Best Place for Share Buttons

[EGOL]

I have tried several different styles....

--- the sleek share button at top of left navigation

--- the like-tweet-share buttons at the top of articles

--- and the big 32x32 buttons centered in the top of the page header

What has gotten the most action for me is the big 32x32 buttons centered in the header of the page.

We are using buttons for facebook, twitter, email, print, favorites and share.  On retail sites where sharing numbers are low we are not showing the counts... but on an info site with really high traffic and healthy count numbers we display the counts.

I am really surprised that addthis does not have a "best practices" page on their site that shows the best ways to earn shares.

gtc-like-tweet-share.gif lg-share-en.gif

[SteveOllington]

Just personal preference for me but I like the ones that come out of the side, like the feedback tab on here

See sidereel.com to see what I mean.

[JordanJudson]

I probably should have specified that it was on blog posts, I would have thought that the best place would be right after the content or the side ones that Steve mentioned so that the user wouldn't have scroll back up to the top to share it. Does knowing that I meant blog posts change what you would suggest or would you still say the big centered ones at the top of the page?

[JordanJudson]

I can't decide how I feel about these kind. A part of me doesn't want the buttons to follow me around the page but it doesn't matter what I like, I just need to figure out what the majority of readers prefer.

[EGOL]

I think that a lot of people share based upon first impressions.

Huffpost has the share (for the article) in the content at top left (they have shares for the domain at top and bottom of page).

CNN has the share at top and bottom of article.

Google blog has at top and bottom.

There are some sites that might have a good handle on how their visitors behave.

[Hurf]

Immediately after the main content. This is exactly where your reader will end up at the point when they will decide whether to endorse the content with a share. Don't make them think, or search. Make it quick and simple - if they have to search for it - or they find it in an area that could relate to another section of the site they won't click it and you will lose the opportunity.

I see a connection between social bookmarking/share buttons and post comments too and as such this reinforces my thinking that immediately after the main content is the intuitive placement position.

[JordanJudson]

Thanks for the answers, there were good points for all three options (top, side, and bottom). I'll have to think about it now and check out other blogs, then probably take a step back and think about how users will see my site and go from there.

[Hurf]

You could install a trial of clicktale's mouse tracking and collect visual evidence of how users interact with your site. This could indicate where the share buttons would be best placed. http://www.clicktale.com/product/mouse_tracking_suite

[EGOL]

Here is a "best practices" page on the AddThis site....

https://www.addthis.com/help/best-practices

They recommend "top of the page" and recommend against "below the fold".

[Hurf]

Interesting article - thanks for sharing