Yahoo Buzz: Officially Open & Crashing A Server Near You

Yahoo Buzz has officially opened its doors to all website publishers.  Up until today there was only a small list of publishers who could submit stories to Yahoo Buzz.  Now the floodgates are open and any website can submit stories.

For example, this story is the first that I’m submitting.  You can see my Buzz button in the upper left.  In fact, I think I hear it calling, “Click me…click me”.

For those of you who don’t know about Yahoo Buzz: It’s a special section of Yahoo! that allows users to vote on news topics.  It’s very similar to other social news sites like Digg and Reddit in that the users have the control on what appears on the main pages.  In Yahoo’s own words, Buzz is: “The Web’s most remarkable stories, determined by people like you. Stories are ranked based on your votes, emails, and searches.”

The “Buzz Effect”

What is also similar to Digg is the possibility of enormous increases in website traffic over a very short time. Digg is famous for the “Digg Effect” where small website owners get their servers overloaded and have their sites go offline from the sudden surge in website traffic.

So the question is: Can you handle getting “buzzed”?  I for one would like to find out.  Would you like to help? I certainly would not mind if you clicked the Buzz button above and “Buzzed me up!”.

Yahoo Is A Traffic Powerhouse

Yahoo Buzz will be a way for webmasters to tap into Yahoo’s millions of users for free.  In fact, Yahoo has this to say: “The best content may be featured on the Yahoo! homepage, potentially driving millions of clicks to your site.” I’m sure you like the sound of that!  How would you like to have your website featured on Yahoo’s home page?  Could you imagine how much traffic that would bring? The best part is that right now there is very little competition for your stories.  As webmasters find out how powerful this tactic is for getting traffic I’m sure that will change.

Submitting A Story Is Easy

Submitting a story to buzz is very simple.  One way is to just put a Yahoo Buzz button on your site.  It will look like the button you see above on this story.  I suggest using the advanced features that they explain further down the page at: http://buzz.yahoo.com/buttons  You can also directly submit your stories here: http://buzz.yahoo.com/submit/

If my readers would like, I might get one of my developers to build a WordPress plugin that can automate putting Yahoo Buzz buttons on your blog.  Just sign up at http://www.BillMcIntosh.com using the sign up box on the top right and then comment on this story to let me know if you’re interested.  If I get enough response I’ll build the plugin and give it to you free.

7 thoughts on “Yahoo Buzz: Officially Open & Crashing A Server Near You

  1. I was in the top spot of upcoming and new category for 3-4 hours. And now in the 1-2 spots in the business top stories. But It has only sent me little over 300 uniques.I have no complains. As a web site owner you got to appreciate any kind of traffic you are getting. But my conclusion is Yahoo buzz will not crash any serves in the near future.
    My top social networks are,
    1. SU
    2. Reddit
    3. Digg
    We will wait and see. It is still early days for yahoo buzz. And I came here from buzz. 🙂

    -Cats in to Lions-

  2. Update:

    I’ve been on top for a long time (10 to 15 hours) – and it sent me, unbelievably “200” people since. Conclusion, unless you hit the “JackPot” FP i.e get featured on yahoo.com, it’s not worth the effort as of yet.

    Maybe, we have to wait till it makes it’s place among the big dogs like digg.com / SU and Reddit. P.s: I don’t count Delicious as a company which delivers massive traffic.

    #1 = Digg
    #2 = SU
    #3 = Reddit

  3. I buzzed you up. Let me know how this little experiment goes.

    As for the wordpress plug in, yes please please please build it!

    If you build it, they will come 🙂

  4. Yes, I’d like to second the vote for developing a Yahoo! Buzz WordPress plugin. Please allow the ability to position it where we want on a post.

    I buzzed this post up.

  5. Just hit the Buzz’s FP.. let’s see how much traffic I can get…. not sure If i’ll hit yahoo.com but still ..

    It’s not instantaneous like hitting Digg’s FP or getting a major SU / Reddit effect for sure!

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