My First Digg/Reddit Experience…
I recently submitted my post on Integrating RSS feeds into your website… to Digg and Reddit in order to gauge the response and potential traffic flow that can be generated by doing this.
Submitting the post to Reddit went off without a hitch – I signed up and submitted the post. Simple. Digg on the other hand threw a little gotcha into the mix – which did indeed … get me.
I signed up as normal to Digg and went about submitting my post. The title of the post, as you can see above, contains the acronym RSS – to which Digg substituted in “McNicholl” for some reason. This made the title read :
I think this took the sting out of the title as not many people would want to do what the new title suggests 
Although, along the lines of “if you build it, they will come…” – some people did click on the link – but not many. Between Reddit and Digg I received a grand total of …….. [drum roll]….. ten visitors. Success? erm…… no!
I don’t for a second attribute this to the RSS/McNicholl substitution. Instead I think that the quality of the post was the root cause. I didnt :
- Provide downloadable sample code.
- Detail a fully working example.
- Explain the code sample in any great detail.
- Explain my choice of Simplepie over MagpieRSS.
- I have not practised what I have been preaching about (no blog integration in mcnicholl.com).
- Have a current reader base on Digg/Reddit or within my site to indicate a community.
The first 4 points above are purely journalistic and can be developed over time. Number 5 is, in my opinion, one of the hardest areas to prove. I know that a good community will almost guarantee an audience – but nothing of the dramatic levels that bring down a server (not that I am wanting that to happen).
I have filed this one under Experience and hope that the learning curve keeps curving upwards!
Categories: Experience
Perhaps you should consider changing your template to a non-orange. It’s good otherwise, the orange is likely to hurt people’s eyes. Also consider a custom banner, it ads a touch of personality to make you seem like you are not just blogging for cash
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your comments. So you dont like the orange huh? I agree with what you are saying. I already have plans to change the theme to match my website (www.mcnicholl.com) design. It will still have some orange – just not as much
What sort of banner do you suggest?