Frontpage Bids Blog

Why Advertise on a Site That is Experiencing the Digg Effect?

We know that websites like Digg.com are making significant amounts of money through selling advertisements on their site, but what about those websites that appear on Digg.com’s front page? Here I will explore the pros and cons of having your advertisement appear on a website that is in the process of experiencing the Digg Effect.

I am specifically referring to Digg.com in this post, but similar thoughts can be applied to other websites that produce large bursts of traffic, such as StumbleUpon.com, Reddit.com and Slashdot.org.

Digg.com is a haven for technical influencers and early adopters. A great audience for startup products and services that are trying to generate a buzz.

A big problem facing online advertising within this demographic is the assumption of ad blindness. I propose this is not true in general, considering that online advertising is continuing to experience growth and the development of more effective methods. Add to that, Microsoft’s ad deals with Digg.com and Facebook.com, there appears to be confidence in the value of online advertising in the social media sector.

But what about the websites that users click through from Digg.com’s home page? The fact that a user clicked to discover more about that content, shows that in general, they are interested in that particular topic and content. Here is an opportunity for an advertiser to gain advantage, by serving an advertisement relevant to that topic and content.

So what kind of ROI can you expect?  Digg.com click through rates on advertising is not good, however, in some cases the volume of the traffic can make those few clicks enough for your purposes. I suggest, having an advertisement that is specifically targeted to the topic and content being displayed, you can further increase the click through rate.

Then, of course, there is that difficult to measure aspect of branding or impressions. Typically you will get from five thousand to several tens of thousands of impressions within a few days. Afterwards you can expect that content to be bookmarked, linked-to and to achieve better search engine placement. If the advertisement can stay associated with the content you should receive residual returns.