If you are active in the blogging community you will have noticed that one of the great popularity indicators is how many Diggs you have acquired. Digg is a social news website where all the content is generated by users. Users find content they think is interesting or valuable, and they promote it by clicking a button that says “Digg It!” next to the content. The most popular websites rise to the top and are listed on the front page of Digg daily which can provide an avalanche of traffic.

Get Your Message Out
As with most social networking tools, one of the most valuable things you can do when starting out on Digg is to be sociable. Make new friends and see if any of your current friends are already using Digg. You may want to Digg content, articles, and media from other websites and compliment the people who consistently Digg articles and information that you like.

Once you’ve built a network of people, and have become acquainted with the kind of articles that are most popular, you can begin posting content of your own. Link to articles you’ve written or blog posts that offer valuable tips and insights, and ask your network to Digg them.

You can also post a Digg button on your blog so that your readers can Digg your posts.

A Few Dos and Don’ts
As with any social media site, Digg is a public space, where users can ‘meet’ and socialize to share great content. Here are some pointers for participating effectively within the Digg community.

• DO promote other websites and content. If you only promote your own articles and content, you’ll lose the trust of your network. When you have a history of Digging great content, they’ll be inclined to trust you if you Digg your own.
• DON’T over-sell yourself. If you Digg every little thing your company does, users are going to disregard you as an egoist. Only Digg the articles and content you really think many people will find valuable.
• DO ask for Diggs. Ask your blog readers. Ask your Digg friends. Ask your friends in the real world. They won’t know you want it ‘Dugg’ until you ask.
• DON’T nag. If you ask your network for Diggs and they don’t respond, do not ask them over and over again. Assume the content simply wasn’t valuable enough and try again.

Getting an article or a piece of content on the front page of Digg can be invaluable for improving your website’s popularity. Digg can lead to a lot of page views and many more readers, which can open the doorway for you to convert brand-new customers.

Do you know your business’ social ranking?