all aboard the social train : part I

Content is king . Right !? You all agree with me . Everybody says that , everywhere . I'm gonna come and add a little something to that truth : ANY content is king . Anyone here understood what I am saying ?

In 'promote yourself' I didn't mention the use of any digg'like website ( in this article I will be using digg to refer to any site that is similar to digg.com for the simple reason that it's faster to type 'digg' then 'stumbleupon' or anything else like that ) . Well , I didn't mention this promotion tool for 2 reasons :

1 : I consider this method to be similar , if not - almost the same , to 'Article submission' . You submit your article and hope for the best . The only difference is that you only submit a short description instead of the entire article or , in some cases , just a link to your article .

2 : This method of promotion , although a subcategory of article submission , truly deserves an extra degree of attention .

On most blogs , from my knowledge - and if I'm mistaken please correct me , you only see stuff like : 'submit your article to digg , stumble upon , etc' .

But no one truly tells you : 'Look dude , this is how this works and you should do this to get your slice of the web' . Now I have a theory about this and about how you can get yourself some authority on digg  and I will share it with you tomorrow .

Please keep in mind : this advice has not yet been tested so I don't guarantee anything . It's just a theory .

There is a great free report from Brian Clark ( founder of Copyblogger ) called Authority Rules . I recommend reading this report because it talks about something that most bloggers tend to forget . This is one of the main reasons , in my opinion , of failure when it comes to blogging . Bloggers get all mixed up with promotion ( granted - a very important part of blogging but not the only part of blogging ) that they , most of the times , forget to promote that which truly matters : themselves .

If you build authority then people will find your blog/s . But if you are nobody they will simply move on . And , of course , by authority I don't mean just slapping your name everywhere you can . Authority in your niche is about proving that you have the skill , the knowledge . Proving that you can lead . That you can teach .

This is in fact a criteria for bloggers . If you don't yet have the ability to lead , to control ( and I'm not using 'control' in the negative way ) then your blog is doomed .

The same principle applies to digg'like networks . It's all about authority , about building confidence . About getting people to say : 'Where the heck does he get them ? Jeez , this dude is everywhere . I should follow him . He knows his stuff .'

If you intend on taking this route ( as oppose to the route of promotion ) you need to first establish authority , and only after you do that , start promoting your blog . ( While at the same time making sure to do the minimum of promotion , of course - sign with your blog address and so on )

We all know how powerful a site like digg can be for a blogger . It can literally boost your visits by 200%-300% or even more if you have an established account over there . With one condition : that you have quality content .

Providing ANY quality content will let other users know that you have the ability to ... oh well , provide . They will know that you know what's going on , even if you don't create , you still get the cool stuff before anyone else , and after all - this is what the internet is about : being the first at ... anything . Once that is established you need to let them know that you have the ability to create . This is the second part , the part where you start promoting your grade A articles using your already established authority .

Get yourself a viral article and it will travel the web faster than you can say : 'Make me rich' .

Let's assume , for the sake of argument , that you already have the skill to put together such articles .

All you need to do now is make yourself famous on a digg'like site ( simple , right ?! ) and boom , there are your couple of hundred ( to say the least ) visitors at a click of the button .

So , we've established that you need to build authority amongst your internet peers and only then you can promote your blog to them . 
We've also established that not only 'content is king' is true , but also 'ANY content is king' . And we've established that quality content attracts authority .

Now I will stop this article here and I will continue it tomorrow . Give myself some time to take it in , and give you some time to digest it . I know this all sounds simple ... but I guarantee you that by the end of your first month as a blogger most of you will forget this concept . And you will stand to lose because of this .

Good night now and see you tomorrow for the second part of this article .