What Makes You Bookmark a Website?

[David Jackson]

We all have things that attract us to certain websites on the Internet. What are the things that attract you? Is it the design, content, functionality, color, subject matter, name of the website?

What makes you bookmark a particular website?

David Jackson

[cwboaze]

For me, it's almost never design. (only very very very nice designs get my bookmark just for design style). I bookmark according to the resources on the site which I can't remember or get enough of. Example: A site housing 1000's of downloads or articles, which I like, I will bookmark and come back to check it out every day for new content. or subscribe to the RSS feed.

[cindybidar]

For me, bookmarks are temporary. Something I want to come back and buy later. A design or a plugin I want to try on one of my sites. An article I want to read in depth at a later time. They all go in my bookmarks toolbar, which is cleaned out on a regular basis.

The only sites that get long-term bookmarks are tools, like Google keywords, Picnik, IMDB, or Craig's List.

For everything else I use RSS.

[lisamariemary]

I like Cindy's viewpoint on this! I rarely ever bookmark anymore, because, I've made such a mess of my bookmarks. Can you say .... 'digital packrat'?

I should start all over and follow Cindy's way!!! ;)

[wade_watson]

I bookmark many more particular pages than I do website main pages. I like to have an easy local link to get back to a useful article or feature. I've got about 3 well packed folders of Clicknewz articles as a matter of fact.

For the most useful articles, I've learned it's wise to save the page locally just in case the web page disappears for some reason. So I often both save a bookmark and a page file.

A site has to have a lot going for it for me to bookmark the main page, such as a compelling blog, or a useful service.

Wade

[cindybidar]

I like Cindy's viewpoint on this! I rarely ever bookmark anymore, because, I've made such a mess of my bookmarks. Can you say .... 'digital packrat'?

I should start all over and follow Cindy's way!!! ;)

We transferred all my husband's bookmarks to a new computer last night (yay for xmarks) and it took for-EVER. Turns out he has one massive bookmarks folder with about a thousand links in it. Now that's a packrat!

[cwboaze]

lol, 1k aint nothing. My Current Favorites in FF is 13,092 links. and I categorize my favorites, organized. My IE is 10k and my Opera is 2k.

[cindybidar]

lol, 1k aint nothing. My Current Favorites in FF is 13,092 links. and I categorize my favorites, organized. My IE is 10k and my Opera is 2k.

Wow. Maybe David's question to you should be, "What *doesn't* make you bookmark a website?" :D

[cwboaze]

well, that would be useless content, or a crappy design. lol

[denkywarke]

I bookmark sites either because of some interesting functionality, or because of interesting content.As I'm a web developer I also occasinaly bookmark websites with a good design, but I don't think average joe does this (much).

[brownnataly21]

The number of visitors. The more visitors the site has the better content it has.

[David Jackson]

The number of visitors. The more visitors the site has the better content it has.

Hmmmm...I understand what you're saying, but that's not necessarily true. The most popular sites don't always have the best content. Popularity doesn't necessarily = quality content. Sometimes it does, but not always. For example, there are a ton of popular mini sites that consist of nothing more than a one page sales letter.

I generally don't bookmark those types of sites. I prefer meatier sites with loads of quality content.

David Jackson

[David Jackson]

What makes you bookmark a particular website?

Since I'm a marketing consultant, I tend to bookmark sites with lots of quality marketing content and resources.

David Jackson

[aussieroo1]

I bookmark a website based on content and how useful it is for me daily. If the topics are interesting, I make it a point to visit everyday.

[Roey]

I bookmark obscure pages that are important to whatever project I am researching at the moment, and delete them later. As a graphic designer/photographer, really good and really bad design examples also find their way to my bookmark files. Another group of bookmarks I use contain tools and resources. Great information also gets bookmarked.

TIP: I created a private page on my website with links to the websites I use often. They are categorized by groups such as article sources, forums, personal, research sources, social networking, tools, and my websites. I have this page as my home page, so whenever I connect to the Internet I get to this page. From there I just scroll to the category I want and click on whatever link I need at the time.

Peace,

Roey.

[David Jackson]

These are some great responses. Thanks, everyone! Keep 'em coming! :)

David Jackson

[billdotd]

Thinking I'll want to come back to the site tomorrow or next week or...

I know its obvious...:o

[stevetorres]

I never bookmark a site for its design. I bookmark resources that I need or might forget. It helps me go back and check for newer updates.

[David Jackson]

I never bookmark a site for its design. I bookmark resources that I need or might forget. It helps me go back and check for newer updates.

Yeah, updates are a biggie for me also. I update my site regularly, and I expect sites that I bookmark or add to "favorites" to do the same.

David Jackson

[HarryJackson]

Its depend on what i am looking for, i book mark sites if i found extra ordinary flash work, or big resource for development mean things that helps.

[susanbekar]

The reason for me to book mark a site is too get visitors from these sites. As sites like facebook, twitter, digg etc are very good source of traffic and by book marking these sites yuou you can also have a good amount of traffic for your site.

[wade_watson]

This is an good idea for a thread. I only bookmark something on the web when:

a) It contains content I think that I might want to use as reference at some time in the future.
b) I'm short on time, but would like to come back and read the content at some time in the future.
c) I expect that more content of interest to me will be added in the future (such as with a blog or news site).

BTW, out of curiosity, I just checked and I have 16,032 bookmarks.