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 userâ€Â, 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.
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
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
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).
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
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
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
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 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
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.
Also Try Searching:
Want to have a blog like mine? Sign up for HostGator.com
(Use Coupon Code: wordpress) and launch your blog today!
Related Articles:
Search Engine Tips
Date/Time: 6-23-2007 12:54:23 Comment #3356
Wow, that is a ton of useful information Matt. I am going to start calling you the “Digg King”.
Date/Time: 6-23-2007 23:56:09 Comment #3388
Thanks Garry! I can’t exactly be the king till I hit page 1 frequently… but give it a month!
Date/Time: 6-24-2007 00:42:10 Comment #3396
Hey, I will be pulling for you! Drop me a comment anytime you need a Digg from me and I will also ask my readers to check out your articles on Digg. Of course, now that you are an official contributing author here on the site, that opens the doors to many special perks!
Date/Time: 6-23-2007 22:46:19 Comment #3376
Hi Matt, good article. The idea to participate in social media to increase your own traffic is always a good one.
But if you’re pretending to be someone else, don’t you think it will be hard to keep it up? Doing it for a few weeks is fine, but can you also do it for a year? Or will you develop some good, old-fashioned MPS after a while?
Date/Time: 6-23-2007 23:59:22 Comment #3390
I think that with a blog it is an impossible act to maintain, but on digg the mindset is ‘what can I say to reply to that’, so it’s a less serious display of character
Date/Time: 6-24-2007 00:52:57 Comment #3398
I don’t know about all that… but one thing I do know is that I never really used Digg all that much in the past. Yes, I am aware of Digg, I know what it is… and I know that thousands of people use Digg daily as a main supplier of their traffic. Immediately after the article published I saw a pretty big spike in traffic direct to this post. And looking at my server logs this evening I can see that I have a lot of new activity on the site. There were actually six people who spent over three hours on my site who read over 25 of my articles. There was about a dozen who spent over an hour also digging around in my archives. *No pun intended! lol
They new visitors were silent, no comments, etc… but still. I am sure x amount bookmarked the site, subscribed to the RSS feed and made a mental note of the site. And in my opinion, that’s not bad in a moments work of submitting an article into Digg. The effects it has is very powerful. I can only imagine the amount of traffic I would get if I actually took the time to submit a few dozen of my previously written articles.
Date/Time: 6-24-2007 08:09:14 Comment #3428
Maybe a metaphor like this is appropriate? The blog is your intimate circle of friends and digg is the pub where you make casual acquainances and/or flirt.
Date/Time: 6-24-2007 08:47:57 Comment #3430
Joost, I couldn’t have put it better myself, that’s exactly what I mean.
Date/Time: 6-27-2007 03:00:06 Comment #3522
So, Digg is like a street corner where you can meet hookers.
* Not that I would know…
Date/Time: 6-24-2007 00:57:43 Comment #3400
I value my identity and reputation very much. And the Internet can carry a very deep and dark e-paper trail on bloggers. So for someone like me, especially by me using my own personal name as my domain name, it is vital that I represent myself accurately and truthfully. I am who I am… I am Garry Conn, and whether I submit articles on Digg, comment on other blogs or post articles on my own site… there is one thing you can count on, and that’s knowing who I am and what I am about.
Date/Time: 6-25-2007 21:20:14 Comment #3481
Hah! I had to Digg this story.
Date/Time: 6-27-2007 02:59:09 Comment #3521
Dude, I digg your hair!
Date/Time: 7-1-2007 06:22:59 Comment #3645
Great. So the whole trick is to make more “friends” as time flies. The more friends you make, the more diggs you get. It’s kind of artificial, but if it works, then who am I to comment?
Date/Time: 7-14-2007 18:22:01 Comment #3881
Needed some explanation like this .. Good one ..
Nidhi