Are social bookmarking sites worth the hassle?

[fatherspirit]

Digg RULES!! The People Who Complain About It Don't Know How To Dominate The Site!

[Sha]

It helps, but I found that word-of-mouth & attending events [whether they be celebrity-related or internet-related] work a million times better.

[dojo]

In my case the answer is .. not so much .. I wasn't able to tame them and theere are so many sites that could help in this area, that all my efforts get kinda "deluted". I think for me the "classic" way is better .. write content, promote in some forums, comment on other sites and promote through my sites network.

[aleish]

YES! They help increase site's PR and bring traffic to the site too.

[PublisherForYou]

I get traffic spikes from these sites. That's about it, the visitors don't stay loyal and the traffic is not sustainable.

Yes, my experience too. It's fun to get the spike if it happens naturally, but I'm not sure it's worth it to work at it.

I think it helps to have the kind of site that would appeal to the kind of person who spends a lot of time social networking. Social networking is a casual fun activity. People just playing around, having a good time.

The site of ours that exploded on StumbleUpon was all about baby squirrels, with photos and movies etc. So a zillion people came in and left quick comments like, "Oooooh, bebe squirrelies are so cutesy!" and so on.

Our site fit the goals of a social networking audience, ie. immediate psychological stimulation for almost no work.

If you have something catchy and cute and original, a quick fun type site, social networking could be a good place to promote it.

One danger I see is that social networking sites could be a major distraction. You know, to be good at promoting this way you'd need to enjoy those kind of sites, and if you enjoy them, be careful you don't enjoy them too much, and then not get any real work done.

[infonote]

I think you can submit to specialized social sites. In this way the traffic will be targeted.

Some examples include:

http://www.dzone.com for programming
http://www.sphinn.com for SEO
http://www.autocar-live.com for Cars/Auto

Etc.

Just find or create using Pligg a social site for your audience

[UndertheRadar]

You bet. Social bookmarking sites work. The easiest (not so much work) to get traffic is Propeller, based on my experience. Second most effective and easy to get is StumbleUpon. But for SU, it involves a little work - making friends. But the traffic from SU effect is greater than Propeller and long lasting.

[pavelmaha]

how much traffic do you get from propeller? Just curious, I don't have much experience with propeller is particular, I had good fortune with both digg and SU. Good thing with SU is that everyday I get some traffic, even from posts made several months ago, so it ads up when you have a sizable amount of good posts popular in SU.