The art to using social bookmarking properly

[Jessemn]

I'm noticing a lot of people talking about social bookmarking... The truly sad thing is that none of them seem to understand how to actually use it to their advantage. They just scream "social bookmarking" over and over. So, so wrong - But there is a right way.

Here's my piece of advice about it (I've been saying this a lot lately). Don't bother submitting your site to the "350 social bookmarking lists". That does nothing. You may see a few hits, it might even help a little in SERPS, sure, but you won't see any long term readership increase (and that's what blogging is all about, right?).

If you have a blog, and you really want to promote it - I'm talking long term readership increase here - Then you need to approach it a little differently. Instead of going for a mass submission, only pick a few. 4 or 5 at most.

Now this is the most difficult part: Don't immediately submit your site. Instead, submit something useful and interesting. Vote on a few good links. Then repeat. Go a few days (maybe a week) submitting useful links and voting.

It's only at this point when you should start slipping a few of your blog posts into the mix. By now, a few of the regulars will know who you are and trust you. Continuing to submit a combination of useful links and your own, you'll find your traffic, backlinks, and readership will increase, slowly but steadily. This is where the true benefit of social bookmarking comes from.

It's time consuming, but as long as it's done properly it has potentially huge benefits. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.