Article by Guest Blogger: Matt Jones

Matt Jones is a very creative individual who investigates hundreds of affiliate programs to see if they are real or scams and then publishes his findings on his blog titled, Affiliate Programs and Internet Scams. Matt Jones is a class act and a very creative thinker with innovative ideas. If you are interested in making guest appearances on my site, I would love to have you! Contact Me if you would like to write on Garry Conn dot Com. It’s a great way to increase traffic to your blog, increase your readership and increase backlinks to your blog! Please be sure to visit Matt’s site and give him a warm welcome and a ton of comments as I am sure he worked hard on this post.

The power of social media to make a blog successful is still very strong. Digg comments can be used to drive consistent small amounts of traffic as well as building popularity on Digg, which ultimately results in becoming a “Digg power user”, where the posts you submit consistently make it to the front page. Over the last 3 weeks I have been commenting on Digg and building up my profile there.

The result? Before 3 weeks ago, I only ever used Digg to submit the best of my own posts, as well as vote for a few other sites. On average each post I submitted (each post was the best of the crop) would get a paltry 2/3 Diggs. After about 1 week of adding users as ‘friends’, voting on more stories and commenting several times a day that average figure rose up to about 5 Diggs. Now, after a total of 3 weeks things are still progressing. Every post I submit (including posts that are not ‘flagship’) rarely receives less than 10 Diggs. I’m predicting that in another month or so consistently achieving page 1 will be a very real possibility. Naturally the title and summary of the post as well as it’s quality do have a large part to play in the number of Diggs, but ultimately digg is one massive popularity contest.

What you say Matters The ‘digg crowd’ is renowned for being a combination of Geeky, overly critical and bias in favor of users they are familiar with as well as stories that contain the names of certain companies E.G. Google, Apple and Microsoft. In case you weren’t aware, Digg comments are voted upon by users just like the main stories. The popular comments with more Diggs are ranked higher than the lower comments and so more diggers will click though to your profile and vote for your ‘number 1 story’ if you make a good comment. Being massively voted down can also have it’s plusses because often people comment on grossly inaccurate or unfunny comments causing them to actually rank quite highly, bringing the original commenter a lot of attention. I have rummaged around my digg commentated section and picked out the comments I have made that hopefully something can be learnt from. The “Title” is the title of the digg story. I made all the comments myself but remember I was adapting to the digg crowd, where more attention grabbing statements are required, so don’t be surprised if some of them seem out of character/contain slang (more on whether this is a good strategy later). The sarcasm of some of the comments may bring a tear to your eye, but when on digg… do as the diggers do. I have categorized the comments into the different ‘types’ of comment and numbered the titles and comments to make them easier to match up. The list is rather long so batten down the hatches and prepare for a digg comment bonanza.

Slap up the Wikipeida page

This is a way of avoiding showing any lack of knowledge and is also useful to the readers E.G: Title 1:How to: Get Google and AJAX to Play Nice Comment 1: “From the unofficial Google Wiki, it has some helpful info” +3Diggs

Use other comments to pretend to be knowledgeable

I consider myself not at all in on the MP3 Player rivalries but by reading the other comments it is possible to tell what most people will like to hear. Also this year I have hardly played any video games, but I still know the basic terminology (FPS = first person shooter). Using a little old knowledge mixed with the vibes that can be picked up from other comments is a potent cocktail. Examples: Title 2: Zune Marketplace to get MTV, VH1, and CMT content? Comment 2: “It’s a step in the right direction for Zune , but I doubt it will make a significant difference to the iPod/Zune wars” +18Diggs Title 3: Viva Piñata - why no one bought the best game of 2006 Comment 3: “A welcome break from FPS but best? Hmmm” +10 Diggs

Actually have knowledge

Using actual knowledge definitely secures you the moral high-ground! Examples: Title 4: 8 Practical Tips to Cure Your Internet ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) Comment 4: “Forgive me… but aren’t you talking about Internet Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) not ADD?” +3 Diggs Title 5: Mummified Tyrolean iceman was taken down by arrow Comment 5: “This is such OLD news I can’t believe it made it to page 1. I study archaeology and we knew this years ago. Ba!” -19 Diggs This is an example of when being massively Dugg down is beneficial. It resulted in 14 replies, which creates lots of publicity. My theory for the negative votes here is that diggers don’t like hearing something is old news unless they knew it was old news themselves (perhaps it makes them feel ignorant).

Summon up Geeky Humor

This has the effect of giving the Digger a warm sense of inclusion, which they probably don’t get very often. Examples: Title 6: Wait in the self-check line? That’s so last month: scan each item as it’s taken it off the shelf and bagged as you shop Comment 6: “If its not called an iScanner I’m not interested” +4 Diggs Title 7: Google takes over university email services Comment 7: “First time I read it I thought it said “Google takes over Universe”, for some reason I wasn’t surprised!” +58 diggs Title 8: Halo 3 Box Art Finally Surfaces! Comment 8: “Is it possible for Box art to be in ‘BETA’?…. “+19 diggs Title 9: Shuttle launch as seen from WB-57 High Altitude Research Aircraft [PIC] Comment 9: “Is it weird that the fist thing I thought of when I saw that was the HALO 1 escape pods?” +6 diggs Title 10: Inspiration: Gamer Competes In Tournament Without Using His Hands Comment 10: “The power of video game addiction can make people do amazing things” +8 diggs

Non-Geeky Humor can work too

Wile humor that uses the latest terminology works best, Diggers are still in touch with normal humor. Examples: Title 11: Robot Reptile “Released” Into Wild to Aid Breeding Research Comment 11: “It’s really just an excuse to build a Robot reptile, I mean who wouldn’t want to?” +19 diggs Title 12: Czech pranksters sneak mushroom cloud into weather report Comment 12: “Those Czecks sure know how to pull a prank… “+10 diggs

Display a strong knowledgeable opinion

It’s very hard to vote down a comment that contains knowledge and portraying a strong opinion encourages replies. Examples: Title 13: Lifehacker and Gizmodo have taken steps to make it harder for its posts to appear on Digg Comment 13: “So the big boys who already got to the top partially by using the power of Digg have decided to not take the low road anymore, how high and mighty of them.” +5 diggs Title 14: Fruit could make ‘powerful fuel’ Comment 14: “It’s not gona happen, it would require WAY to much land to grow all that “+4Diggs Title 15: List of oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world Comment 15: “Living in an old city is an interest not something to brag about. Most of the places where more advanced civilizations emerged first (middle east) have risen and fallen, America is still on the rising, what else is there to say?” +3 diggs

Respect the dead

I shouldn’t have to tell anyone this but even Diggers thought I was harsh here: Title 16:Former Yankees 3B Clete Boyer dead at 70 Comment 16: “Are we meant to be surprised that people die at 70?” -11 diggs

Sarcasm isn’t funny every time

Sarcasm is very powerful on Digg but as with everything it should be used in moderation. Example: Title 17: Users strike back against corporate customer service Comment 17: “Great… so 5 consumers decide go to court, like that never happened before” -6Diggs

Key Points

• Do what ever it takes so it appears that you have broad knowledge
• Humor works very well, but everyone will be trying to use it so you have to be on the ball
• Know where to draw the line
• Don’t insult other diggers, you could be making a very powerful enemy
• Don’t bother commenting on a story that already has large numbers of comments, it’s time has passed
• Try to write at least 5 comments each day, as well as adding digg users as friends and voting on other stories

Being out of Character I’m sure I will be criticized for taking the ‘bad-guys side’ over the debatable issue of sticking to who you naturally are and pretending to be someone else in order to manipulate social media. I believe with blogging it is very important to be transparent (as I have been in this post) because your readers know you surprisingly well. However, Digg is the strongest exception to that general philosophy.This is because it is in no way a democracy, the best stories do not always get voted up. The fact that so many of the Page 1 stories are submitted by a small group of about 100 Diggers who have been part of the community the longest is testament to this. I am simply arguing that there is nothing wrong with giving your self an identity that is rewarding to you.

Conclusion I hope this rather long post has shown that it is well worth the effort to spend a few minutes each day adding members as ‘friends’, voting on a few stories and commentating. The long term benefit of having submissions regularly make it to page 1 is immense, and over the last 3 weeks Digg has sent me a couple of hundred unique visitors, many of whom came from my profile page which they found via my comments.

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