However, I am glad that somehow I have my loyal readers and subscribers but I am finding it hard to increase them.

I think that Digg and SV readers are mostly like enjoying news rather than deep posts.

I think that to maintain your targeted audience is to find them at proper forums. If your topic is about parenting, you should join parenting forums and this is what I am doing. It really helps.

So, what do we think are the other necessary blogging traits?

But to bring it into the context of Darren’s point…

Why does Buddy not write about *how* to get on FP Digg? Seems to me he’s quite passionate about that. I’d bet that would bring quite a few subscribers his way…

So in short, I’m not going to be pursuing social media fame (although if it happens organically, I won’t complain).

Ultimately it depends on what your site is for. Is it for money or pleasure?

If it is for money, then being on Digg’s homepage a few times is definitely a good thing. Not that Digg visitors give money, but the resulting traffic after the Digg has finished does.

Though I wish I could also write more ‘fluffy’ posts myself. :P

The only way around this is if you have an incredible amount of friends that are willing to digg what you ask them to. Then you would make it to the front page; not because of exceptional content, but because of favors from friends.

That would explain why some people get tons of traffic from Digg, yet receive little or no subscribers from that traffic flow.

The pages that are dugg as favors and not because of quality and interest usually display the behavior described in this post.

Of course this is only my opinion.

One thing for sure. I went from zero to 100,000 in no time flat. My hair is still plastered straight back. Wow! Thanks for the great advice.

Unfortunately a consensus builds on how to make the front page of Digg — lists, photos, Firefox tips, commentary about Digg itself — which erodes Digg’s diversity over time, so I wouldn’t want to make a habit of contouring my thinking to such a narrow field of interests.

By which I mean that it’s natural to look for things like digg numbers, just because it’s hard to quantify passion. Thanks for reminding me that it’s well worthwhile to learn to assess your success by something nebulous like “am I so happy and do I love what I’m talking about?”

That aside, diversity of posts is key, in my opinion. It’s alright to write something that may attract traffic and attention to your site every now and then, but as you state, it is important to go deeper and to write different style posts. If you gain a few permanent readers each time you get a traffic bump, then it is worthwhile.

I like to mix it up a bit because I can tend to write some tedious and boring essays which are very specific, so my readers should also have some light reading and interesting content. It’s all about balance on a blog.

Writer Dad makes a great point. Write as though the record is permanent and make your writing something to be proud of when you look back on it.