-ici-ous. How to set up an account and how it can be used to easily share and organise information with others.
So why do we need Social Bookmarking?
Well whether you know it or not, we have entered the information age. Never before, have we had so much information being blasted to us from all angles, through, video, on social networking sites, through email, through our TV even on our mobile phones.
And whilst this might have its advantages, it also means that it is harder to keep people’s attention for very long. You might be researching ‘social bookmarking’ on the internet and before you know it you have half a dozen videos to look at, some half useful blog posts and hundreds of results for ‘social bookmarking’ listed in search engines like google. Arrrgh!
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and not know where to start looking first. It’s also easy to forget where you found that first article you read just ten minutes ago.
Enter Social bookmarking.
A social bookmarking service such as del.ici.ous, allows you to save all your bookmarks online, so not only can you find the information again easily in the future, but you can also share what you find with friends, colleagues and other people who might be interested in the same things as you.
In fact, if you hadn’t even started bookmarking information yourself yet, you could simply see what other people have already bookmarked on a particular topic.
You are able to do this by either tagging content (giving it a relevant name) or by searching existing tags. So for example if you are interested in chocolate (like me) you could see what else has been bookmarked about chocolate.
Social bookmarking differs from traditional bookmarking through the ability to access your social bookmarks from any computer, anytime and anywhere. There are obvious benefits therefore for people who regularly work from different computers. Social bookmarking also always groups of people to access the same bookmarked information and also to collaboratively add bookmarks for their team and other colleagues.
Traditionally folders on individual computers were the best way to organize bookmarks usually in the favourites section on your PC. Bookmarking in this way is OK if you only have a few folders that only YOU want access to, but as you add more and more web pages to your collection it soon becomes difficult to decide what goes where.
The way that social bookmarking sites overcome this, is by using Tags. A Tag is simply a way to describe a bookmark. So for example, if you are interested in cookery, you might have bookmarks like “baking”, “pasta” or “smoothies”, to easily find your favourite recipes. It would also mean that every bookmark you tagged with strawberry and Smoothy would automatically show up in your “smoothy” and “strawberry” collection.
You can easily share your tags with others by sending your specific URL (web address) to your friends and team mates. So for example if I wanted to share my tags and bookmarks with people I would simply share with them my URL which would be http://delicious.com/username.
Furthermore, tagging is super easy to do by simply installing a delicious button and tag button to your web browser. Watch the video above to see how to get set up on del.ici.ous.
Look out for Social Bookmarking Part 2 where I show you how to use Social Bookmarking to generate traffic and increase your Search Engine Optimisation.
If you have any questions please leave your comments below, alternatively if you would like to request a “how to” video on how to get started with other social bookmarking sites let me know what you would like to see.
Yours in Success,
P.S If you are struggling with your marketing efforts and not generating enough leads and money. Check out the exact system that I use to generate endless leads through the most current social networking strategies. Don’t Miss This ==> Discovery The Strategies
August 1st, 2010 at 12:19 am
Hey Beth
thanks for this info, I could never work out Delicious but now I can head on over and create myself an account! Looking forward to Part 2 of this little series
cheers
Nat
Nat´s last blog ..Warren Buffet – Ultimate Entrepreneur “Old Skool Style”
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August 1st, 2010 at 2:02 pm
Wonderful post Beth.
Social bookmarking is an excellent tool for the reasons you outlined above. Free traffic and SEO! I often times forget I should be doing it
There are some excellent tools out there that help make the job easier. What are your thoughts on that?
Thanks for the wonderful post!
Michael Novak´s last blog ..The Best Industry to Learn Leadership
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August 1st, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Hi Beth,
Thank you for that video… delicious is much more clear to me now… I actually have an account with delicious, but never understood it.
I look forward to your other part on Social Bookmarking!
John Engle
John Engle´s last blog ..The Fundamentals of Comments for Personal Brand Marketing!
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bethhewitt80 Reply:
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:12 pm
Glad it helped John, give me a shout if you get stuck
Beth
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August 2nd, 2010 at 2:57 am
Beth,
Great info on social bookmarking. I haven’t always understood all the ins and outs of it, but you have given me a better gripe on it.
Thanks for sharing,
Val
Val Wilcox´s last blog ..Opening Doors Within
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August 2nd, 2010 at 3:11 am
Thanks Beth you allways have such Great Content. I have recently started using Stumbleupon paid ads and with great success.
Cheers
Keith´s last blog ..Productivity in Information Overload
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August 2nd, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Great post Beth.
I set my del.ici.ous book marking up ages ago with the intention to SEO with it. Not really done it though with all the other ‘noise’. You’ve reminded me that’s it’s both easy and useful to my business so I’m going to do some house keeping and strt using it properly.
Thanks! Saz.
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bethhewitt80 Reply:
August 2nd, 2010 at 8:08 pm
Hey Saz (cool name by the way!)
I use delicious as part of a larger SEO strategy. If you are not already using onlywire make sure you get yourself an account. Its free and makes syndicating so much easier.
Beth
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August 2nd, 2010 at 5:16 pm
Beth - Great info about what Social bookmarking is and why we need it. I especially liked your tutorial about delicious - I have never used that but I am going to look into it now:) Thanks
Glyna Humm´s last blog ..Negativity – What Is It Good For
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August 2nd, 2010 at 8:18 pm
Hi Beth, your article on bookmarking has it all. There was so many times I lost good articles I needed because I didn’t bookmark them. It really is powerful when you can send somebody information that you’ve saved.
Thanks!
Rick Salas´s last blog ..Lead Conversion Tips On How To Maximize Your Leads List And Increase Profits
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August 2nd, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Beth,
Thanks for clarifying exactly what social bookmarking is. I have accounts on all of them, but I am sure that I am not using them to full advantage. Look forward to your next article which will show how to use them to generate traffic, which is ultimately what I’m interested in.
Adam
Adam Sheck´s last blog ..How Do You Deal With Conflict
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August 3rd, 2010 at 1:08 am
Thank you Beth. I always get confused when it comes to social bookmarking. Sometimes it looks too complicated so I save it for another day. Now, because you have explained it so well, I find the “other day” can be one day this week. lol
Thanks again,
Donna
Donna Merrill´s last blog ..Reciprocity- The Backbone Of Social Marketing
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August 4th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Thanks for the post! Social Bookmarking is also widely used by Internet Marketers.
Keith Goeringer´s last blog ..Productivity in Information Overload
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August 7th, 2010 at 8:18 am
Hi Beth.. Thanks for this info..
I’m still like to use social bookmarking..
Sometime it give me ton of traffic to my blog..
Azuan´s last blog ..Epilog Syurga Cinta Slot Akasia TV3
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August 13th, 2010 at 3:47 am
Hi Beth, I read your post on social bookmarking with great interest. As you know, I am a big fan of social bookmarking. As a matter of fact I just wrote a post about the benefits of social bookmarking for search engine optimization.
Did you know that StumbleUpon is the number 2 source of social traffic for websites behind Facebook, but ahead of Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and all the others!
Love your blog. Thanks for sharing.
Karin.
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bethhewitt80 Reply:
August 15th, 2010 at 12:36 am
I did not know that, but I am glad that I use it as a big part of my social media strategy. Thanks for all you do Karin.
Beth
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