Site Sharing tools: AddThis, ShareThis, AddtoAny

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innshopper

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I've been seeing these tools on websites for quite a while, and decided last week to install one myself (I went with AddThis.com)
Basically, these are tools that allow site visitors to easily share (via Facebook, Digg, Twitter, email, etc.) or bookmark web pages. In theory, by making it easy to share, people will share more, driving up traffic to your site. Seems like a pretty decent concept.
I'm curious to see if any of you are already using one of these services, and if you've been happy with the results / seen it turn into traffic or guest bookings. My personal experience (all 3 days of it) has been ok so far - it's free, it took about 5 minutes to setup, and a few people seem to be using it to bookmark pages.
Links if you want them are:
www.addthis.com
www.sharethis.com
www.addtoany.com
Thanks,
Zach
 
I am using them, but find they will deliver the link only to my blog but not post the article as is. So what I have done is find a few regional articles that say SHARE THIS that I like, as they want you to share them, and send them to my blog account and they sit as drafts til I decide to use them. It is a good way to bookmark them for later use.
 
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?
 
Of the three, I like the one from addtoany because you can use it without having to load a javascript onto your page. (the default comes with javascript but you can choose an option for "no script").
It may be that some functionality is lost but there are reasons I would avoid the javascript:
a) Loading someone else's script into your site is like inviting someone you've just met into your home (perhaps a bad analogy for innkeepers ;) ) There is no telling what that script could be replaced with later on. Its one thing to load a script from Google Analytics as it is unlikely they will get bought up or turn over to the dark side and serve up a script that does nasty things. To load it from small relatively unknown company is more risky.
b) It is yet another thing to load from someplace else. When your page loads it already has to download all of your page content, all of your images, possibly your stylesheet and any external scripts you might be using for website tracking. Adding another item to load increases the chances that your page will be held up. (you may notice it on this site once in a while waiting for the editor to load...if the site gets stuck waiting for the google or amazon ad scripts, the editor won't function.)
Ideally you should also put the image it uses on your own server and have it load it from there rather than have it reach out and pull it from the other site.
 
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?.
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?
It could generate bookings in some situations. Say I know my bother/friend/cousin is going to Genericville, and I happen to come across a cool place to stay...I might use the share it button to email it to them. Or if I were going to Genericville for a getaway and I wanted to brag about it on Facebook I could use the shareit button to do that more easily.
Now these examples may be relatively few but I would bet numbers wise they will still be more than anyone that would just be sharing it for no good reason.
Generally I would say these services are more intended for and used for more meaty content like might appear in a blog (like three headed turtles or octomoms) as opposed to what might appear on a traditional B&B website but you never know.
 
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?.
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?
It could generate bookings in some situations. Say I know my bother/friend/cousin is going to Genericville, and I happen to come across a cool place to stay...I might use the share it button to email it to them. Or if I were going to Genericville for a getaway and I wanted to brag about it on Facebook I could use the shareit button to do that more easily.
Now these examples may be relatively few but I would bet numbers wise they will still be more than anyone that would just be sharing it for no good reason.
Generally I would say these services are more intended for and used for more meaty content like might appear in a blog (like three headed turtles or octomoms) as opposed to what might appear on a traditional B&B website but you never know.
.
I've been to Genericville. The food was bland, the people blander. No wait, that's here.
embaressed_smile.gif

 
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?.
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?
It could generate bookings in some situations. Say I know my bother/friend/cousin is going to Genericville, and I happen to come across a cool place to stay...I might use the share it button to email it to them. Or if I were going to Genericville for a getaway and I wanted to brag about it on Facebook I could use the shareit button to do that more easily.
Now these examples may be relatively few but I would bet numbers wise they will still be more than anyone that would just be sharing it for no good reason.
Generally I would say these services are more intended for and used for more meaty content like might appear in a blog (like three headed turtles or octomoms) as opposed to what might appear on a traditional B&B website but you never know.
.
I've been to Genericville. The food was bland, the people blander. No wait, that's here.
embaressed_smile.gif

.
This will be an interesting experiment to see how long it takes this site to rank for the term "genericville" ;)
 
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?.
Do you want site traffic or bookings? How much of this increased traffic is going to generate business?
It could generate bookings in some situations. Say I know my bother/friend/cousin is going to Genericville, and I happen to come across a cool place to stay...I might use the share it button to email it to them. Or if I were going to Genericville for a getaway and I wanted to brag about it on Facebook I could use the shareit button to do that more easily.
Now these examples may be relatively few but I would bet numbers wise they will still be more than anyone that would just be sharing it for no good reason.
Generally I would say these services are more intended for and used for more meaty content like might appear in a blog (like three headed turtles or octomoms) as opposed to what might appear on a traditional B&B website but you never know.
.
I've been to Genericville. The food was bland, the people blander. No wait, that's here.
embaressed_smile.gif

.
This will be an interesting experiment to see how long it takes this site to rank for the term "genericville" ;)
.
swirt said:
This will be an interesting experiment to see how long it takes this site to rank for the term "genericville" ;)
I think the term has been used on here before, so it shouldn't be long...
 
Of the three, I like the one from addtoany because you can use it without having to load a javascript onto your page. (the default comes with javascript but you can choose an option for "no script").
It may be that some functionality is lost but there are reasons I would avoid the javascript:
a) Loading someone else's script into your site is like inviting someone you've just met into your home (perhaps a bad analogy for innkeepers ;) ) There is no telling what that script could be replaced with later on. Its one thing to load a script from Google Analytics as it is unlikely they will get bought up or turn over to the dark side and serve up a script that does nasty things. To load it from small relatively unknown company is more risky.
b) It is yet another thing to load from someplace else. When your page loads it already has to download all of your page content, all of your images, possibly your stylesheet and any external scripts you might be using for website tracking. Adding another item to load increases the chances that your page will be held up. (you may notice it on this site once in a while waiting for the editor to load...if the site gets stuck waiting for the google or amazon ad scripts, the editor won't function.)
Ideally you should also put the image it uses on your own server and have it load it from there rather than have it reach out and pull it from the other site..
swirt said:
b) It is yet another thing to load from someplace else. When your page loads it already has to download all of your page content, all of your images, possibly your stylesheet and any external scripts you might be using for website tracking. Adding another item to load increases the chances that your page will be held up. (you may notice it on this site once in a while waiting for the editor to load...if the site gets stuck waiting for the google or amazon ad scripts, the editor won't function.)
I think there was big load time problem with users of sharethis a while back. I really like your points about addtoany, that may convince me to switch. The actual functionality isn't much different between the three anyway, although some do offer better back-end analytics (how many people share content and through which services, etc.)
Oh and just for the sake of the experiment...Genericville.
 
I see no reason to use these kinds of things. It only opens you up to who knows what down the road? You can insert your own images and add your own links from any of these sites.
 
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