If you can’t join them… join them

In our haste to talk about social bookmarking and social networks we didn’t spend any time letting you know how to get these buttons for your own website or blog.

In June, I stressed the importance of considering the user if you wanted to get noticed within these social media platforms, however far from being a stick in the mud, I merely wish to reinforce this notion.

Focusing on the end user can create a better experience for both publishers and users alike…. Everyone wins!

So, the first question is:

‘What types of buttons would you like?’

There are numerous social bookmarking and site sharing outlets in existence, and it would be somewhat cumbersome and overwhelming to provide a button to them all. Instead you can’t go far wrong focusing upon the most prominent of this outlets including Digg, Delicious, Technorati and Stumble upon.

‘How can I get these buttons on my blog?’

The easiest method of integrating these buttons is to simply go to one of the major button generation websites and select the range of buttons you would like. From experience, this approach is far easier then going to each individual website and selecting a button, and it also looks a lot smarter as all of the buttons as a uniform size.

We have selected our 2 favourite tools from some 2,270,000 results for social bookmark button generator. And what’s move, their free.

1. Addthis is a resource which offers both social bookmark buttons and RSS feed subscriptions and is the button feature on our blog. Their website offers full instructions on integration, and display a small button, which, when clicked transports the user to a new page where they can select the outlets they wish to tag the blog or website to. The only downside is that the bookmark page is branded with ‘addthis’ which can detract from the branding of the host website.

Frogg Blog Rating: Based on aesthetics, ease of integration and usability = 4/5.

2. Social Bookmark Script Generator is excellent, and allows publishers to select a large of social bookmark buttons. It’s easy to copy and paste the code from the script and integrate it into your website, and providing your blog isn’t adorned with some 50 buttons, then this tool can make an attractive, tidy and useful addition.