How to Survive Being Featured on Digg

Viral traffic can hit at any time, without any warning.

All it takes is one blog to hit the front page of a big site and you’ll be flooded with traffic within hours.

Sites like Digg and Slashdot are notorious for generating massive traffic spikes. But while everyone wants to be noticed, all those extra hits can wreak havoc with your web hosting account.

How to Prepare For a Spike in Traffic

The earlier you react to a potential traffic spike, the more likely your host is to cooperate. Notify them as soon as possible.

They’ll probably work with you to increase RAM, install caching plugins and monitor availability.

Sometimes it isn’t enough, but it can help to delay problems. Be prepared to stump up extra cash for the upgrade.

Switching Hosts

If you’re regularly seeing issues, it might be time to look into a cloud hosting or grid hosting service.

By using grid or cloud hosting, the load is split over a number of servers, making it less likely your site will go down. It may still slow a little, but slow response is better than serving up an error page.

Another alternative is a VPS. A VPS with 512 MB of RAM should be able to withstand a front page Digg, or hold up long enough for your host to help you increase resources.

Taking Control Before a Digg Front Page

If you’re aiming to attract massive amounts of traffic, it’s better to plan ahead rather than cope with the problem as it’s happening. That means choosing the right server and the right type of hosting for the job.

And remember: even if your site goes down, it’s not the end of the world. Some people claim that being featured on Digg has had no lasting effect on traffic or subscribers.