Kevin Rose's top eight tips for getting on the Digg front page

Photograph by Brian Solis

Kevin Rose is one of the co-founders of Digg, the hugely popular social news site. They have just gathered in lots of cash from venture capitalists (that might be the last time I write that sentence for a while) and have lots of expansion plans.

Basically journalists like me know that getting onto Digg (and Drudge and Google News and lots of other sites) is a big traffic driver.

I interviewed Kevin about his expansion plans (article here) and we chatted about what sort of content makes it big and what his view of the best way to get noticed is. So what makes The Perfect Digg Story?Here is a list of top tips.

1. What's in the news? Think about the big story of the moment. This week (this year) the American presidential election has been a continuous hit, only really eclipsed for a while by the Olympics in August. At the moment, readers are fascinated by Obama, Palin and McCain and not just in the States. What can you say that is different or new? Here's a perfect example of a popular Digg story combining the Foo Fighters and John McCain

2. Be passionate You have to love your subject to write about it well and then others will be attracted by that passion and want to pass it on, says Kevin. I never thought anyone could get this excited about bacon. 

3. Do your research Opinion is all over the web. Hard facts and real research are much harder to find and more valuable. And readers value it. Fancy a map showing which parts of America use "soda" and which use "pop" when describing fizzy drinks? Find the map here - fascinating if you are a soft drinks manufacturer and strangely compelling for the rest of us.

4. Go niche Digg is about to launch new ways of customising the site for users so they can link up with other lovers of niche content. Niche is the future. This is the funniest posting about the game of scissors, paper, stone I have ever read. It is the ONLY posting about the game of scissors, paper, stone I have ever read.

5. Be sensational This one is obvious. And Kevin has no problem with it. That's democracy. This video received 11571 diggs. It's called Why every guy should buy their girlfriend Wii Fit. Play it in the Digg site - don't worry it is not too risque. The final frame says it all.

6. Get geeky Digg started as a tech site and it is still pretty techy. Stories about Apple always do well and more recently stories about Google too. Here's the latest gossip about Apple shooting up the rankings today.

7. Write about failed American presidential candidate Ron Paul Nope, I don't understand this one but this Ron Paul video is the top Digg video of the last year, recommended by more than 21,000 people. I suppose you just have to believe.

8. Write lists Like this one. Successful examples include: 6 menacing towers fit for a supervillain and 25 Fantastic indie gems made for less than $1 million. 

And finally, one way to get noticed on Digg is to appeal for Diggs - so if you like this post - please digg it.

Comments

[FunkySouth]

I think many sites find the digg traffic useless and a waist of bandwidth.

The traffic does not convert. It just bounces.

[Torley]

I'd also add, study http://cracked.com — they're a jokes workshop, but the furthest thing away from being formulaic. They've mastered a number of the above tips (like lists) and their comedy goldmine keeps getting Dugg up!

Curious note, the Ron Paul one.

[wazoo]

Really?

Seems like all you need to do is to create a "top X" list.

"Top 20 wordpress themes"

"Top 10 gaming babes"

"Top 5 best tools"

etc.

[Tom Tucker]

maybe now they can make digg not suck so much!

[frigginrandom]

Starting my list now.

[shriek]

or upload a picture of kittens!!!

[Christian Krautwald]

Not bad, I find Digg a great source for stories that interest me. So the rest of you that diss Digg, you must not have anything I find interesting!

[Tim Millwood]

I came here from Digg and have never been on this site before. It is very tempting just to leave after reading this post and go back to Digg.

[Mier]

Too bad digg, it's executives and founder (kevin rose) are all biased individuals. They have the strings and they favor democrats over republicans. They were at the democrat convention asking questions of Pelosi but they did not go to the republican convention to ask them anything. Biased? I think the answer is obvious.

[keith]

Mier: That's just because REALITY has a distinct liberal bias.

Why do Republicans dominate only the most rich, and the least educated?

[Korey]

Great story...and a template for creating good content on the web. You can easily create lists at this site - 10to1.com.

[Jazzy]

Hmm, not really a fan of Digg, but interesting write up.

[Net Goons]

I am starting my experiments with Digg. So i think the article helped me to a good extent.

[sathyashankara]

content submitted in digg indexed in google within seconds !!!!!!