If you’re happy with the traffic coming to your website, if you’re placing on page one of Google search results, and if you’re making as much as you want, you don’t need to read this article.
But if you’ve got original content and you’re struggling to move up in search results, working hard at building an email list, and hoping to increase your affiliate commissions, this article is for you.
Recover from the penalties to content farms
For instance, if you’re been working as an article marketer and publishing to article directories such as Ezine Articles, it’s possible you’re seeing diminished traffic after the recent algorithm changes at Google. While Google’s changes targeted scraper websites and sites of exceptionally low value such as Ehow.com, many have reported less traffic from Ezine Articles and other directories.
While Ezine Articles remains a great source for getting a do-follow backlink to your site, you may find your traffic from Ezine will decrease as Google continues to punish content farms.
Every niche will be impacted by these changes in slightly different ways. And it’s impossible to predict exactly how things will change in the future.
An alternative to article marketing
Regardless, you should be looking for an alternative to article marketing, which can be exceptionally time- and labor-intensive.
Using social bookmarking sites that provide do-follow links can be a great alternative to article marketing, if you do it correctly. In this article, we’ll explore three tips to help you get the most out of social bookmarking. We’ll also provide a short list of social bookmarking websites that offer do-follow links.
Now before you run out and start bookmarking your site and setting up multiple accounts, it’s important to do it right. Here are a few tips to help:
1) Join the community — When you’re getting started with a social bookmarking website, or for that matter, any social website, it’s important to join the community. Give feedback to others in your niche. Share their articles. Leave meaningful comments. Don’t just expect your links to bring in a bunch of traffic without actively participating in the conversation.
2) Spend time creating your profile — Make sure you have a good description of your site and your business. Some social bookmarking sites even allow you to include links to your site in your description. This is a great way to get people interested in your site. And yes, using your keywords will help.
3) Focus — You’re not going to have the time and energy to join every do-follow social bookmarking site. Instead, determine how much time you have for social bookmarking and set up great, active profiles on sites which are the best fit for your region, language and niche.
These tips are the basics. Always remember that every online community has its own customs and practices. Make sure you understand the culture of the community you join.
Do-follow social bookmarking sites
Now that you understand how to go about this, it’s time to get your content online. Here is a short list of social bookmarking sites we recommend
- Mixx – Only the most popular links are do-follow.
- Reddit – Reddit is a very popular bookmarking site.
- Digg – Digg states they only provide do-follow for links that surpass an unspecified “threshold of popularity.”
- Wikio – This is a great general news site. Good for gambling and sports niches.
When you’re bookmarking, be sure to use your keyword in the title, tags and description. Just be careful to avoid keyword stuffing.
Good luck with your link building. If you participate in the community you join and gradually build your links, you’ll see terrific results over time.
Note: Full lists of do-follow links can be found at DoFollow.info and here.