Still Think Digg Users Don’t Subscribe?
When I wrote a post explaining how to get more Digg users to subscribe to your blog there were quite a few people who doubted me. “Impossible”, “waste of time”, “Diggers don’t subscribe”, “etc”, people said.
Well, I feel a little vindicated today.
Yesterday Codswallop was featured on the Digg homepage, today I see we have 200 more subscribers.
Not bad for a days work, eh? 
Perhaps those who doubted might like to see how to get more Digg users to subscribe to your blog one more time …
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Posted on September 07th, 2007 by Chris Garrett in News
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It is not that they do not subscribe, but the percentage of digg users that subscribe is very small. Check this:
http://www.dailyblogtips.com/case-study-digg-vs-copyblogger/
As far as subscribers go you would be better off getting featured on a popular blog on that same niche, even if said blog will send you a fraction of digg’s traffic.
But the true test will be to see how many subscribers you have in a few days. When I had a post hit the front page of digg, I had a large spike in subscribers and then it tapered off.
However, there were some that stuck around and my number has continued to grow since then. But the initial spike was not maintained.
@Daniel - That’s the thing though, even though the percentage is small the number acquired is still worth the small amount of additional effort.
@derek - Good point, we will have to see what happens over coming days, fortunately the subscriber count has been growing steadily anyway so hopefully the drop off will not be too drastic.
I suscribed to this blog after reaching it by digg. The same as other dozen blogs I found being interesting.
If I found that no new or catching info is published, i certanly will drop, which is the case of some blogs that only deliver one ’smart’ post.
I think possibly initial counts are inflated by random feed clocks but that could be what happens in a lot of cases Cesar, people are attracted by a one-off Digg-bait but what follows is not like what got them to subscribe
I think a big part of it is the content combined with the Digg audience. You have to figure out which bookmarking sites fit your niche.
While it’s true that most Diggers don’t subscribe, a small percentage does. When you hit the front page and suddenly get an additional 10 or 20 thousand unique views, even 1% of those visitors is still a large number of new subscribers.
However, like derek said, some (or even most) of those new subscribers may drop off after a few days. I think they to keeping them, however, is the same as the key to keeping any other subscribers: constantly give them quality content. If you can give them content of the same quality that got them to subscribe in the first place, you should manage to keep most of them from leaving.
Of course, I have no numbers to prove this, but it seems like common sense, doesn’t it?
I have no doubt that a good post on a good blog (such as this one) can attract Digg users to subscribe, that’s not the reason why I dislike sites like Digg to begin with.
My problem with Digg is mainly that only a handful of users appear to have the most influence over what sites make the front page. I tried using Digg for a while but gave up because all the stories I “digged” were quickly buried far into the site.
But that’s just my personal opinion, so you can take it for what it’s worth.
Interesting post though! Keep up the good work!!!
The subscriber numbers will fluctuate. It happens. You’ll get some subscribers and they’ll probably taper off. I know it’s been said before, but I’m just commenting to let you know that I read every blog post you write.
@Nathania - Yes, for this one I have found SU much more effective than Digg
@Adam - I think you are right but many of the “subscribers” will be people just hitting the RSS I think, but an increase in subscribers is still worthwhile whatever the amount
@Brad - This blog has been on the Digg front page four times that I know of, not bad for a blog launched in February 2007
I can’t take the credit though as other people submitted and dugg it up. I think having power user friends is the key!
@Tamar - And you are right, the subscribers dipped today but thankfully most were retained!
Wow, that’s amazing, congratulations! However, I like StumbleUpon a lot more than Digg (and basically any other of those types of sites) for too many reasons to list. Keep up the great work though.
I have been a little sceptical about Digg traffic too, but I am still new to all the science and art of driving traffic to my blog