A thought on social bookmarks and building traffic
Today, like most days while reading through a couple webmaster forums I came across several threads where people are basically asking the same question: How to build traffic? Some of these people take it a step further and ask: How to build massive free traffic, fast!?
Invariably the answer is the same, Digg, StumbleUpon, SlashDot, Social Bookmarks!
Now it doesn’t really bother me seeing those questions or answers every day… after all, people really do want to build traffic and don’t know where to start. I can’t blame them for turning to their colleagues, I often do.
Back to the topic; I find myself a little surprised that people are missing the whole point of social networks and the reason why most websites can never really benefit from them. Social networks and social bookmarking websites are there to help people spread the word about something interesting.
If your website or service is not remarkable (noteworthy, worth talking about) then what are the chances that someone, a total stranger no less, will want to spread it? No chance whatsoever unfortunately.
Most webmasters, myself included, have used these social bookmarking sites (Digg, Del.iso.us, etc…) in hopes of increasing traffic. Most have failed. I myself have had very few referrals from those types of websites. It’s not that my, or others’ websites are all of poor quality and uninteresting (although I’m sure some probably are outdated) it’s just that people are not ready or willing to spread them around to their friends and peers.
That’s the key to social network and bookmarking websites; make something worth talking about! Read Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow” if you need a little insight into marketing and the concept of creating something “remarkable”. Seth Godin has many great books, many are available for free download on his website.
So, how to get traffic if your website is “run of the mill” or simply not geared towards the Internet mainstream? Do it the old fashioned way, build links, participate in forums where you can spread the word and concentrate on building unique and interesting content for your readers. This is a sure way to grow your website. It may not be overnight but you’ll probably get to where you want to be eventually.