Can You Cheat to Get Traffic From Social Bookmarking Websites?

By Stephanie Foster

Sites such as Digg and StumbleUpon can drive delightful amounts of traffic. If you want to have high levels of traffic driven to your site, they're one of the great ways to get it. But actually getting the traffic is difficult. So many people look for ways to cheat their way to traffic.

There are ways to do this. There are groups that will Digg, Stumble or bookmark on various other websites for you, just as you do so for other members. I won't name any here; if that's the solution for you, search them out on your own. You'll find them.

However, a lot of people really don't understand what they should be having other people submit for them. They'll put in just any old blog post and hope for traffic. But what you really want to submit are things that will get people interested in what your site has to offer. Otherwise, all you are doing is burning up bandwidth.

If you're going to do something like this, start out by using the service you're targeting. What kinds of pages tend to do well? You don't want to be copying anyone, but you can be inspired by the general topics that tend to do well.

The thing about having a group submit your site is that unless the quality is there, it won't do you a bit of good. In fact, if you aren't careful about it, you can get your account and your website banned. You can lose all your chances to make the most of social bookmarking simply by abusing it.

The key is to remember to be a genuine member, even if you have others help you get your sites up there. Share the pages you really like, not just the ones you have to share in order to get your sites submitted.

You will also want to remember that social bookmark traffic as a rule converts poorly. What you should be looking for is how to get people to subscribe to your newsletter or feed, or other ways to keep people coming back on their own, rather than just when they read about a hot topic they found through a social site.

You'll also want to remember the other benefit that you are working towards - getting other people to link to your site. While not every blogger bothers to give references when they post on a topic, the better ones will mention if something you said inspired their own comments on that same topic.

Yes, it can be considered cheating to find a group that will bookmark your site for you, but it can help to get a well-crafted page noticed when you don't have the traffic to drive it on your own. But it's a risk, and there is still no substitute for page quality. It needs to be good enough to stand on its own when other people notice it.

Stephanie Foster blogs at http://www.aspectsofhomebusiness.com/blog/ about running a successful home business. Get more tips on social bookmarking from her site.