by Skellie
The thought of making the front page of Digg is something that divides most content-creators into three camps: those who want it and strive for it, those who want it but feel they don’t have a chance, and those who don’t want it at all.
The latter group usually believes (from experience) that Digg traffic is worthless traffic, though I think it has more to do with the combination of that blog with Digg’s audience, or that content with Digg’s audience, which determines whether the event of being on the front page will be worthwhile.
Having gained several hundred subscribers each time this blog has been Dugg, and having enjoyed the snowball effect of going popular on Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon as well, my own experience paints a much more positive picture.
The rapid rise of blogs like The Art of Manliness, which has gone from a few hundred to 5,000+ subscribers in a matter of weeks, mainly on the strength of Digg, demonstrates that brushing aside Digg users as fickle and commitment phobic might just be the easy (and certainly not the best way) out.
In this post, I want to talk about the most often overlooked aspect of what is required to write content with strong potential on Digg (and the same principle applies to StumbleUpon, Reddit, or any other social media service you can imagine).
What you don’t know can hurt you
You can’t win a game without knowing the rules, without being able to see the playing field, and without any knowledge of what kind of play works.
The most common question I get from bloggers who want to know about getting Dugg is this: should I start using Digg — is that necessary?
It’s absolutely necessary. While it’s not essential that you actively participate, you do need to dedicate time to studying the service you want to leverage. If you want to know how to create content that works on Digg, watch what does work, and learn from it.
Being an active observer is the single smartest thing you can do when it comes to social media success.
Your niche and your destination
To focus on the service as a whole would be too overwhelming and too time-consuming. Further, what works for one type of content won’t work for another. A headline formula which works well to propel politics content would likely fall flat when applied to sports content. They key is to narrow your focus on content within your niche — not just on content that performs well, but on good content that falls flat, or mediocre content that performs unusually well.
Good content that performs well will provide a lesson in what types of content are well-received and how to present them.
Good content that falls flat might cause you to examine other variables: what is it about the content that didn’t appeal to social media?
Mediocre content that performs unusually well should cause you to focus firmly on the way the piece was marketed to overcome its shortcomings, with a particular focus on its headline and introduction.
It’s worth subscribing to the feed for Digg’s front page, and the front page of the category most closely matching your niche (if there actually is one! If you can’t settle on one, it might be worth subscribing to a few). It’s also worth exploring a few content items that didn’t go anywhere, and asking why.
If you’re trying to learn more about what works on StumbleUpon, consider navigating to your categories page and only selecting categories covered by your blog or website. This will help you stumble with focus, rather than stumbling all over the place.
What to look for
Patterns. Search for commonalities in failure and success. What is common between content from your niche that doesn’t succeed, and what is common between content from your niche that does succeed? Over time you’ll see distinct patterns emerging.
Formulas. Each content item propelled to fame by social media is, in a lot of ways, part of a testing process. Over time, we’ve learned that list posts work, resource posts work, and that people tend to like aspirational content, for example. Certain formulas seem to yield success over and over again, and you’d be surprised at how easy it is to borrow and adapt successful ideas to your own ends.
Consider 7 Can’t Miss Ways to Kick-Start the Writing Habit (680 Diggs). View this formula through a different lens, and see: # Can’t-Miss Ways to Kick-Start the _____ Habit.
- 10 Can’t Miss Ways to Kick-Start the Saving Habit.
- 5 Can’t Miss Ways to Kick-Start the Language Habit.
Create new variants, ie:
- 7 Can’t Miss Ways to Kick-Start Your Fitness Routine
If you’re unsure of how to create strong headlines, look at what is proven to work and adapt it to your own ends.
Don’t feel as if you’re stealing: all these formulas have been used in various forms again and again (and again!). They truly are public property.
Presentation. A painful fact: you just don’t want your magnum opus resource list of 365 ways to change your life, one day at a time, to be submitted by someone who doesn’t get Digg.
If the submission looks like this, you can kiss your chances with that submission goodbye:
Change your life
Lots of ways to change your life for a year
(In that case, you’ve got to hope someone will brave the duplicate content waters to resubmit your post.)
It’s essential to observe the kinds of headlines and descriptive text that work well on Digg. It’s also essential to observe the formulas that don’t work. With those things in mind, enlist a few people you trust to submit your content — more specifically, people you trust to write quality headlines and descriptions. If you have any doubts, you can provide your ideal headline and description for them.
I should stress that these people don’t need to be movers and shakers on Digg — just ordinary users who have a solid understanding of what works.
Influencers. Top Digg users have hundreds of followers who tend to swarm immediately around anything they submit. If you can attract the attention of a user with a following, your chances of success will increase considerably. Who tends to submit content that does well in your niche? You won’t know unless you observe.
While it’s tempting to try to get on the good side of the MrBabyFaces and msaleems of the world, it should be understood that a vast amount of attention is directed at the very top users. It might be worth collaborating with someone who may not necessarily be in Digg’s Top 10 users, but someone who has an appreciation of your niche, a genuine appreciation of your content, and a following to support that.
Criticisms. While the comment section of posts that go popular on Digg are renowned as scary places to be, there’s no better place to learn about what Digg users interested in your niche are looking for. While many criticisms are made in the hope of a few thumbs up and profile click-throughs, many of these criticisms actually do represent the uncensored truth: what a new visitor would say about your content if they were encouraged to do so, and without threat of conflict or reprisal (which is really what a Digg user actually is.)
Listening to the uncensored thoughts of ground-level users is one of the most powerful things you can do to truly understand who you’re writing for. I’m reminded of a post at Creative Briefing about what we can learn from celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and his reality TV show. In it, he uses honest (read: harsh) criticism to turn ailing restaurant businesses around. I’ve never seen it, but the post contains some very useful lessons.
It’s worth quoting Verne Ho’s write-up in detail:
One of the very first things Ramsay does when tackling a new failing business is to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly straight from the source: the customers. He takes the streets and talks with locals about what they’ve heard, what their experience has been, and what would make them go back to the restaurant in question.
This is almost 100% where Ramsay develops his strategy to turn the businesses around.
The lesson here is to listen to what your customers are saying - about your business, about the competition’s business, and about the industry as a whole. The easiest way to find out how you can better serve your customers is to let them tell you. Read and follow popular forums and communities that are relevant to your industry or speak to them directly. Any way you do it, your customers are sure to provide you with helpful and valuable insight.
Digg’s comments are where you will find first hand accounts of why a user chose to hit ‘bury’ instead of Digg, or what stuck out to them and made the post worth Digging. It will explain why seemingly good content didn’t make it, or why mediocre content performed surprisingly well.
You’ve got to get it
Writers who regularly succeed on Digg have on thing in common: they understand it. They’ve observed and interacted, they’ve experimented, they’ve listened. They’ve started to pick out patterns and formulas, and weave them into their own work. To learn a language, you’ve got to speak it. Without immersing yourself, you will only ever go so far.
One hour a week spent watching, analyzing and learning will teach you a lot more than I ever could — whether your focus is on Digg, StumbleUpon, or another service.
So get to it: watch and learn!
Related posts:
The One True Cause of Rapidfire Growth — the other half of the equation required to best succeed with Digg.
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49 Comments, Comment or Ping
Chris
Skellie,
Great article, but I have yet to learn the value of Digg traffic.
From what I’ve read online, it’s only good for a short spurt of traffic and then…nothing.
They don’t sign up for mailing list, they don’t click on ads…
See my point?
Can you tell me what the actual value of Digg traffic is?
Thanks!
Mar 22nd, 2008
skellie
@ Chris: In my experience, it’s unsurpassed when it comes to growing your subscriber count.
Mar 22nd, 2008
Chris
So that would be a good thing if I wanted to sell advertising for my blog, right?
I guess I’m still struggling with the ways that Digg traffic would be effective for my blog. I know that ANY traffic would be a good thing, but I guess the decision comes down to where I want it to come from, to see if it would be a fit for my blog or site.
Thanks!
Mar 22nd, 2008
Hunter Nuttall
This is a timely article for me, as yesterday I got dugg for the first time, unintentionally, and unexpectedly. It seemed to be doing well for a while, then stalled out at 24 diggs. I definitely haven’t followed your advice here, but I need to.
Mar 22nd, 2008
Chris
Hunter,
Did you see an increase in RSS sunscribers?
Thanks!
Mar 22nd, 2008
skellie
@ Chris: The increase comes from going popular on Digg, not getting any Diggs at all. I don’t think you’d see a noticeable increase from 24 diggs… I’m talking about creating content that gets promoted to the front page.
It’s a good thing if you want to sell advertising because you generally quote total traffic figures, not where traffic comes from. A high subscriber count will also increase your perceived advertising value.
@ Hunter: The automatic blog post rehasher, right? ;). I should hire that thing to write for me — it does a better job, anyway.
Mar 22nd, 2008
Copes Flavio
Great advice Skellie, I think this post will hit the Digg homepage
One key element in the Digg lifestyle is that you got to have a lot of (reciprocal) friends interested in what you digg.
After some time you spend digging the stories in your niche you’ll notice that people start to add you in their friends list. And those are the people interested in what you like.
Mar 22nd, 2008
Tibi Puiu
Excellent post Skellie :D. I’ve always been a fan of digg, its community, but most of all its enormous traffic boost it can send. Back in October I opened a science blog from scratch, since then it hit the digg frontpage about 7 times (this also lead to a lot of stumbleupon attention) and received thousands and thousands of hits. Now, not even 6 months old, the blog has ~500 subscribers and about 100k uniques per month. I’ve had 2 year old blogs, that haven’t reached that kind of level of traffic and subscribers, not even till now. Digg indeed can be a very powerful tool, unfortunately I haven’t got the time to spend a few hours a day to observe how things around digg go everyday, submitting stories, networking with fellow users etc. I prefer to write (or hire people) quality content and get someone like msaleem to digg it
Mar 22nd, 2008
Mary Jaksch I GoodlifeZen
I’d like to use Digg. But I’m having problems.
I”m using Wordpress and I just can’t get a simple Digg button to perform its stuff at the bottom of each post. I can install one but if I then click on it, a notice pops up that the URL is not working. After I try that a few times, my language starts to slip alarmingly - my mother would be shocked
Has anyone else struggled with that problem?
Solution?
Mar 22nd, 2008
Tony Lawrence
I’m in the “don’t want” camp.
Digg is the masses - the greatest common denominator, Joe Average, Common Man..
Of course if your goal is simply popularity, yes, you should write to appeal to the masses. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it doesn’t interest me.
Every time I have accidentally attracted Digg attention, it’s been a mess: ignorant and endlessly repeated comments by people who skim and don’t understand what they are reading.
Deliberately writing for such people would drive me insane..
Mar 23rd, 2008
Ann Cummings
I’m in the “don’t get it” camp. I’m on there, and I get notices frequently to go digg something, and I do. I guess, depending on what your blog and your posts are about, getting that kind of notice could be good. Mine is a very local real estate oriented blog, and can’t see why any of the masses on digg would be interested in that.
It sounds like I need spend some time there and seeing just what makes it tick for so many people!
Mar 23rd, 2008
Sandra Mendoza-Daly
Skellie,
first off, thanks for turning me on to the Art of Manliness. I’m a girl, but I loved the blog, and my husband did too. I am definitely subscribing.
I think this has been discussed before, but in my niched, I don’t find very many Dugg blog posts. Which social bookmarking site would be best for lifestyle, fashion, style blogs? It seems like del.icio.us better for some niches.
Am I wrong?
Mar 23rd, 2008
Dave Navarro
Skellie -
Thanks for the mention on my writing tips post. What you’re describing in your article is the exact strategy I used to hit the frontpage with that article (and 3 others so far!).
Dave
Mar 23rd, 2008
Monica Willyard
Great post. Thanks for the tips. I need to spend more time watching things at Digg. I’ve been ignoring that site, thinking I didn’t stand a chance there.
For WordPress users, the ShareThis plugin is a great way to incorporate Digg and other social sites into a blog without a lot of fuss. The plugin is free to use, and it makes sharing your content easy for users. It lets people submit your content to the social sites they like without adding a button for each site below your posts. I installed it because I’m a StumbleUpon fan, and I’ve noticed some good results from some of the other sites too.
Mar 23rd, 2008
Mary Jaksch I GoodlifeZen
@Tibi Puiu
I had a look at your blog and really liked it: I subscribed. The posts certainly didn’t read like ‘trash for the masses. Could you please tell me which of your posts were successful on Digg so that I can check them out?
@Tony Lawrence
I also had a look at your website, Tony. It would seem a lot narrower in focus than Tibi’s blog and more technical. I’m wondering if a narrow focus might not fit so well on Digg?
Mar 23rd, 2008
Mrs. Micah
It amuses me how many Diggs this post is getting.
I agree that it’s definitely helpful to know what and who you’re writing for. At the same time, I know a number of people who weren’t writing for Digg but were overwhelmed when someone got excited about their post and everything went nuts.
Speaking of subscribers, one went from something around 30 to 300. Nice jump.
I’ve never experienced the fun or terror that is Digg, but SU has shown me some love.
Mar 23rd, 2008
Tom Beaton
You do seem to have Digg well and truly conquered. It is great that you are providing insight into how others can achieve this. How long did it take you to understand and then apply this and start getting good digg traffic?
Mar 23rd, 2008
Jacob Cass
Most of the things mentioned here are very true. I actually did a comparison of all the social media sites out there… Check out What is the best social media website? Digg, SU, Reddit, Delicious?
Mar 23rd, 2008
Tibi Puiu
Seems like the post got buried. It’s situations like these that make me hate digg so much some time. Oh and @Mary Jaksch I GoodlifeZen, I’m glad you liked my blog. Thank you for your subscription, but that wasn’t the blog I was talking about. The blog I mentioned, that got a lot of digg atention, is located at http://www.zmescience.com (science and ecology blog).
Mar 24th, 2008
J.D. Meier
I like the focus on patterns and formulas. Success leaves clues.
Mar 24th, 2008
Mark McGuinness
Very informative post. Digg has always been a bit of a mystery to me, so thanks for shedding some light. Lovely images too - have they been generated from Digg stats?
Mar 24th, 2008
Armen
I’ve been trying Skellie, and I’m learning and learning. It really isn’t an easy art to master, and although I’ve written some decent articles which have done okay (like 70 diggs or so), I’ve never gone ‘popular’.
Some day though…it will happen
Mar 24th, 2008
Dana Suazo
Thanks for this informative article. I too am just learning about Digg so I appreciate all of the information you have provided.
Mar 25th, 2008
Shaun Rosenberg
Yeah I have heard digg is good for short spirts of traffic. I have also heard stumble upon gives you steady traffic.
I do not really have personal experience here, because I am not dugg, except by myself.
I want to learn the game of social bookmarking and get a steady streem of traffic from them.
http://www.stocks-simplified.com
Mar 25th, 2008
Malte Landwehr
I can talk about Digg but having gone popular on big social media sites has always increased the number of my feed readers!
Mar 26th, 2008
Ellen Wilson
Hi Skellie,
First time on your blog - glad I came. This is the best article I have read on Social Media…ever. I like the way you lay out how to do this…I had an idea in the back of my mind, but probably wouldn’t get around to recognizing it for awhile. I feel like I can understand Digg better. Much better. Thanks.
Mar 28th, 2008
Robert Worstell
Problem is Blog subscribers versus mail-list subscribers. Reason it’s a problem is that mailing list subscribers can be monetized, not particularly vice-versa.
Solution is to monetize every link on your blog. Put all your affiliate links in there - with a short explanation of why people should check them out (not just your boiler-plate advert). And you might also include an ad for one of your products right there in your blog post. Time consuming, perhaps - but also along the line of Amazon’s “readers who liked this post also liked this product…”
Blogs build your authority - and if you like what a person says, then they’ll want to check out what else you write. But the key is monetizing it (unless you are only blogging for the fame and glory
Apr 2nd, 2008
Mel
wow, thats a huge jump, maybe i should have a better look at digg!!!
Apr 3rd, 2008
Evelyn
I’ve been trying to figure out Digg. Your post is really timely and highly informative. Thanks!
Evelyn
Apr 5th, 2008
Guy Thinking About Midlife
Hi Skellie, thanks for this article. I got chucked off Digg recently. I dont know why because they havent responded to my request. Anyway. Im starting to see click throughs so what I get Im grateful for and hope that through some tuning I will get my headings and articles compelling for readers on and off Digg. I think your thoughts pretty much cover the normal interest habits of the average Internet reader. Much, I would think, can be learned from newspapers as well as the Digg front page for your respective niche.
Thanks once again
Apr 18th, 2008
Ralph
@Skellie: Could you send me a link to the pictures, because i like this kind of web-visualization?
Ralph
Apr 20th, 2008
Steve
Great article. Finding the right users and group within Digg to promote an article or theme is clearly important.
Apr 28th, 2008
Chris Lang
I just published an article on Digg, the privacy breach at Digg and how it effects your search engine rankings.
http://www.keywebdata.com/?p=79
I have very detailed documentation but Digg has yet to address it.
In looking at your content I would like to know what you think either here on your blog, in my comments or feel free to email me. = Chris Lang
Apr 29th, 2008
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