Dirty Tricks to get Dugg
Well, now that the Digg effect has mostly subsided, and as I prepare for my inevitable descent from being the #1 blog and post on Wordpress.com, I think it’s high time for another post. This time: How to coast to the front page of Digg. Now, to be fair, with only three front page stories, I can’t exactly be considered the authority on getting to the Digg front page. And, as you can see by my record of submissions, I have a record of failing 88% of the time. Nice, but 12% is a better success ratio than most venture capitalists. All the same, I think I’ve found a few dirty, underhanded, scoundrelly tricks to hit the Digg front page. I’m guilty of using a couple of these myself, of course, but they don’t violate the Digg TOS, and rest comfortably in that ethical grey area we’ve all come to love. Note that these tricks can apply to other social news sites, and indeed advertising in general, but the focus here is on Digg, as the original and most popular social news site. Here we go:
As with all advertising, the path to the Digg front page can be split into two sections: Content and Visibility. That is, you need to create good content (this is key, the best marketing strategy in the world won’t help you if you don’t), and make it visible to a large group of people. Digg makes this easier than ever. First, content:
- Know the audience The Digg crowd is young, affluent, and tech-savvy. If you yourself fit into that demographic, think about what articles you would be interested in seeing. Look at your own history of diggs. If you don’t fit into that demographic, try sending out some flyers through the Pony Express or something. Maybe an advertising telegram or two.
- Know the topics Once again, look at the most popular stories and see what they are about. Think of similar or related stories, or look for new articles at publications that have already been dugg. Wait, screw this. This is more like general advice, we need some real skullduggery.
Content:
- Steal shamelessly from other social news sites. Reddit, Slashdot, Netscape, hell, even Newsvine. If it made the front page at one of these other sites, there’s a very good chance it will do well on Digg also. If you manage to snag a front-page Slashdot story and post it to Digg before anyone else, you’re pretty much guaranteed a smattering of Diggs.
- Create incredibly intriguing titles. It’s a known fact that many diggers don’t read the articles they Digg, instead digging them to bookmark for later reading. It doesn’t matter if a few people mark the story as inaccurate- if the title has even a grain of truth to it, the overwhelming amount of positive Diggs will overwhelm any loudmouthed critics.
- Create even better descriptions. Put a relevant and funny joke in your description, and the “Dugg for Description” crowd will flock to you.
Visibility:
- Take advantage of the Digg redesign. The new “Top Stories” sidebar makes getting to the front page easier than ever.Normally, stories with not enough Diggs to make the front page quickly disappear into the Upcoming queue. Now, it takes as little as 15-25 Diggs to push a story into the “Hot in All Topics” sidebar, rendering it visible to thousands of Diggers who see the “Upcoming Stories” queue. Once you have those initial Diggs, it’s a good bet your story will eventually make it to the front page.
- Make friends. There’s no easy way to get people to befriend you on Digg, but having a few friends can make all the difference. Friends digging your stories create a ripple effect of popularity, because their friends see what they dugg, and digg in turn. To clear things up: Say Alice submits a story and Bob, who befriended her, diggs that story. Now the story is visible not only to Alice’s friends, but also to Bob’s friends who see what he dugg, or anyone viewing his profile. A few friends can provide the critical mass needed to reach “Hot in All Topics”, from where it only gets easier.
- Ride the coattails of success. If you already have one front-page story, it’s time to kick into high gear. A front page story brings a lot of views to your profile. Make another story you submit(not the front pager) your #1, and it will be visible to hundreds of diggers viewing your profile. Another trick: Look for stories about to make the front page, either in “Hot in All Topics” or DuggTrends. Make a popular comment. Many people digging up your comment, which will be one of the first as the story hits the front page, will take a look at your profile.
This is by no means a compendium of ways to “game” Digg, if you could call it that. They are methods I have independently discovered and have seen implemented succesfully, not only by myself, but by many others. Of course, there are no surefire ways to get to the front page. Expect most of your submissions to fall flat. But, once in a while, something will work, and you can look forward to mindlessly refreshing your Digg rank for days on end.
And as for this article? I won’t even submit it to Digg. No need to rub it in.
Update: Apparently someone else has submitted the story to Digg, using none of the dirty tricks listed therein. Help me, I’m drowning in irony!
Related Posts:
Villainy and Debauchery in Search (Not really)
Generating the Perfect Password
Let the Pownce Puns Begin
Virtual People In Virtual Worlds:Turing Spins In His Grave
I do not have the patience to become a top digger.
I’m happy enough with some of my content doing well there every now and again.
[…] (I got the link from the front page of Digg) when I came across a more recent post - called “Dirty Tricks to get Dugg,” and it sort of got me […]
DIG THIS
http://mbcpoetry.wordpress.com
tell ten friends.
have them tell ten friends.
way better than dig!
Congratulations with kicking Robert Scoble from first place..
You are right about the niche Digg audience. You have to be in that category to be Dugg. Or at least write for that category.
I like engtech could not be bothered nor do I have the inclination. Digg is fleeting. Our podcast blog got hammered by more than just Digg totalling over 200,000 hits and it transpired into bugger all downloads of the show.
Digg is the equivalent to having people drive past your companies billboard… effectiveness… can you remember the last billboard you drove past?
Long tail, yeah there might be some of that but I get more long tail from Wikipedia than we did from the Diggers.
Therefore effort to result ratio = nought = don’t waste your time. Aim for Techmeme - a lot harder and has a lot more kudos.
I like! Machievellian but effective!
@thinkmobile: Thanks so much! I’m getting a bit tired of seeing the same blog in first place all the time as well.
@Rooster: You have a good point, but if not for a certain front page Digg story I bet you would have never found this blog.
TechMeme is good, but you have to get a primary link on there. Being one of the secondary links is so-so.
I can get listed as secondary by linking to top news stories and saying “me too!”, but I’ve only hit primary when I’ve been featured on the front page of Digg or Slashdot.
@llya Lichtenstein: I actually did not come here via Digg… Never make presumptions… It makes you look like an idiot
@engtech: Tailrank is not bad either - has a reasonable long tail. In addition to that it is a lot easier to be a primary source. If you are the primary source once you’ll find that you are indexed more often. Plus I find that it is a bit more of a balance as far as blogs go and their status.
I like the 10 friends idea as well although it doesn’t have the reach of social indexing.
@Rooster: My point wasn’t necessarily that you came here from Digg, my point is that you would not have found this post had it not been for the Digg effect, which was its only exposure. It’s the Digg effect that propels an article to the top of del.cio.us and wordpress.com, the Digg effect that generates incoming links on blogs, etc. Without Digg, the password post would have rotted in anonymity. This I am certain of.
Thanks for the great list, I might have to try some just to get a little boost in the few postings that I do. I just don’t really have the time to live on digg like alot of people do.
youre in my puter stealing my secretz secrets!
=o
sicc, I’m gaining on you in Digg ranking. Soon, I will join you among the Digg elite
I’m in ur internetz, steelin ur diggs
[…] Dirty Tricks to get Dugg […]
Great work, I have added this to my “getting to the front page of Digg.com” list.
Vey useful list, I might have to try some just to get a little boost in the few postings that I do. I just don’t really have the time to live on digg like alot of people do.
Buy cheap phentermine mg tabs lowest prices….
Buy phentermine. Buy phentermine 180. Buy phentermine online. Buy phentermine in the uk. Buy cheap phentermine online. Buy cheap phentermine mg tabs. Buy phentermine no prescription….
Comparative potencies of opioids tramadol….
Dog s tramadol. Soma synalar tramadol. Tramadol. Tramacet tramadol hydrochloride. Cheap tramadol fedex overnight….
Tramadol….
Tramadol hydrochloride. Tramadol drug. Buy tramadol. Tramadol. Cheap comment message preview tramadol….