It is only fair to mention here that in the last year or two there has been a decent amount of controversy surrounding digg because a group of users have acted like the digg mafia and have gotten things they want promoted despite the intended purpose of keeping the site a truly democratic forum.

That fact aside, Digg is still a great way to drive traffic into your blog or website.

So let’s talk about how to best use Digg to drive traffic in.

1. Join

First of all I suppose the most obvious thing I can say is join digg, and build a profile.  This does not need to be extensive, by any stretch of the imagination, but you definitely want to put some links to your blogs or other sites there.  Se mine for an example.

2. Add Friends
After joining, be sure you add some friends.  When it comes to adding friends there is no such thing as too few friends.  When you look at a users profile, you will see several things.  You will see things they have voted on, comments they have made, links they have submitted, and usually a brief bio describing them or some links to other websites they like.

If they don’t appear to be a spammer or pornographer, go ahead and add them as a friend.  Digg’s friend system works on a two tier function.  You have fans and friends.  Fans are people who say they like you.  They will see everything you add and digg on, and you can “send shouts” to them asking them to “digg” your content.  But fans cannot shout their content to you.  They must be mutual friends.  So when you add someone as a friend, they must then return that favor or you will not be able to contact them through the network.  Don’t worry though, since having friends in digg is often so important, most people will reciprocate your friendship after you add them.

By now you will have a digg account and several friends.

3. Digg

Next you need to be digging and commenting.  Spend some time digging your friend’s submissions, and commenting on things you find interesting.  You will find just about anything you ever wanted to know in digg.  In fact, I get most of my news from Digg and other Social Networks.  This is especially important since the major news outlets and I all seem to disagree on what “news” is.  But that is a rant for another day.

4. Submit

When it comes to submission to Digg, I will repeat something I have said before.   Don’t be narcissistic.  The old and dying business model is the selfish, greedy, establishment.  Your Social Marketing will N-E-V-E-R survive if you show that you are only out for yourself.

So when you are submitting things to digg, submit thing that other people wrote!  Your network is for asking people to digg you.

Listen to me, this is the most important thing I can say.  The people who get the most traffic from Digg use the network alot, and they rarely submit their own content.  They ask other people to submit their stuff!  Do you hear that?  Ask others.  That’s what friends are for.  But DO NOT tire people out with your constant begging.  Find the medium and you will find yourself with some good business contacts and some great digg traffic!

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I got an email today from my friend Tina letting me know that this new search engine allows users to comment on results, interact with other commenters, search from yahoo, MSN, and Google in the same place.  These are things that have been happening for awhile - so you might think, “well, sure, but its all been done.”

NOT SO!  Scour has achieved the best of all worlds.  Excellent Social interaction, positive marketing, and best of all - YOU GET PAID TO USE IT!!! 

That’s right you guys, this is the real deal!  SCOUR!  Scour the web and get paid for it!!!

Join right now!

NOTE for Firefox Users:  Since there is not a search add on yet for the search form on the right, just do the following and search directly from your url bar with scour.

1. Type about:config in Firefox location bar and press Enter
2. Type keyword in Filter textbox and you will see only the preference keyword.URL.
3. Double-click on keyword.URL and change the value to: http://scour.com/search/web/

Each of these searches will earn you points going toward your visa gift cards!

Dude, why are you here?  Go to scour!

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A few friends in StumbleUpon are more than enough.  You will want to sign up and build a profile, ALWAYS put in a link or two where people can find you.  And sure, add a friend here and there.  You can find me here.  

But after the initial start up, its all about the stumble button.

You get the handy tool bar, with several options for stumbling around on the internet, but when you use the stumble button, you are automatically directed over to some site which other users have submitted.  StumbleUpon will automatically deliver qualified traffic as soon as your site is listed. 

Let me just pause here for a second though and say this.    In order to get the most use out of StumbleUpon you need to have a blog.  Get used to hearing that, it won’t be the last time I say it! 

Now there are three things you need to do in order to effectively use StumbleUpon.

1. Stumble

First, Stumble yourself.  Use the button, and visit some sites you care about.  Then simply mark them as you like it, or not.  Don’t feel like you absolutely have to mark every page you visit, but it never hurts to be active on the site.  You might find yourself some friends that way.  Plus, I have found some fascinating websites using the Stumble button.  

Be Warned: It CAN become a time sucker if you are not disciplined. 

2. Submit

Submit Websites you find interesting to stumble.  Is it worth it?  Did you find and interesting site?  GREAT Stumble it!  Do you find this post helpful?  Stumble it! (this is probably not a good post for submitting to stumble upon though, because most stumblers already know how it works).

Every once in a while feel free to even submit your own stuff.  But look carefully at the stuff you are submitting and see if you look like a narcissistic, selfish pig.  Do you think you are producing most of the content out there that people care about?  You probably don’t.  Then your submissions should not say otherwise.  

3. Ask others to Stumble you.  

The more reviews and submission you get from other people, the better.  If 20 people click “I Like It” on this page, then StumbleUpon will continue to send me more traffic.  If one person likes and 19 Thumb it down, then that is going to hurt me in StumbleUpon.  

So get friends to join Stumble and ask them to thumbs up your stuff too.  Now, remember.  If you and your husband are the only two people ever voting for your blog, that is still going to be a bit fishy.  Even computers are smart enough to see what’s going on.  This is when haveing a larger network in other places can be helpful.  Every couple of weeks I get an email from someone asking me to Stumble something for her.  And you know what?  I almost always do.  If I were getting that same email three times a day I never would.  

So on a final note, keep this in mind.  Dont’ wear out your friends with cries for help, but don’t be afraid to ask for a quick favor every now and then.  

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So I think it is time for a series on some of the better social networks.  There are literally thousands of Social Networks, some of them specifically tailored to niche communities, some of them broader and with lots more people in them.  So I intend to post one additional article about how to find smaller social networks which might be just right for your particular website.

But First: 

We will be looking at Digg, Mixx, StumbleUpon, Twitter, and Facebook (and even though it might not really be a “social network proper” FriendFeed is on the list for sure).

I would love your input if there are others you would like to see profiled here.

Be sure to Check Back or Subscribe to get the lowdown!

And Please Leave your thoughts on important social networks, or contact me through one!

I am jaredmlee at all of them!  I look forward to connecting with you!

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Well, OK that plus the fact that Bush pretty much handed the democrats the presidency three years ago.

But war, economy, secrecy, sketchy leadership and poor decision making aside.  Obama is slaughtering the competition because he understands the importance of web 2.0.

And the Grand Old Party is going to be exactly that unless they catch up!  With social networking what it is today, it is possible to run for president using the internet alone.  A tempting enticement to a power hungry media mogul.

Obama has branded his image and plastered it across every imaginable social network out there.  of course McCain’s people are trying to do the same thing, but frankly, when your guy says he doesn’t understand the internet, well let’s just say if he had shot himself in the foot fifty years ago he wouldn’t have been a POW.

The Illustration

Seriously, we all need to take a lesson from both candidates here.  I am active on the internet and in most social networks.  Because of this I see Obama all the time.  He is in front of me.  This is free advertising, and I am getting his image in my mind.  I can almost see him in my sleep because he is so “present” in the social networking scene.  Keep in mind, I have not added him as a friend in any of these applications.  (If I did I don’t have any recollection of that fact.)

Now lets turn to McCain.  The guy is a relic.  And my generation knows it because he isn’t where he is supposed to be.  He is supposed to be digging, mixxing, and stumbling on stuff.  Instead he is on fox news (NOTE: the previous link is to a better resource than the outdated media empire) being discussed by other guys I don’t have time to watch because I get my information from the internet, which McCain doesn’t understand.

Let this screen shot from facebook illustrate the reality of Obama’s presence as opposed to McCain’s.

The Application

The logical question is which of these do you wish to emulate in your marketing?  Do you want to be seen in as many places as you can, or do you want to be disparaged because you don’t think the internet is worth your while.

What is your brand?  Do people recognize it?  Are you putting yourself in front of your clients, voters, customers?  Or are you allowing your absence to speak for itself?

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So, I discuss that topic in this video.

Enjoy…

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Just for what it is worth, my best search term so far in june was “Bloggers”  That’s sort of a surprise, but a welcome one I suppose.  No doubt the domain name plays a role in that.

Just a side note, this is why you use some sort of keyword in your domain name instead of “ABC-Company.com” or some similar name.  

Success, Business tools, and Online Business were present as intended.

But most fun, is that someone actually came to my site by googling “santa.”  Now, on Christmas eve 2007 I did indeed write about Santa.  This was a little experiment more than anything to play around with Google Trends and the Search Engines.

But It still drives traffic in.  My only real question is why is someone looking for santa in June?

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Let’s be honest about this.  It is time somebody said this loudly and clearly.  Stop being selfish and hording your feeds and let me see the whole thing!

Which of these looks more like something you would enjoy reading? 

(notice if you can, the “…” at the end.  I’m not bothering, would you?)

Note: I obscured the text in the image above so as to not bring undo embarrassment upon the blogger who I personally admire.

Or our second snap shot:

This second shot is from the feed of ClickNewz.com by Lynn Terry, an excellent business woman and someone I am happy to call friend.  But more importantly, she clearly knows the importance of feeding out good content!

So why the shortened feed?

I know the logic behind it, hell its extremely logical.  You want them to come to your web page, so you give them a little taste with the hope that they will click through for more.  The problem is, you are really only going to upset people and make them remove you from their feed reader.  If you really think about it, this is actually more logical.  There are some good reasons to send out a full feed.

Reason 1 - People read their feeds in their free time.

I like to go to my google reader in my free time (what little of it there is) and browse through my feeds.  From there I can keep up with what I care most about, and when it is especially well written or engages me, THEN I will click through to comment or see the discussion.

I don’t have the time to click through just because your first two sentences were compelling, and if I do, you had better engage me!

Reason 2 - The web is mobile.

Let’s face it, most people these days take their blackberry or their iphone out with them.  If they find a few minutes waiting for lunch, then they can browse their feeds.  If you use a mobile data service, you know what it is like to constantly be tripping across pages.  But in most good readers, you can read the content all in one place without waiting on pages to load.

Please know, If I see you on my PDA, and your feed is cut off, I will not be visiting that link - EVER!

Reason 3 - it is just courteous. 

I have written before on the importance of being considerate of others.  These days, we all know if your feed is cut off it’s because you want traffic to your site.  If all I am to you is a statistic for your traffic counter, then I really don’t want to read your blog.

I am a visitor, treat me with generosity and hospitality, give me your best service.  And If you do, I will tip generously.

A word of compassion

For those of you new to blogging - First, understanding RSS might be helpful for you.  Second, subscribe to your feed so you can see what it looks like in a reader.  I understand that many blogging platforms default to a truncated feed.  This is easy to change.  It is in “settings” in Blogger, and “options” in WordPress.  If you use another one, go find it.  It is important to be familiar with some of these things you can do from your respective blog dashboard.

And for those of you who are shortening your feed for the sake of traffic.  I know why this is tempting, but please understand that it is essential that you serve up good content generously.  If you do this, I can assure you that you will see a higher payout in the long run.

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Whatever the situation, you are always learning when you are working online. (or at least you should be)

This education can suck a ton of time away from your productivity.  It is essential that everyone schedules this time.  From the brand new internet marketer to the verteran, we all need to learn new tools and new methods, but we cannot let this take away from the time we are actually doing the stuff we already know how to do.

If you can post a blog, post it!  Then submit it to the social networking sites you are familiar with.  When that is done, take a bit of time and learn to use plurk, and see if that is a helpful medium for you.

Whatever you do, don’t let learning a new tool suck your time away from doing what you can do right now!  Personally I build “education” into my week.  Whatever I realize I need to understand better I mark for that time slot.  If that week I feel like I haven’t learned anything new, then I research one of my niches a bit and spend some time checking out competitors sites.

Always Learn!  But don’t let it rob you from doing what you can already do right now!

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If you need work so you can pay the bills and you have to do something you don’t enjoy, that’s understandable.  We have all been there.  By instead of an occupation call it an “income source.“  And then spend your time discovering a “vocation.”

You see, vocation means work.  It is something we were all made for.  There is work which we all find fulfilling and productive.  For some that might be sitting in a basement office pulling on a counting machine.  I am not being sarcastic.  Seriously, some people on this earth will find that work rewarding and productive.  The rest of us will want to shoot ourselves by lunchtime.

But for some this is a vocation.  This is a calling which will fulfill their lives and give it meaning.

What is your vocation?  

I hear people all the time who tell me they are going into business for themselves so they can stop working.  I am sorry to say that this is utter nonsense!  You go into business so you can find your vocation.  Anyone going into business to stop working will never be successful.  You must be out to find the one thing which will fulfill you and give you purpose.

Our culture’s loss of hope is often due to so many people eeking out an existense at a job they hate so they can pay their bills.  We must find what makes us happy and go after that vocation with all we have in us.  Then we will be able to pay our bills (and some), as well as be content and fulfilled in what we do with our days.

So my challenge to you today is to never say “occupation” again.  If you love your job, congratulations!  You have discovered your vocation.  If you have yet to find what fulfills you, continue at your income source until you find your true vocation!

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