Social Bookmarking, How to do it right

Social bookmaking is an important part of free advertising. It is indispensable for building links to relevant content and attracting targeted visitors. Any webmaster knows these are key to success for any website. Keep reading to find how you can get on the front page of websites such as reddit, stumbleupon, and digg!

Headlines are the greatest attraction for an article.
Make yours catchy and intriguing. If you make your headline "Search Engine Optimization", you probably will not even get noticed. You should try something that includes more information about your actual topic, try "Search Engine Optimization, Is it Effective?" Asking the question adds the intriguing effect and gets the readers involved. I'm sure you get the point.

Descriptions also Make a BIG Difference
So, you figured out how to make a great headline, but you should realize without a great description to give the reader insight into the article, the article will still get overlooked. Just keep this in mind, "A sentence is too little, a paragraph is too much." Keep it down to two to three sentences that explain very well, make it a paragraph and people will not even read it.

First Paragraphs are Important
Just like for any other area of life, first impressions are important in an article. Make your first paragraph is the greatest part of your article. Finding the right first paragraph should take as long as writing the rest of the article. Yes, it is that important.

Don't worry, I won't let you do all the thinking yourself, I'll give you a few hints. It is a good idea to have a question or two in the paragraph, let's say if you are writing about Search Engine Optimization, you can have "Have you ever wondered whether all your efforts are paying off?" With that sentence, you are likely to have people interested, and you can keep the suspense by only answering it in your conclusion.

You can also promise things such as, "By the end of this article, you will be prepared to run a successful website." Do not make fake promises, as these will make people automatically ignore future content from you, exactly what you don't want.

In the End, it all Comes Down to Content
Sure you had a great first paragraph, but the rest of your article is just as important. You need to keep the reader interested and you need to give them a reason to keep on going. If you have read all the way to here, you obviously were interested by my content. Think about what methods I used, and do the same in your own articles.

Make those Bookmarking Links Obvious.
You want others to bookmark your links and not you. Sure you can bookmark once, but this is pretty useless when you are trying to get to the top list. An important thing to keep in mind is people usually will not bookmark if you don't remind them! Make sure to have buttons under each post, making it accessible. If you are using Wordpress, here is a link to the AJAX plugin I use. If you have a static or otherwise HTML website, you can use the codes below wherever you want the buttons to appear.

Del.icio.us

<a href="http://del.icio.us/post?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>&title=<?php the_title(); ?>">Del.icio.us</a>

Digg

<a href="http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&url=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Digg</a>

Technorati

<a href="http://technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Technorati</a>

Blinklist

<a href="http://blinklist.com/index.php?Action=Blink/addblink.php&url=<?php the_permalink() ?>&Title=<?php the_title(); ?>" >Blinklist</a>

Furl

<a href="http://furl.net/storeIt.jsp?t=<?php the_title(); ?>&u=<?php the_permalink() ?>">Furl</a>

reddit

<a href="http://reddit.com/submit?url=<?php the_permalink() ?>&title=<?php the_title(); ?>" >reddit</a>

Post when Your Readers are Awake
On almost every bookmarking site, you can only stay on the top list for around 24 hours. Make sure you write the article right before your users login, giving you the most digs possible.

Make Sure to Submit to the right category
Submitting to the wrong category means you probably will not get on the top list, and even if you do you are attracting the wrong crowd. Avoid this at all times!

Be Prepared to Fail
Sometimes, even when you do everything correctly, things just don't go your way. Don't give up, and just try harder the next time.