Social Bookmarking Concept and How it Works?

Social bookmarking is a free and easy way to help to help promote your online or off line business. The basic idea of social bookmarks is you join a social bookmarking service and share your bookmarks with other members. Naturally the first site you will want to bookmark would be your business web site.

Most social bookmarking services are free and all that is required is an ID, password, and email address. Once you've signed up with the bookmarking service you will want to set up your profile page for the service and add important information for your business such as your web address. A very important part of social bookmarking is when you bookmark or favorite' a web site you will be asked to add keywords or tags.

Keywords are words that correspond to your business or product. These are words that someone looking for your type of business would type into a search engine such as Yahoo and Google. When bookmarking your site and adding keywords related to your business you will be connected by those keywords to other similar businesses.

You don't want to stop with just your business web site though. As you visit other sites online you will want to bookmark other sites such as web sites of businesses that provide materials used in your business or equipment you may use. Just like when you bookmarked your business web site you will want to add keywords or tags to the site.

Del.icio.us (pronounced delicious) is one free to join social bookmarking service. Once you join Del.icio.us you will be directed to install two buttons on your Internet browser. This social bookmarking site has become one of the most popular because it's so easy to use. Once the buttons are installed on your browser you simply login and then surf the net. When you see a site that pertains to your business just click the button, add a keyword or two and that site is added to your bookmarks.

Furl is another very popular bookmarking site. Furl works very much the same as Del.icio.us with one button to install and works with all the popular browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Netscape. Where the networking really comes in is when other people find your bookmarks and decide to network with you this means they like your bookmarks and want to keep track of any new sites you may find. You will do the same also find other people who have bookmarked several sites of interest to you and your network starts to grow.

By being professional about your bookmarks, adding comments along with well chosen tags others will start to recognize you as an expert of sorts in your business field and you will find through your bookmarks you will start networking and sharing tips, products, and other things that pertain to your particular business.

If you would like to take social bookmarking a step further you may be interested in a service called Squidoo. Squidoo was started in 2005 and is a great place for business people to share their expertise. How the site works is you sign up for free and then share your knowledge on topics pertaining to your business. You share by writing what is called Lens on Squidoo and these Lens are available for others to read. By sharing your knowledge others will want to be associated with you, will recommend you to others, and all the time will be adding to your business promotion. Squidoo also have groups where you can join together with others with similar business interests thus building a network.

Social bookmarking is one of the easiest ways to promote your business online without having to spend money on advertising. Yes, it may take a little bit of your time but it can be well worth your efforts particularly if you are a small business owner with a limited advertising budget.