By Alice Hill
RealTechNews
The website digg.com is high on the blogging world’s radar for 2 things: it is coming close to replicating the vaunted “Slashdot effect” and it just raised over $2 million in funding. For the average Blogger, this is fertile territory.
As we speak, a story by our own David Johnston is on the front door of Digg and the traffic is pouring in (note the “666″ in our Digg total above), but here’s a website that says the traffic from Digg is as hollow and nutritious as Halloween candy.
Digg users do not click ads. Webmasters should stop trying to game the system to get the traffic. The increased traffic will use up your bandwidth and will risk slowing down or crashing your server. In the short run, getting on the front page is more likely to cost you money than make you money if you are depending on ads for your revenue.
Digg traffic does not generate new users, comments, or posts. Digg users often comment regarding a site on digg itself instead of on the dugg website. Even though we have often had easy ways for people to leave comments (no registration required), digg users typically do not post.
Every site on the front page gets flamed in the comments. If you read digg, you need a thick skin. If the site is something about windows, the apple/linux people whine… and visa versa. However, this is in no way saying that the comments are not helpful to the digg users or to the webmasters.
More on the Digg Effect: The Top 10 Things Webmasters Should Know TechRecipes via Digg
We Ask: What do you think? Hot or Not?
We Say: Traffic goes where it wants to – it’s up to the referrred to site to get that audience’s attention and hopefully a real shot at converting a “browser” into a repeat visitor. Do we get 50K people the day after a Digg? Hell no. But we also get a few smart readers who stick with us, particpate, and spread the word, and that in the end is worth it.
As a hourly digg checker and occasional digg poster i must say, “Duh!”.
Digg is for passing on interesting information from one geek to another.
If these guys are posting stories in an effort to generate revenue on their site, well, you get what you pay for.
Try offering useful products.
I agree. I look at it like a big remoite control. People flip by and it’s your job to stop them and get their atention or they move on. I find that traffic stays high long after a /. or Digg but the study is right, you pay a lot for the hit and many people whip through, but you also get what you pay for….
I am a digg user, I use it as a good source for web info.
I original found this site from a digg, and have since made it on of the sites I look at for info.
digg is not a bad thing, it gets people to look at a site they may not have looked at otherwise, and if its a good site then they will come back on there own
Yeah, digg is a great tool for finding interesting stories very rapidly. You shouldn’t rely on it, however, to make you money because that’s not going to happen. I see it more as a public service type of thing by geeks, for geeks. It’s also a great way to get the word out on issues that are overlooked by less personal media outlets.
I see people coming back after a Digg. Certainly not the swarms but enough to feel like it helps build our audience of regular readers.
“Every site on the front page gets flamed in the comments.”
This isn’t exclusive to digg, love. Slashdot is the EXACT same way, but with some intelligent karma integrated. Go to any technology message board. You’re dealing with a mass amount of people with completely different tastes. The fact that most people are anonymous online only fuels their negativity, cynicism, and lack of respect.
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Digg is the raw sewage of the net. It attracts the worst sort of net user and it brings out the worst in otherwise well behaved people. I say, don’t bother with dig. Most of their comments are worth as much as a tweet or any one of a million other comments on any IM you can name.