Have you heard of Pligg?
Do you want to have a community full of like minded people so you can share ideas? Do you want a place where you can promote your own content and get valuable backlinks in the process? Are you interested in using a voting system so the best content can reach the top and receive more exposure? If you answered yes to these questions, you might be interested in Pligg.
Pligg 101
Pligg is an open source content management system that allows users to create sites that are similar to Digg. As you know, Digg is a social bookmarking site. You can create a similar social bookmarking site when you use Pligg.
Users can create these sites without any prior knowledge of coding or website development. Once the site is created, people can:
- Register to join the site
- Upload content
- Vote on content
You can create your Pligg site on any topic. For instance, if you market video games, you can create a social bookmarking site for video game reviews or reactions. The same is true for any other topic. There’s really no limit to the topics you can use with Pligg.
Once you create the site, the users will actually take over. They will handle the uploading and voting. You’ll also be able to vote, and you can (and should) submit your own content to be reviewed by the community.
There are several benefits to using Pligg. Pligg allows users to:
- Stand out as experts
- Get important backlinks
- Make money with ads
Stand Out as Experts
If you can provide relevant content to your Pligg site, there’s a good chance it will get lots of recommendations. The more recommendations you get, the more your content will stand out. The more it stands out, the more you’ll look like an expert in your field.
Digg can also help you stand out as an expert, but it’s a lot more work. With Digg, you have to try to stand out among thousands of users. With Pligg, though, you’ll be building your site from the ground up. Thus, you can stand out as a top contributor during the site’s infancy stage. Then, you can maintain that top billing as the site grows, as long as you continue to provide quality content.
Get Important Backlinks
Another great thing about Pligg is it will help you (and your users) get backlinks. I’ve talked about backlinks previously on this blog. If you missed those 
posts, let me give you a quick explanation. Basically, Google analyzes a variety of factors when determining a site’s ranking. Backlinks are part of that analysis. The more quality backlinks a site has, the higher it will move up in the search results.
Every time you submit your content to your Pligg site, you’ll receive a backlink. These backlinks will add up over time and help your site move up in the search engine rankings.
Make Money with Ads
Finally, your Pligg site can provide you with a money making opportunity. Once your site is up and running, you can display ads on it. Then, depending on your ad network, you can make money when the ad is viewed or clicked. While this won’t bring in a lot of revenue at first, it can become profitable once you start driving lots of traffic to your Pligg site.
If you want to run ads on your Pligg site, you can sign up for an account with AdSense or AdBrite. AdBrite serves up interstitial ads, which means the ads only display after a site visitor views a predetermined number of pages. AdSense serves up contextual ads which are visible the entire time the user is on the site.
If you want to sign up for AdBrite, go to http://www.adbrite.com/mb/.
If you want to sign up for AdSense, go to http://google.com/adsense.
Now that you know the benefits of using Pligg, let’s move on to the installation process.
Installing Pligg
While there are several ways to install Pligg, the easiest way is to go through Bluehost. Bluehost uses SimpleScripts.com for open source installation. SimpleScripts.com is a single click installation service, so you’ll have Pligg set up and running in no time.
As of this writing, you can host a Pligg site with Bluehost for $3.95 a month for 12 months.
What do you think of Pligg? Do you plan on getting a Pligg site up and running? If so, what topic will your site cover?
January 27, 2012 at 4:41 pm
Another very informative article. Keep them coming!
January 27, 2012 at 4:45 pm
Hey Don,
Glad you enjoyed the information – let me know how you like Pligg!
Have a great weekend.
- Carol
January 27, 2012 at 4:54 pm
Very cool new tool! Thanks for giving us the latest!
January 27, 2012 at 4:59 pm
Hi Jenna,
It is really cool – brand new social networking site, very similar to Digg, only it is not near as full and vast as Digg. Visit and let me know what you think…
Have a great weekend. :)
- Carol
January 28, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Thank you Carol, what else you have in your deeep mine?:)
I love your blog!!
January 28, 2012 at 1:45 pm
I know it will be in near future.
January 28, 2012 at 2:02 pm
Hi Anna, yes, this is going to be big! See you on the inside. – Carol
January 28, 2012 at 2:01 pm
HI Anna!
I just share what I learn and take you all with me for the ride. :)
Thanks for your comment and have a great weekend!
- Carol
January 28, 2012 at 2:44 pm
As always a very informative article. Keep them coming!
January 28, 2012 at 3:19 pm
Hi Richard,
Glad you liked it – have you checked it out yet, and are you considering your own Pligg site?
Thanks for stopping by. – Carol
January 28, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Thank you for the wonderful information
January 28, 2012 at 7:21 pm
You’re welcome, Chaundra, glad to help!
Thanks for stopping by. – Carol
January 28, 2012 at 11:54 pm
Pligg is such a wonderful new way to network and share information as well as the ability for users to have ultimate control and feedback. Thanks for the wonderful info
January 30, 2012 at 10:10 am
You’re welcome, Jessica. I agree! I see great things in us using Pligg. Thanks for stopping by to give a comment. :)
Have a great week.
- Carol
January 29, 2012 at 10:37 am
I concur with what Richard said and I will be passing this on. Keep up the good work. I am learning so much from you. And, you have that greatest of all traits – the trust of your readers. One cannot hide integrity. Thanks for being honest in a world of “get-rich-quick-schemes.”
January 30, 2012 at 10:12 am
Ruth – THANK YOU for your encouraging words; it means so much! :)
I’m glad you like the info on my blog and are benefiting from it. Have a wonderful day!
- Carol
January 29, 2012 at 8:44 pm
Hi Carol, I was thinking about The “Income Hybrid software” on your site here on the right. just a couple of questions. Have you used it? Have you gotten any feed back from anyone? Is there a review anywhere? Thanks
James
James wants you to check out…How to Dunk a Basketball & Jump Higher Faster
January 30, 2012 at 10:34 am
Hi James,
Yes, I bought Income Hybrid and use it! Here’s the first post I did on my blog: http://www.carolamato.com/income-hybrid-by-paul-ponna/
Here’s the verdict: http://www.carolamato.com/income-hybrid-software/
I hope to help! Have a wonderful day,
- Carol
February 6, 2012 at 11:33 am
Great info. as always, I think we all appreciate your help a great deal.
Fred & Hyunsou
February 6, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Hello Fred,
Well, thanks for taking the time to say so! That’s an encouragement to me.
Have a good evening. :)
- Carol
April 23, 2013 at 11:16 pm
I am curious to find out what blog platform you are utilizing?
I’m having some minor security issues with my latest site and I’d like to find something more safeguarded.
Do you have any solutions?
seprince wants you to check out…seprince
April 23, 2013 at 11:27 pm
Hello Seprince,
I use a self-hosted WordPress blog for http://www.carolamato.com.
I also use Akismet for a spam plugin to filter spam, and it does a pretty good job.
Hope to help. :)
- Carol