Ok I have a story to share… one I been telling for a while for fun and always meant to post but just never gotten around to it.
I used to be addicted to try to make the front page of digg… but I often had trouble hitting the front page. Sure it would happen every other month or so but it took a lot of work. Then in 2007 one month I made it 5 times… including 2 times in the SAME DAY on Feb 21st 2007:
So how? How can one website all of a sudden become attractive to the digg users who normal HATE anything that looks close to a internet marketer…. or SEO….
BUT digg users LOVE Linux and hate Microsoft.
Well I made one simple change. I swapped out all ads for more… digg user friendly images. In particular I changed the leader board ad for a “I love Linux” banner and the square on the right to a image of a guy peeing on Microsoft.
Here you can see ShoeMoney.com normally:
and now if you were to come from digg.com:
There are a lot of lessons from this that I still apply today. Changing your website or landing page based on where your visitors are coming can help make a huge impact on conversions.
About the author...
Jeremy Schoemaker – who has written 2415 posts on ShoeMoney.com.
Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.
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{ 128 comments… read them below or add one }
Very cool idea! I did not know that digg users do not like microsoft
You are wrong. most of them prefer windoZ((
I think I learned that in the Shoemoney System a week or two ago. I actually have tried some things using that principle as a basis. Digg users really like Apple and Linux, so stories praising one or the other really seem to take off.
That is such an odd change, I don’t many people would ever consider doing that for such results. It’s very eye opening though
haha. good post.. I can see a lot of pages switching to love Linux / hate Microsoft layout
Very interesting insight Jeremy,
I guess we’re going to see this kind of thing become more and more prevalent in the next few years. It would be great to deliver facebook style ad personalisation to the individual within any blog – that would be really powerful.
See this is what pisses me off about you Shoe. You do these things and I always say to myself, now why the heck didn’t I think of that!
Brilliant.
I know you’re doing things right now that I won’t figure out for about a year. I need to get into the Shoemoney mind….
Well and to be honest…. back then I was worried digg would have banned me for something like that… now I dont really see the value in digg traffic anyway.
So what was the incentive (payout to you) for the additional traffic? What was the plan for the traffic? More subscribers?
Was this just a see if this works and figure it out later ideas?
Probably lots of clicks on the Peeing on Microsoft image to see if he really was peeing or just posing, but what was the payoff?
Did you pull more subscribers on an opt in?
I know a campaign that pulled 25K unique off of FARK doing something similar… but no cash from the traffic.
The lesson is you can pull traffic…. but the payoff?
There was no cash motivation…. The biggest value of hitting the digg homepage is that it really gets you out there (or did) to the mainstream press. Lots of mainstream press people have contacted me because they found my website via digg.
Also I was trying to beat Neil Patels record of making it 3 days in a row.
It is all about the game indeed.
p.s. gotta love that microsoft-pissing-action image
Umm…how did you do the change for visitors from Digg, technically I mean?
Interesting… Do you personalize images for users coming from any other sites besides digg? Is it just the ads or do you tweak anything else? I wonder what digg’s rules on cloaking…
The ads were kind of a no brainer…. CTR from digg users on ads was like… 0% anyway so it just dilutes my CPM.
I never did anything else…. I have seen some things that say like “welcome digg user” and stuff like that but ironically I have never seen those pages make it to the homepage.
Dude, you can do it anytime you wish to now. I would be happy if I could do it even 1 years from now
That’s so f*cking bad ass and genius! Gotta love Shoemoney.
It’s interesting to see how two changes can change the way normal surfers view your website
That guy p*ssing on Microsoft is too funny.
Wow. Epic.
Volk im still waiting to see your shoemoney system entry
Was the swap made just for Digg users or was it for your entire page for a short period of time? Java script?
That rocks though. That’s truly knowing your demographic!
just for people coming from digg
Genius lol
Didn’t hurt that you had “WebTickle” submitting!
Rule #1 – if you do not have a power account then make sure you have some who does submit for you!
Didn’t hurt that you had “WebTickle” submitting for you!
Digg Rule #1: you are do not a “power user” have someone who is, submit for you.
50% FP ratio always helps!
Well he only submitted like 1 ?
Actually 3 of the 6 that you are showing were submitted by “WebTickle”.
I am not saying the changes you made would not appeal to the DIGG audience. No doubt the DIGG crowd hates MSFT ect….
I am also pointing out for those that may not be aware that one of the biggest factors of hitting front page at DIGG is the submitter.
WebTickle as of today is still at a 55% front page ratio. That’s up there with the VERY TOP of the entire DIGG community.
Even with your page changes if a newbie submits your stories 0 most likely hit Front Page –> IMO.
a) Get a power user to submit your content
b) Give your content the best chance of succeeding; you have chronicled in this post that you did exactly that.
Kudos to you for hitting both those very important criteria.
Awesome post
, i like the ads, especially the one where the guy pisses on MS, ouch! epic. Digg used to me good for me but didnt worked as good as yours. I dont see much value in it today.
I like the new change in this blog..
Whats up with the “home grown in Lincoln Ne” on the top right anyways
eh!
Too funny. So if you want all your traffic to come from porn you need some boob shoots in your side panel?
now your thinking
Very funny. I remember you telling this story at Elite Retreat.
To echo one of the earlier commentors question:
How did you do this from a technical standpoint? Since we know you’re on Wordpress did you use a plugin or have to custom code it?
I will do a followup with some code
Good to know. I’ll be awaiting that post.
shoe can you show us how you we’re able to swtich banners base on the traffic?
is there a plugin for that
thanks
I will do a follow up with the code… its pretty trivial to implement. Especially if I can do it.
It’s just a matter of catering to your target audience.
Great. I try to do this tactic too but more on reddit as oppose to digg. I would be interested to see how you do this on the technical side.
wow crazy move lol… PS: love the new design
and the loading speed
This is a very neat little trick. I can’t wait to see your next post. Greg Ellison
The traffic may not be valuable but is there any value from an SEO point of view from having more links from a high page rank site? Or are web developers likely to check digg more often and again therefore link? Or just simply not enough to really matter?
There is some seo value to it because so many places syndicate the front page listings which directly link to your site.
It actually has huge SEO value sometimes, and doesn’t even require that you get any diggs.
Surprising that something that silly can have such a big impact. You really tapped into a sensitive nerve with Digg users. How did you figure out that Digg users love LINUX and hate Microsoft? Please share some of your research techniques.
As both you and Frank Kern said in the webinar earlier this evening, if you can make your users happy and entertain them as well …..
Did you do split testing? Did you have 50% of Digg users end up on a “regular” page and 50% end up on an “Digg-optimized” page?
If not, we cannot completely know if the hypothesis is true.
Brilliant simplicity.
Such a great idea. thanks for sharing.
thank you for your post.
I’ve met some “Sick” people in my life but Shoe is just one of the best. I mean how on earth can you come with such an idea … I just laughed my pants off while reading this post.
Digg is great social network to use however many people fail when it comes to marketing and hitting the front page and there’s several reasons to that.
I remember when I started my online ventures I took a digg, stumble upon and delicious.com approach to see if anybody would stick to my blog, I was just trying to test several audience but really failed back at that time.
Why?
Digg is a lot more than it appears to be, it takes a lot of friends and you need to be damn active to manage to get your site on the front page. Anyone can test this.. Just have a look at what sites make the front page of Digg daily, and not only that but what users manage to get “Front Pages”, They the same old users, well a new one is popping up every day but slowly getting into the shadow. LoL.
I’ve failed for the same reason. There were a few people that had armies behind their backs that would vote, rate and comment on their submissions just to make everything look natural to digg’s algo. Sometimes I felt as if MrBabyMan, MakiMaki from DoshDosh.com and several other top users were hired by digg actually to bring the best content on the front page (I might be wrong though).
Anyways you’ll need an outstanding blog/site, it better be something related to funny/news/entertaiment if you want to make the front page and these are not the only ingredients.
(I’ve only managed to get 5 stories on the front page of digg, they were from 2 of my blog that are sold now) The conversions did interest me back at that time, but to be honest they were horrible. I was monetizing my blogs mainly with adsense and Clickbank which apparently won’t work ..
Evelina
All you need to do to have success on digg is read digg…read your favorite webites (not facebook)…and submit content from your favorite sites that you think people on digg will like…stuff you think might get dugg for whatever reason.
Wow this is awesome. You never cease to amaze me with your quirky online experiments, Shoe.
And can’t wait for your April fool thingie. Should be great.
Epic stuff. Waiting for the code.
That is neat fun stuff…. I just realized that people also like Linux and hate Microsoft. I am a Microsoft user though. I usually submit my articles about Mayweather and Mosley in digg and I usually only get 3 diggs… (Sad)..
I hope in the next quarter I can find a good strategy similar to yours. Thank you!
Is this all true, seriously I doubt it. I mean is Digg running some hate Microsoft campaign?
This is a very good way I have not even thinked about this.
Ahah! That’s classic! Sneaky, but smart
But what’s the point? social traffic converts like crap.
Again… its good if you want some mainstream press or pick up some rss readers
I am shocked this worked if it is true. I don’t think I will be able to get as far out of the box as Shoe does, EVER!
Haha, very clever.
How did you figure out those facts
?
Now we start seeing people doing some nasty things with microsoft logo on digg
I think that is a very clever tactic. However I question if this will work for everybody. This is sort of like the Youtube thumbnail situation. Where people try and try to get more views to their videos by figuring out how to insert their own thumbnail. They may get a lot of views, but that doesn’t mean that the video they produced is worth watching.
Like some one else mentioned social traffic can be terrible, especially nowadays. I think if some one were to utilize this landing page method that you have tried, they would have to make sure their content is stellar. You don’t want people digging up bs. ( Did you get the joke???? ).
this genius idea) will test on my english seo blog, maybe it will work)
Nice idea. And i didn’t have Microsoft, and i use Digg.com
That’s a great idea shoe, honestly that’s what you call thinking outside of the box
.
You achieved this back in 2007 and letting us know in 2010? Great!!
Anyway, I’d also like to know how you did that banner thing.
Interesting. This reminds me of Facebook ads. The advertisers really know how to use the right language and images.
Crazy stuff…..that will be a big ruling for sure. I use youtube every day, as do alot of people!
This is a noob question, but why do digg.com users like Linux and Apple and hate Microsoft? I’m curious and a little interested, since I’ve never used digg.com. I hear about it often, and I have friends using it, but I’ve never used it.
Hahaha, Jeremy, this was a joke right?
Thats so funny
Interesting fact, I never imagine spending a day without youtube.
How often do you submit your own site to social networking sites and get to top. I have heard that digg toppers are a part of a strong lobby. Getting on front page for some new user is really hard on digg.
I dont buy this…..LMAO… Please tell the real secret on how to get on Digg front page.
Amazing!!!! I don’t think I have ever had more than 10 Diggs on any of the posts I have submitted to Digg. I always knew the system could be exploited but didn’t know how.
I would be interested in knowing how many Diggs this post gets????
Any good tips on how to make it to the top on reddit?
Dude, you can do it anytime you wish to now. I would be happy if I could do it even 1 years from now
Shoemaker : You got the courage !! we like you!!
Cool idea, thanx!)
lol what an interesting point of view. Who could thought such an thing would have such a value.
Thanks, for sharing your wisdom once again
hahahha ….. like you point of views.
let the debate more interesting please, I have been using digg since last 2 yrs and i also love microsoft
rofl.
Thanks for sharing this tip. I hope this will help to get more diggs and get more traffic.
publish something about linux on my blog =)
That really is hilarious. Maybe it’s partly the comedy aspect aswell which got them digging! Great ingenuity Shoeboy lol
Well this is funny!
Its a basic value – Knowing your target audience, but this.. this is taking it to new heights in my opinion.. Big LOL, and great job!
thanks for the tip, i also like to use Linux. will try to do what you have said in here, tks
Dude, you can do it anytime you wish to now. I would be happy if I could do it even 1 years from now
Awesome so peeing on Microsoft makes you rank on digg.
Cool!
I did not know about it
Thanks for the info
That is really interesting. And hilarious. Such subtle changes, and you get the front page. Genius.
This is a childish question why this is digg.com for linux users such hatred? I find it interesting and why people react so? I do not even enjoy dogg.com. I had to hear about it, have friends who enjoy but never lowered the others!
It’s interesting to see how two changes can change the way normal surfers view your website
That guy p*ssing on Microsoft is too funny.
additional info on how to play around digg. Thanks for sharing!
That’s not really clean information
but thanks anyway. Great weblog by the way.
Thanks for the tip
I do not this info.
I think Linux is best suited for Programming websites
He he
Very interesting
Shoe,
You simply ROCK! I thought Digg’s use was only for link building. But after I saw your post, I’m thinking of doing the same. Thanks for the article.
Mark
HAh, thank for infirmation. Dont think about this
Very good! I did not know that digg users do not like microsoft
Yes, that’s been a long running thing. In fact not many people like MSFT to be fair!
I think they get a bad press generally. The may not have the “coolness” of the brand of, say, Apple but their products are much better than many would have you believe.
Very good tip. Thanks for sharing it. I have yet to start digging.
How interesting that changing two ads depending on where you come from can make such a difference, I might have a bit of an experiment now, cheers for sharing.
That is a pretty cool experiement!
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I knew that Digg users were anti microsoft and were more orientated towards Macs, or in this case Linux. However, I never expected that changing the pictures on the landing page could make such a difference.
It is still difficult to understand.
This is eye opening.How can one ever thought that such changes could bring to Digg’s home page.i have been trying to get to the frontpage to avail for the past one year. i think i will try this out for my blog on make money blogging
Nice article.amazing.
Love the pictures that you have for Diggs.
Bryan
Very interesting. I’ve been a Digg-er for a while now but not too many people digg my stuff so far. This gives me a lot to think about. P.S. also enjoyed the affiliate summit video…
original idea! Always if you are thinking opposite to 95% of other people you achieve awesome results. Jeremy, thank you so much for fresh idea. Wish you get an other one and share it with us
I’ve tried to be at first page of google for 7 times. Nice idea that digg people don’t like microsoft. I also know that articles about digg are very popular!
I’ve tried to be at first page of digg for 7 times. Nice idea that digg people don’t like microsoft. I also know that articles about digg are very popular!
I also support!
This was surely an interesting change, I would try something like this on my sites as well.
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Were you using a script that recognized the user was coming from Digg and only showed those visitors the modified page? I’m guessing so, as you wouldn’t want those mods showing to your normal visitors..which would affect conversions.
Interesting article. I have been consistently snubbed by digg and you seem to get to the root of the problem in no time flat. Great advise. Thanks for the tip.
I’d really like clarification on this. Is this what is called cloaking, and why is this frowned upon by the goog? Seems like a website that was completely customized for each visitor would be the apex of web accessibility?
Jeremy is truly a Digg master! It just goes to prove what can happen if you are prepared to think outside the box. Digg can be really fussy with in-content ads too, so make sure you leave those out from the start
Interesting Jeremy. Do you think post Panda that Diggs and other social buzz factors really help in the organic serps? Are you a big advocate of displaying social interest such as Diggs and Tweets etc in something like a floating tool bar?
James