Its about that time we talk a little about using Social Media to our benefit, not with help from somebody else but with our own efforts. In this series I will as usual talk about the 3 major social media contenders : Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit. I would love to talk about Mixx as well but as of this point Mixx just doesn’t convert the time and effort into meaningful results. However, follow some of the tips that you will find here and integrate it with Mixx and I am sure it will work.

The approach to building a social media profile is pretty much the same, its just a different platform and different way of handling what comes your way. I have been using the 3 top social media services for a while and am labeled as a “power user” on all of them.

Continue reading 5 Naughty Tips To Boost Your Digg Profile - Part I

Tags: DIGG, SMO, Social media, social media optimization
Posted in Social media

With all the talk of Digg, its top user and our own inability to make appearances on the site — thanks to a wicked ban from the Digg folks — I figured it was about time to talk about social media’s long term viability. With more and more bloggers — and even larger PR firms — reaching out to Digg, Reddit and Stumble Upon (the “big three”) it’s hard to figure out if all the attention is anything more than a small, yet very vocal, community tooting its own horn. Adam Singer brought up social networking the other day on Future Buzz. He offers up this opinion: Continue reading Social Media’s Long Term Viability

Tags: DIGG, reddit, Social media, stumble upon
Posted in Social media

There are other ways to define social media but looking at the current situation the title might as well be the best fit. If you are an active social media user you must have seen the most talked about sites getting a little crazier day by day. First, as usual Digg and second Reddit. StumbleUpon usually seems to stay out of trouble but it also has one of the best algorithms as it is the hardest to game. Anyways, if you haven’t been keeping up with the social media scene lately, I would have to say you have been missing out on a lot of crazy stuff. In this post I will try and link to all the things that have been going on lately in terms of Digg and Reddit and some changes that StumbleUpon has implemented (certainly a good move from them).

Continue reading Social Media : 2 Crazy Monkeys and a Clever Fox

Tags: DIGG, reddit, Social media, social media optimization, stumble upon
Posted in Blogging, Social media

Note from Khalid: This post is by Social Media Insider who is an active user user on the big 3 of social media (Digg, SU and Reddit). SMI will be blogging regularly for Invesp on topics related to social media. The words might be a little harsh but it is our policy not to edit content submitted to us by our authors. Enjoy!

Social Media has become a hoard to become the champ, to rank on the top. Although most of us use social media partially for that reason, that’s not the only thing we are here for. Know the meaning of social media and how to utilize it to maximize opportunities for yourself, rather than wrecking it for everyone once and for all.

Continue reading Suggestion For Diggers and Trolls

Tags: DIGG, Social media, top Digg users
Posted in Blogging, Social media

Well, here is the interview I promised couple of weeks ago to publish. To set the record straight, there are couple of things I wanted to point out:

The top Digg user only agreed to do this interview if we kept his identity secret. I am honoring this agreement since I think some of the information he shares will hurt his relationships with the Digg community. I also paid him for the interview. I do not see an issue with this because we do pay our writers for good content. Also, the answers this user provides are not true for every top user on Digg. I know some of the top users via both personal and professional relationships. The information is not reflective of how they deal with the Digg community. Finally, whether you agree with this user or not, what he describes are common practices. Love them or hate them, they do exist. I think the Digg system and its lack of transparency will always foster such behavior.

Continue reading An interview with Digg top user

Tags: DIGG, Digg top users, Diggers, SMO, Social media
Posted in Social media

Two weeks ago I posted a blog about whether or not to publish an interview we conducted with one of Digg’s top users. The response I got, as I expected, was mixed. I received any emails and comments encouraging me to publish the interview, and as many angry emails and comments telling me not to publish it.

The other consideration we had was with the top user. They had a lot of concerns around a community backlash if we proceed with publishing the post.

I see several options on the table: publish the interview to our RSS subscribers or our mailing list, publish it on our blog in full, or skip publishing the interview all together.

After talking with the team and the top digg user, we’ve decided to move forward and publish the interview in full on our blog. We will publish the interview this coming Tuesday 9/4/2008.

Tags: DIGG, SMO, Social media
Posted in Social media

We are almost there. It is about time to publish an interview I conducted a while ago with a top Digg user. If you are active in the Digg community, chances are you voted on his/her submissions. I conducted this interview a little while ago but did not want to publish it because I felt that it acknowledged many of the hidden actions of top Digg users. I didn’t know if I should illuminate these actions and had mix feelings about it. I am also sure that we will get a lot of heat for publishing it, which made me hesitate as well.

The interview that will make some of the top Digg users very upset

Instead of telling you more about the interview, I will let you read few of the questions I asked:

Continue reading Don’t Digg this: The real story behind Digg top users

Tags: DIGG, SMO, Social media, social media optimization
Posted in Social media

As promised, here are the results from this week’s “review  and draw competition.”

Continue reading Review of the reviews: Breaking the Digg Code

Tags: DIGG, reviews
Posted in Business

Two of our friends made some changes in the last few weeks:

My friend Steven Bradley, AKA Vangogh, moved his blog and site to a new domain with a lot more focus on the great skill set he brings to the table. Yellow house hosting is now Van SEO Design. If there is one post you should not miss in April, it is Steven’s SEO monthly wrap up.

My friend Steven Snell from Vandelay Website Design started a new website, Traffikd, that focuses on marketing and social media. I read anywhere between 100 to 150 blogs every day. Every now and I then I find a blog that is packed with useful and “new” information. But that is exactly what Steven delivers in Traffikd.  From Traffikd comes, Long Term Results of Social Media Success: Increased Search Engine Traffic

Continue reading From around the blogosphere

Tags: DIGG, SEO, SEO Design, worth reading
Posted in Blogging, Business, Miscellaneous

Just a few weeks ago we published our Landing Page Optimization Book, over 120 pages filled with tips and techniques to optimize your landing pages. The book retails for $95. Since its release, the book has sold close to 500 copies.

This Monday, we released the report Breaking the Digg Code, a step-by-step instructional program to get on the first page of Digg in 4 weeks or less.

The feedback on both the book and the report has been great. But we want to get more feedback from you, the subscribers and readers so we are offering a special deal: Write a review of Breaking the Digg Code and your name will be included in a chance to win one of 5 free $95 copies of Landing Page Optimization: The Complete Guide.

If you write a review of the Breaking the Digg Code report on your blog you will get

• A link back from our blog to your review
• A possible quote on our testimonial page along with another link
• A chance to win one out of 5 free copies of Landing Page Optimization: The Complete Guide

To be part of this, please contact us [or email khalid at invesp dot come] to let us know that you have completed the review.

Ideas for what you might want to write about

• What did you expect from the report before reading it?
• Did you hesitate to subscribe or download the book?
• Did you find the instructional report useful?
• Did you mention the report to anyone else?
• Do you think it would be easy to follow the program?

Looking forward to reading your reviews.

Tags: DIGG, landing-page-optimization
Posted in Miscellaneous