A How To Guide For Submitting Content To Fark

Unlike the 100% voting based social aggregation sites like Digg and Reddit, the website Fark.com (Fark) has articles chosen by editors, not the Fark members. Much like Search Engine Land’s social news site, Sphinn.com, Fark allows for users to submit articles for consideration, and the best submitted are selected.

With a monthly traffic ranging between 700,000 and 1 million unique visitors, Fark is a social site can help to drive traffic and links. Unlike many of the up-and-coming social sites, Fark is tested and true, operating since 1999 and still staying strong.

So how can you become successful on Fark? Try following some of these pointers to get your content selected from the thousands of articles submitted each day!

Make Sure The Shoe Fits

Fark typically features unique, over-the-top content on the site; the standard run-of-the-mill article isn’t fodder for Fark. Some content that is a perfect fit for Fark:

• Funny Articles
• Interesting Facts Compilations
• Outrageous Occurrences
• Controversial Topics
• “Not-News” Stories (aka non-newsworthy stories in the news)
• Detailed Breakdowns of Current Topics

It should be noted that most content that is successful on Fark is news, but having hot topic content, or just plain great information can land you on the homepage as well.

Titles Make Or Break A Submission!

The absolute most important facet in a submission to Fark is the title that is created. Most “Farkers” try to out-write traditional journalists’ titles or assign a blatantly funny/crude title to an article.

When writing your titles, here are a few tips:

Puns are Gold!

One of the habitual favorites on Fark are ‘phunny’ titles for submissions. If you can find any use to use a pun in a title, go for it, as is boosts your chance of seeing the Fark homepage ten-fold.

Mini-Story

If you have an article on your site that is outrageous, sometimes recapping it as the title can produce great results. When going this route, make sure that you don’t give the entire story away and that there is still some hook at the end to get the reader to click.

Make Fun of a Subject

Whether or not it is the article’s source, a corporation or a criminal – making fun of a subject works wonders in Fark titles.

Simply Write a Killer Headline

Most of the articles that become popular on Fark have two common facets, they are interesting and the titles are written beautifully. The majority of the titles you will find on Fark have outstanding headlines as Farkers try to improve on the news and enhance the article itself by highlighting important details.

Use Categories to Your Advantage

With categories like ‘unlikely,’  ‘fail,’ and even ‘Florida’  Fark lets submitters support their title with an interesting category term. Many times, a category can really help launch an article by giving it a little extra humor, or taking an additional jab at something.

A last title writing tip would be to write all of your titles in sentence case, unlike newspapers, Farkers do not enjoy Title Case.

Try Out TotalFark!

Fark offers an enhanced version of the product called TotalFark that allows users to see the articles coming in to the system in near real-time.

This is essential to Fark newbies as you can see what article is selected, and more importantly, which articles aren’t selected.  This can help you shape your submissions and learn about the community. The best part of this feature is the price.  A TotalFark membership for $5 per month or $50 for a year and is well worth the price.

So if you have interesting, educational, or unique content, Fark might be a place to explore. With a low barrier to entry (just create a title) you have a chance to wow an editor and get your content out in front of thousands of news-hungry people!

About The Author

Greg Finn

Greg Finn is the Director of Marketing for Cypress North, a company that provides digital marketing and web development. He is a co-host of Marketing O'Clock and has been in the digital marketing industry for nearly 20 years. You can also find Greg on Twitter (@gregfinn) or LinkedIn.