How does social bookmarking really work? I've been going to those sites but can I do anything to get my sites socially bookmarked? Isn't it up to the users to bookmark what sites they want? What can I do in this area, I'm a little confused...
Producing some traffic yes, SEO beneift is not much if none at all. First, majorty of SBM pages have many outbound links, which in turn dilutes the value each link gets. Not to mention that most SBM networks use the nofollow tag to combat spam and abuse.
Essentially, you're trying to appeal to people who use social bookmarking services. And then best way to do this is find what those people like most and then write content that's aligned to their tastes. For example, Digg users tend to like stuff about Apple, high technology, nerd / geek humour, but hate SEO. Whereas those who use StumbleUpon are often much more tolerant of SEO and Social Media content, plus they tend to click on more stuff. Then you have the Reddit crowd who lean towards conservation issues with a political persuasion thrown in for good measure. Underlying all of this is the onus on you to engage with these people on those services and give them one more reason to want to promote your stuff. That reason? Become friends with them and eventually they might just like you enough to share what you write about with their other friends...