The allure of gaming Digg
Posted on September 28, 2007 in the Uncategorized category
I started out this blog only with the intent of sharing my experiences as a work/stay at home dad. It was purely for the amusement of writing and if anyone else was actually paying attention, that was just a bonus. After all - who else but myself and (maybe) my wife would actually want to read what I was writing?
A year later and I find myself at a crossroad of sorts. I have begun to monetize the site to some extent and I find myself falling into a money-first mindset. What I am saying is that I sometimes find myself trying to come up with something to write solely based on its perceived monetary value. While there is nothing inherently wrong with earning money for your efforts, thats not my original intentions. I make no excuses for wanting to make some money with my blog but content will always come first - if quality starts to slip then readership will slip and the whole point would be moot.
Something that has caught my attention recently has been generating website traffic through the use of social networking sites. No matter how you look at a website - whether it is a purely commercial site or something like a blog - its about getting as many people as possible to visit your site (an even keep coming back!). It is partially a mission of mine and partly because I don’t have the expendable income right now that 99% of the time I use free methods to generate traffic for my website.
I have stated in the past that I missed the boat when it came to sites like Digg and Technorati, however, I have been trying to make up for lost time by researching all of the methods possible for getting my site and/or articles bookmarked by these sites. Of course it wasn’t long before I found a few sites that offer guaranteed Diggs - for a price of course. Admittedly, I was interested in both sides of this coin - getting guaranteed Diggs and getting paid to be one of the Diggers. I could use what I was getting paid to then pay for my own Diggs. All it would amount to is free marketing which fits into the overall mission, right?
Then my conscience (and reality) hit me. After reading a post over at schechterTech about trying to game the Digg system, I had a change of heart. They specialize in entrepreneurship and strategies for technology businesses and you can find a wealth of information at schechterTech on MicroISVs and start-ups. Back to the point, Schechter attempted to beat the system (as an experiment) by paying for Diggs through the User/Submitter website. He outlined on his blog that he submitted a completely unoriginal “story” that was really just a sales pitch for one of their products. He submitted, paid for hundreds of Diggs and then sat back and waited. After a couple of days he ended up with a good deal of Diggs (not as much as what was paid for - partially refunded) from people that were paid to do it. His ad/story actually ended up on the first page of its category but it was soon buried.
This failure struck a chord with me that leads me back to my original point - its about content. Digg users (that is, the ones that aren’t paid) can spot spam a mile away so if your submission isn’t about the content first then you will fail. Even though he ended up with over 60 Diggs, he didn’t actually get much in the way of additional visitors to his site nor did he make any money on the product itself. This was a purposeful experiment designed in a way that showed the real power of social bookmarking sites - Schechter would not endanger his reputation or that of his business by truly engaging in this activity.
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Good point. I too have been contemplating traffic and readership. Never bought diggs but I did read about it. A fellow postie dugg something for me and I couldn’t even find it.
If you write good content, practice honesty and transparency, and blog frequently, you will get readers.
Answer your commenters, right there on your blog or follow them back to their blog and comment there.
“Cheetahs never prosper.” Ok, stay at home dad, from what movie is that saying?
Enjoyed the post.
Thanks valmg and cybercelt for your comments. It is so tempting to go the to what we think is the easy way out - but so often the easy way doesn’t get the results you were after anyways.
Cybercelt - as for your question - that would be The Wild Thornberrys I believe