Digg is one of the original Social Bookmarking sites which introduced content submission and a user voting system. Users voting stories up and down (also called Digging and Burying) is what Digg is all about.

Digg has undergone some changes over time but the basic principles are still in place. In order to be able to submit stories to Digg you have to sign up (it's free). Once signed up you can login and start submitting, Digging and Burying stores.

Digg is a Social Bookmarking site and as such has a social feel to it. Users can add Digg friends, have a customizable Digg profile, leave comments on Dugg stories and interact with other Digg users.

Quality Of Digg Traffic

A lot of people are quick to play down the significance of Digg traffic as Digg users are traditionally considered short-attentionspanned power junkies.

In reality, this could not be further from the truth. Yes, Digg has developed as a community and certain cliques within the hierarchy have more power then others with regards to voting stories up and down, but Digg and Digg traffic can have a significant long term impact on your blog's traffic.

If utilized appropriately, Digg traffic can be converted into long term, loyal readership which in turn can deliver a traffic growth of exponential proportions.

Let me explain. Getting a blog post Dugg by a large group of people (which may culminate in a Digg front page listing) will get you a short term traffic boost and a relative increase in your subscriber count.

Additionally, a good Digg run can result in long-term traffic effects. Getting Dugg means exposing your blog to fresh readers.

With a well organized blog and quality posts those users can be converted to loyal readers. A lot of Digg users also run blogs and many of them may blog about your post if they like it. This may
not result in immediate traffic but will certainly have an effect on your SEO and inbound link count. Bloggers have found that most Digg users that convert to loyal blog readers naturally submit quality new posts to Digg on a regular basis – resulting in exponential traffic growth as more Diggs result in more Digg users converting into loyal readers who in turn naturally Digg more posts - so the wheels keep turning.

To add to that, a lot of Digg users also use other Social Bookmarking sites and may spontaneously submit your posts to those sites resulting in more inbound links and further traffic boosts. Coincidentally, I advise you to install the free WordPress Cache plugin. If you manage to get your post on the Digg front page your blog may experience some major turbulence without it.

Harvesting Digg Traffic

In order to fully experience and understand the power of Digg, you should be a member. Once signed up, you will notice that you have the ability to add Digg friends. Browsing around different categories and observing what's being Dugg can help you find people with similar interests. You can add them with the click of a button and they in turn may add you back.

You gain power within Digg by gaining Digg friends and by Digging popular stories. Digg provides a feature called a Shout. You can mass Shout out any stories you Digg to all your Digg friends at the
same time. By having a large group of friends you increase your chances of successfully Digging a popular story. The more stories you Digg which in turn go popular, the greater your Digg power.

With greater Digg power, the greater your chances of making new stories popular.

Do You See A Pattern Here?

You can see a list of top Digg users at DiggAnalytics.com. Pay particular attention to the number of stories they have Dugg, submitted and made popular.

Note: If you don't mind living on the shady side, you can use websites like FreeDiggs and DiggFreak to boost your Diggs. Both sites provide you with an opportunity to get extra Diggs by either earning credits or paying for Diggs.

So, without resorting to questionable / shady tactics, what can you do to increase your chances of traffic success with Digg?

One of the first things you should do to make your blog posts and pages Digg friendly is install a Digg friendly plugin. You can choose something like the Sociable plugin which provides readers with a variety of social bookmarking options to choose from or something Digg-specific like the Digg button plugin.

Readers are more inclined to Digg your content if they have an easy way to do it.

Become An Active Digg User

For long term success on Digg, you have to sacrifice some time and become an active Digg user. Try to Digg at least a few stories every day. If you notice a hot new story make sure you Digg it as every successful story that you Digg increases your Digg status.

Note: This is where the earlier mentioned CommentSniper software comes in handy. You can wait for your favourite bloggers to publish new posts then quickly Digg them – ensuring you are amongst the first few people to Digg a post that has a good likelihood of going popular and in turn earning you points for Digging a popular story.

It is important to customize your Digg profile with a cool picture and description to set you apart from others. While you are at it, pick a Digg username starting with the first few letters of the alphabet or a number. The reason you should do this is so your username appears in the top part of other peoples' Digg friends lists.

Why would you want to be at the top of peoples' friends lists?

Because many Digg users chain add friends using other users' Digg friends lists, being at the top of a list gives you a higher probability of being added.

To further expand your Digg friend base, you should regularly comment on other Digg stories. By regularly commenting and being amongst the first few people that comment, you not only drive traffic to your profile and your blog, but you also expose your username and build your Digg brand. The more people get to see your username and your profile picture, the more they are inclined to friend you and to Digg your stories in the future.

Make Your Posts Suit Digg's Style.

If you spend a little time researching and looking through Digg posts that made it to the front page, you will notice a pattern.

Posts in list form, how-to-guides, and especially breaking news have in general done quite well on Digg in the past.

Many bloggers practice writing posts specifically planned for Digg. Here are some guidelines for writing a post for Digg:

● Be concise and to the point. Digg users don't like long-winding posts that beat around the bush.
● Make a statement. Your post will not succeed on Digg if you have nothing to say.
● If possible, write in list form. List posts are known to have a great chance of succeeding on Digg. Digg users love lists.
● Be controversial. Digg users love controversy.
● If you have a friend who happens to be a Top Digg User, ask them to submit your post. According to certain stats, almost 50% of popular Digg posts have been Dugg by top Digg users at some point in time.
● Shout out your Digg post to your Digg friends once you submit it for some instant Digging (keep making new friends on Digg as the more friends you have, the greater your chances of Digg success).

When submitted, a Digg story first appears on the Upcoming page of a specific category. If it gets Dugg enough times, the story will get promoted to the Digg front page.

Note: Digg, like many Social Bookmarking sites, is tech-centric which means that non-tech stories in general have a greater chance of making the front page with less Diggs, then stories from technology and other similarly-congested categories.

If you have submitted a story and want to watch it Dugg or Buried in real time, you can make use of DiggSpy. DiggSpy lets you watch what's happening on Digg in real time. If you like imagery, DiggSwarm is another cool tool to watch Digg stories in real time.