Active Diggers Mixxing it Up

When Greg Davies (cGt2099) was banned from Digg for his 4th TOS infraction, it got a lot of play. Several top Diggers made mentions of the occurence and offered support (and criticism) for this. One thing in particular stood out in the post on his blog: he's found a new home at Mixx.com.

Over the past couple of weeks, a subtle under-current of curiosity has brought many of the most active Digg members to check out this Digg Clone. None of them have left Digg. Many haven't even posted anything yet. Still, they were curious.

We could discuss the platform differences, community difference, pros and cons all day, but this is not a critique. I'm not bashing Digg. You won't be hearing about the "Mixx Effect" any time soon. The Wall Street Journal won't be partnering with them. Any rumors that start flying around about the sale of Mixx will not be in the $300,000,000 range.

Comparisons are for others to make. I just put together a little screenshot that I thought was interesting.



A few heavy hitters' names in that list.

I'm not sayin'. I'm just sayin'.

Social Media
Social News Articles

Social Media Watch Launches

Social media, in its purest form, is not the best way to use Social Media. After months of research, I now realize that social media websites like Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Propeller, and Mixx are good for search engine optimization, but not ideal. A gun is good for hitting people over the head, but they can be used much more efficiently if used for their proper purpose.

For several months, I have used this blog to go after both facets of internet marketing that I hold dear to my heart and paycheck. I've branched out.

Social networks, social media, and social bookmarking are turning into big business. First, they were exploited for marketing, but not properly. Then, the search engine optimization benefits became clear. Now, we're back to marketing, but companies are doing it a little differently this time. So, I built Social News Watch, a blog dedicated to finding the best articles on the internet about social media, as well as writing some of my own observations about this growing trend.

Actually, "trend" probably isn't the right word. It implies temporary status, and I believe that "the social web" is here to stay in one form or another. Companies such as Ford, IBM, CNN, and others are starting to get more into the segment. There are new products such as YouTube marketing, social media news releases, and viral blogging that are starting to take form and take hold.

Heavy hitters such as Facebook, Digg, and Google are applying countless hours and dollars into finding the best ways to leverage their positions smack dab in the middle of the segment. It's worth a watch, and that's what this blog will be about.

Watching social media.

There are other blogs out there that discuss the topic. What we'll do here is sort through the hundreds of articles posted weekly on the subject and offer them to the public with a brief synopsis. Not a scraper blog, but rather a compilation of quality news broken down to their simplest form, almost like a human edited news feed reader that eliminates the bad and highlights the good.

We want to highlight the startups that just might make it as well.

We will be posting like crazy for a while to catch up, but once the dust clears, it should be a true social media resource. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Social Media News

Social Bookmarking for Car Dealers

I got this story idea from looking on Google analytics and seeing an unusually high number of people finding this blog through that keyword phrase. It's funny -- I work in automotive marketing but I never really thought car dealers would be looking for this yet. The social bookmarking for SEO phenomenon has only been around for about a year and a half -- car dealers are usually 2-3 years behind the internet trends.

That's a joke, so if you're a car dealer reading this right now, don't be offended. It's a joke, but it is true. The automotive industry is one that, in general, has been reluctant to keep up with internet marketing trends. It isn't that they don't believe in them or think that they exist. The reluctance stems from a love/hate relationship within the automotive marketplace when it comes to the Internet.

Let's face it. The Internet has caused car dealers to completely change the way they do business. They no longer have the control over the deal that they had pre-web. People have invoice pricing, trade evaluation, and quotes from dozens of dealers before they every hit the lot. It has cost the industry a lot of money, even shut down many dealerships over the last few years.

For that reason, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they are catching up and catching on. It has become a necessity, and I should be glad that they are getting involved.

First, the shameless pitch: if you want to know more about social bookmarking for car dealers, feel free to send me an email: jrucker (at) tkcarsites.com. Or, you can visit my website. There is a shell up there now, but there is some interesting information on it -- Car Dealer Marketing. Can't submit a lead as of November 10, but soon, you will be able to.

Now, for those who are interested in learning more about social bookmarking without having to pay me millions of dollars a month, here are some pointers:

1) Create single accounts on the social bookmarking sites. People new to the segment who do not understand it may feel that multiple accounts is the way to go. It isn't. You will get caught, IP banned, links deleted, etc.

2) Avoid the social news and media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, and Newsvine. This is contrary to what most will recommend, as they CAN be very useful in search engine optimization, but for car dealers, they are a waste of time. You have no news. There aren't interesting stories or funny pictures or awesome videos on your website. Spamming them will get you banned. If you think "so what, it's still worth a try," be warned. I've seen some dealers face unnecessary retribution for spamming one of the sites listed. Without going into details, let's just say that there was "inappropriate content" placed on a website by someone angry at a spammer who hacked in.

3) Vary your anchor text (submission title) and use good, descriptive keywords. There's no need to make them interesting on bookmarking sites, so put in the terms that you want to move up on in the search engine results.

4) Don't use programs. They save time, but they can also waste time and you often lose the benefits of A) knowing that your submission went through, and B) varying the anchor text. You can use the Web 2.0 Toolbar (article on it somewhere on this blog), but the "Submit to 200 SB sites in minutes" programs aren't effective for car dealers.

5) Be active. Don't just submit and run. Leave comments, add friends, join groups, etc. The goal is to create a link, but the loftier goal is to get more people to bookmark your website.

6) Check for nofollow attributes. On IE, View Source, then search for "nofollow". See if it applies to the links of the bookmarks. If the site uses nofollow tags on the submission, it isn't worth the time to create a profile and start submitting. At least not for car dealers.

7) Hire a pro. This may be obligatory shameless plug #2, but I was kidding when I said that I charge millions, just in case you didn't know. Social bookmarking has so many benefits beyond the SEO benefits. It pays to pay someone who knows how to do it.

Social bookmarking is here to stay. There will be new variations, protocols, options, and strategies that will arise from now until the next big thing comes out and replaces the Internet altogether. Until then, learn what you can or hire someone who already knows.

Social Bookmarking for Car Dealers

Until they fix shouts, use: Digg_This:_09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

The way things work with the current shout system, you can shout spam a story to every one your friends list in 3 quick clicks. In contrast, if you want to send a REAL shout, you have to do it one at a time.

To me, it's completely reversed from the way that it should be. I watched Graham (CosmikDebris) send shout after shout to some of his friends regarding an apparent bug on the Digg website. He had to copy, click, click, paste, and click over and over again several times just to get an important question out to his peeps, yet a shout spammer can fill our shout board and send hundreds of people "Please digg this" spam in a matter of seconds.

Until Digg fixes this issue, I have a possible solution. If you want to get a message out to your friends and you don't want to spend an hour doing it, use the infamous Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 post and share it. As of now, it's difficult to use share to put out a message because many, myself included, skip right past any shouts that have stories attached. I almost missed a very nice message by Verge who was shouting a story to send a mass message.

The Digg_This:_09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0 post is probably the most recognizable post in Digg history. With over 44K diggs, it will stand out as your friends sift through the shout spam to find any real messages from their friends. Even if they scan quickly, it will most likely get their attention and at least make them check to see what someone is saying about it.

Just a thought. Please Digg this and get the word out. The shout feature can be one of the best new changes to Digg in a long time. We just have to figure out a way to wade through the sea of spam. Hopefully this is an answer.

Social Blog

zaibatsu vs. msaleem: The Race to 1000 is ON

They do a podcast together.

They are two of the top 3 members of the most powerful social news website in the world.

They've shut down their share of servers for a day.

This month, they are going head to head.

Chances are good that sometime during the month of November, 2007, both zaibatsu and msaleem, two of the most prolific contibutors to Digg, will surpass the 1,000 mark for stories they submitted that reached the Digg homepage. Yesterday, I sent a shout to each about the magic number. Here were the responses:

------------------------------------

Me to msaleem: "Submitting a ton lately, I've noticed. We should have a betting pool (fake money, of course) on what day you'll hit 1000 "Made Popular" submissions. My guess is November 19."

Msaleem response:

"Haha, that's very kind of you. Who all is in the pool, and can I join? (That guy, Zaibatsu certainly won't make it easy for me).

Just kidding Z, Peace in the chicken grease."

------------------------------------

Me to zaibatsu: "Hey Z, I predicted Muhammed would hit 1000 "Made Popular" by November 19. When are you going to hit the magic number?"

Zaibatsu response:

"I'm actually fighting to regain my former glory. It's on baby and November 19th days is way to long, I can FP 10 in a day my friend. Help me kick some ass on digg, spread the word it's NEO vs. Morpheus on Digg. Who ever get to 1000 1st gets to pick who the f*ck they are. I don't want to be Morpheus.

I'm sitting at 922 now, give me until Nov 10, wekends suck for me and I need to a day or so to recover from a FP streak!"

SOUNDS LIKE IT'S ON!

------------------------------

Here is my take on the two. No offense intended to either. I have the utmost respect for both apparent styles. In real life, both may be completely different, but on Digg and The Drill Down, here is how they come across to me:


Zaibatsu is the Digger for the common man. Excited, passionate, ever-active, he wants everyone to Digg his submissions because they're good and because he's Digging your stuff too. Rolled up sleaves, shovel in hand, ready to get to work. A Donald Trump style power digger.


Msaleem is a Digger for the elite. Proud, selective, enduring, he only wants to Digg what he likes and expects people to judge his submissions on merit. If it's crap, it's crap, and neither shout nor reciprocated Digg will earn his vote it's crap. A Crown Prince style power digger.

------------------------------

The stats and analysis:

------------------------------

Member since:
zaibatsu - 12/2004
msaleem - 09/2005

No advantage here for either. Both have been on the scene and well known across Digg channels long enough.

------------------------------

Friends:
zaibatsu - 178
msaleem - 98

The more quality friends (those who are active and Digg your stories) you have, the more Diggs you can potentially get. The way the Digg algorithm seems to work, the more friends you have, the more Diggs you need to make it to the homepage. Both have found what they consider the "sweet spot" as far as number of friends. Whichever one is right may end up being the winner.

------------------------------

Diggs:
zaibatsu - 82,517
msaleem - 42,975

Again, this comes down to personal preference. Zaibatsu is more prolific in his Digging, honestly telling people that he'll Digg a lot of their stories, as many as he can, as long as they are Digging his as well. Msaleem is more selective, trying to take the higher ground by only Digging what he considers "quality". As with everything else so far, it seems that the advantage will come to whoever's strategy is more correct, and only the programmers for Digg know for sure.

------------------------------

Comments:
zaibatsu - 1,493
msaleem - 1,613

Some say it has an effect. I tend to believe that it just gets more people to your profile page with an opportunity that they'll like your stories. I've been wrong before, but I think it's pretty much a non-factor.

------------------------------

Submitted:
zaibatsu - 2,150 --- Last 8 days: 5, 9, 7, 3, 4, 9, 2, 2 -- 41
msaleem - 2,997 --- Last 8 days: 10, 11, 8, 0, 1, 4, 9, 12 -- 55

Msaleem has an advantage here. More submissions means more opportunities. The one good thing for zaibatsu here is that he can ramp his submissions up. It will bring his percentage down, but a month's worth won't damage his high popular ratio too badly.

------------------------------

MADE POPULAR:
zaibatsu - 925
msaleem - 945

A big lead going in for msaleem. Twenty is an awfully wide gap to overcome.

------------------------------

Popular Ratio:
zaibatsu - 43%
msaleem - 32%

Zaibatsu has always been one of 3 or 4 top Diggers to maintain a 40% or higher Popular ratio. In this race to 1000, ratio may get thrown out the window. It's all about bulk. Will he be able to step up?

------------------------------


I've tried to look at this as a race. Then, the image of a hot dog eating contest came to mind. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it's like Iron Chef. A time limit, a goal, two different styles, two different strategies. I see MrBabyMan sitting at the thrown overlooking kitchen stadium nodding his head at their efforts.

Social Bookmarking Experiment: Sending Visitors to See the Penguins

Here is a little experiment. Using only social bookmarking websites, we are going to see how much traffic we can send to an article about penguins. Penguins.

This article is from automotive.com, which is a high traffic website, but this article surely will not receive a ton of traffic. It's from the American Bus Association (already a tough article to get views) and their campaign using penguins to promote bus services.

The story itself isn't important as long as it doesn't draw its own traffic based upon the material. The article is Take the Bus for Penguins, which as you can tell, won't get too many people looking for it on Google. We are submitting it only to SB websites. The benefits from a search engine optimization perspective are well documented, but how much direct trafic comes from SB websites. I'm betting high, but we'll wait for the empirical data first.

As a control article, we are also submitting a potentially more popular article from the same website. Since concept cars and information about them gets its own traffic, 2008 Nissan Skyline GT-R will be submitted to the same social bookmarking websites as a traffic comparison. People at SB sites will often click on an article, but leave immediately, so this will purify the data.

PLEASE, if you contribute to the social bookmarking of either of these articles, post it here. Every effort must be documented to make sure that the data is real. We want to know the instant traffic boost as well as any residual traffic in the future.

Thank you for your support.

Search Engine Optimization Bookmarking

Adjusting to the New Digg

Okay, it isn't that bad. It took forever to make it to the homepage (12 days) but once there, I realize that it isn't that bad. Here are the adjustments that I made:

1) Getting 30, 60, 90 Diggs isn't as easy as it used to be. Before, having a ton of friends and doing a ton of Digging was enough to ensure that you could get a bulk of Diggs to anything. Now that people actually have to click on to the page, there is a chance that they will read it, which means that spam submissions is out, for the most part. This is a HUGE plus for Digg users, especially those who hate the spam. Will it continue? Of course. But the chances of a spam submission getting more than the initial Digg is greatly diminished.

2) Shouts don't work for most. I've been tracking some of the "shout spammers" out there and it just isn't an effective way to get Dugg. Sure, you'll get some, but for the most part, you might as well email spam and get the same results.

3) Quality of submissions is ever more important. Catchy headlines will always play a major role in the quest to make it to the homepage, but the story needs to be a good one.

4) Keep it up. Like I said, I wasn't a power Digger by any means, but I used to be able to count on at least one story making the homepage every few days. Now, it seems that the gap is growing. As much as I want to dump the efforts, I just can't. If you are thinking about it, keep going. It'll happen if you stick with it.

5) Fans are nice, but most are meaningless. There are "Fans" out there who never Digg your stuff. Because there doesn't have to be the same gap in time between adding friends, many are trying the bulk friend approach. This may actually work, but you can't just befriend them and go. Digg their stuff, keep digging their stuff, and hopefully you'll get noticed, added, and Dugg.

6) The time it takes to make the homepage seems to have increased. Where before, 24 hours was usually the cutoff, there are more and more popular stories that approach 2 days before becoming obsolete.

7) Submit less. Before, submitting a ton of stories every day would land you somewhere with something on the homepage. I've examined some of the mass submitters and seen literally hundreds of submissions in a row without going popular. Submitting good stories is much more important.

In conclusion, I was completely against the new Digg. I've changed my mind. The quality is improving, and after all is said and done, that is really what will make Digg great again. It was getting too easy to post crap and make it the homepage, or at least get a ton of Diggs for it. Now, you have to submit good stuff to have a chance. This is a great thing for serious Diggers, and even a greater thing for those who read Digg for the news itself.

Digg SEO

Testing the New Digg System with Self-Promoting Articles

There won't be much here. This is, of course, by design. Just checking to see if another terrible headline with another batch of terrible descriptions leading to a story that doesn't say much will get dugg.

In the past, someone could expect to get a least 20-40 Diggs for meaningless stories if they were submitted by someone with an established group of friends and a high level of activity. The new Digg, which requires that upcoming stories must get clcked on to get Dugg, may eliminate the self-promoting, search engine optimization related submissions.

I have used this method to get a page of a website indexed quickly. For non-competitive keywords, I have actually gotten 1st page rankings in Google within hours for pages that were brand new -- never indexed.

This article is the tester. I will have a buddy submit it who is relatively strong at Digg (he's had several stories make it to the homepage, unlike me). We'll see if it goes anywhere.

And just for the pic factor, here is one so we won't be able to blame it on the lack of a picture:





Social Media Marketing

Web 2.0 Tool

Automating your social bookmarking is an important aspect to using the various SB sites for search engine optimization. While using social bookmarking is becoming a valid method to getting pages ranked, it can also be a long process, one that requires you to fill your browsers with buttons and links.

One tool, the Web 2.0 Toolbar, is an asset that every SEO should incorporate into their arsenal. While it doesn't truly automate the process, it does consolidate many of the top sites into one toolbar, saving room and time.

Many use OnlyWire. It's another tool that submits to 20 or so SB sites. Luckily, the Web 2.0 Toolbar includes OnlyWire in its toolbar.

It also includes:
Digg
del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
Spurl
Blink
Yahoo
Newsvine
Reddit
Ma.gnolia
TailRank
Blogmark
Shadow
Furl
Simpy
and Rawsugar

While some of these are duplicates from OnlyWire, it allows you to vary the anchor text more often. Pound for pound, it's the best free tool that I've found for social bookmarking.

Social Media Marketing
Automotive SEO

Kevin Rose's First Digg that DID NOT Go Popular

It's official. Kevin Rose, the Digg Master, has submitted a story that did not make it to the Popular front page. His 285 submitted story, "XREP - Taser via Shotgun", was submitted on August 7th.

It has stalled at just over 100 Diggs and did not make it over the hump.

Proof positive, in case anybody doubted, that Digg is truly algorithm based without manual override.

The funny part is, that story will probably get more hits now than it would have had it gone popular. You have to admire the guy, not just for creating the most powerful social news network on the planet, but also for "keeping it real" in most situations and not abusing his fame and power. Unless...

Why would he have submitted this story? It doesn't seem to fit with his standard Digg-related or tech related-story submittals. Did he just find the story interesting, or was it one of my possible conspiracy theories?

1) He was paid. Lots. The company with the product or the website with the story (or both) sent him a large check with a url.

2) Someone close to him was kidnapped. The ransom was one crappy Digg submittal.

3) Blackmail. Someone found a deep, dark secret about Kevin and they forced him to submit the story in exchange for their silence.

4) Hackers. His account was hacked and he either hasn't noticed or he's keeping it quiet until there's a full FBI investigation.

5) Disinformation. The algorithm IS rigged and they wanted to ruin his perfect record just to prove it.

6) Stocks. Kevin bought a ton of stock in a company that manufactures the Taser XREP and he's trying to cash in.

7) Attacked. Someone hit Kevin with the XREP, knocking him unconsious. They had just enough time to submit the story, and since there's no way to unsubmit or correct errors like there should be (like with comments) he was unable to correct it and just hoped for the best.


Whatever happened, I give my full kudos and respect to Kevin Rose...

...but something seems fishy.

Social Media Marketing

Creating a Social Network for Links (oh, and networking)

MySpace. Facebook. LinkedIn.

Yesterday's news from an SEO point of view.

The use of redirection, no html in posting, nofollow, or whatever other methods that these and similar social networks are using is making them less valid for search engine optimization. They still draw some traffic depending on what you're using it for, but in reality, they don't help making your own websites rise in the rankings.

Social bookmarks are still currently strong, but it's time to to hedge bets and go somewhere between the blogs and the social bookmarking sites. It's time for personal social networks.

What is it? A personal social network is one that is created by an individual or company using Ning, Goingon, or one of the many emerging websites that offer the service. You create a site, formatting it as a blog, an RSS site, a commenting or forum site, or just about whatever you want from it.

You invite people or get found on its own merits. People can join, post photos, videos, articles, or whatever you want your people to be able to post.

I will show you Ning in this post. I created a few myself, but my focus is on Automotive Network. Searches for "Car Dealer Social Network" or "Auto Dealers Social Network" on Google will show that it is currently #1 as of the time of this post. The site itself has only been up for a couple of months.

Through the blog posts, through the editable text boxes, a good SEO can really create some strong, relevant links on a separate server that are under the website owner's control. It's a brilliant method from the perspective that it serves two purposes -- you can create the links with ideal anchor text and you can find like-minded people who can become partners, collaborators, contributors, or even customers.

Car dealers like Toyota Portland and Glendale Nissan will be able to connect with their customers and connections in return by building their own social networks.

Any business, automotive or not, will be able to have their own website that can rank well for their brand name (if optimized) and push down any negative blogs or reviews that also show up for the company name.

Of course, there is a cost. Time. From a financial perspective, it's perfect. It's free.




SEO with Social Media