Spreading The Word To Millions of People - Social BookMarketing

Once you’ve done some grass-roots marketing with your emailing list, it’s time to spread the word to the masses. Here are the three methods of broad exposure we have found most effective.

Social Bookmarking: Get ready for some heavy traffic!

Social bookmarking is a method that allows web surfers to bookmark, organize and search websites that they like, with these choices entering a database that promotes these sites to other surfers. It’s a method of generating an online presence.

You’ve probably heard of some of the more popular social bookmarking sites: del.icio.us, digg.com, reddit.com and others. There are many systems for maximizing social bookmarking, but it is best to focus your energy on just one of these systems while allowing time for the rest of the launch process. The social bookmarking site that we would recommend for starters is StumbleUpon.

Download Stumbleupon - Its Free

StumbleUpon allows you to tag sites within your areas of interest that you think your peers should check out. It also recommends sites to you based on what others have tagged within your areas of interest.

There is debate whether energy should be focused on social bookmarking, since traffic coming from such sites tends not to be quality traffic. Visitors tend to stay on the site for only a very short time, and they rarely convert into buyers. Despite these drawbacks, StumbleUpon is an excellent tool that can boost your rankings in the search engines. We will explain how it works very soon, but first we’d like to show you how to use the site.

1. First, go to stumbleupon.com and download the toolbar.

2. Before creating your profile, StumbleUpon will ask you for your areas of interest. Browse the topics that are in your areas of interest – make sure to check boxes related to your business.

3. Follow the steps to create your profile.

4. Add “friends” (you are limited to 200). When selecting friends, it is best to search for people with whom you share common interests.

On the stumbleupon tool bar you will note the thumbs up and thumbs down buttons in the toolbar.

Stuck? Watch this video about Stumbleupon:

The stumble button is like the channel changer on a television remote control – it allows you to flip through a wide variety of sites, all within your selected areas of interest.

If you come across a website that you like, you can give it thumbs up. A small box will pop up for you to give a description of what you like about that site. When prompted, make sure to tag and categorize the site.

The thumbs down button is for a page you don’t like.

SHOW ME THE TRAFFIC!

Get started by promoting your own site on StumbleUpon:

1. Go to the homepage of your site.

2. Give it thumbs up (you can only do this once).

3. Write a good description about your site.

4. Tag it and categorize it.

5. Do this with every page of your site.

How does this process generate massive traffic? Whenever your site is given thumbs up, it will appear more frequently in the StumbleUpon search. The more thumbs up your site earns, the broader your traffic.

If writing is in Rick’s area of interest, whenever Rick flips through websites by using the stumble button, sites related to writing will show up. Suppose Jack has a website that discusses writing, and his website has received thumbs up. Jack’s website will appear in Rick’s Stumble search.

Note the word “social” in the term, social bookmarking. If you want others to stumble upon your site, if you want your site to appear in the stumble search, then you must Stumble other sites and give them thumbs up. This is an incredible tool for driving traffic, which will in turn elevate your position in the search engines.

TO TAKE STUMBLEUPON ONE STEP FURTHER…

• Every time you submit an article, post on a forum, add content to your website, publish a press release or even a classified ad, stumble that page and give it thumbs up, writing a description and tagging and categorizing.

• Stumble and give thumbs up to every website where a link to your site appears. This puts those sites into the stumble search, and therefore your site as well