The Power of Social Book Marking

Social bookmarking is a way for internet users to store, classify, share, and search Internet bookmarks. In 2005 and 2006, social bookmarking sites, such as del.icio.us, Diigo, Furl, Ma.gnolia, Netvouz, and StumbleUpon became popular. Sites like reddit, Digg, Newsvine, and the new Netscape portal apply social bookmarking to news items. IBM even announced plans to enter the social software market this year.

There are a variety of ways to use bookmarks to improve your overall site popularity. What I personally like about social bookmarks is that it’s easy to do and very similar to other optimization methods I use. The way it works is as follows: A user registers for a social bookmarking site. They can either drag a book mark icon onto their browser title bar or simply utilize book mark button on various web sites. Once they have registered for an account, they browse the internet. When the individual identifies a web page or piece of content they want to share with others, they bookmark it. Again, this can be done by clicking the book mark button on their own browser or, if the content offers a book mark option, clicking and posting. Once that content is book marked, the bookmark site keeps a record of the book mark and waits to see if others book mark the same content or website.

When others book mark or vote for the same content, that content increases in popularity and the social book marking site ranks it higher than other content on their site. Some of these book mark sites also let you see the bookmarks of others. That’s what makes it a “social” bookmark. Not only is the general web populace rating Internet content collectively, but they can also see what others are book marking. For example, you can search Donal Trump's book marks using the Del.icio.us book mark tool.

What’s even better is that you can use a site like Social Poster (free) found at http://socialposter.com/generator.php to post multiple bookmarks from one location. You will need to register for each of these sites, but once you do the submission process is simple, allowing you to place book marks across multiple book marking sites quickly and easily.

After book marking your home page on each of these sites, consider book marking specific content of channel level pages of your site. Creating deep links into your site can enhance your overall Google rankings. And of course, make sure to use the proper link text in your site title and description.

One final word on social bookmarking. Now that you know how to bookmark your site, the next logical step is to make it easy for others to bookmark your site. To do this, simply add a Social Bookmark applet (free) to your site by visiting AddThis.com. They offer a small piece of Javascript you can add to your site in the form of a button.

When users click on the Bookmark button, they can select their specific book marking tool and book mark your content. This makes the process of book marking simple and easy to do.

Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. As a Search Engine Optimization Specialist Michael has trained thousands of individuals on winning SEO strategies. To receive your 7 free SEO lessons visit http://www.google-exposed.com