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Digg: A Guide for Web Marketers

What is Digg?

Digg is a Web 2.0 news Web site powered by it's readers. Articles, news stories, videos and now podcasts are submitted to the site by users (members of the community.) Other members can then vote on anything submitted, either "digging it" (a thumbs up) or "burying it" (a thumbs down.) As items become more popular they can be voted onto the home page where they'll get more views. There's a heavy technology theme at the site, but more recently they seem to be branching out to a wider variety of topics.

Why should you care?

Digg is a hugely popular Web site and getting an article from your Web site to appear on the home page can drown you in traffic...reports of 10K - 50K page views from a popular Digg article are not unheard of. In fact, many sites mention the down side of being "dugg," that their servers can handle the load!

What's the downside?

Well, there's the chance your server may crash. (This is a long shot.) It's also not easy to get into Digg, as a lot of other Web site owners and Internet marketers would like to drive that kind of traffic to their own site. If your articles aren't about technology you may be fighting an uphill battle.

There's also a lot of talk from people who have been dugg several times that there's very little conversion from Digg.com visitors. In other words, they come, they see, and they leave. They don't sign up for email newsletters, they don't click on ads, and they don't leave comments on your blog. In fact, they often journey back to Digg to leave their comments. It would be like if hundreds of tour buses unloaded their passengers in front of your store, but almost everybody just window shopped.

Of course, YMMV. (Also, maybe this is a savvy plan by folks who have been dugg to keep you from repeating their success.)

How do you Digg something?

Join the Digg community. It's free and takes just a few seconds. Once you login there will be a "Submit a News Story" link on the home page. It takes you to a guidelines page that asks you to make sure the story is interesting and unique (that it isn't already in the Digg database.) Then you'll be asked to provide the URL of the story, a title for the story (be clear and creative to get people to learn more) and a description that will compell people to click on the link. You'll also be asked to put the story into the right category.

The process is about the same for submitting videos or podcasts. And yes, you can submit your own stuff.

How do you get Dugg?

Many sites, especially blogs, include "Digg It" links at the bottom of each post or page. Like the tip jar at the local ice cream parlor, this gets people who are familiar with Digg thinking about submitting your post.

Make sure you have a compelling title that will get people to click on your link, but make sure it's accurate! If people feel fooled your article will get buried. I've noticed that many of the most popular posts aren't afraid of hyperbole. Examples include all cap words like "FINALLY," "Yes, this is REAL!!," and "MIRACULOUS!!!"

If you can tie your article or other item into a current event (like the release of the iPhone, a celebrity mishap or something else) you'll probably have a better chance getting dugg.

You might get a few other savvy friends to digg your story. The people behind Digg know this is going on and don't mind it, if it's just a few people. Just don't abuse it.

BTW, like this story? Then Digg it!

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