Submission Sites Other Than The Big Guys

I think it goes without saying that using the big news submission sites like Digg, Reddit and Netscape is a great way to help bring traffic to your site.  That being said, because these sites are so big and so many submissions are sent in, it’s pretty easy to get lost in the crowd.

So, instead of putting all of your traffic generating eggs in one basket, it’s probably not a bad idea to take advantage of some lesser used news submission sites as well.  While individually they might not bring you as many hits as the bigger guys, collectively they can be a great traffic building resource for your sites.

Here are some lesser known news submission sites you should take advantage of when you’re trying to promote your site/articles:

1. Shoutwire.  Shoutwire’s a lot like Digg, only it seems to have fewer users, less categories and appears somewhat easier to get up on the homepage.  For example, I’ve only been able to get one submission from my sites up onto Digg’s homepage, while I’ve been able to get eight submissions up onto Shoutwire’s homepage.  While it doesn’t provide nearly the same jump in traffic, Shoutwire’s a great place to start if you’re looking for alternatives to the big guys.
2. Fark.  This one’s a little bit outside of the box because it’s geared towards offbeat news and what makes the homepage is left up to Fark moderators, however, if you can get on Fark’s homepage, you can expect a jump in hits equivalent to what you’d get on a slow day on Digg.  One thing I’ve also noticed, Fark users tend to be a little more click happy than what you might get from Digg, Reddit or Shoutwire, so you can also expect a pretty nice jump in earnings.
3. Stumbleupon.  This one’s pretty interesting; essentially you sign up for a Stumbleupon account, download their browser tool bar and then use that tool bar to submit stories that you like.  I haven’t noticed a huge jump in traffic when I submit my own stories, however, when other people submit my stories, I have seen a pretty nice jump in the number of hits (usually about 300 or so on any given day).
4. coRank.  I’m not that familiar with the traffic generating powers of coRank, as I just created my account with them last week, however it seems to have a lot of promise.  The cool thing about coRank is it allows you to submit articles on their actual site, but it also allows you to download a tool bar that will let you submit articles directly from your site.
5. Hugg.  While I don’t submit much to this site because it’s a very niche submission site, it’s probably one of my favorite sites to just browse.  Hugg is a Pligg powered site set up for environmental news.  It’s been pretty fun to check out and has been useful in helping me keep abreast of current environmental issues.

Anyway, these five sites (at least the first four) should be a pretty good place for you to start to help subsidize your Digg, Reddit and Netscape traffic.