After returning from PubCon this year I had put learning more about Digg on a short list of things to do. The amount of traffic Digg can generate for a site is simply amazing and who can’t use more traffic. Most of the SEO’s agreed that it is very hard to make money from the Digg traffic, but also still felt it was worth the effort.

So as a complete newbie I first talked to some friends that have had great success at submitting stories that make the homepage of Digg (they go popular). This is a quick overview of the basics of Digg and how to start building up your profile.

Digg: Your Profile

The first item on your list is to fill out some basics on your profile. Some people use a real picture while others use random graphics. Do what you are comfortable with. Also make sure to add some other content about yourself, again as much as you are comfortable sharing. Remember this is an online community so telling others a little about yourself can help you gain some trust and make it easier to gain friends.

Digg: Adding Friends

That brings me to adding friends. Friends are useful as they will share upcoming stories with you and you can in turn share (shout, see bottom of post for definition) your submissions with them.

1. To get friends on Digg all you need to do is find a story that is on the homepage. Visit Digg.com and pick any story that appeals to you.

2. Click on the submitter

3. Click on “View all xxx friends”

4. When viewing the list of friends you can see how many stories they submitted and dugg in the last 48 hours, if they are a “mutual friend” or “fan”, and when the last time they where active. There is also a button to add the person as a friend.

5. You are looking for friends that are active, also ones that Digg more stories then they submit. I like to see at least 10 Diggs for every submission. These are the people that seem to be more likely to look at your Digg’s when you send a shout. I am not interested in adding someone that has submitted 10 stories and only dugg their own 10 stories, they will never bother to help you by looking at and/or voting on your stories.

6. Remember you can always click on another profile to find more friends. Take your time and test to see what type of friends you are looking for.

It is important to note that you shouldn’t add to many friends on any given day. Have heard that 100 in a day is safe, but that might even be to much for you to handle. While adding friends make sure to look at any and all shouts they send you, if they are interesting then Digg them. Add comments also as this will make the user even more likely to remember you when you send them a shout asking the user to look at your story.

Digg: Shout (Message)

A shout is a way of communication between users on Digg. Users will send a shout to someone to let them know about an upcoming story they might like or just to communicate with another user. When building up your profile you will want to make sure to Digg your friends stories (as long as you like them) when they send you a shout.

You can click on “Share” and shout the link of any story to anyone on your friend list that accepts shouts. See below:

You can also shout any individual user by visiting their profile page and clicking on “Send Shout” (upper right). Also note this is another location that you can add a person as a friend.

When sending the shout please don’t say “Digg this and I will Digg yours”, just ask that the person takes a look at your story and they will Digg it if they like it. Don’t expect all your friends to Digg something every time you send them a shout.

Digg: Shout Spam

The problem with shouts is the potential for spam. To help avoid spam you need to make one small adjustment in your settings. Under your “Setting Tab” make sure to set it so you can only receive shouts from “friends”. Here is how you might want to adjust your settings.

Naturally you should not spam your friends with multiple shouts. Really you should only send them a shout for your best stories. Nothing is more annoying then getting multiple shouts a day from someone day after day. This will end up causing you to be removed from people’s friends lists. So reserve shouts for your best submissions and the ones you really want to try and push.

Hope these basics help everyone with Digg. Next edition will cover the types of content Digg users seem to like and more important how a real estate agent can use Digg to generate links to their sites.