Website design By BotEap.comToday I want to put together a beginner’s guide to social bookmarking, going over the basics you need to know before getting into this aspect of e-commerce. First, a definition: social bookmarking is a way to share your content and that of others with people on a website like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon or delicious. This is done by flagging the content on these websites so that others can read, comment on and vote on it.

Website design By BotEap.comSocial bookmarking is useful for three reasons: because it can boost your business reputation if you have great content, dramatically increase your traffic, and in the few cases where the bookmarking site has a dofollow strategy, it will generate backlinks to its own. website that can really help with your search engine rankings. But remember, most of the big social bookmarking sites have a nofollow policy, which means that Google won’t really count the links from those sites to yours to count the rankings.

Website design By BotEap.comRemember that bookmarking sites are not places to put all of your content. In fact, this is a very bad strategy. First, because not all of its content is newsworthy. You should be able to discern what your best content is and share just that – it will be good for your reputation. Second, because if you only submit your own content and not other people’s, you will rightly be considered a spammer. Visit other sites and also share the great content they have to offer.

Website design By BotEap.comAnd I know this sounds silly, but bookmarking sites are getting tired of “bad” users: spammers and people who don’t understand their rules. Take some time to get to know a site before you start posting, submit news to the correct categories (which is of interest to your news as well), and comment and engage like everyone else. Failure to follow these directions can lead to you being banned from a site, which is easier on social bookmarking websites than perhaps any other type of site. Always remember this.

Website design By BotEap.comFinally, my advice is that you participate as much as possible in the sites that you submit your content to. Create a community for your niche, engage your users in conversations, and become a donor, not an ad hoarder. In the long run, you will see that this strategy is solid, does not take too long and really helps your reputation, which at the same time will help to boost your sales and retain your customers. There is only one thing to keep in mind: don’t be pushy, don’t act like a business owner. Business is for your website and social bookmarking sites are for sharing content and information.