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A Simple Proposal For Drastically Improving Digg

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The biggest problem with Digg is that it’s largely an all-or-nothing game. After spending a few days looking around Digg with the sole intention of understanding what is wrong, I’ve come up with this simple proposal:

Separate the logic of going popular in a category from the logic of going popular on the front page.

Ok. So what exactly do I mean and I why am I proposing it?

Right now, Digg sets a very high threshold for going “popular” – and it’s the same threshold for both the category pages and the Digg front page. Because of this high threshold for making the front page, there are many categories that are just ridiculously “stale” – I easily found a category where the top news story was from more than 6 days ago. I bet there are some categories with older news.

Because many of the categories are stale, or only have a few fresh stories per day, no one really monitors them as “breaking news” sources. Or even as a steady dose of interesting news. Most of the category pages are just plain dull and boring.

To fix this, Digg should have two levels of filtering. First, allow stories to go to the front page of a category more easily. This will create a steadier stream of new and interesting content on the category pages. Then, force a story that has gone popular on the category page to fight it’s way onto the “All” front page.

This kind of setup would create an environment where users votes on the category pages actually meant something. In other words, let the Digg users act as collective editors that play a critical role in deciding which “really good” stories deserve to be considered “great” – a 2-tier system of popularity would allow really good content the chance to exposure, it would freshen up the category pages with a steady stream of information, and it would put the average digg user back in control of what ultimately makes the front page.

Matt Cutts Gets Crunched – My First Attempt At Script Writing (how’d I do?)

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Alright, so I didn’t script the whole show. But if you watch to the very, very end you’ll see my first stab where I give a shoutout to my friends Graywolf, Sugarrae and the epicyclist who’s currently building a perpetual motion machine, Matt Cutts.

I’d be very interested to know what ya’ll think. I’ve been thinking about quitting the whole SEO / blogging world and going full time into comedy writing. Do I have a shot?

EatonWeb Makes Advanced Stats Free

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I encourage everyone to check this out. You can now browse the EatonWeb blog directory and monitor eight important statistical trends on all the blogs in the directory. Here’s what the graphs will look like:

So let’s say that you want to know the general statistical trends of a site like Randa Clay Design:

First go to the EatonWeb directory to see whether her blog is in the directory by doing a search:
http://portal.eatonweb.com/search/randa/1/

You’ll see that Randa does indeed have an entry in the EatonWeb directory:
http://portal.eatonweb.com/blogs/randa-clay-design/

Now, on her blog page in the directory, there’s a link to “View Advanced Stats”:
http://portal.eatonweb.com/dashboard/advanced/randa-clay-design/

Now anyone can visit the EatonWeb directory and see Advanced Stats for any blog that’s present.

Performancing Releases the College Theme for WordPress

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It’s a new year and Performancing is excited to get things kickstarted with another free WordPress Theme. Developed by our friends at Design Disease, and available for free download, the College Theme is a two-column theme with sleek, rounded corners and a stylish 7+ color palette.

The College Theme for WordPress would work well for about any blogging application. I can see it being used for a range of projects including music, health, web 2.0, and a whole host of other topics.

This is one of our best themes yet, and we hope you enjoy it!

Click here to download a Zipped version of the College Theme.
Click here for a live preview of the College Theme.
Click here for WordPress theme support.

Performancing Seeks Experienced Internet Professional with Blogging and Social Media Experience

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Performancing, a leading authority on blogging and SEO, is currently searching for a new lead blogger to write daily articles on Blogging, SEO, Social Media, Monetization, etc.

Requirements:

  • Strong, confident, conversational blogging voice
  • Proven success in the blogosphere or other online Internet communities
  • Ability to write both conversational pieces and linkbait resources

Expectations:

  • Daily, in-depth article on topics related to blogging, monetization, social media, etc.
  • Development of one monthly quality linkbait resource
  • Behind the scenes planning and development of Performancing
  • Networking and marketing of the Performancing brand and Performancing services

Compensation:

  • $1000 / month

To apply for the position please contact Ryan via PM.

Interview With Jon Phillips of FreelanceFolder

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Jon Phillips is one of those guys who it pays to know. He’s smart, and keeps his eye on the ball. In the world of social media marketing Jon Phillips is one of those guys who just gets the job done; and you can’t help but admire his work ethic. Smooth, efficient and a great marketer/networker, I’ve gotta say that there are few others online that I envy in terms of work efficiency and productivity. If you don’t know him from SmartWealthyRich (a site that he has now sold) or his current site FreelanceFolder, then you are definitely missing out.

How long have you been blogging and how did you get started online?

I started blogging about a year ago, but have been working online for a couple years, mostly affiliate marketing and adwords which I no longer do. I started blogging ‘just like that‘, I had heard of WordPress and was bored one evening, so I downloaded WP, installed it and voila! I then joined sites like BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog, and I met Liz Strauss who helped me understand what blogging was about and gave me a ton of helpful advices. That’s how I got started. 🙂

How did you get so much traffic so quick since you have a relatively new blog? any blog launch tips?

I launched Freelance Folder in July 2007, but already had many loyal readers on Smart Wealthy Rich (my other blog which I recently sold), so this was enough to give Freelance Folder a head start. I simply told my readers I was planning on launching another blog, a multi-author blog, and was looking for writers. The response was great and I decided to do it.

My best advice would be to set realistic goals, my personal goals for the first month were:

  • 1000 rss readers
  • Alexa rank in the 70K range
  • Technorati around 15K

I think setting these goals is what made people want to write on this blog. Writers don’t have to worry about managing the blog or doing the time-consuming social networking and promotion tasks. One person told me something like ‘it’s fun to write on your blog, I don’t have to do anything except write posts from time to time. It’s nice to know someone has goals and will do whatever it takes to reach them‘.

Then making the Digg frontpage a couple times definitely helped.

Tell us a little about how important networking has been for your blog? Any tips for the new blogger?

I find a lot of new bloggers don’t spend enough time making friends on social networking sites, it sure is time-consuming but it’s worth the efforts. I’m not interested in numbers and traffic that much, I want to meet people, chat with them and check out their blogs, whether they grab my rss feed or not.

My best tip: take a minute and send a private message to that blogger who voted your post up on StumbleUpon, just say ‘thanks‘, it is always appreciated and that person will be more likely to stumble your posts again in the future.

I’ve seen you on StumbleUpon. How effective has StumbleUpon been for your blog as compared to other social voting systems?

StumbleUpon is definitely my favorite, sure Digg can send massive traffic but I find that stumblers stay longer on the site and are more likely to subscribe to the RSS feed. I’m probably the one who knows the least what he’s doing, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Digg is great but if I take a look at my stats I see traffic from SU every single day, traffic from Digg will die after 2-3 days.

Do you have any goals for expansion in 2008? What are the next steps you want to take with regards to Freelance Folder?

I honestly don’t have a plan or strategy, but here are some of my goals for Freelance Folder this year:

  • Find more writers (if you’re interested let me know)
  • Add a CSS gallery/portfolio showcase section
  • Write an ebook (or two, or three). I’m currently working on one
  • Not necessarily related to Freelance Folder: finish building my portfolio site.

What is your number one monetization tip?

I used to put adsense ads on every single post I wrote but not anymore, Freelance Folder is ‘adsense free‘, now I focus more on finding private advertisers for 125x125px banner ads. My best monetization tip would be not to charge more for a banner than it’s actually worth, go read some ‘advertise‘ pages on other blogs to see how much they charge and make sure you compare with blogs the same size as yours. Who wants to spend $400-$500 for a 125×125 banner on a blog that has 300 readers and 500 visitors per day? $30-$50 seems more appropriate.

Which Internet personality (blogger, seo, etc.) has had the biggest influence on you?

My answer is in question #1, Liz Strauss is definitely someone who influenced me a lot. When I started blogging I had no idea what this whole thing was about, Liz helped me out and I learned a lot with and because of her, she’s a good friend.

What is the biggest mistake you’ve made as an Internet entrepreneur?

I would say my biggest mistake was to not have a schedule. Building a blog, networking, replying to e-mails, chatting on Skype, designing blogs, writing guest posts, marketing, etc.. you really need a schedule or else there is no way you can get everything done and meet deadlines. I don’t have a ‘day job‘, so I have to treat every aspect of blogging like a business.

What are your three favorite blogs?

I have a lot more than 3 favorite blogs, but these 3 are at the top of my list (in no specific order)

Skelliewag
Successful-blog
IttyBiz

Four twitch responses: PC or Mac, Chow vs Schoemaker, Brandable or Keyword based domain, Jamie Lynn Spears is_______________

  • Mac, definitely. Sorry Mr. Gates.
  • Schoemaker! Chow is cool but too evil for me.
  • Brandable
  • lucky to have such a cool sis? (I had something else in mind but I’ll keep it for myself)

Why I Ignore 89% of the people who try to contact me (but not you!)

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Most of the people who contact me don’t treat me like a human being. They treat me like a stupid machine.

These people send me messages as if they think I’m a stupid algorithm, and that some (if->then) switch will go off when I see the words “this is a great deal for you” or “this will be a perfect business partnership for you.”

Fact is, I’m not a machine. The sad thing is that the people sending me these messages act is if they are.

Can you relate? Do you market to human beings or machines?

6 Easy Ways To Get Eaten By the GOOG Monster

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This article is for informational purposes only. Being eaten by the GOOG monster is not something that you want to try at home. Please leave the handling of the GOOG monster to trained experts.

The GOOG Monster is a voracious beast that likes to prey on both the guilty and the innocent. The key to getting eaten by the GOOG monster is to give off the appropriate scent…the scent of website decay. If you really want to give this a shot (disregarding our disclaimer), you’ll need to know the appropriate smells to manufacture.

Here are 6 ways to attract the untamed wrath of the GOOG monster:

1. Syndicate your feed

The GOOG monster likes to eat tiny websites that syndicate their feed to bigger websites. So if you’re just starting out, syndicate your feed and make sure it gets picked up by an established feed syndicator. An alternative method is to attract the attention of dozens of splogs.

2. Change URL structure and help your users with a 301 redirect

The GOOG monster sniffs out 301 redirects from a mile away. A 301 is really just a temporary snack for the GOOG monster, and might be a good entry point for the uninitiated if you’re willing to be nibbled on for a while. The GOOG monster likes to nibble on sites with complete URL overhauls for a good 1-3 months. If you’re lucky, the GOOG monster will be satisfied and let you go after this time.

3. Get a new site design

Just as humans smell chemicals, the GOOG monster smells HTML code. When you get a new site design, you might notice how it looks much nicer, but the GOOG monster doesn’t care about looks. Nope. He notices that your code has undergone a radical change. The GOOG monster loves to devour change. A new site design often results in changes to 1) the location of your content in the code, 2) the structure of your title tag 3) the ratio of code to content 4) whether you have a META description 5) sitewide navigation links. All of these changes will bring out the GOOG monster for a feast.

There are really only 2 ways to beat the GOOG monster here. Either, trick the GOOG monster by mimicking your old code (keeping elements in their same locations) or build up enough stronghold defenses (i.e. become an authority) before hand to minimize the ability of the GOOG monster to take a bite out of your site.

4. Give editorial links to paid partners

The GOOG monster has seen a recent increase in his appetite for paid links. The GOOG Monster wants all paid links to himself. So be careful. He has sent out a brigade of sniffers whose sole task is to horde the paid editorial links of others for himself. The GOOG Monster wants to get fat, and his current strategy for plumping up the coffers centers around keeping all the paid links to himself.

5. Link out to your friends

Do you have friends with websites that are unrelated to your own? Do you link to your friends’ websites from your blogroll? The GOOG monster can smell this…but to the GOOG monster, it smells the same as a paid editorial link. And the GOOG monster’s favorite food are varieties of paid editorial links. So if you have a site about bowling and your sister has a site about girls & gadgets, think twice before linking to your sister’s website.

6. Link to a list of other sites from every page of your site

Haven’t heard of the is_home() function in WordPress? Well, the GOOG monster is glad, especially if your theme designer didn’t incorporate the function into your WordPress theme. The GOOG monster loves to snack on run-of-site links to external sites.

Ok. That’s my list. Can you help me make the list longer by offering more suggestions for feeding a hungry GOOG monster?