Mixxing more beneficial then ever.
Written on November 21st, 2008 by Graham
Let’s face it, the homepage of Digg is an ivory tower. Once a friendly haven to all bloggers alike, reaching the homepage of Digg is now more or less impossible with just a handful of users controlling 90% of their homepage. So take a step back and ask yourself, out of all the posts of yours that have been submitted to Digg, how many have made the front page?
Yep, probably none. Even if you get your post submitted by a top digger (which is basically a requirement to hit the homepage), you still need to get past their in-house moderators that screen all the stories hitting the homepage. One mod click from them and your story will never make it, regardless of how many votes it gets.
That is why I submit to you Mixx, which is growing rapidly in terms of popularity. Just check out their growth over the last year:
The great thing about Mixx is that it’s much easier to make the homepage. With all the Entrecarders visiting each other, I propose that we can very effectively Mixx each other’s posts that we enjoy, and help each other reach the home page.
Bounce Rate “Problem”?
Sites like Digg and Mixx might not work well with people overly concerned about bounce rate. Typically, the bounce rate from traffic you receive from a homepage link on Digg is between 80 and 90%. However, it does stand to reason that even with a high bounce rate, SOME of the people will subscribe, comment, and become regulars. So I wouldn’t let the bounce rate from this traffic deter you too much from persuing traffic from these “democratic news sites”.
My Advice
Start Mixxing! You can add Mixx buttons to your blog very easily using these buttons. You can register for a Mixx account here. I have to say in the beggining, the content on Mixx wasn’t too great, but it has shown steady improvement in link submissions and voting, and has most notably drawn a loyal following from bloggers who have given up on Digg, and for good reason. It’s actually possible to hit the homepage of Mixx! It only takes 30-40 votes.
Use our forum to promote!
You can promote your content in our Entrecard Forums. If you’re looking for a Mixx for a great article you wrote, post it in our Marketing Forum.
November 21st, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Though I don’t have “major”problems with digg(until I get regular visitors) but you are right when u say about high bounce rate and who controls digg’s homepage.Traffic from digg is always in hurry. My experience with Mixx is totally different,with more friendly traffic, good exposure of your content and really very easy to use.I also recommend users to use mixx.
November 21st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Wow now i get a new reason to love entrecard even more
I will join mixx right now 
I was really bored of others like digg. I have used mixx before but my account got hacked.. now i have a new reason to rejoin. I recommend other bloggers to use mixx. Thanks a lot Entrecard Moderators
November 21st, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Thank you for telling us about this service, Graham. Mixx is actually already on my site as part of my Sharethis button.
So far I haven’t been making very much use of such sharing services, because I’ve been aiming mostly for search engine hits, which I feel can give me more targeted traffic. I’d rather have specific, steady hits than sudden spikes.
But all traffic is good, so I may just sign up for an account…
November 21st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
wow, sounds great. i’ll take note of this and i may join soon.
November 21st, 2008 at 7:29 pm
Not sure why there wasn’t a link to the existing community:
http://entrecardblogs.mixx.com/
November 21st, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Mixx was able to build huge partnerships which help aid their growth. I do find Mixx more easy to navigate compared to digg.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I don’t have problem with digg either but eh, this one’s worth a try.
November 21st, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Yes!
This is really nice idea…
I am still receiving the shouts and some of them makes no sense…
Hope mixx will do it!
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:09 am
Well, I would like you guys to visit this one
http://ajabgajab.blogspot.com/2008/11/promote-and-demote-in-google-search.html
and would like to request
mixx it!
November 22nd, 2008 at 3:05 am
Cool tip I have been on the Mixx a few months
no drama and it’s an awesome site
here’s my little PR4 spot I made all are free to submit
I won’t stop you
http://dofollow.mixx.com/
Here’s my ID
http://www.mixx.com/users/johnsullivan
Thanks
November 22nd, 2008 at 5:58 am
It’s hard to reach the frontpage of Digg because so many people use it. In the past it might have been easier to get on there, but now it has A LOT more value to get onto the frontpage in terms of traffic. Even journalists look on Digg for scoops.
It’s rather logical that it’s hard to get on the frontpage now. Instead of getting bitter by it, it would be more constructive to not criticize the logical elements, but to simply acknowledge the problem as it is (without judgment) and to suggest a better alternative.
I really dislike negative blog articles and I tend to shy away from blogs featuring them.
November 22nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Great Blog. I feel like the blog post have become real informative lately. Thanks for the suggestions. Thanks for being a good fisherman and teaching us all how to fish!
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:01 pm
why even mention bounce rate when you don’t know what it means? at least from your words you don’t. you could have regular readers and subscribers and still have a high bounce rate if you have a blog. they come to your post every day, read it all, consider it carefully all day, and come back for more the next day. and you still have a high bounce rate.
bounce rate does not mean a quick hit and run. it means the viewer didn’t click to any other pages on your blog other than the home page within a given amount of time.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:23 pm
I have taken Graham’s advice and had a look at Mixx. I found that the code on their site didn’t work properly in my Blogspot blog post-footers.
So I have edited the code to make it work properly. You can find details on my blog here: http://stepterix.blogspot.com/2008/11/adding-mixx-button-to-footer-of-each.html
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I should have said that the code was for one of the submission buttons. You should be able to easily alter the code of the other buttons to work too.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
This is odd… my original comment did not appear… here is the gist of it again…
I took Graham’s advice and registered with Mixx. I added the code for a submission button to the post-footer section of my Blogspot blog template and found that it did not work properly. So I edited the code to submit the URL of the post properly, making submission easier.
I have made the code available on my blog: http://stepterix.blogspot.com/2008/11/adding-mixx-button-to-footer-of-each.html
(I hope that this works this time)
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
This is odd… my original comment did not appear… here is the gist of it again…
I took Graham’s advice and registered with Mixx. I added the code for a submission button to the post-footer section of my Blogspot blog template and found that it did not work properly. So I edited the code to submit the URL of the post properly, making submission easier.
I have made the code available on my blog – http://stepterix.blogspot.com
(I hope that this works this time)
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:39 pm
OK I am confused now… I have made a comment here twice directing people to a blog post of mine that includes amended submission button code for blogspot templates. Neither comment has appeared. Is this because they included a URL? If so, that is a bit odd as other comments here contain URLs.
Anyone have any ideas what is going on?
Anyway, click on my name in the post to find the blog post with the code in.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Akismet spam filter works in strange ways. It’s good, but sometimes too good for its own good.
Anyway, I’ll check the spam comments and see if I find yours and can get it approved.
November 22nd, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Oh blimey… there they all are. Thanks Graham. Feel free to delete the extra ones.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Thanks for sharing the link, Kevin. I’ve never had any problems putting URL’s in comments here but maybe it just didn’t like you.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:29 am
Link to my profile:
http://www.mixx.com/users/abdulrehman
November 23rd, 2008 at 9:03 am
Thanks for the tip I’ve signed up and submitted a couple of posts – will wait and see the results.
November 23rd, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Add as a friend:
http://www.mixx.com/users/monkmojo
November 24th, 2008 at 5:20 am
Thanks for the blog post. I tried Mixx ages ago without much success, but now I’m going to take another look
http://www.mixx.com/users/impomatic
November 24th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Graham, Thank you for this post about Mixx. I will be signing up today.
Otilius, thank you for explaining bounce rate.
One thing I like about blogging is that I learn new things every day.
John, I love the name of your site: Make Nothing Online. I visited your site and dropped. I’m still laughing out loud.
November 24th, 2008 at 6:39 pm
I’ve always liked Mixx and agree that Digg in not concerned with it’s audience anymore other than being in the back pocket of advertisers.
If you make money off of advertisers then Digg is great. If not or not a lot of ad money any way, there are better ways to get traffic and loyal readers.
http://www.mixx.com/users/urban_writ
November 24th, 2008 at 11:55 pm
Graham,
Wow! What took so long to endorse Mixx?
Keep doing what you do, brother.
Graham (Yes, we have the same name)
November 25th, 2008 at 4:10 am
http://www.mixx.com/users/nukeit
November 26th, 2008 at 5:00 am
Yes, it seems that Mixx is being improved everyday, but what i don’t know is how much traffic does front page brings? Anybody had that experience ?
November 26th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I don’t seem to get much change out of Digg any more so will give this a go. Have added everyone as a friend who left their profile link above and joined the Entrecard group. Thanks for the heasds up on this one!
http://www.mixx.com/users/capybara
November 27th, 2008 at 8:34 am
@George — For what it’s worth, someone submitted a post from my blog and it wound up in the “Popular Photos” on the front page for a day or two.I received 44 visits from that.
February 6th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
I do dig Mixx. No pun intended. I dont even think I can submit to Digg anymore cause I got caught submitting my own posts. Whoops…oh well, long live Mixx