So, you’ve finally decided to launch your very own design blog? If you aren’t experienced in social bookmarking and actively following design news you may find yourself struggling. The most important thing I’ve learned is to post design related material which is informative and interesting to the people visiting your blog. If you cannot generate a few hundred unique visitors after submiting an article or two to just a few of these sites then I would suggest your change your game plan. The key is to provide timeless resources to your viewers. My first week I was only generating around 10 unique visitors a day to my design blog. After submiting to sites like stumble, digg, linkdin (joined an AIGA network), and reddit I noticed I was getting hundreds every hour.

Here are some of the social bookmarking, networking, and article submission sites which I utilized daily to promote my new design related posts on a daily basis:

1. Stumbleupon – If You use FireFox, install StumbleUpon add-on to easily send Your links to friends.
2. DesignFloat – A design focused site like dig.
3. DesignBump
4. Linkedin - This site is great because its focused on your connections. Join a design group and share away.
5. Reddit -This site works great for me. I tend to get hundreds of unique hits after one article submission.
6. DesignM.ag -A respectable site to submit articles to with a good return.
7. Digg-Be active and this can be great source of traffic.
8. Twitter – If you have a following you can keep your fan base up to date and get a good return.
9. Graphic-Design-Links
10. Dzone

Other Notable Promotional Sites to try out if you have the time:

• Noupe
• ZaBox
• CrazyLeafDesign
• BrushKing
• Abduzeedo - You can add user link news there, but in order to do that, You must register there.
• CSSDrive
• FuelYourCreativity
• TheCreativityWall
• MyInkBlog
• KnowTeBook
• Mixx
• CSSLeak
• PSDFan
• DevSnippets
• NetTuts
• Paintbits
• BoogiesBC
• CSSGlobe
• Propeller
• Devmarks
• DesignMoo - You can add user link news there, but in order to do that, You must register there.
• Woork
• ShareBrain
• DesignShard
• Kailoon
• Design-Related
• InstantShift
• Hongkiat
• Speckyboy
• Design-Newz
• TripWire Magazine
• Naldzgraphics
• Colorburned
• ScripyAndStyle -Takes a few days for approval. They are very selective.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Creating a Lightbox Gallery in WordPress | Introducing the Lightbox Plus Plugin
• The Social Media Revolution | By Socialnomics
• 5 Essential Wordpress Plugins to Spark Your Design Blog
• How to Build a High-Traffic Blog Without Killing Yourself | Tim Ferriss Presentation