Saturday, March 8, 2008

Social BookMarking for Search Engine Optimization

StumbleUpon (http://drrich.stumbleupon.com/) is by far one of the most popular Web 2.0 sites.
The concept behind StumbleUpon is simple – it enables its users to submit news stories that they find interesting. Other users then vote on the submitted story. If they like it, they will mark it with a StumbleUpon thumbs up icon. Otherwise, they will pass it by. The more thumbs up a story receives, the more popular it becomes and is ranked higher. The highest ranking stories or articles are featured on the homepage of the website.

So, how can you use the power of StumbleUpon to drive traffic to YOUR website?

The basic fundamental rule is to submit content that is useful, informative and interesting to the StumbleUpon community. This makes sure that your story gets more thumbs up and gets more views. More views translate to more traffic for your website.

To submit a story to StumbleUpon, you will need to register a new account. Then, follow the steps below:
Click on the “Submit New” link at the top.
Enter the URL of the article or post or news item you want to submit
Select a proper category and sub-category for your article
Enter a title and description that is interesting and pulls in readers
Click “Submit Story” – THAT’S IT!
If you submit an interesting story that grabs the attention of the whole community, you will get a lot of views to your submission.

A high percentage of those viewers will click through to your StumbleUpon profile where you can provide a link to your website. If you’ve read through the above carefully, you must have realize just how powerful StumbleUpon can be. The more people click through to your profile (or story), the more traffic you can generate to your website.

Another method of generating traffic through StumbleUpon is to comment on stories submitted by other people. StumbleUpon allows users to post their comments and thoughts about other submissions. If you comment upon relevant stories that relate to your website and leave a link back to your website, more people are likely to click through to see your website.

DEL.ICIO.US TRAFFIC
Delicious (http://www.del.icio.us/) is another social bookmarking website that’s hot at the moment. The “hotlist” on the home page of Del.icio.us is a list of links that have been made popular by the users of the site.

As is obvious, any site listed on the home page is bound to get HUGE amount of traffic because it is displayed millions of times in a day to a wide audience.

Many internet marketers are using it to drive traffic to their site and now you will be able to do the same! When posting your site to Del.icio.us, you must understand what kinds of sites are usually popular there. If you can tune into what the huge community at Del.icio.us, you’re bound to get a lot of traffic.

Articles providing “How-To” information are very popular among users on Del.icio.us. Share some techniques or unique methods to achieve something and make sure you include the words “How To” in your title. This will increase the chances of your link appearing on the home page. For example – “How To Write Articles in 5 Easy Steps” etc.

Another popular topic is lists. You can create a numbered list of things, say – “10 Worst Celebrity Moments of the Year” or “10 Tips to Buying the Right Car for Your Son” etc.

If your post or article includes something that can motivate or inspire the readers, you can easily make it to the hotlist. All you need is a good enough story and a compelling and attractive title. For example, you can share a story of a person’s life struggles or how someone had a narrow escape from death. These kinds of stories go a long way on Del.icio.us. However, you must always have authentic and true content.

HOW TO DRIVE TRAFFIC THE WEB 2.0 WAY WITHOUT DOING THE ‘GRUNT’ WORK

Till now I’ve shown you how you can take advantage of Web 2.0 sites in order to generate traffic to your website. Now I’m going to let you in on a secret which will allow you to generate even more traffic through these websites, without you having to do all the ‘grunt’ work of submitting and posting content to these websites.

All you need to do is get OTHER people to submit and vote for your website – EVERYTIME!

Just like you, there are other webmasters looking to have their websites submitted, voted and reviewed on these social websites. And if you do this for them, they are willing to vote for your website in return.

Your only job is to find such people. And how do you do that? That’s EXACTLY what I’m going to share with you here.

There are two ways you can get others to vote or review your website. Either you can buy a paid service that gets you a particular number of votes and/or reviews OR you can go in for barter services where you will have to vote for their link/website in return.

Either way, it’s a WIN-WIN situation for both you and the other webmaster.

My website of choice is Digital Point Forums at: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/

This forum has a specific section for selling and exchanging Digg’s (or StumbleUpon’s etc.). You will usually be able to find at least FIVE such offers listed at any given time.

So head on over to the “Buy, Sell or Trade” forum at http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=24 and browser through the offers available there. Some would be paid, others would be reciprocal offers.

The main sub-forums you have to look at are the “Freebies” forum (for barter offers) and the Services forum.

Look out for titles of posts that say something like “1:7 Stumbles” or “Social bookmarking packages” etc.

The ratio 1:7 means that you will have to StumbleUpon 1 link for the poster and in return, he/she will StumbleUpon 7 links for you. These are the kinds of deals you must look for.

In the Services sub-forum, you would be able to buy a considerably higher number of submissions to a particular Web 2.0 site (say, Digg.com). This would help you in getting your website on the homepage. Or you can buy submissions to a lot of Web 2.0 sites at once instead of concentrating on one site.

No matter which service you take up, always be weary of scammers. Most of the posters are authentic but you never when you get to meet a black sheep. Try to ask for proof of submission (these are usually already provided). You can also check with other users who have used the service and ask them about their experience.

Another website where you can find web traffic exchange offers is Unlimited Web Traffic at http://www.8webtraffic.com/

And, don’t forget to build your OWN network of friends. Whenever you StumbleUpon or Digg someone’s website, you can usually add them as a friend. This way, you can slowly build a large network of friends who will help you get your site to the top easily.

Some things to keep in mind while using services on the forum are:
ALWAYS cross-check that the poster is honest. Satisfied buyers usually post testimonials (unsolicited or otherwise) on the same thread and that is certainly a positive site. Also check out how long someone has been a member and what his/her recent posts have been like.

Whenever you go in for reciprocal submissions, make sure you do submit the posters link in return. This helps you build a good reputation on the forum.

Always follow the forum rules. One major requirement is for new users to have at least 25 posts to their credit before they can post in the Buy, Sell or Trade forum. Take part in the discussions on the forum, share what you know and learn new things. You are not there only for the submission services. By building a reputation of being a helpful user, you can get some unbelievable offers too!

Every time someone submits your site, thank them and also add them as a friend on the said site. This way, they will be notified when you post a new site and they are more likely to help you bring it to the top since you are a friend.

That’s all I have to share with you. Web 2.0 sites can act as a HUGE traffic source if used correctly. The key is to provide useful information to the target users on these websites. As long as you’re doing that, you can be SURE that your websites will see a surge in traffic.

For SEO Tips that are updated every 24 hours visit http://www.squidoo.com/how_to_increase_website_traffic