With the growth of web 2.o, social bookmarking has become a more popular way for users to create a more pleasant online experience. Basically social bookmarking is what it sounds like, it allows a user to bookmark pages that they like. When they bookmark these sites, they are not only saving these sites to their account for future use, they are also sharing what they have found with others.

How this helps websites:

1. Websites get more recognition when users bookmark their pages
2. Websites allow users to have a bit of control of their viewing experience
3. Websites can attract a new audience based on the personal recommendations of users
4. Websites can get free marketing
5. Websites get back links from these social bookmarking sites

With the web 2.o user movement, more and more online marketers are taking advantage of the great advantages to what social bookmarking has to offer. Since search engines are starting to place more weight on social networking/bookmarking sites, many marketers are using that to their advantage.

How Social Bookmarking can help you
Basically in 1 word, TRAFFIC! Social bookmarking can put your sites link up pretty much instantly for thousands of users to see. The more people see it, the better the chance is of getting people to bookmark your site as well. If you can amount enough of an audience to bookmark your site, you could find your site on the first page of many of these social bookmarking sites. Just think about that for a moment. Having your site on the first page of a website that gets thousands and thousands of visitors per hour. What kind of exposure do you think that could give you?

The other effective way of using social bookmarking does not usually bear fruit right away. Getting links from social bookmarking sites can be a great asset to your website. The more quality links that point to your site, the better your site will look to search engines. Be warned, posting your websites link multiple times and not posting other content will almost guarantee that your account will be banned.

To avoid this, be sure to equally bookmark other sites and not just your own, even if it means your competitors. If a social bookmarking site sees you only posting your own sites, then they will most likely see you as spamming their site. So be sure to post other websites content as well.

If you can add content to social bookmarking sites in moderation you will slowly but surely see a steady stream of quality back links for your website. The key here is getting your readers to bookmark your pages. Make sure you add social bookmarking buttons to all of your posts to encourage your readers to bookmark your pages.

Social bookmarking is a huge asset, only if it is used correctly and is not overdone. So, keep it simple, keep it natural.