Let Your Readers See What You’re Bookmarking Online

One way you can show your blog readers what you are viewing or bookmarking on the Internet (i.e. good biblical resources for articles, books, etc.) is to use the popular social bookmarking site del.icio.us.

Why should you do this? Have you seen the vast Internet wasteland of theological junk? Give your readers links to sites, articles, resources that you have combed over, or use frequently and trust.

I’ll say it like this:

Bookmarking is one of the best, easiest and fastest ways for pastors to give good resources to their congregations.

Here’s how this could work for a pastor’s blog:

1. Sign up for a del.icio.us account
2. Use your blog or name as the account name — I use my main site name: churchcommmunicationspro.com
3. Install the del.icio.us “buttons” on your Internet browser — this allows you to easily “bookmark” a site when you see it, follow the del.icio.us directions for this
4. Click on your “settings” link — then on “link rolls.” A link roll is just a listing of all your bookmarks.
5. Adjust the settings — For my longer bookmark list, I “show” about 100 items with my “notes.” This is great for telling your readers what they are looking at, or why you like it or don’t, etc. It’s like a commentary function. I want my readers to see my notes, so click on that option.
6. Copy the code supplied
7. Paste it into a new post or in your sidebar — or wherever you want your readers to see it. I pasted it into a blog post, then link to it from my right sidebar. Occasionally, in new blog posts, I’ll even put a tag on the end like, “See what I’m bookmarking online” and link to that blog posts (which updates automatically with del.icio.us).
8. Start bookmarking!

***

If you enjoyed this post, sign up for the FREE Church Communications Pro Email Newsletter.