Build traffic with Digg

In the previous post, we looked at how you can build traffic by networking with other blogs.

This post deals with how you can build traffic by having other blogs network with you. My main blog, The Necro Files, offers heavy metal album and horror movie reviews.

I have managed to build consistent traffic by using social networking sites. One social networking site that has not given me much traffic to date is Digg. I decided to solve this problem by writing this post.

• I investigate how Digg works.


• An explanation of the Digg algorithm.


• Suggestions on how to use Digg.


• Tips I found on how you can let Digg work for you.

Let's hope Digg works better for me after this research!



The right way to dig but not the right way to Digg, you dig?

How Digg works

Digg has an algorithm. It works by rating how quickly you get diggs. If you get diggs very rapidly, you are likely to get to the front page of digg. To get to the front page of digg, you need at least 60 diggs in one day. If you get 60 diggs in one day, you will keep getting traffic even after your story is no longer on the front page of Digg.

The Digg algorithm

1. The faster you get diggs, the greater your chances are of getting on the front page.
   You need to get 60 diggs quickly to get on the Digg front page. This is the crux of the Digg algorithm.


2. Digg has a ranking system. A digg from a Digg user with a high rank will count more than a digg from a Digg user with a lower rank.


3. The more comments and positive diggs you have, the more weight your story carries. This one is obvious.


4. Similar to Stumble Upon, a user who does not like your story may bury it. Again, if a high ranking Digg user buries your story, it counts more than a bury from a lower ranking Digg user.


5. Similarly, more buries are bad. The more buries your story gets, the less it's chances are of getting on the front page.


6. Digg also considers the ratio of submitted articles by users who digg your story. This means diggs from regular Digg users will be more valuable than diggs from less regular Digg users. I'm not sure how this differs from the Digg ranking, but Digg ranking probably has to do with how many stories you get on the Digg front page, and how often that happens.


7. Digg tries to balance the problem of powerful Digg users dominating front pages by considering the amount of Digg friends you have. If you have lots of Digg friends, you need more diggs to get to the front page than a user who has less Digg friends.

To me, it would be better to have lots of Digg friends, because the point of Digg is to build traffic. If you have enough Digg friends, you will not need to get to the front page of Digg to get traffic to your blog.

Suggestions on how to use Digg

The way to use Digg is to digg articles you like. Now, you might find Digg cumbersome because you need to go to Digg every time you want to submit a story. This is no longer the case, thanks to these two handy Firefox plug-ins:

• Digg me later adds a small bar at the top of articles linked from Digg. This allows you to digg the article directly from your current page without returning to Digg. Note that also you nead Greasemonkey installed.


• Smart Digg button allows you to see whether a page is already on Digg before you write a full 500 page submission with all the bells and whistles, only to discover it on Digg already. Quite handy!

How you can let Digg work for you

You need to add the Digg badge to your posts. You will notice that I have a widget called Syndicate Me. This widget is code that I got from AddThis. It offers quick and easy links to all the big social networking sites, Digg included.

Hint: I even added this to the email feeds of The Necro Files.

If you do not wish to add another widget to your blog, you can integrate Digg with your site. You add the following JavaScript code to your site:

<script><br />digg_url = 'URLOFSTORY';<br /></script><br /><script src="http://digg.com/api/diggthis.js"></script><br />
You put the URL of your post in place of URLOFSTORY. I've had some problems with this code on my site, because of the Blogspot platform that I use for hosting. It is less complicated to use AddThis and encourage your social networking friends to Digg your posts.

Now you have a comprehensive guide on how to build traffic with Digg. Digg it, if you will.

Some useful links

• Digg algorithm unofficial F.A.Q.


• Dosh dosh suggests 12 must have tools for active digg users.


• How to integrate Digg with your site.


• iStockphoto for the image of the kid shovelling snow.

Build traffic by networking with other blogs

In the previous post we saw how to market your cornerstone posts by using social networks, bookmark lists and recommendation sites. You may also exploit those networks in other ways, if you find blogs similar to yours.

How to network with other blogs

This is a step by step guide on how to network with other blogs.

1. Find a blog similar to yours


2. Comment on the blog


3. Link to the blog

You find a blog which is similar in size and status to your own. Observe the blog to determine whether the blog is updated as often as yours, whether the blog has good content and whether you would like to associate your blog with that blog. Commenting is always appreciated, and linking even more.

Find a blog similar to yours

This is done by using the social networking sites you should already belong to. I like to rate blogs based on the amount of entrecard credits it costs to advertise on them and based on their project wonderful traffic. If their entrecard advertising costs about the same as mine and if they get roughly the same amount of traffic, I know this blog has a similar status to mine.

While you may also try to interact with the huge blogs out there, it is a better idea to build mutually beneficial relationships with blogs of a similar stature. A huge blog like pro blogger has nothing to gain by networking with you. As an example, my main blog The Necro Files reviews heavy metal albums and horror films. I regularly interact with the following blogs:

• Karl Hungus


• the Vault of Horror

These blogs enjoy roughly the same target marget as I do. We each have something to offer to the other, and thus we enjoy regular interaction. A good guideline is to ask yourself: would you subscribe to the RSS feed of that blog? If the answer is yes, you have a networking buddy.

Comment on the blog

There are some great commenting scripts out there. I do not really receive lots of comments on my blog per se, but I do comment on other blogs regularly. Since you may provide a link to your blog in comments, this is a great way to spread the word about your blog.

Also remember that you may comment on social networking sites too. I tend to do this when a comment on my blog is not relevant to the topics covered on the blog of the person who left the comment.

Link to the blog

You want people to find your blog. The mutually beneficial way to ensure this is to help people find other blogs too!

• List a blog roll on your blog. This is a widget that has a list of blogs you enjoy.


• Write a review for another blog that is similar to your blog. A little bit of ego stroking never hurt anyone.


• Give a postive remark about a blog that is similar to yours in one of your posts.

Remember, always seek mutual benefit whenever possible. If you want something, you have to be able to give something in return.

Some useful links

• Dosh dosh explains networking within your blog niche.


• One cool site explains blogroll links widget for wordpress users.


• Pro blogger explains why you should join a blog network.

Build traffic to your blog by marketing your cornerstone posts

Marketing your cornerstone posts is part of the strategy of marketing your blog to people who are not reading your blog already. This is done by submitting your cornerstone posts to a variety of sites

• Blogger social networks


• Bookmark sites


• Recommendation sites

I will shortly deal with the ones I use.

Blogger social networks

For my main blog, the Necro Files, the most traffic comes from referral sites like blogger social networks. Most of my traffic comes from

• blogcatalog


• mybloglog


• blogflux

You need to sign up for these, and you do need to include a widget or some code on your blog. This is a minor inconvenience and is actually part of social networking fun.

Bookmark sites

Although many bloggers report getting steady traffic from these, I don't really. There is a quick and easy way to submit your posts to quite a few bookmark sites at the click of a button. It is called OnlyWire. Before you get all excited, many people have expressed concern about OnlyWire.

I have used OnlyWire for about a month. I enjoy the convenience of submitting my posts to a myriad of bookmark sites with minimal effort, and although I have not noticed a huge growth in traffic, it is worth it because I get various links back to my blog.

Recommendation sites

For the purpose of easy classification, I list the following as recommendation sites:

• digg


• entrecard


• stumble upon

Digg

This is a catalogue that offers users the change to digg or undigg posts. You may submit your own posts. I haven't had much success with digg, and unless your blog is of an overly technical nature, digg will not pick up on it easily.

Entrecard

A recommendation system most people have trouble with. I have had the most success with entrecard. The quick and easy way to be successful with entrecard can be found on Lisa's World, so I won't go into that further.

Stumble Upon

Also a moody system, which has given me loads of traffic on occassion. The key is to interact with other similar stumblers. Stumble Upon offers you a great opportunity to network with like minded Internet users, all of whom are potentially interested in your blog. You need to install a browser plug in. I use firefox so I am not sure if it works on Internet Explorer.

This is the second part of a series on how to build traffic to your blog. The previous post is build traffic to your blog by providing great content.

Useful links

• Dosh dosh guide to build massive traffic with stumble upon.


• Lisa's World guide to building massive traffic with stumble upon (different from the other link).


• Dosh dosh guide to the fastest way to build an audience for your new website.

Build traffic to your blog by providing great content

Building traffic to your blog is the key to making money from your blog. It is not as simple as it sounds, because if you market your blog to your regular readers, you are preaching to the choir. You need to market your blog to those who are not on your blog, while still keeping the loyalty of those who are regular readers.

A useful site for Wordpress users

If you are using the excellent Worpress software for blogging, you owe it to yourself to visit One Cool Site. One Cool Site offers simple and clear advice on topics you might be puzzled by, like how to resize pictures without losing quailty. In fact, they even offer ten great tips on how to build traffic to your blog.

Great content is the key to traffic

It is not that hard to get a single post on Stumble Upon or on Digg. What is hard is to prevent your blog from showing a peak in traffic, which returns to 10 or 20 hits per day shortly after. You need to build consistent traffic.

The key to enjoying consistent traffic to your blog is to provide great content. We have already dealt with the format you should use, namely the inverted pyramid style of writing. We will cover how to write great content here.

• Write at least five cornerstone posts


• Market your cornerstone posts


• Network with other blogs


• Encourage other blogs to network with you


• Link back to your other cornerstone posts

I build traffic to my main blog, The Necro Files, by using tips from dosh dosh, ProBlogger and One Cool Site. This series of posts on how to build traffic to your blog is based on their advice and my own experiences using their advice.

Write at least five cornerstone posts

A cornerstone post is a post that teaches your reader something. Most how to make money blogs are based around cornerstone posts. It is a tutorial that is extremely useful.

This proves to be a problem for certain niche blogs that do not cater for readers who want to learn how to do something. My main blog reviews heavy metal albums and horror films. It is difficult to write a tutorial on those topics. Here are a few ideas for five cornerstones:

• write a series of posts on the same topic or the same product


• write a series of posts on related products


• write a series of posts which give information to your readers about your topic

I have written a few successful series, sometimes months apart. The idea is to use one of your cornerstone posts as a flagship to promote the other related cornerstone posts when

• you link from your flagship cornerstone post to your other cornerstone posts.


• you link to the flaghsip cornerstone posts of a different series

This solves the problem of getting one day of peak traffic and the next day very little. Readers who like your flagship post will want to read further, so they follow the links and browse around your blog. While you are publishing the cornerstone posts, one per day, you also create anticipation for the next post. This is a great way to win readers and create a buzz around your blog.

Some useful links for building web traffic

• The dosh dosh web traffic building tips.


• How to get internet traffic from web logs from the Internet Summit.


• Ten traffic promotion tips from One Cool Site.

How to add a youtube video to your blog

I realise you might be expecting a guide on how to monetize your blog. However, following my guide on Learning How To Write For the Internet, I had a few requests to explain exactly how one adds a youtube video to your blog. This is a quick guide on adding a youtube video to your blog, using HTML. Expect the monetizing guide soon!

How To Add A Youtube Video To Your Blog

1. Go to the video on youtube. Just open the link of the video in your browser.


2. Look for the word 'embed' in the 'About this video' box, to your right.


3. Copy the code in the text box next to it. It is important to get all the code. Get everything between the object tags.


4. Place this code on your page. Place the code wherever you want it to appear on your page.

This is a screen shot showing you where you should get the code:



This is an example of the code you should copy. Note that your code would obviously look different to mine if you want to put a different video on your blog:

<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iu1RikQPJHE&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iu1RikQPJHE&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

How to resize the youtube video for your blog

Note that some layouts would prevent the youtube video from displaying properly. If you do not want to mess up your layout, just resize the youtube video.

1. Don´t be scared by the code. It is pretty straightforward.


2. Find the object and embed tags. Tags are HTML markers that help your browser to identify what it should display. You can also paste this code in a text editor before you paste it on your blog to make things easier.


3. Note that each tag has width and height attributes. Attributes are used to specify to HTML tags what they should look like. In other words, attributes specify to tags how they should display.


4. Both widths should be the same and both heights should be the same. Note that your widths may differ from your heights. The object tells your browser that you want to display an object like a video. The embed tells your browser where to find the video.


5. An easy way to find the correct width and height values is to open a new document in Photoshop or GIMP. Make this document the size of the youtube width and height tags. Ensure that the size is locked, that is when you adjust the width, the height also changes. Now compare this document with the area on your blog where you want to put the video. If it fits, you have the values for your width and height tags.
   
   The values which work on my blog are 425 for width and 355 for height.


6. Replace the values between the inverted commas directly after width and height in your text editor. Note that these are the only things you need to change. The inverted commas need to stay there.


7. Copy and paste the modified code onto your blog.

Finally, this is what it looks like after you add the video to your blog:



Now you know how to add youtube videos to your blog. Expect some tips on how to monetize your blog soon!

Special thanks to memyselfandjuvy for requesting the video help.

Special thanks to Navin for asking how to resize your video.

Learning How To Write For The Internet

You have learnt how to find a place to blog, what to blog about and now it is time to learn how to add the content yourself.
Of course, you may find content for your blog somewhere else, but I will not be dealing with that option here. There are places on the Web where you can find free essays on just about any topic, but since the quality is generally poor, you will have to rewrite much of it anyway.

Learning How To Write For the Internet
Writing for the Web is much different than traditional writing. The reason for this is Internet readers read differently. Internet consumers tend to skim over content. If a quick glance does not capture the concentration of your readers, you have lost them. Here are a few tips:

• write your content in the inverted pyramid style. In this style, you tell readers what you are blogging about first, before fleshing it out. More on this below.


• add some multimedia content. It doesn't have to be full-blown 3D animation. A few pictures will do.


• check your content for errors and suitability.

The Inverted Pyramid Style
In this style, you turn the traditional writing structure upside down. Instead of laying the foundation with broad strokes and filling in the detail later, then reaching a conclusion, you give the conclusion first and then explain how you got there. It may seem counter-intuitive, but think about the way a news bulletin is structured in a newspaper:

• first a headline catches your attention. Writing a great headline is an art all by itself.


• the first few sentences give the crux of the matter. You start with the end, in other words you start off with the conclusion.


• gradually work backwards from the conclusion filling the gaps with background information.


• you will notice many lists in this blog and many others. Bullets catch our attention. They are easier to skim over.


• the same goes for highlighted keywords. I highlight the keywords, because it is easier to skim over a list with highlighted keywords quickly.

This is just a brief guide on filling your blog with content using the Inverted Pyramid Style. It might seem unnatural, because when we are taught writing, we are taught to begin with an introduction and end with the conclusion. The advantage of this style is that the more you do it, the easier it gets. It also makes sense, if you consider the structure of other blogs you read. For a good reference, please see writing for the web.

Putting Multimedia Content On Your Blog
Please! Please!! Please!!! Do NOT use copyrighted pictures on your blog! This means DeviantArt is OUT! Unless of course you have contacted the authors and reached an agreement to use the content on your blog. DeviantArt is filled with blood, sweat and tears. How would you feel if someone took your blog and used it to promote their own agenda? There are many stock images available for you to use, guilt free. Google is your friend.

Video is a great idea. Youtube is filled with hours of mindless entertainment. Adding a youtube video is remarkably easy, you just add the object code. Youtube has full instructions on how to do this, so I won't repeat it here.

For my main blog, I often edit images slightly. This adds to the USP of my blog. Note that to the best of my knowledge, the images I use are in public domain. The same goes for the videos.

Checking Your Content
Besides the obvious spelling and grammar, there are a few questions you should ask yourself before posting to a blog. This comes after you have fleshed out your content, added a few multimedia elements and right before you are about to hit the submit button.

Now you know how to deliver great content for your blog. The next post will deal with how to let search engines find your blog.

Working on content for your blog

This post is about filling your blog with content. Writing is a skill that you need to learn. You don't need a degree in a language, but you do need to communicate effectively.

What To Blog About
This may seem superfluous. You obviously have something to share with the world, otherwise you wouldn't be blogging.

My main blog, The Necro Files, started because I work in retail. I have many reviews I had written for customers as a guide. I am very passionate about my CD and DVD collection, so writing about it comes naturally. That's a very important ingredient - passion! The other important ingredient is knowledge - blog about something you know.

• blog about something you are passionate about


• write about what you know. This is an important writing tip. It goes for fiction too. Best-selling authors like Stephen King and John Grisham emphasise this point.

Something idiotic you will note about metablogs is that they tend to have the same content. See what Pro Blogger posts. Google the topic a day later, and chances are you would get 10 hits, all with exactly the same content. This reeks of retardation. You have a brain. Use it. Do you let someone carry you, even if you have legs that can walk?

I was apprehensive about starting another blog about blogging, since there are so many around. One thing I can say about my main blog, The Necro Files, is that there aren't many like it around (for better or worse!). Which brings us to the next point:

How To Blog About It
What I recommend is that you find a Unique Selling Point (USP) for your blog. Being passionate about what you are blogging about makes it much easier to blog about it. Where there is a will, there is a way. Finding an USP for your blog does not help so much to find content, but it does help to set your blog apart from other similar blogs.

This does not mean you need to be completely original. Just add an edge to your blog your readers will not be able to find anywhere else. An USP should lead to a unique reader experience.

• write with passion. Find a topic you are passionate about for your blog.


• find an USP for your blog


• learn how to write for the Internet

In the next post, I will deal with how to write for the Internet.
The next post assumes you already have somewhere to blog and you already have something to blog about.