Nov
12
Top Secret Advice On Making The Digg Front Page
Hi, everybody. My name is Naomi. Yesterday, I made the front page of Digg.
Here’s the scoop on how this whole lunacy happened.
I wrote a post. Unbeknownst to me, the ever wonderful Jon at Freelance Folder submitted it to Digg. Several hours later, I was checking my stats and saw that my post had seven Diggs by then. (FYI… seven Diggs does not the front page make.)
However, seven was the highest I’d received so far, and I drunkenly got the brilliant idea that I should email everyone I know and ask them to read it. Then I could post about what happened. Kind of like this.
So I did. I probably emailed about 100 people, although it may have been a little less. People came. They Digged. I was grateful. Shane emailed some people. Jon emailed some people. There were whisperings of the front page. (Whisperings which I thought were total bunk because come on, I was at like, 30 diggs.)
I made the Upcoming News page and stayed there for a while, which was pretty cool. I was at 67 Diggs, 68, 69. I went away to engage in some parent-like activity. I came back five minutes later, and my post was gone.
Gone.
I was mildly upset. Not horrendously so, but a little bit. I’d had a good run, and I’d had some pretty decent traffic from being on the “Upcoming” page. It was definitely going to make a good blog post.
Then my very smart husband asked a very smart question.
“So where did it go?”
As we all know now but definitely did not know then, it went to the front page.
So, in answer to all of your totally awesome emails, here’s the scoop.
I received just over 22,000 visitors in about 6 hours. I’ve received about 6,800 today so far, compared to a normal day which has an average of 800-1000.
My subscribers went from 150 on Sunday to 297 today. It will be interesting to see how many people stay. I’ll definitely keep you posted. (Hi, new people! Stay, please!)
As of this writing, the post received 545 diggs.
Interestingly, I actually received a fair bit of traffic from Reddit. I’d only been there for the first time earlier that day, where I’d submitted 9 Steps To Rockstar Marketing. Someone else submitted this one to Reddit, and a lot of people came.
Yes, Digg commentors are brutal, but it really helps to have people like Jon and Dave kicking ass and taking names on your behalf.
Fine. Whatever. What’s the top secret advice?
Get thee a network. People came because other people told them to come. That’s it.
Oh, yeah. One other thing. Let’s say, hypothetically speaking, you were thinking of launching a campaign to make the front page of Digg. I have a few extra tips. One, invest the three extra dollars and get good hosting. My site did not crash because Chris assured me the entire Western world could visit my website and I would keep happily trucking along. For all I know, it takes 100,000 or more to make any site crash, but I feel better knowing mine didn’t.
Two, you may not want to admit to 20,000 people that you were on welfare, that you and your husband can’t agree on where to live, and that you take issue with a religion that has 13,000,000 members. Just an idea.
Request for input: Speaking of online networking, my very good friend Shane, of Shane & Peter, is looking for some info. He was a total naysayer and argued that you couldn’t get any real home business gigs online. Then several people proved him wrong. It would be very helpful if you could click here and leave a comment with your experiences, if you have any. Even if you’re on his side, which I’m not, go leave a comment anyway.
Still not subscribed? You have to! All the Diggers are going to leave and I’ll be left with no-one!
***
Think you need a micro-business marketing consultant? Click here to get started.
I think you officially know more people than I do. If I asked everyone I know (and then shrunk that to those who have a clue about digg) I’d have like…..5.6 people.
The 0.6 would come from my dogs, as I’d manually make them click on the “digg!” button.
“Two, you may not want to admit to 20,000 people that you were on welfare, that you and your husband can’t agree on where to live, and that you take issue with a religion that has 13,000,000 members. Just an idea.”
While I love the Mormons (as a group, not their theology), I have to disagree with you on this.
Honesty conveys integrity, and both of those virtues are incredibly rare, so I would encourage you to continue to be honest.
When you’re honest about your failures, people are much more willing to believe you about your successes.
When you’re honest about your beliefs, you will inspire true passion, no matter which way they direct that passion.
I applaud you for the honesty, and hopefully you keep it up :)
Thanks for a great blog.
Naomi,
I will have you know that I was a subscriber before (subscribed last week) it became “hip” to do so. All joking aside, I love the content you provide and wish you all the best in your success. You shouldn’t have ANY trouble keeping your subscribers.
You’ve done what I’ve only dreamed about. Congratulations on your Digg achievement!
Wow that is truly amazing and inspiring. My absolute fave:
“Get thee a network. People came because other people told them to come. That’s it.”
The beauty of networking :) Teamwork really does make the dream work.
Best wishes always,
Marenda
Nooooo I was so excited to enters first comment from my iphone and then peter called and my long message died. The perils of mobile blogging.
Thanks for the callout! I’m super curious what everyone has to say.
I’m surprised that three well connected people can get a great post on the digg home page. Maybe we dobit as a service…
On got to the airport… More later
Great post and huge congrats … and as for the comments, most of them were great and you should not take comments like “Die Yuppie Die!” too seriously. Clearly, those folks have not read your blog … or seen your picture. :)
Found you from Digg, and I’m back today. Subscribing so I’ll know when I can come look at your terrible website. =)
Congrats on the accomplishment! I’m jealous! I’ve always dreamed of getting to the front page, but have never been able to contribute the effort and jump through the hoops to get it done (not that hoop-jumping is the only requirement). But I totally agree that having a strong network of people that will help edge you forward certainly makes it a bit easier.
Keep up the great work! :)
Btw, I reread my comment and realized it could be taken the wrong way … for the record, I love Naomi’s sassy short hair just as much as I love her ballsy posts. Keep up the good work!
In my defence, I didn’t come from digg, I came from Shane… he reckons we’d get along for some unknown reason (might be the tendency to use the word “slut” on a blog hehheh)
You have some great content and I am now a devotee. Keep up the great work!
It’s amazing how quickly news spreads on the net. Congrats on your accomplishment, I love reading success stories. I didn’t hear about you on Digg, but you can bet I’m here to stay. Hopefully your good fortune will spill over to the rest of us. Keep up the good work!
Keep.
Kicking.
Ass.
Hee hee that is really good!
And now we know scientifically that getting on the front page of Digg gets you a hell of a lot more traffic than a link from Seth.
Hey congrats!
I’m trying to get myself a network but there’s something inherent to pf blogging… you’re freakin’ anonymous. I can’t count on friends to Digg me after I rag them out on how cheap they are.
Also, it’s hard to approach the big name bloggers in your niche (or others for that matter). So, I just stick to blogs my own size or smaller. But for some reason, they don’t comment back on their own blogs – not even to say thank you. They just don’t get I’m trying to help them by getting a conversation going. Funny enough, the only people that get it are the marketing people or the entrepreneurs.
That’s where I picked up Naomi :P
@ Susan – I think that you, too, could get on the front page if you made a video of your dog clicking the Digg button. Shane is right, there’s a business in here somewhere.
@ Nate – You win the prize for nicest, awesomest comment. Thank you for coming, and thank you for saying – that’s really cool. It’s great to have you.
@ Eric and Dave – Thank you! You’re both super hip. When I am wildly famous, you will be in the crew who knew me when everyone thought I was nuts. Well, nuts and dwelling in obscurity. Later I will be just nuts.
@ Marenda – “Teamwork really does make the dream work”? That rules! Is this on posters in doctors offices everywhere and I just haven’t seen it? That’s so cool!
@ Shane – Haha.
@ Margie – You’re quite right. I’m not exactly the poster girl for yuppiedom. Semifunny story – Jamie and I were out a few weeks ago before it got really cold and we realized that all four of us had shaved heads and grey hoodies. We looked like we’d just escaped from prison. This may be the new dress code.
@ Michael P – it is indeed terrible. You should keep coming back, it gets worse, I promise. :)
@ Verne – Thank you. Yes, the network helps. It’s like the old school blog rings except, well, not. Cause we’re nicer. And smarter. And funnier. And – well, I guess it’s not like that at all.
@ Tea – You know what they say… “Build a thousand bridges and they’ll never call you a bridge builder. Say ’slut’ once…” Actually, I’m pretty sure they don’t say that. Anyway. Welcome!
@ Harrison – I always wanted to do one of these posts! Jon has one at Freelance Folder, I think, about how to get [insert ludicrously high number] Subscribers in [insert equally laughable timeframe.] I love that stuff!
@ Dave – You’re my hero. That’s it. That’s all I’ve got.
@ Mariam – OK, here’s my trick just for you. Find one reader who you like but who has a sense of humor (in my case, this would be Suzie at http://www.VoxFortis.com. Pick on them mercilessly. Get everyone else involved in the stoning. They will all Digg you in a mass attempt at solidarity. Then your version of Suzie can do it to you, and she’ll get Dugg. Everybody wins. It’s like communism. But with public stoning.
This is so true. Reasonable and actionable advice on a blog. We should Digg it! :D
And many congrats on the deals as mentioned in the Shane & Peter comments too. Very amazing day for a few precise clicks.
I’d have to echo the Digg comments made earlier, or more specifically my lack of Digg hip friends (single tear*). I can’t get enough people together to Digg me to even try and get hot quick. Now there would be a solid business, how much would each vote be worth? Hmm…
hey Naomi, thanks a lot for the linkage
:)
Like Shane wrote, it’s amazing! Not too many nasty comments on Digg though, except the die yuppie die lol! vindication is indeed very sweet! :)
Funny Pixelton, a service like that already exists, but from what I’ve read it’s crap, people get banned from Digg, or worse, the blog URL gets blocked. I remember a while ago people used to spend money on Digg votes on some major forums (can’t say which ones though), and they got banned :) Best thing to do is just be active on the site and network.
my 2 cents (ok, make that 3)
Hi Naomi,
First, I’ve been a fan of your blog since discovering you on FSW which I discovered through Shane&Peter… so the fact that I’m here is testimony to the power of the “network”. Second, I love that Shane’s gettin lovingly called out in this article… and it’s spurred a great debate over there which has led me to come here and leave a comment. See how the circle of life works? hehe. In any event, thanks for the great post with some actual useful information for those interested in getting front-paged on digg. Congrats on the frontpage!
Naomi, thanks for sharing your “secrets”. I’ll keep them in mind when my transition to _good_ hosting is finished…
In the meantime, I would like to be bold and ask whether you had any personal advice on my own embarrassing emotional problem (as per your last post). It’s put into a great many words over at this end of the webs:
http://www.welcometopixelton.com/2007/11/11/entrepreneur-meme-fantastico/#comment-1633
Wow, I thought I would be among the first to comment, but there is already a crowd of comments that I need to read before posting :)
Anyway, I have to agree with Nate: I think one of the biggest reasons why your post got dugg is the integrity – and the fact that there were all these controversial elements to it. That’s something I’m learning now: if you want to stimulate conversation, you need to be a bit more single minded. Something like “I’m afraid my son might choose a religion I don’t quite agree with” just doesn’t have the power of your original sentence about Mormons.
People like discussion – and in fact many of us enjoy debates and disagreements. So, while I agree that asking us to digg you was the biggest single reason for your success, I think this is the second biggest one. Your integrity combined with some controversy.
Congratulations! And if you want me to digg you again, just send e-mail.
BTW, did you check how your post did at StumbleUpon?
Did you use my stripper name up there?
Bizzatch.
:D
Oh well, you’re forgiven because of the linkie love.
Naomi – It’s awesome that you made it to the front page of Digg, but even better because it was with a post that people gave you crap about after you wrote it. You spoke your mind. You made the front page of Digg. That should be a lesson for anyone who is scared to post what they really want on their own blog.
~ Christine
Naomi brilliant work from a girl with unbridled energy…
Very cool Naomi. So glad I could digg a little for you! You are a great testament to ‘all you have to do is write a great post and ask!’ :-)
BTW, I am now officially subscribed. I hope you check out my blog and find it worthy enough to subscribe to as well!
I’m still waiting for that Subscribe To Comments plugin to be implemented around here!!! Because I’m sure at midnight I’ll think to myself ‘oh I forgot to check her blog to see if she replied’ :-)
Hey everybody!
So as a partner in this business, I figured it was probably about time for me to stop by and see what was happening here out in blog world. Thanks to everyone for their comments, and I had a few thoughts myself for what it’s worth:
@funny pixelton: You’d be surprised. When Naomi first started this blog we knew nobody. Commenting like you are doing is definitely a good way to start a network going.
@Brandon: Awesome,- Naomi can tell you I live for debate, so nothing pleases me more when we get to here about debates that got started from one of her posts. I admint I’m new to the whole blog thing but I think that debate is kind of the point so thanks for letting us know!
@Jarkko and Christine: This is exactly why Naomi is the blogger and not me. “I’m afraid my son might choose a religion I don’t quite agree with” is exactly the kind of thing I would say for fear of offending people, but it doesn’t exactly make for memorable blog posts :)
@Aruni: I have to admit that the comment plug-in thing falls under my purview and to be honest I have been too lazy to fix it. However I think it is a good idea so I will go public and say “coming soon”!. Thanks for the feedback, hopefully this will light a fire under me.
Jamie, don’t be too modest :) I think your post today was great. Great to have you both blogging here!
Isn’t Jarkko the sweetest person ever?
Great to know you made it to the front page of digg. What you have said is interesting. Many people have given tips on getting to the front page of sites like digg, reddit etc. but networking with others, emailing people about your post is a novel idea.
thanks for the idea.
Awesome!! Thank you for this information. I am sure that my story will get to front page of Digg. Thanks to God!