Posted on January 14, 2008 by Katy

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been diving myself into social bookmarking and believe I have come up with some interesting points on the subject.

Regular bloggers visit a lot of blogs each day, pick up feeds, hit sites to make comments, and move to the next blog.

I spend more than half of my day centered around blogging, even when I don’t have a new blog post on any of my blogs. The majority of my time is spent promoting I’m Blogging That because I believe it’ll be helpful for me when I move into my next blogging project (starting a new blog).

What I also want to do here is create a name for myself. I’ve said this before when I talked about personal branding, that I want someone somewhere to know my name and associate it with someone that is helpful and provides good information.

There has been one site, in particular that helps to drive traffic to I’m Blogging That and more recently, sticky traffic to I’m Blogging That.

More on that in a minute.

I believe that the everyday blogger may be missing out on a vital key to successful blogging when just visiting everyday blogs. After we comment on an entry, we move on to something else.

You’re forgetting something.

Bookmarking. If a post is helpful to you, it may very well help someone else. If the post is on topic and could be helpful at a later date, it could help someone else right now. Thus, you have one action to take.

Stumble It, Digg It, add it to del.icio.us. Do something to thank the blogger for the help, tip, extra bit of information, fantastic writing style, or all of the above.

When I first joined StumbleUpon as my first social bookmarking site, I didn’t do anything. I downloaded the toolbar, removed it from my constant view and did nothing. I didn’t StumbleUpon anyone. I didn’t acknowledge them for any reason other than a comment, and I did nothing to help others get the recognition that they deserve.

Recently, I feel back into social bookmarking and decided to make myself active within the many social communities online and discovered something I never really knew: it helps.

Within the last couple of weeks, I have had three major blog posts “stumbled.” The traffic that I received was unbelievable! And most recently, my post PageRank Update brought the highest amount of traffic in one day (according to WordPress.com stats plugin).

The other two posts that were stumbled are IzeaRanks Is Finally Here! and Understanding Follow Tags.

So, knowing what social bookmarking and networking has done for me I have created a list of what we should all do after we have read a blog post that we enjoyed.

1. Comment
Bloggers want commentators that add value to the conversation, that ask questions, or can create an interesting topic around the blog post. If after reading a post you have something to say, say it. You’re giving the blogger an acknowledgement and in turn, allowing them to acknowledge your visit.

2. Bookmark
If you love it, share it. Don’t feel obligated to bookmark posts you don’t love, didn’t find useful, or don’t care if you read again. Bloggers could help in this task by adding some sort of bookmarking plugin to their site but even if they don’t you can still Stumble/digg a post without jumping through hoops. However, I do firmly believe that it’s first the blogger’s job to make this easy for us if they’re interested in being added to any bookmarking sites. (This could even include adding the site to your Technorati’s favorites).

3. Subscribe
If the post was something that greatly interests you, see what else the blogger has to offer by subscribing to feed, adding the link to your blogroll, or ensuring that you can continue to come back to the site. You may very well find some great posts to inspire your blogging.

4. Drop Cards
After adding Entrecard to my site yesterday, only drop your card after you have paid attention to the site. Don’t drop cards for the sake getting yourself some credits. Look at the site and pay attention to it. Bloggers create for you to read, not for you to drop.

By following a system you’ll be more proficient in getting your name and blog out there by networking and rewarding the blogger by giving them the same things that they are after. It’s a win-win system for you and the blog.

Half the battle of having a blog that people love is getting your name out there. If we could all follow the same general rules of networking we’d all be more successful.

So as you go on today, reading your blog posts, writing, networking, and creating… how will you reward the bloggers who have written something you enjoyed?

Technorati Tags: Bookmarking, Social Networking, Social Bookmarking, Blogging, Blog Posts, Better Networking, StumbleUpon, Digg, Traffic