Social Bookmarking: Creating Content Worth Stumbling Upon and Digging

When it comes to spreading the word about your site, nothing generates buzz quite like the surge of web traffic you can get from social bookmarking.  But how do you create web content that’s worthy of a “Digg” or a “Stumble”?  This article explains how.

Getting on the first page of a highly-trafficked social bookmarking site is like opening the floodgates to thousands of potential buyers.  But in order to get there, you have to post something that gets people talking.  Here are a few suggestions.

1. First, make sure that you have a headline worth clicking.  Writing “how-to” articles, such as this one, can bring a good response - particularly if you have some insider or just-released information that’s relevant to your area of expertise. 

For a good idea on what kind of topics get votes, browse the front pages of digg.com, stumbleupon.com and propeller.com and look for the category where your article would most likely fit.

2. Second, write an intriguing description.  Most social bookmarking sites limit the number of characters you can use to describe your article - so make them count!  Ask a question in your description and make the reader want to learn more. 

Once they’ve clicked through, the battle still isn’t over.  You have to keep them interested, and the way to do that is by…

3. Create a powerful introduction paragraph - The first paragraph is not the place to have your story “lose steam”.  You want to make this as compelling as possible - but don’t use false “facts” or hype - as that can have the opposite effect and your information (and site) will get voted down quickly.

4. Keep the article short but informative - No one likes to read long pages of text.  That’s why you can break the information up into different sections and schedule them to be added in the following days (if you run a blog such as Wordpress, you can do this easily through scheduling, or have your web designer set it up for you).

This is also great for getting people to come back to your site again and again.  If at first your article doesn’t make it to the top though - don’t worry!  Try again with your next article, and the one after that.  Most articles only stay on the front page of the social bookmarking sites for 24 hours - so make it count!

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