I was about to become an online rock star. The thoughts of fame were dancing in my head. Oh man, those Digg users won’t know what hit ‘em. I had been carefully planning my attack for weeks and was about to drop the bomb. The plan was meticulous and had many strategies in place for making the front page of Digg.
- Write a list post having to do with my blogging niche about pick up artist and seduction topics.
- Craft an eye catching, interesting, almost full proof headline.
- Design the post so that it looks good with clear headings, pictures, and succinct summaries.
- Place one of those nifty Digg buttons at the bottom of the post for convenience.
- Download and install the Wordpress Cache Plugin to increase the speed and number of pages that could be loaded.
- Contact my hosting service to increase my bandwidth for the inevitable onslaught of Digg traffic.
- Publish the post on the same day as VH1’s The Pick Up Artist series finale.
- Submit to Digg.
- Sit back and watch the traffic explode!
The plan, in my mind, was genius. My post, 25 World’s Greatest Pick Up Artists, was to be my finest piece of link bait. The one post that would sky rocket me from the D-list of blogging to the A-list. That one Monday morning when I hit the “publish” button would be my finest hour. It is now Wednesday and my post has only received 3 Diggs!
I’m beginning to feel ripped off. All that time working on that one post. All that time reading ProBlogger, Copyblogger and Marc’s Make Money Online blog. All that time wasted when I could have been out picking up chicks. Gone, and for what? Three lousy diggs.
My blog topped out at 1,000 unique visitors on Tuesday. This was mostly from Stumbleupon, which is nice, but the traffic from Digg….well, it’s abysmal. A far cry from the 100,000 visitors that deluded me for the past two weeks. What the hell went wrong?
You’d think all those geeks, nerds and weenies on Digg would have at least some interest in the world’s best pick-up artists. I’m sure that at least 80% of them aren’t getting laid. Why wouldn’t they be interested in learning how to improve their chances with the ladies?
Sure, some of the pick-up artists seem kind of sketchy and I don’t blame people for not believing in this stuff. Not to mention the whole morality debate of learning how to pick up women. You’d think the least they’d do is come to mock them, right?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I relate to your frustration in regards to promoting your blog.
It is frustrating putting so much work into a blog and getting so little in return. Most blogs like mine have to resort to pimping products in hopes of making a few bucks to compensate for all the time put into it. All the while the creators of those products make the real money and get the recognition in the community.
A couple things…
1) The title was confusing…should read “The World’s 25 Greatest Pickup Artists” or “25 of the World’s Greatest Pickup Artists”.
2) Title didn’t specify value to the reader. I read your blog because of your compelling narratives, but the one-off Digg visitor isnt going to Digg you if it doesnt look like you are providing value. It was seemingly out of character for this blog — it looks like it will be a good post for search engine traffic, but not for Diggers.
2a) The content was informational, but not necessarily productive. I dont want to know who they are, I want to know how they do it (their secrets). Hence, a revised title or title for future post: “Learn the secrets of 25 of the world’s greatest pickup artists” or something else that clearly demonstrates what a reader can gain from it.
3) You’d be surprised about the ratio of articles submitted to Digg versus the number that make the front page. I’m actually subscribed to the Digg RSS feed, and I already feel like there’s too much extraneous content (its about 120 posts/day).
4) Your social network on Digg matters. If Muhammed Saleem (msaleem on Digg I think) or someone Diggs your article, they have a better chance of getting it to the front page because their network of friends on Digg will see they submitted it — I am assuming you do not have a similar network built up yet.
5) You cannot expect to just submit to Digg and wait for traffic to roll in. It was a very good, well-researched post though — try finding other sites in your niche (I dont know any, I just read because I like your writing) who can link to it and bring it some more organic traffic.
6) In the long run, StumbleUpon traffic is better. They stay longer, click on ads more, and subscribe more often. Plus, StumbleUpon traffic builds up over time, versus a one-day spike from Digg.
Just some stuff I’ve picked up on over the years. Don’t be sad/mad this one didn’t go viral — either work on getting other links to it (niche blogs, SU) or do an even better job on your next linkbait article (and don’t forget about the corresponding marketing work getting it “out there”).
Hope this all helps for next time,
Long-time reader 2nd-time commenter.
Stick with it man. I know first hand how fickle Digg can be. I have only hit the front page once out of 100+ articles I’ve submitted to them.
StumbleUpon on the other hand… great traffic source!
“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry”
MackTight,
I’m not really in it for the money right now, but it’d be nice to get a few bucks here and there, especially after blogging for the past year. Actually, my real addiction is traffic. I don’t know what it is but I love looking at my stats and watching that bar graph just keep growing. Eh, I think there is something wrong with me…
Bobby,
Thanks for all the pointers. I guess the title was kind of confusing and could have been better. You’re right that the post was out of character for this blog. I should probably just stick to what I do best and continue writing about my personal journey. Thanks for reminding me why people come here to read this blog:)
Although, I have been getting much better search engine traffic in the past several days due to that post, so there was some upside.
Bryan,
Thanks for stopping by, I love reading your blog. I think your right about StumbleUpon, I definitely see A LOT of good traffic from them.
Saint,
That’s a great quote! It’s certainly pertains to this situation.
-Matt
Give reddit.com a try. Tough to get on front page as well but you get much more traffic.
Digg is impossible unless you have dozens of friends who upvote your submissions. But to get there you have to be an active user who submits all kinds of sites.
Roosh,
I’ve submitted to Reddit before and I usually get a small quick burst of traffic but nothing that really catches on. I’m beginning to steer clear of the social bookmarking sites and rely more on slowly building up a base of loyal readers. The types of posts that reach the front page of Digg would be completely out of character for my style of blog posts, which are essentially really short stories. Although, I certainly won’t turn away any social bookmarking traffic should people choose to vote/submit anything of mine:) Stumbles seem to work the best.
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