In the past few weeks I saw the same question asked twice: how do I choose which social bookmarking sites to use on my blog or website? Here is my explanation of how different sites do it and my suggestion of 'best practice'.

There are three approaches I've seen on the web:

• The 'Link Series' approach: a series of links, sometimes with images, dumped on the page. Honestly, I think this is a waste of space as the CTR of these links is minimal. This is what I had on eKstreme.com and what led me to create the Socializer in the first place. If you go down this route, keep an eye on what's going. I suggest you hack the AJAX link tracker.
• The 'Chosen Few' approach which links to only a select few of the myriad of social sites out there. If you're a shopping site, you can submit to social shopping sites. Science-type sites can use Conntea, which is a delicious-type service for academics. Techie sites go for digg and slashdot. You get the idea.
• The Socializer approach, which you know well. Some people use it on its own, and that could be the wrong way to do it. There are two really good ways to use the Socializer:
  • If you use just the Socializer, user a very descriptive anchor text. For example, on my Science Blog, I use the anchor text "Social bookmark post (digg, delicious, reddit, etc)". I also use the Socializer logo as I've noticed having the image increases CTR.
  • Another excellent variation I've seen is that you link to very few sites (say, delicious and reddit) and then use the Socializer as "the rest" link. I like this approach, as it gives easy access to the social sites your visitors use most often, but covers all bases.

For a website that doesn't have an unusual layout (like a blog), I recommend the last variation. However, test, test, and then test some more!

The real question is how do you choose which services to list? For each site, test the various services. However, perhaps the strongest hint is your log files: which services refer hits to you the most? These are these are the services your visitors are already using. This data is even more interesting if your site does not already have social bookmarking links; in this case, the log files tell you the most popular services your visitors use without any bias from your help.

Finally, a comment about location. I think, although I haven't tested this extensively, is that you should place your socializing links in a consistent manner throughout the site at the bottom of each page or blog post. I've also seen some very successful links placed at the top of the pages. Also, my experience is that using the services' logos helps the CTR a lot, in addition to descriptive text if you can squeeze some in.

And there you have it. Questions or comments below

[tags]socializer, social, bookmarking[/tags]