Want Digg to Drive Traffic to Your Site? Why You’re Probably Using it Wrong

If you’ve thought about driving traffic to your website, you’ve likely been called by the allure of Digg’s sirens.

Ohhh, the thought of hundreds if not thousands of users streaming onto your site from traffic monster Digg.com

It’s just so … tempting. Provocative. It gets us hot, really.

One problem: It probably won’t work for you.

8 MAJOR MISTAKES NEW DIGGERS MAKE

A “new Digger” isn’t just someone who recently started an account on Digg, but it also describes someone who hasn’t taken the time to learn how to use Digg effectively.

Here’s several mistakes new Diggers make:

1. New Diggers Forget Digg is a Social Website: Digg allows users to have friends, to send messages and to comment on users’ content. Use Digg like you would other social websites.
2. New Diggers Don’t Make Friends: Yes, this is related to mistake #1. Friends are going to help you Digg up your stories. You need a number of friends you can count on to help make your stories popular. Reach out to people and get to know them. Interact with them!
3. New Diggers Don’t Comment: Another spinoff from the first mistake. You neeeeeeeeed to comment. You need to build relationships. And make sure your comments reflect that you actually viewed the content that was dugg.
4. New Diggers Submit Only Their Own Content … Repeatedly: No one likes someone who talks only about themselves. Submit content from other websites and Digg others’ submissions.
5. New Diggers Don’t Use Digg: To grow the influence of a Digg account, Digg users have to spend time on the site. And I’m not talking about 15 minutes every week. Digg is a serious time investment. If you want to use Digg as a tool to drive traffic, seriously devote a good chunk of time to Digging.
6. New Diggers Have No Focus: Digg is a huge site. There’s all sorts of categories that compartmentalize content. If you want your Digg account to drive traffic to your site eventually, become a power user  of a category related to your industry. This will help you grow your influence.
7. New Diggers Don’t Complete Their Profiles: #1 – You need an avatar. #2 – Link to your Twitter or website or something. #3 – Write a blurb about yourself. #4 Try not to look like a spammer or someone who will constantly bother others for Diggs.
8. New Diggers Write Crappy Headlines and Descriptions: Headlines for any submission should be intriguing and let other Diggers know exactly what the submission is linking to. Spend some time crafting these headlines and descriptions. One quick tip: Highlight the first letter of each word in your headline.

HOW TO BECOME A DIGG POWER USER

Want to get the most out of Digg? Some of Digg’s top users have shared secrets to their success and you should give them a read.

Check out Power User UPick‘s “12 Tips to Improve Your Digg Profile & Stats” – UPick gives some really great tips on how to boost your user influence on Digg.

Another pretty good resource with some more in-depth explanation of becoming a power user- “How I became a Digg Power User with a 75% popular ratio, completely legitimately, and got banned for it.”

SHARE YOUR TIPS!

Have you had success on Digg? Share your stories or wows and woes. And don’t forget to connect with us :) Friend Shawn Smith on Digg.

Awesome Photo by turydddu