As Delicious users probably know, URLs that are currently getting a lot of bookmarks will appear on the front page, similar to most social news sites displaying the most popular submissions. Well, at the time this post is being written Delicious is on their own front page with 271 bookmarks.

The image below shows the new look. Another notable change is that the familiar URL del.icio.us is now being forwarded to Delicious.com. There are also a number of other new features, you can check them out at the what’s new page.

Read TechCrunch’s announcement about Delicious 2.0.

Introduction to del.icio.us

If you are not familiar with del.icio.us or other bookmark managers, it is basically a place to store all of your favorite pages. You have probably used the bookmarks or favorites feature of your internet browser. Del.icio.us provides the same benefits but in a much more efficient manner.

To start with, new users will need to create an account with del.icio.us (which is free). Once you have an account you can download a toolbar for your browser of choice. The toolbar will allow you to easily bookmark any page that you are on. So, when you visit a page that you think you may want at some point in the future, you can “tag” it to save it. Del.icio.us will then prompt you to add several descriptive one-word tags to categorize the page. The tagging system is a key to del.icio.us, as you will find when you want to retrieve a page.

Now, in the future when you want to find a page that you bookmarked, you will go to your del.icio.us page, mine is http://del.icio.us/vandelaydesign. On the right side of the screen you’ll see a listing of all the tags that you have used to save pages. By clicking on the tags you’ll be sorting the bookmarks to find only those that have that particular tag. So as you can see, accurately tagging bookmarks is key. Del.icio.us also has a search feature that you can use.

If you are using your browser to keep track of your bookmarks you probably struggling with the folders and keeping the number of bookmarks to a manageable number. With del.icio.us’ tagging system you can keep track of a huge number of pages without any problems. Also, your bookmarks are available in any browser on any computer.

Ok, so this covers the basics of how del.icio.us works, but how can it be beneficial for marketing a website ? The front page of del.icio.us shows 12 pages that are popular with users, based on the number of bookmarks that they have received. If a page from your website makes it to the front page it will stay there for a few hours, receive about a thousand visitors or more, rack up even more bookmarks, and gain exposure in front of a lot of del.icio.us users. In addition, the more bookmarks you get, the more repeat traffic you are likely to get when del.icio.us users return to their bookmarks.

Marketing a Website with del.icio.us

First of all, why should you use del.icio.us to market your site instead of some other method? One of the biggest strengths of del.icio.us when compared to other social media websites is the amount of repeat traffic that you can generate. Many social media sites create a quick rush of traffic and then it ends. With del.icio.us you should always be receiving a small flow of repeat traffic as users return to the pages that they have bookmarked. Additionally, the volume of traffic that popular items receive can be very significant.

Another strength of del.icio.us is that it leads to more inbound links than other social media websites. While the links that come directly from del.icio.us use nofollow tags, many popular pages will get a lot of links from other websites and blogs as a result of being found on del.icio.us. Del.icio.us offers users the option to post their bookmarks each day to their blog. So every time one of these users bookmarks one of your pages you will be getting a link from their blog. When one of your pages becomes popular you’ll probably see it getting links from several of these users. Of course inbound links are beneficial for click-through traffic and for improved search engine rankings.

If one of your pages becomes popular with del.icio.us it will also be listed on popurls.com, which will also send a few hundred visitors. Popurls provides links to the top items on del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit and several other popular social media sites.

Traffic and links aren’t the only reason to strive for popularity on del.icio.us. Being shown as one of the popular items on the front page can serve to build name recognition and build your reputation as an authority in your field.

In order to get substantial results you will need to strive to reach the front page by getting a significant number of users to bookmark your page. It is possible to get some exposure and repeat traffic without reaching the front page, but the results will be much less substantial than if you had reached the front page.

What Works Well?

Del.icio.us users tend to be very tech-savvy, and as a result you’ll see a high percentage of pages that make the front page focus on some aspect of technology. If your website or blog covers anything tech-related you will have an advantage. If you cover topics that have nothing to do with technology you may have a harder time, but it is certainly still possible to reach the front page. Most sites that target non-tech audiences will have a very small percentage of readers that are del.icio.us users.

Resource lists are very popular with del.icio.us users. People bookmark pages that they think may be useful in the future. If you can put a number of valuable resources all on one page that will save them time, you’ll be likely to get a lot of bookmarks. One of the most successful resource lists I’ve created was 77 Resources to Simplify Your Life as a Web Designer, which has almost 3,000 bookmarks. This post is really only links to other resources that can save time on web design projects. People like saving time, and as a result the post has drawn a lot of bookmarks.

Typical blog posts and other articles tend to not draw enough bookmarks to make it to the front page. Like I said earlier, people bookmark things that they will want to come back to in the future and things that will save them time. As a result, traditional articles will usually not get enough bookmarks. Of course there are some exceptions. The best way to get a lot of bookmarks to an article is to get the article to become popular on another social media site like Digg, which will send thousands of visitors and increase the number of people that see the article.

Strong, attention-grabbing titles are also important. Pages and blog posts with great titles tend to attract more bookmarks. Once an item has made it to the front page, the title is one of the most important factors in determining how many additional bookmarks it will receive. A strong title will increase the amount of click-throughs, which will also increase the number of bookmarks.

Keys to Making the Front Page of del.icio.us

The key to making the front page can be broken down quite simply: create something that people will want to use in the future and get enough del.icio.us users to the page to receive the necessary amount of bookmarks. Of course this isn’t always easy.

I mentioned earlier that resource lists tend to do very well on del.icio.us. If you want to market with del.icio.us this should be great news. One of the advantages to using resource lists is that they are easy to create. They may take a lot of time to gather together, but they do not necessarily require a lot of knowledge or experience. Writing a great blog post is more difficult than creating a popular resource list. For this reason anyone can have success with del.icio.us, even brand new bloggers.

The amount of traffic that comes to a page will affect its chances of popularity on del.icio.us. The more traffic it gets, the more potential bookmarks it can receive. Likewise, if a page only gets a few visitors, how is it going to get enough bookmarks to reach the front page? Equally as important as the number of visitors is the number of del.icio.us users that visit the page. A page can get 10,000 visitors in a day, but it none of them are del.icio.us users it won’t be getting any bookmarks.

Methods for Success

1 – Funnel traffic

Because the amount of traffic that comes to a page will influence how many bookmarks it gets, you’ll want to focus on funneling traffic from other sources in hopes that it will lead to bookmarks and popularity with del.icio.us. For example, submitting a page to other social media sites may result in increased traffic from those other sites that will lead to more bookmarks. If your page is tech-related, focus on submitting it to niche social media sites that also target tech-savvy users as you will get more visitors that use del.icio.us. If you already have a huge amount of traffic to your site this may not be an issue, but for 99% of us it is an issue.

2 – Show the number of bookmarks on the page

One of the best resources that I have found for increasing bookmarks is the Tagometer Badge from del.icio.us. Del.icio.us will provide you with the code, and all you have to do is insert it in your page where you want the badge to appear. The badge will then give visitors an easy way to bookmark the page, and more importantly it will show how many people have already bookmarked. If a visitor sees that 50 other people have already bookmarked the page it may encourage them to do the same. FeedBurner provides a similar feature with their FeedFlare that can be implemented into your pages.

3 – Cater to the masses

Give del.icio.us users what they want. Rather than trying to get something to the front page that doesn’t fit with the interests of del.icio.us users, try using something like a tech-related resource list. Especially if you haven’t had much experience with del.icio.us, study what types of content are becoming popular and come up with some ideas of your own that would fit.

4 – Share with friends in your network

Although the networking aspect of del.icio.us has less impact on what becomes popular than the networking system on many other social media sites, you can still gain some bookmarks by sharing your pages with your network. When your are looking at your del.icio.us page you will see those users who are in your network on the right side of the screen. When you are bookmarking your page and creating tags you can send it you those in your network. For example, if you wanted to share it with me you would use the tag “for:vandelaydesign”. Just like any other social media site, you can have more success by leveraging your network from time-to-time.

What’s Your Experience?

Have you had good results with del.icio.us? What has or hasn’t worked for you?

The Delicious front page is overshadowed by Digg and StumbleUpon (SU is obviously a much different type of social media site), but it has the potential to directly send about 1,000 – 3,000 visitors to a page in one day, plus secondary results such as being listed on popurls.com.

Aside from the initial surge of traffic that comes from being on the front page of Delicious, bookmarks are able to draw repeat traffic over time as users return to the links that they have bookmarked, something that doesn’t happen with most other social media sites.

Although Delicious doesn’t get as much attention as Digg and StumbleUpon, from my experience it is more than worth your time as a marketer. (Note: at this time Delicious users tend to fall into the technical crowd, so if your site’s audience is not very tech-savvy you will be at a disadvantage if you intend to target Delicious for traffic.)

The Main Difference Between Delicious Users and General Social Media Users:

A Delicious user bookmarking a page functions essentially the same as a vote at Digg, Mixx, or Reddit in terms of getting your content to the front page. However, users don’t approach a bookmark like the would approach a vote at a social news site. In some ways it’s a bit harder to get a bookmark.

People don’t use Delicious to vote for popular content, although the are actually doing so every time they bookmark a page. Delicious users bookmark pages to simplify their life and organize their pages of interest. The key to getting on the front page of Delicious is to take these habits into consideration and create content that will lead them to bookmark your page.

When targeting Delicious users, think about what you can create that will save them time, make their life easier in some way, or give them something that they know they will want to come back to in the future. Take a look at the popular items on the front page of Delicious and you’ll see that most of them fit into these categories.

Some Proven Formulas that Work for Drawing Bookmarks:

1 – Resource Lists

Resource lists and link posts are a consistent producer for social media marketers. Although you’ll sometimes read of people getting sick of resource lists, they continually produce results because they can make people’s lives easier. The convenience of a resource list comes from the fact that readers can get everything they need right from one page. One of the most popular posts here at Traffikd is a collection of 100+ Flickr Resources. Many readers appreciate this post because rather than needing to visit 100 different places to find what they want, they can bookmark this one page and have everything in one place. Best of all, creating a successful resource list doesn’t take a tremendous amount of knowledge or experience. It only requires a good idea and the time to research and find the best resources to include.

2 – Guides and Tutorials

Posts that explain something step-by-step are great for bookmarks. As a Delicious user, if I see a tutorial that I think I can learn from, I’ll probably bookmark it. Most of the time I won’t be able to drop what I’m doing and go through the tutorial the moment I see it, so I’ll need to bookmark it for the future. Plus, even if I were to go through it right away, I may need to refer back to it at some point if I forget something and am in need of some help.

3 – Collections

Collections are somewhat the same as a resource list, but not always. On my primary blog, Vandelay Website Design, I occasionally post a collection of websites that have something in common, such as 50 of the Best Church Website Designs. This is a small gallery of designs that is intended to serve as inspiration for designers. It’s pretty similar to a resource list, but slightly different in my opinion.

4 – Tools

Online tools are also great for drawing bookmarks. Every now and then you’ll see a new tool released and it will quickly wind up on the Delicious front page. This was the case about a month ago with the 960 Grid System tool that was released for web designers. It helps designers build a grid-based layout for their website. Most importantly, it will save time for users, so a lot of people choose to bookmark the page for future reference.

5 – A Useful Service

Services also at times can draw a good response from Delicious users. Some people will come across a service that they may be interested in, but they aren’t going to take action right away. This is a bit more difficult to market than the other items listed here, but this does result in front page appearances for some pages.

Types of Content that Produce Results on Other Social Media Sites but will Generally not Draw Bookmarks:

Just like Delicious users tend to bookmark certain types of pages, they also tend not to bookmark some other types of pages. All of these approaches can work well with other social media sites, but rarely with Delicious.

1- Humor

2- Gossip

3 – Pictures/Videos

4 – News (unless the site has a ton of traffic, like TechCrunch)

5 – Opinion/Controversy

If you’re interested in targeting Delicious for traffic to your website, you may also be interested in these articles:

The Most Predictable Social Media Users

3 Tips for Marketing More Effectively with Delicious

From my experience I have found users of Delicious to be the most predictable and consistent. Every now and then I’m pleasantly surprised that a specific post of mine takes off with a particular social media site, and usually it is StumbleUpon. To be honest, this doesn’t happen with Delicious. I don’t suddenly see a post racking up bookmarks unexpectedly.

Likewise, sometimes I’m disappointed with the results of a post with a specific social media site when I expected it to do well at SU, Digg, DZone, etc. However, rarely do I create a post expecting bookmarks only to be disappointed.

I’ve found Delicious users to be extremely consistent and predictable, which is incredibly helpful for getting to the front page. What does it take to get to the front page of a major social media site? Well, you obviously have to create something that interests a mass audience and you have to find a way to get it some exposure.

But one of the difficulties is that you never really know for sure what will cause people to respond. You may spend a lot of time creating a blog post to target Digg users, and then Digg users wind up not appreciating it like you thought they would. With a consistent audience, you can create content by following specific models that have worked for you in the past, and chances are, it will work again. Rarely do I spend significant time creating a post to target Delicious users only to see that time not being worthwhile.

When analyzing what type of content Delicious users will bookmark, think about your own habits. What do you bookmark? Most of us that use Delicious do so because of the convenience factor. We bookmark something that we think we may want to come back to later, and very often this is something that can make our lives easier or save us time in the future.

The convenience factor makes resource lists a great prospect for the Delicious front page. People bookmark resource lists because everything they need on a particular subject is right there in one location. If you can provide users with something that they know can save them time at some point in the future, you’re very likely to get a bookmark.

Resource lists aren’t the only option. At my primary blog I’ve had a lot of success with mini web design gallery posts. For these posts I’ll collect 25 – 50 websites that are excellent examples of a particular style of design. Many of my readers bookmark these posts because when they are looking for design inspiration in that particular aspect of design, they’ve already got a great resource that puts plenty of examples in one convenient place.

Of course, what will work for you will vary depending on what niche you cover with your blog. However, take into consideration what you can do to provide a valuable resources that will save time for readers.

The second part of the equation is getting exposure. You can create the most useful blog post ever, but if no one sees it, it won’t get any bookmarks. When I create a post that is intended to target Delicious, I try a few different methods to get as much traffic to that post is possible, which will increase the number of Delicious users that see the post. I heavily use smaller social media sites and community sites to funnel traffic in this way. Try a few different methods and see what works for you.

What are your thoughts?

What have you observed about the consistency and predictability of social media users?

1. Don’t forget the networking aspect

For del.icio.us users it’s easy to overlook the fact that you can network with other users. When compared with other social media sites, the social aspect of del.icio.us is pretty minor. There aren’t a lot of fancy features, but you can still add other to your network, view their bookmarks (if they aren’t private) and share links with those in your network. When you’re hoping to get something to the front page, every bookmark counts. If you can pick up a few easy bookmarks by sharing the link with your friends you’ll be a little bit closer to reaching your goal.

If you are interested in growing your network there are a few things you can do. First, you can include a link to your del.icio.us page from your website (or from anywhere that you have a profile) so that others can add you. You can even use one of the official badges that del.icio.us provides for this purpose. Also, ask your friends who are del.icio.us users for their id and add them to your network.

The networking part of del.icio.us will probably never be as significant as the networking on StumbleUpon and Digg as far as which submissions receive the most traffic, but every little bit helps.

2. Create focused content

The best way to get to the front page of del.icio.us is to specifically create a resource that del.icio.us users are likely to bookmark. If you’ve done any optimizing for del.icio.us, you already know this and you probably have an idea of what types of resources and articles do well. What may be forgotten is creating content with a purpose.

Pages that become popular with del.icio.us tend to receive a lot of inbound links. Pages that have a lot of inbound links tend to rank well with search engines. Rather than just creating something that you think will have a good chance of making it to the front page, consider key words and phrases that you would like to rank well for with search engines. Brainstorm some possibilities of creating content that will 1) target these words and phrases, 2) do well with del.icio.us, 3) draw links using those words in the anchor text, and 4) as a result give your rankings a boost.

Many links that come as a result of del.icio.us popularity will use the post or page title in the anchor text. For this reason you will want to carefully consider the title. Not only is the title itself important for SEO purposes, but the anchor text on the resulting inbound links will also be important. In fact, many of the links that you will receive from being on the front page are actually just del.icio.us users that automatically publish their bookmarks on their blog at the end of each day (this is a feature that del.icio.us offers to users). These links will use the title as anchor text, so choose a title carefully.

3. Use del.icio.us to brand yourself

Many del.icio.us users visit the front page very frequently to see what is popular. I know I visit it several times throughout the day. If you are able to make it to the front page repeatedly, people will start to remember you and view you as an authority on your subject. After all, if hundreds of people are bookmarking your pages you must be doing something right.

Keeping your content (at least the content that is targeting del.icio.us) focused on your primary topic can help you to effectively brand yourself. Using your site/blog name in the title can also help too, as it will make it easier for users to recognize you.