Social media marketing is the most powerful tool in website promotion. In a society obsessed with social media, information travels faster and further than ever before. Users are able to use social bookmarking sites to link back to their favorite webpages.
They can share these links with their friends, creating a viral marketing technique that is both fast and efficient. How can a web developer take advantage of social media marketing? How does social bookmarking help drive traffic to a site? By taking the time to understand how social media affects your website, you can use these tools to improve your search engine ranking and drive targeted traffic to your site.
How Does Social Bookmarking Help Websites?
Bookmarks drive traffic. Social bookmarks are shared within networks, leading many people to find your site who may not have found it otherwise. As these people visit and share the page, they will spread the link further among their own social groups, creating a swiftly-moving viral advertising network of backlinks.
Page ranks improve your search engine results. Many social bookmarking sites provide an option for readers to rank the site. Sites that rank highly will receive a higher Alexa score, driving up their position in search engines.
Ranks earn credibility among other bloggers. If your site is voted for consistently, it can be featured on the front page of the social bookmarking site. This will drive a substantial amount of traffic to your page; it will also earn you positive attention from other site developers. Your opportunities for guest-blogging will rise as your blog gains popularity, and this will allow you to reach an even wider audience.
The best way to guarantee attention from social bookmarking sites is to update your site frequently with interesting material. The more entertaining and useful the website, the more readers will want to share it with others through social bookmarking sites. Here are a few more tips for using social bookmarking sites to gain more traffic for your site:
1. Use catchy headlines. Sometimes the only text that appears on the site will be your website’s headline. Make it count by writing a punchy, interesting headline that will grab a reader’s attention and compel her to click on your link.
2. Make your first paragraph worth it. Social media users have lots of other great sites competing for their attention, so you’ll want to make your site stand out from the beginning. Make sure that your first paragraph has a strong hook that will entice readers to read more.
3. Make bookmarking your site easy. Most blogging platforms offer a widget to add buttons for Del.icio.us, Digg, Stumbleupon and other sites. Add these to the bottom or each page so that readers have easy instant access to social bookmarks.
By taking advantage of social media, you can spread your site out to a wide audience of followers. If you continue to post interesting, engaging content on your website or blog, your followers will continue to generate traffic and build links to you page, causing a snowball effect that will promote your site across the web.