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While I work on my Blog’s Sneeze Page (as part of 31 Days To Build A Better Blog), I wanted to take a moment to address a reader question. You can shoot me a question any time by visiting our contact page.
hey brandon,
i like hearing your mind on soapbox and twitter.
question, launching a site next month and i believe the content to be funny and informative for people who play fantasy football.
how would you suggest getting into the fark sphere so we are a pull-down menu option (and not “some guy”) on their site?
should i slowly build the relationship with solid content for them to post or as there a fast lane to the promiseland?
respect! //derek
If you don’t have $20,000 floating around for a minimum ad buy on Fark (or at least $160 for four Fark classified ads), you might be wondering how to get your content in front of the site’s large audience. I have been using Fark for a long time and have had content make it to the front page, so let me tell you how I did it:
Want Your Content On Fark.com? Here’s What To Do
1) Most regular Fark users are jerks. So if you have thin skin, this is not the place for your content. Somewhere I have an essay-length article from a Fark user about how much my old blog sucks after I ran a few classified ads. I laugh at it, but that’s me. Don’t go there unless you have some armor on.
Note: There is a big difference between Fark users and Fark readers. We deal with Fark users here.
2) Participate in the community. Like Digg, long time users can get away with more on the service. Drop a link to your content in one of your first posts in the forum and you’re gone. Participate for a couple of months, and if it’s relevant to what you’re talking about, you can get a pass on this.
It also doesn’t hurt to have friends on the service who can help support your submission, so make some friends.
3) Like Digg, submit content to other sites before submitting your own. Again, if you’re looking to dump your stuff and run, you will rightfully get caught and kicked out. The important thing is to build a nice relationship up over the long term, and if you have something really good (so great, people that don’t visit your website regularly enjoy and share it) you can submit it.
4) Make sure your site has been on the web long enough (six months I’d say), and ask your fans to politely contact the Fark administrators and see if they’re willing to include your site in it’s drop down box. The answer will probably be no, but it’s worth a shot, and it means more when your fans talk about your product for you. Not just with Fark, but in general.
5) Finally, also like Digg, make sure you’re familiar with what the site expects in terms of it’s submissions, and submit early in the morning EST. You have better odds on both Digg and Fark of something making it to the front page if you’re submitting in the morning before the other several thousand people start submitting their stuff.
Hope that helps. And if all else fails, budget for a couple of weeks worth of classified ads and listen to what the non-jerks offer for feedback. The classifieds do work in terms of spiking your traffic, but only if you listen to the constructive feedback to improve your ad’s shelf life.
As always, Digg and Fark are nice for short term traffic bursts, but it’s not a winning strategy for your site until you’re big enough to mirror what Cracked and College Humor do. More on that later.
