What does it take to get to the front page of Digg?

Many people take Digg as simply finding an article and submitting it, but I see it as a skill to be developed. It’s much more than just being the first to submit an article. Digging takes practice and needs to be mastered. And so, I have written what I think takes for an article to make it to the front page.

1. It takes someone that knows their audience:

Many people begin with the title, which is where they go wrong. This is actually the first and most important step of the process. Digg has one of the largest communities of tech-savvy people from the typical web surfer to the geeky Apple fan. If you don’t think so, try submitting some of the most Dugg articles to another voting-style website such as reddit. I guarantee that you would have little success in getting that article to the top. Why is that? Reddit has a community that is more centered upon social issues and misc. news topics – a different community that is.

Know what’s hot and what’s not, what’s hated, what draws curiosity, what draws controversy, what draws discussion. These are all important things to take note of.

You can sometimes spot certain trends going on. For example, some of the more popular topics are about Google, Apple, Vista cracks, Ubuntu, Digg, Firefox, etc. Know your audience.

2. It takes a captivating title:

The title is going to be the first thing that’s to be seen, so make it good. They might get to the subtitle, and your page if lucky, but the title is what makes Digg readers decide whether to click or not. So then, how do you make a good title? First lets take a look at some of the top Digg topics in the past 7 days:

1) This Animation will make you hallucinate
2) Turn Google into your own napster
3) Pictures of the Craziest Urinals from around the world
4) The best feature of Vista that you never knew about!
5) 25 Killer Code Snippets Every Good Web Designer Should See

I’ll very quickly go over why these topics were well made. The first one draws curiosity. A title like this one makes you want to click to see if you will actually hallucinate. #2 is a pretty useful for people who download MP3s. If you take a closer look, you can see that numbers 2, 4 and 5 target a more specific niche, but they contain info that causes those users with interest to be curious.
My point is that they all draw curiosity. Who wants to read something that they know about? You have to get Digg users hungry, so they will ask for more and click on your article.
You can also see certain trends in articles such as Top 10 ways to do this, etc. Using such words may also help. Another popular way of styling topics is to use superlative words such as best, top, biggest, most interesting, must-have, etc. Make sure to keep your topic name as short as possible, and keep it straight to the point.

3. It takes a subtitle that can lure:

The next thing they might read is your subtitle. One rule that I generally follow is that if you don’t have trouble writing a subtitle, you should double-check your topic to make sure it’s given out enough information (but not too much) and is attractive. As for the subtitle, you may want it to expand a bit on the topic. Here’s an example of a topic with 1097 Diggs:

Mac OSX Leopard 10.5 – a May 2007 release?
Leopard is predicted to be released May 11, 2007. Read how the prediction is made and how key items have been analyzed.

The question mark used here draws curiosity and the subtitle expands on the information. Sometimes, you may want to emit information from the title for your subtitle. For example, if the title said May 11, 2007 release instead of May 2007 release, people would be less inclined to read your subtitle or view the link. Another thing most do is put an excerpt or just write what they feel about the article. When putting an excerpt, it’s a usually a good idea to put the opening sentence or paragraph to introduce the reader to your article and lure them in.

4. It takes as little as 3 seconds, otherwise… you’ve lost:

The first impression can be your last impression. Of course, have a title that is clearly displayed, and make sure you quickly dive into the topic being discussed from the opening sentence. I cannot emphasize just how important the opening sentence and paragraph must be. I say this because every experienced blogger knows that the section of the pie chart representing 0-3 seconds of visit time is the largest. You don’t have much time before that user clicks back in their browser.

5. It takes value that the reader can leave remembering:

This is pretty straight forward. Your article should give some value to the reader so that when they are finished reading, they can say what they’ve learned or benefited without having to think.

6. It takes a digg this button:

So you may have beaten half the game but it’s not over yet until they have clicked Digg This! You have to realize that IE7 and Firefox can open new pages in tabs. When they close your tab, their focus is already drawn towards the next thing on their mind. You’ll want to place a Digg counter or Digg This button at the bottom of your article, and not the top. Why? Because placing it at the top is the same as what was presented to them on digg. They haven’t even read your article yet so there’s a good chance that they will not Digg it. If you place it near the bottom, they can conveniently click Digg This! when they’re finished.

7. It takes some Digg Homeworking:

There are some very useful articles about how the digg system works on Google. What makes an article appear in the Newly Popular section depends on the frequency of Diggs within a certain time frame rather than the amount of Diggs. After the first 12-14 hours, if you have not reached at least 20 Diggs yet, your chances of making it to the front page will be very slim.
As for the cloud, I noticed that your article enlarges depending on the frequency of clicks towards that article or link (I’m not sure) rather than the amount of Diggs. I’ve seen my articles’ font sizes constantly change while the Digg count remained stagnant. If you see your title enlarge, you’ve probably made a good title but the article just wasn’t up to par.

8. It takes Digg Users themselves:

Even if you don’t think you have written a front-page article, give it a shot anyway and submit it. Though, make sure it’s not spam and serves some sort of worth for readers. One common misconception bloggers have is that their popular article will rise to the top if it’s good and is indeed getting a high amount of views. This is indeed wrong. I’ve had articles that have made it to the front page of reddit, del.icio.us, and have been StumbledUpon thousands of times, but only received 30 Diggs. Get returning digg users to your site since they’re the only ones that know why the Digg button is there.

9. It takes the right category:

Sometimes, your topic may fit in more than one Digg category. For example, an article about Windows may fit in Microsoft or Software. I would pick the one that is more specific towards your target audience. The category might be less popular, but that is actually a good thing. Your topic will be shown to people whom will actually care and since it is less popular, your topic will remain at the top of the Upcoming Topics page for a longer amount of time. Of course, you could take a risk and place it in a more popular category. You may gain more views, but how many will actually Digg? It’s up to you.

10. Last but not least, it takes Digg users willing to submit your article:

I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but your article just might not be as good as it is to you then it is to others. Most of the front page articles have been submitted by Digg users rather than the blogger themselves. If your blog receives a steady and decent amount of traffic, wait until someone stumbles upon your website and decides that its worthy of a Digg submission.

By writing this article, I’m not claiming that I know all about Digg. This is just simply what I think takes for an article to make it to the front page. Hope you’ve enjoyed. And of course, I’m sure there will be some that agree and disagree so I’m all open for discussion =)

Step 11 for brownie points: Write an article about how to get to the front page of Digg xD (I got this from a comment fron the Digg page. Of course, I didn’t write this JUST to get the front page =)

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 8:32 pm and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.