Digg! Digg.com that is. I love this bookmarking site. They have a great community and this is the first site I choose to use now when I see an item on the internet that begs “digging”. I decided to wax eloquent on Digg.com because Larry Brauner wanted to know what all his Facebook friends’ favorite service was. Digg is mine.

What is Digg?

Digg is a social media news website that gives users the ability to share content from anywhere on the web. Users can submit links to stories and news items they find interesting, and vote and comment on links submitted by others.The popularity of an item is determined by users who have voted it up (called digging) or voted it down (called burying) using the toolbar that appears at the top of every user-submitted page or just browsing the links throught the website itself.

The homepage of Digg.com contains the most “Dugg” stories and there are manuy options to filter and browse through everything the site has collected in the 5 years since they began.

Why do I love Digg?

Partially, I have to admit, I just love the little Digg guy with his shovel. I think it connects with the gardener in me.  I love to dig. Give me a shovel, some soft fertile garden dirt in the warmth of the summer, a few plants and flowers, and I’ll be a happy little digger. Yeah, ok, I’m a dork.

The other reason I love Digg.com is the ease of submission. That hard working little Digg guy gets to work and looks to make sure someone else hasn’t already dug my submission. If they did, all I have to do is click DIGG! to add my vote to the rest and add that link to my Digg.com account. If they didn’t, the process for me to be the first to Digg is easy and painless. A nice 2 step process is presented to you.

Step One:
a. Enter the link.
b. Pick the type of link.

Digg Step One

Step Two:
a. Enter a decent eye catching, clear and concise title.
b. Add your “review” or description of the story to further enhance the title.
c. Pick a topic (category) for it. This is the only area I have a hard time with. I think Digg.com needs a few more Topic areas, or the ability to “tag” our submissions. Maybe someday.
d. Check the preview of your submission.
e. Fill out the “are you human” test.
f. Submit!

Digg Step Two

Digg Step 2 Continued

You’re done! You’ve dug! You have made the little Digg man happy and you can be off to find more stuff to Digg.

A Dugg Submission

Digg Plugins

There are some great Digg plugins available for Wordpress and other blogs or some great copy and paste code to implement on just about any website out there. This makes it easy to integrate Digg into your online life and enable your user to promote your site easily.

Digg Traffic!

Last, but by no means the least, I like Digg.com for the quality traffic is can drive to your website. It does take a bit of work and maintenance to ensure that happens. You will need to participate in the Digg Community and continue to submit good quality links. Don’t just submit your own website links, make sure you submit other website stories you surf or read.

Personalize your Digg profile. Add a picture. Add some information about yourself. Make friends on Digg.com. Add them as favorites. Encourage your coworkers or circle of friends to Digg your content, and always reciprocate by digging theirs if they have any. Commenting on Dugg stories and having some good conversation about what’s been submitted is highly encouraged.

Good traffic takes time and with Digg it really is all about the participation.

So grab your shovel and start Digg’ing!

P.S. Don’t you think that little Digg guy needs a name? Dugg?

P.S.S. Don’t forget to Digg this post!

Several weeks ago on the day the iPad was announced, we (dalnet’s #coldfusion IRC channel) had a lively little discussion about it’s name and why a lot of us thought it was ridiculous. The alignment with other pads out there of the non-tech type and the jokes that would be made, were just too silly. How could Apple do that? Were there no females in that meeting the day they discussed potential product names?

One of the dissenters said, to paraphrase, that no, it was a good choice. That Apple did right by not just releasing another “tablet named” device, that the name made sense. OK. Whatever.

No, I’m sorry, but after all these weeks have passed, I still believe it’s a stupid name, and it will forever conjure up images of feminine hygiene for me. And apparently, those images haunted someone’s dreams, because lo and behold, we now have the first iMaxi. With Wings. <sigh>

From the creator’s mouth (er, website) to our ears:

“Introducing Hip Handmaids’ exclusive iMaxi—the only Apple iPad case made with protective wings! With its durable vinyl outer layer and plush, quilted-cotton sleeve, the iMaxi helps keep your iPad clean and dry. Plus, the iMaxi’s Velcro-latched, advanced wing design wraps snugly around your device, so your iPad always stays where it should.”

I have to admit, if they were going for this connection from the beginning, to add humor and a constant laugh track to be aligned with a several hundred dollar purchase, then kudos to Apple. They pulled it off nicely. I’m just glad the name didn’t rhyme with tampon.

I don’t have a lot to say today, because I’m going to let Danny Brown say it all. He posted a great ebook on his blog today about “simple” and some examples of where thinking, being, living, leading, being “simple” is better. I loved it. I hope you do too.

Danny Brown:

“Sometimes, as marketers and/or business owners, we over-complicate matters and offer so many facts on ideas and products that none of them stick. Sometimes, the simplest of ideas work.

This ebook is a collection of simple ideas that may work for you. Enjoy.”

Why Simple Works by Danny Brown

Ok. Ok. Sorry about that headline. The one thing that grabbed me real quick about Google Buzz was it’s name. I think it’s “cute” and easily remembered, but also easily made fun of or fit into different tongue twisters, variations, jokes, etc, etc. So when I have the opportunity I simply cannot resist see how many ways I can buzz around with the name Buzz. For the record: I am scared of bees. That however is another story.

Google Buzz has been making a very fast splash this past week creating a huge buzz around the interwebs. I jumped right in there on launch day and tried it out. Was easy enough to use but I didn’t like having to sign into my gmail account to use it. It was not, and still isn’t as of this writing, available on my Google Hosted account. I do not believe it ever will be. Strike one. (more…)

I received a very weird email today from someone who’s marketing list I belong to. I shall not name names because I have replied to them and have not gotten a response yet. I also think it’s nicer this way because all I am trying to do is share an opinion on the matter for future reference to everyone that does email marketing. If they read *MY* blog, they will know who they are. (more…)

Excellent slide presentation with great statistical numbers you can use to show customers/clients/bosses/aunts/exes/whomever that social media is here and it’s here to stay. Get involved and grow your business/online worth/popularity. Ignore it at peril.

(WARNING: This is the R-rated version. If you are afraid of having to get your eyeballs washed out with soap, try this G-rated link: F-word Free Version) (more…)

A developer we all know (Todd Sharp) has developed a nice RIA app, SlideSix, and needs your votes to go to, and get the app spoken about at MAX, the annual Adobe Developer’s conference being held this October. So if you read this or follow it, please click this link: http://oreillynet.com/insideria/polls/237.csp and vote for SlideSix! (more…)

This is a very handle little article to have at your fingertips if you have to convince someone how important it is to have a web presence these days. Albeit a couplle of years old, the data is nonetheless relevant.

A new study projects that internet advertising and access spending in the United States will total $78.4 billion in 2011, up from $47.2 billion in 2006, an average annual growth rate of 10.7 percent.

Click to read the Internet Spending article here.

Followed  by a bit more recent article published in February of 2008:

eMarketer predicts that online retailers in the US will ring up over $100 billion more in sales in 2012 than they did in 2007. Sales growth will come mainly from consumers who are shifting their spending from traditional retail stores to the Internet.

US Retail E-Commerce Set for Growth

The bottom line is that more and more consumers are moving online each and every day. That means that now more than ever, is the time to make sure your business has a presence online, whether you cater to a small local market or a larger global one.

Another year has started (Happy New Year!) and another tax day is approaching.

What fun! I’ll bet you all can’t wait!

Well, I’m marketing again, but for a worthy cause. Your own pocketbooks and your own bank accounts. We all need to know how to make sure we file our tax returns without overpaying our fair share on April 15. I came across a great read the other day and thought I would share. You can download it right here at the end of this post. Some references to past tax years are abound in the document but I emailed the creator, Wayne M. Davies, and he said he has kept it updated and that he is available for any questions you may have.

“How To Instantly Double Your Deductions” (and slash your taxes to the bone!)

This report explains the easiest ways for any small business owner (including home-based and part-time businesses) to immediately and legally pay less tax now. Self-Employed people can certainly benefit from this report too!

Find out tax secrets that most accountants and CPA’s don’t even know about:

• Commuting mileage is non-deductible, right? Not after you read how to convert commuting mileage to a legitimate business expense
• How to get a $1,000 refund for a tax return you already filed
• How to throw away your receipts and still take a deduction!
• How to let the IRS pay for your kids’ summer camp
• How to deduct your next vacation
• New tax law has turned a small biz loophole into a crater!
• What is the biggest mistake every small biz owner makes — and how to avoid it
• Why the most important business decision you probably never made is the key to paying thousands less in taxes

Learn about those tips and more by downloading this free report right now. Right click on this link and save to your computer.

I came across a great question the other day, “What is the number one rule in Marketing?”. Sent to me by another marketer, of course.

Well I have to confess, I really don’t have a clue. I’m usually pretty snappy off the line on questions like this, especially since I’ve been in marketing for so long… but I never thought about what was the number one reason.

Of course I was embarrassed when I found out the answer:

The Number 1 Rule of marketing is to…

…give people what they want.

Well duh!

How could I have been so clueless? It was easy to see that.
Give them what they want, and you get what you want.

So what DO they want???

I’m sure you’ve been reading the newspapers, and following the headlines on TV. I’ve been listening to the Senate hearings, and the financial advisers for the US commenting on the state of the economy. It’s no secret these days, more and more people are being laid off. Heck, AT&T alone is cutting 12,000 jobs and here I thought they were doing great!

Yes, with the state of the union and the international markets, it’s pretty easy to figure out what people want these days.

People want Financial Security.

They want to be a part of a business that they KNOW will make them money in ANY economy. Heck, who doesn’t want that?

BINGO! as the light bulb went off in my head… BigTicketDepot.com! The perfect program! I haven’t really marketed any products on my blog yet, preferring to keep some of my internet marketing projects under wraps, but this one is pretty cool.

Here I am, at the forefront of a fantastic business opportunity. A business that can ride the financial roller coaster, because someone always wants or needs to sell something.

BigTicketDepot.com is going to be the hottest new online classified service to arrive on the net in a LONG time. Ebay is great, don’t get me wrong, but the marketing reach we will have with BigTicketDepot will be phenominal. The teams already in BigTicketDepot.com are gearing up for an all out assault on the internet.

Yes, bottom line, people need financial stability. A way to work for themselves without having to worry about being laid off. That’s why more and more people are turning to the Internet to make money. They want to learn to be their own bosses.

You don’t hear about any Internet marketers going broke do you? There’s an endless supply of products available to market, and more being added every day.

Despite the doom and gloom we keep hearing, 2009 is going to see a massive surge of online commerce. The trends have been going up and up and up over time. Billions of dollars are spent on the internet every year, in every category. Millions of new consumers get online every year with disposable income, even in this economy.

The only question that remains is thus:

Are you ready?

Are you ready to take full advantage of what will be one of the biggest growth booms in online marketing history? You can be in it from the VERY BEGINNING!

This is going to be huge. BigTicketDepot.com is slanted to fill a great niche in the marketplace, and all we can do is hang on for the ride. Contact me or click here to find out some more information.