Delicious is proving to be such a useful tool for me, so I thought I would share some tips for using it quickly and effectively. What is delicious?
Delicious is a social bookmarking service and has been around for some time now so you will probably have heard of it or seen the logo before, even if you aren't yet using it.
I mentioned delicious a while ago when I was listing all the places that you can promote your craft blog and handmade items. I've been using it for a more an more recently, although it isn't necessarily bringing lots of traffic to craftblog uk directly it is benefitting me by allowing me to very easily save and tag a websites that I think readers of this blog will also find interesting. It also enables me to very easily tweet out a link to a site I have found. Sharing great finds on the internet is a good way of making friends and followers, and that of course does indirectly translate into more traffic to your blog.
Delicious is a social bookmarking service and has been around for some time now so you will probably have heard of it or seen the logo before, even if you aren't yet using it.
I mentioned delicious a while ago when I was listing all the places that you can promote your craft blog and handmade items. I've been using it for a more an more recently, although it isn't necessarily bringing lots of traffic to craftblog uk directly it is benefitting me by allowing me to very easily save and tag a websites that I think readers of this blog will also find interesting. It also enables me to very easily tweet out a link to a site I have found. Sharing great finds on the internet is a good way of making friends and followers, and that of course does indirectly translate into more traffic to your blog.
Taking Control!
First of all you need to sign up for an account with Delicious. After a quick look at the site you will seee how interesting and searchable it is. I haven't got involved in the networking side of it much (yet) but I do often use it as a search engine of sorts, or just to find inspiration for posts by scrolling through and clicking on tags.
Using Ctrl and D
Once you have your account set up you will be able to use this magic hot key ctrl + D. It's so simple - you find yourself on a website you like and then hold down ctrl and D together, on your keyboard and up pops the delicious 'save a bookmark' form as shown below. There is also a toolbar you can download but for me this way is quicker. Click the image below if you want to see it more clearly.
As you can see there are a few simple sections to fill in, including a place to add all the social media networks you would like to share this find with. Add some relevant notes and tags - write a tweet and then click save and that's done. A tweet or facebook link is sent out and your friends, fans and followers are all linked in to the great site you have just found, all thanks to a few seconds of your time and no copying pasting, shortening urls or signing in required. The website page is also 'bookmarked' in your account so you can come back and read later - much quicker than subscribing to a feed. You can also bookmark pages and keep them private.
Delicious Link Roll and Tag Clouds
You can also take this one step further and add widgets to your blog - In the settings tab on your delicious account you will find details of how to get a link roll and a tag cloud. I think this is a great idea, it adds interest and allows my blog to be topical. When I add notes to the bookmark I try to make sure it's really descriptive to make the widget work similar to the other blogrolls I have.
Hooked Yarn - Clutch bag
Why will it benefit my Craft Blog?
With any craft blog (or blogs in general!) there is the need to keep it fresh and lively - twitter widgets, blogrolls etc are great for this - although take care not to overload people with too many flashing and flickering gadgets. I talked about curating and adding twitter list widgets a few weeks ago as a way to really target and encourage a specific niche of readers to your blog. For example if you write about the handmade bags and purses you make, having links to great bag and purse related websites that readers will find interesting will help to make your site a hub - somewhere they can easily go to find out the latest news, a delicious widget or link roll is perfect for this. Or perhaps you could add excellent fabric designer websites, sewing supplies or just great new shops that have opened on Folksy!
Please remember to come back and bookmark or "ctrl D" this blog and add me to your new delicious network - we can then all share, enjoy and learn from each others great website finds!