Writing a post specifically for the point of getting on Digg, del.icio.us, SlashDot or any other Social Bookmarking/media site is no rare occurrence. There are secrets to these posts, and there are things that the users of certain sites love, and there are things that they, well… hate with a passion.

You should essentially start out with four basic parts of any article,

1. The Headline. It all starts with what your article is about, and once you have that you need an awesome, eye catching and pulling headline. You have one second to get the reader from a swarm of stories onto your site, through your article and back to vote for you. Some tips on writing your perfect headline:
   • Sensationalize. Make things sound better than they are, it’s simple.
   • Random, unresearched statistics. “55% of all Internet Users Overweight” and the such. No need to be factual!
   • This post by Muhammad Saleem on Copyblogger goes through writing headlines, and has a whole section on social media.
   • Ask a question. One of the best ways to get a reader thinking and to come and visit.
2. The Opening Paragraph. This can also function as your description for sites like Digg. In this one paragraph you need to pull out all the stops in 3-4 quick sentences or less. This could be potentially all the readers will actually read, so grab them by the brains and draw them in.
3. The Copy- Write for the web. Everyone by now should know how to optimize their writing for internet users. Break it up with short paragraphs, use strong text and emphasis, lists and images.
4. The Conclusion. This is where you can really seal the deal in terms of getting that vote- whether it be a digg, save, etc…

Next, you’re going to want refine your article. The aforementioned ideas are the basic sections and techniques you can use while writing about a certain topic. Before getting down to things, think about this:

• Do some research. Not on your topic necessarily but on the site you plan on getting the most traffic out of. What topics do the users like? Any specific keywords that seem to get the most votes? For example, Digg obviously likes Apple, Firefox and Kevin Rose.
• Know what not to write. With the example above for Digg, you’re obviously not going to want to write something about how you used a Windows PC with IE to do something bad to Kevin Rose. Actually, that would probably work, but you get the point
• Choose the right topic! This is imperitive to getting your story in front of thousands of readers. You have a much, much better chance of getting voted on if your story sees the right visitors.
• Make sure your headline and description are really great, and I mean that. Problems can occur when someone else submits your story with the headline of “Check out this Awesome Post!” and a description telling you to read the title… Buried!
• Be funny. If you can make a reader laugh, not only will you get their vote, but they might look around some.
• Use metaphors and comparisons. You can really use these in humour, or to show off your writing abilities. You’re the artist, so choose your words carefully.

Some great topics for any social media site are as follows. These have been getting a ton of hits lately.

• Huge resource lists. If you take the time to research over 100 things for a certain topic, whether it be blogging, design or coding PHP, you will likely be rewarded.
• Breaking news. Hard to do, but if you have an insider or got a tip on the release or secret beta of something, enjoy the traffic.
• Lots of pictures. Were you at a big conference? Saw someone in the street doing something stupid? Always carry your camera!
• REALLY cool pictures. HDR, or even just brilliant photography often gets recognized.
• Appeal to the selfishness of Digg users. Enough said, we all know Digg loves Digg.
• Be nerdy. Who do you think uses these sites anyways! If you’re writing link bait you have some inner-nerd whether you know it or not
• Sex sells, and gets lots of traffic. A bonus if you can manage to get technology in the mix.

Put everything together, with your fantastic headline, eye popping description and killer content, the definitive closing paragraph and the only thing you need is luck! Even the best articles get looked over, unfortunately. You’ll still get a good amount of visitors, but no where near the amount brought by a front page feature on Digg. The Digg Front Page is the holy grail for link baiters.

I bid you good luck in your writing!