On my blog I explore everything that has to do with designing, developing, and marketing websites. Internet marketing is an important part of an effective website.
Regarding your implication that I don't address the user's needs, one of my blog's primary topics is user experience design. Under that you'll find such posts as "Online community best practices: Reward your top users," "Web form usability: Better form submission feedback with jQuery," and "3 eye tracking studies that influenced my latest redesign." So to imply that I'm not concerned about what my users want or creating good content, you've been mislead.
Good content is important. And so is finding audiences for that good content. You need both. Good content and good traffic.
Would you say that every blog that promotes delicious bookmarking is spamming? That's what I see you implying. If so, you are implicating nearly every popular blog that exists today.
The main reason to save things to delicious is for memory. Sharing is secondary. And getting on the front page or popular were a distant third.
So stuff that goes beyond "please bookmark us" - that's what those buttons do - seems dangerous to me. Especially since actual users have the extension or bookmarklets installed and do not need the site buttons.
I'd seen an enormous amount of shady behavior in and around this so perhaps I am oversensitive. At one point I was spending half my day, every day, dealing with spam on delicious.
"The main reason to save things to delicious is for memory. Sharing is secondary. And getting on the front page or popular were a distant third."
I think the first and second reasons apply to bookmarkers, and the third applies to publishers. For publishers, the primary reason is the front page IMHO.
"So stuff that goes beyond "please bookmark us" - that's what those buttons do - seems dangerous to me. Especially since actual users have the extension or bookmarklets installed and do not need the site buttons."
I can understand this sensitivity. If you look on my blog, I have a simple link that says "bookmark everywhere." But my popular delicious content is no longer rewarded with a front page link.
"I'd seen an enormous amount of shady behavior in and around this so perhaps I am oversensitive. At one point I was spending half my day, every day, dealing with spam on delicious."
Argue what? I'm not denying that I use social media as part of my inbound marketing strategy. But I engage with the people that comment. Besides, I spend my time writing what I feel are important blog entries. I'd say I do my part for the community I'm a part of.
Regarding your implication that I don't address the user's needs, one of my blog's primary topics is user experience design. Under that you'll find such posts as "Online community best practices: Reward your top users," "Web form usability: Better form submission feedback with jQuery," and "3 eye tracking studies that influenced my latest redesign." So to imply that I'm not concerned about what my users want or creating good content, you've been mislead.
Good content is important. And so is finding audiences for that good content. You need both. Good content and good traffic.