As the flagship of the Web 2.0 movement, social bookmarking is similar to ‘Bookmarks’ or ‘Add to Favorites’ which you are already conversant with - using web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox. However, your computer stores the created bookmark. With social bookmarking, you can store the information on the internet to enable you have access to it anytime and anywhere. The distinction here is that when a page is bookmarked within a social bookmarking setting, the bookmarks will be viewed across the web.

The top web 2.0 bookmarking sites include Blinklist, Del.icio.us, Furl, Blogmarks, Digg, StumbleUpon and others.

This is how it works. When somebody bookmarks a web page, it means that the information bookmarked is useful. If the same page is bookmarked by two or more people, it is likely that such page would be valuable to a larger number of web visitors. These sites feature ranking system, and the system moves pages bookmarked by numerous users ranking high in the system. When large number of people numbering hundreds or thousands, bookmark a page, such page attracts a very high rank with the assumption that it has highly valuable information on it, and may likely be displayed on the front page of the social bookmarking site.

When a site is listed on the main page of a social bookmarking site, tens of thousands, or even more than a million traffic (people) can be sent to that page just in a day, due to the fact that people use the site heavily and the site has valuable ranking in Google as well as other renowned search engines.

Social bookmarking has existed for at least ten years. However, it has been brought to completely new levels of advancement and importance by Del.icio.us. The front page of Del.icio.us features the front end of social bookmarking; a column known as hotlist is found on the left hand side. The pages featured there are the present web pages that are attracting people in hundreds and thousands, including the attention of Google and Yahoo.

Now, how does it apply to you?

Social bookmarking services or sites such as Del.icio.us and Digg offer a valuable opportunity to acquire a log of traffic swiftly, along with top value and high quality linking to your site. The most excellent type of web traffic – VIRAL is obtained via social bookmarking sites. If you are a business owner, you know that the prospects generated via referral are the most reliable; this is exactly the essence of online bookmarking sites, and it depicts the entire essence of viral traffic or networking.

If you want to achieve views on a large scale from a bookmarking site, you must produce only good and quality content that are accepted or approved by a large number of people - to the extent that your site would be deemed suitable to be listed on the front page of social bookmarking sites. This leads to a massive referral of your site along with the significant ton of credibility that accompanies.

The quantity of traffic being referred to here, could swiftly get to 10,000 visitors daily just by reaching Del.icio.us front page alone.

Online bookmarking is an effective online marketing strategy, and social bookmarking is an essential component to attaining success with it.