Unless this is your first time on the internet, you’ve probably heard of social bookmarking sites like Digg, Reddit, and StumbleUpon. These sites can be very effective marketing tools, but only if you use them the right way.

It’s important not to submit too many things to any one social bookmarking site. If you post a lot of things, and only a handful of them ever get popular, you account won’t be looked on favorably by other users, or the site itself. Most social bookmarking sites have anti-spam policies in place to prevent their users from abusing their site. If an account posts too many things in a given day, week, or month, that account will eventually be flagged as a potential spammer. Instead of posting a lot of links to one social bookmarking site, consider posting a handful of links to a lot of social bookmarking sites. If something does well on one site, it’s likely to do well on another.

Don’t just submit your own links to a social bookmarking site. Again, most of these sites have strong anti-spam policies in place, and if they see an account posting nothing but links from the same site, or the same handful of sites, that account is likely to get flagged as spam. Instead, try to find a few interesting things from other sites to share on days when you’re not sharing anything from your own site. Also, consider asking other users to submit your content. If your content is high quality, you won’t have trouble finding someone else to submit it for you. That way, you still get the benefits of having your link on a social bookmarking site without the risk of having your account flagged as spam.

The key word in the term social bookmarking is social. Remember to make friends with other users. If you have a vast network of friends on a social bookmarking site, those people are more likely to vote your link up on that site. Taking the time to make some friends can lead to a significant increase in the amount of traffic each link you submit gets.

So remember, post nothing but high quality links, avoid posting too many of your own links, and make friends. By doing those things, you can ensure that your social bookmarking account will grow popular, and your links will get popular along with it.