Social Media Marketing is a great way to get direct traffic and valuable backlinks for increasing your websites placement in search engine results for absolutely no cost whatsoever. By social media marketing  basically mean joining up and using any website which has a social dimension to it, from networking site to places like hubpages to social bookmarking website. For a general guide to social marketing click the link at the start of this paragraph, but if you have an e-commerce website (a site that actually sells something) then read on....

Two new websites launched recently, one for the US and the other one for the UK, are ideal for webmasters of e-commerce sites to use for promoting their best offers. The basic concept is social bookmarking for bargains, and new users can sign up for a free account and then submit links to the best online shopping bargains for other users to visit and vote on. All of the links on the site are 'do follow' which mean that they do count towards the search engine placement of your website as well as getting you direct traffic from shoppers that are looking for a good deal. Click here for UK Bargains (ShareABargain.co.uk), or here for US Bargains (BookmarkedBy.Us)

If you want to make the most of social bookmarking websites such as these to generate traffic for your website then there are a couple of simple rules that you should follow. Firstly, always try to join in the community as much as possible. Following other users and voting for their submission is the best way to get people voting for your links and giving them a more prominent place on the site. Secondly don't think that the more links you add the better - if you add only the best bargains your site has to offer, and also add a few top bargains that you have seen elsewhere which you rate highly, then people are more likely to rate you highly and choose to follow you and to take a look at and maybe vote for your new submissions when you make them. Also Share a Bargain and Bookmarked By Us both have active moderators and if you try submitting every page of your site so that you can get loads of backlinks then your links will be deleted and you may have your account closed for spamming. If you follow these two  simple rules then you should be able to generate some great free traffic, and ultimately sales from these site. Hubs are also accepted, as long as they are bargain shopping related.

 You can also find niche social bookmarking for promoting your online articles, hubs and squidoo lenses - just follow the link for more information.