DISQUS

Digg has flat out denied the existence of auto-bury in the recent Townhall meeting although I still see instances of it happening to many sites. Should we give them the benefit of the doubt and keep trying? It's hard to say. On the other hand, what evidence can we muster against them to confirm that hidden penalties exist?

Whatever evidence we have will not be definitive because their system is set up in a way whereby buries are not transparent. I.E Hidden factors can influence the visibility of stories. It's very easy for Digg to suggest that the story was buried by users, and indeed that's usually the response I get when I email Digg.

I'm irritated that my site is on the list as well although I don't really care too much about it. I don't think its a waste of time that people are voting and submitting your stuff...not every article has the opportunity to reach the frontpage although in the process of getting buried, you may get a few visitors in return.

Is that worth it? Maybe.

Digg has flat out denied the existence of auto-bury in the recent Townhall meeting although I still see instances of it happening to many sites. Should we give them the benefit of the doubt and keep trying? It's hard to say. On the other hand, what evidence can we muster against them to confirm that hidden penalties exist?

Whatever evidence we have will not be definitive because their system is set up in a way whereby buries are not transparent. I.E Hidden factors can influence the visibility of stories. It's very easy for Digg to suggest that the story was buried by users, and indeed that's usually the response I get when I email Digg.

I'm irritated that my site is on the list as well although I don't really care too much about it. I don't think its a waste of time that people are voting and submitting your stuff...not every article has the opportunity to reach the frontpage although in the process of getting buried, you may get a few visitors in return.

Is that worth it? Maybe.

Here's mine: http://twitter.com/doshdosh

Interesting site... this is the first time I've come across it. The whole StumbleUpon top stumblers list is obviously hand-edited and I don't see any point to it. The whole thing is a carrot created to be dangled in front of stumblers, encouraging them to use the service...so eBay and possibly sell more sponsored stumbles (cynical but hey). :)

I wrote a similar post:
http://www.doshdosh.com/how-to-become-a-top-stu...

Hehe. Thanks Andy for the mention.

One question.. do you need to link to the Techmeme story to be connected to the original story (Mu's article)?

I know you can get included on the frontpage when Techmeme regulars link to your article.. just not sure what you need to do if you are not on the frontpage because of being linked-to but want to be counted as a related-story...

Should you link to the story on the frontpage and the Techmeme blurb?

Hehe. Thanks Andy for the mention.

One question.. do you need to link to the Techmeme story to be connected to the original story (Mu's article)?

I know you can get included on the frontpage when Techmeme regulars link to your article.. just not sure what you need to do if you are not on the frontpage because of being linked-to but want to be counted as a related-story...

Should you link to the story on the frontpage and the Techmeme blurb?

And I recently started a series of articles on Social Media Marketing, which could use some attention too..since it ain't getting on Digg anytime soon. :)

Good links, all of them. I liked Mu's article a lot.

And I recently started a series of articles on Social Media Marketing, which could use some attention too..since it ain't getting on Digg anytime soon. :)

Good links, all of them. I liked Mu's article a lot.

Liz has a real charm to her and is a top-notch conversationalist. The comments on her blog reflect her commitment to her readers and a two way dialog.

It'll be interesting to compare her model with Perez Hilton or entertainment sites in general. 600 comments is sweet but tiny compared to a single one word blog post by Perez which received 7217 comments. They are left by real people who don't want anything from his site (traffic/links).

Are they still junk? Maybe.

Celebrity blogs are a riot.. I don't think I've ever seen a celeb blogger actually leave a comment as a response to their readers.

Liz has a real charm to her and is a top-notch conversationalist. The comments on her blog reflect her commitment to her readers and a two way dialog.

It'll be interesting to compare her model with Perez Hilton or entertainment sites in general. 600 comments is sweet but tiny compared to a single one word blog post by Perez which received 7217 comments. They are left by real people who don't want anything from his site (traffic/links).

Are they still junk? Maybe.

Celebrity blogs are a riot.. I don't think I've ever seen a celeb blogger actually leave a comment as a response to their readers.

I know its a JV thing but its just done in a completely wrong way. First of all, I didn't agree to any JV, but was simply emailed an account and some generic email template sent out to probably a dozen other bloggers.

I ain't complaining too loudly. I could have written a nasty blog post about it but I didn't.

I wouldn't have minded writing about WidgetBucks when it was launched but seriously, put some effort in pre-selling or pitching me.

I know its a JV thing but its just done in a completely wrong way. First of all, I didn't agree to any JV, but was simply emailed an account and some generic email template sent out to probably a dozen other bloggers.

I ain't complaining too loudly. I could have written a nasty blog post about it but I didn't.

I wouldn't have minded writing about WidgetBucks when it was launched but seriously, put some effort in pre-selling or pitching me.

A little offtopic rant: What was very annoying to me was that I didn't sign up for Widget Bucks and yet my email is somehow placed on their mailing list. I didn't opt-in or agree to any newsletter/notification and I'm getting the emails sent to their publishers.

I had to opt-out a few hours ago and hmmmm... that definitely didn't score any points with me.

A little offtopic rant: What was very annoying to me was that I didn't sign up for Widget Bucks and yet my email is somehow placed on their mailing list. I didn't opt-in or agree to any newsletter/notification and I'm getting the emails sent to their publishers.

I had to opt-out a few hours ago and hmmmm... that definitely didn't score any points with me.

Great post, Andy.

I don't see the correlation between lead acquisition as universal. Perhaps it is only limited to the meta-blogging or marketing or business niche. The number of subscribers you have definitely do not determine the repeat visitors, money or social news prominence for all types of blogs.

Let's take a few examples.

Celebrity blogs are traditionally weak when it comes to subscriber figures. Yet their repeat traffic dwarfs sites like Problogger, which may have a lot more subscribers. If you want to talk about income, they make more money too.

Social news prominence isn't really about subscribers too. If you are talking about Digg, Reddit or StumbleUpon (i.e. the social sites that matter) its mostly the same people submitting the same websites. How many times have you seen people like mklopez submit stuff from Download Squad and Lifehacker? Hundreds.

RSS subscribership has also nothing to do with SU traffic, particularly when it comes to humor sites. And then we'll have to take into account how big blogs go into cruise control once they reach a certain level of popularity. Social aggregators like Tailrank, Megite and Techmeme pounce and promote their material consistently.

If you are offering totally free content of high quality, you should expect a much higher subscription rate unless your conversion of traffic into subscribers totally sucks, and lets be honest, mine currently does, and there is a high chance your's does as well.

I would only say that content quality is highly subjective. What you see is top quality stuff might be infinitely boring or incomprehensible to others (not that I'm saying it is).

We know you can get more traffic or attention by writing specifically for a certain crowd. As you've mentioned before in an earlier article, you could possibly have gotten a higher subscription rate if you wrote for a wider audience instead of those interested in technical and detailed analysis on specific topics, although that is truly your selling point. :)

I like the idea of treating the entire blog as a huge proposition, to build a list of supporters but then again... its not entirely necessary for the factors you've listed (income, repeat traffic and social media traffic).

Great post, Andy.

I don't see the correlation between lead acquisition as universal. Perhaps it is only limited to the meta-blogging or marketing or business niche. The number of subscribers you have definitely do not determine the repeat visitors, money or social news prominence for all types of blogs.

Let's take a few examples.

Celebrity blogs are traditionally weak when it comes to subscriber figures. Yet their repeat traffic dwarfs sites like Problogger, which may have a lot more subscribers. If you want to talk about income, they make more money too.

Social news prominence isn't really about subscribers too. If you are talking about Digg, Reddit or StumbleUpon (i.e. the social sites that matter) its mostly the same people submitting the same websites. How many times have you seen people like mklopez submit stuff from Download Squad and Lifehacker? Hundreds.

RSS subscribership has also nothing to do with SU traffic, particularly when it comes to humor sites. And then we'll have to take into account how big blogs go into cruise control once they reach a certain level of popularity. Social aggregators like Tailrank, Megite and Techmeme pounce and promote their material consistently.

If you are offering totally free content of high quality, you should expect a much higher subscription rate unless your conversion of traffic into subscribers totally sucks, and lets be honest, mine currently does, and there is a high chance your's does as well.

I would only say that content quality is highly subjective. What you see is top quality stuff might be infinitely boring or incomprehensible to others (not that I'm saying it is).

We know you can get more traffic or attention by writing specifically for a certain crowd. As you've mentioned before in an earlier article, you could possibly have gotten a higher subscription rate if you wrote for a wider audience instead of those interested in technical and detailed analysis on specific topics, although that is truly your selling point. :)

I like the idea of treating the entire blog as a huge proposition, to build a list of supporters but then again... its not entirely necessary for the factors you've listed (income, repeat traffic and social media traffic).

This is an interesting idea sharing concept... I already see a few I could easily write about.. thanks Chris! :)

This comes a little late.. but thanks for the mention, Michel !

I really had no idea you actually read my blog. :)

Sharing traffic is something I definitely need to work on... great article, Tinu.

I've submitted it to Sphinn....so other people can read it too. :)

http://sphinn.com/story/4133


Cheers.

Thanks for the mention Adam, and you're welcome!

Andy, how was your blog included in the Top 150 list?

I would have loved for Dosh Dosh to be included in some way.. it isn't focused on advertising or search marketing but I do have a fair bit of social media marketing and basic internet marketing/blog-based marketing articles. Hmmmm.. ^_^

Andy, how was your blog included in the Top 150 list?

I would have loved for Dosh Dosh to be included in some way.. it isn't focused on advertising or search marketing but I do have a fair bit of social media marketing and basic internet marketing/blog-based marketing articles. Hmmmm.. ^_^

Ok, this is awesome. Thanks Pete!

Jessica Alba? Yummy. Didn't know the anime images bothered you so much, Lincoln :)

BTW, nice collection. Stumbled ^_^

I think this new design might appeal to most people because its feels more in-your-face. The large size makes it feel a little tacky but they'll probably do their job well enough.

All my feed subscription options are at the extreme right and I've left it there because the heat map tests I've done seem to indicate that they receive adequate attention, although not as much as the graphics I use within each post.

I really need to start flaunting my feed count as well. :)