Can You Digg It?

One of the oldest of the social networking sites is Digg. At first, it seemed to me to be very confusing. It’s a lot like Del.icio.us and Squidoo in that it’s all about one user recommending something cool to another. It’s a little bit different in how it works, though. Where Del.icio.us and especially Squidoo are more about socially bookmarking cool websites, Digg is all about articles, news, and blog postings.

Here’s how it works:

1. First you write an article, or a posting on your blog

That might seem pretty self-explanatory. On the surface, it’s true. But in order to really make an article work on Digg, it has to be good. It has to be informative and valuable. It has to be focused, and clear. Being a bit controversial can sometimes help, too. It also has to be posted somewhere live on the ‘net. That could be your website, your blog, or some similar kind of website.

2. Submit it to Digg

Originally, Digg was focused on tech topics, but has branched into a full category tree of all types of topics, so almost anything can get submitted. You can submit an article you’ve written, yourself, or one of your readers could do it, if they liked it enough. First, the system checks to make sure that the same content hasn’t already been submitted. Then it processes your submission.

3. Encourage other people to Digg it

If other people find it, read it, and like it, they can log into their Digg accounts and “Digg” what you’ve written. Each time someone Diggs an article, it climbs in the rankings at the Digg website. The more Diggs, the higher your article ranks. And, of course, the higher it ranks, the more people will click on it. And the more people click on it and read it, the more Diggs it can get. It’s quite possible to get traffic measured in the hundreds of thousands or more from a front page listing.

One of the easiest things that you can do to encourage people to Digg your article is to install a “Digg This” button next to it. This is pretty simple to do. All you have to do is login to your account in Digg and go to their tools section. There you can copy and paste the code right into your blog or your website. When someone reads your article, there will be the button where they can click right in and Digg your writings.

4. It generates traffic and cred

Digg is a great way to generate traffic to your site. The two keys to keep in mind are, first, to have genuinely good content there for people to Digg, second, to make sure that the content you have is submitted, and, third, to install the Digg This button next to your article.

Having your content get Dugg also goes a long way to establishing your name and brand as valuable.

Another idea? Once you’re signed in with Digg, go out and Digg other people’s content! One thing I’ve learned is that the law of karma is alive and well in social networking. Remember the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!

Digg is another powerful tool in the hands of a good social network marketer!

Mark is the co-director of http://seotrafficmagnet.com, the search marketing consulting arm of Clickincome (http://clickincome.com). Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.