StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon the Web

Introduction to StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a popular social bookmarking website that allows members to discover fascinating and interesting web pages and sites. StumbleUpon has their own tool bar which you can install on your browser (both for firefox and internet explorer) and channel surf all by clicking on a button.

When you first register at StumbleUpon, you will need to list your interests (they have a wide selection). Assuming you've got their tool bar installed, you can be randomly directed to a website that matches your interest when you click on the "Surf" button. Feel free to tag the page if you like what you see when you do so. Vice versa, if you don't like what you have been shown, give a negative vote.

Because StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site, it means you can also share your bookmarks with your friends. Simply click on the "Send To" button (in the toolbar) to send the page to your friend.

How To Get Massive Traffic With StumbleUpon:

I've personally experienced huge amounts of traffic from both StumbleUpon and Digg. As long as you think you've got some useful or interesting content, feel free to include it in StumbleUpon. These content can be an article, a blog page or even a video. If lots of Stumblers happen to give a thumbs up, you'll be sure to experience a sharp spike in traffic for a short span of time. For me, I like StumbleUpon because it gives me a steady trickle of traffic over a long period of time.

1) Couple of factors determine the traffic volume you'll get. They are the number of StumbleUpon friends you've got, their profiles, number of sites you've stumbled, and reviews you've gotten in the past.

2) A key factor is how other StumbleUpon users have broad tagged your content. No one wants to be found on a golfing site when they are looking for something related to pets.

3) By offering quality content and submitting it to StumbleUpon (often called S.U), you'll get a good chance of getting backlinks. These also ultimately increase targeted web traffic.

4) Do you like your own site? If not, how can you expect others to? To increase your chances of increased web traffic, your site should look good with quality content. Need I repeat that?

5) Different social bookmarking sites have different sets of crowds. Understanding what they like is a key to your success. Some communities like tech related sites. Others like video and humor. Thank God StumbleUpon's crowd seems to be a bit more balanced compared to other social bookmarking sites.

6) As mentioned before on the social bookmarking page, you should not come across as a leech. Contribute and help other users as well by stumbling their site (do this only if you like their site please). It's all about building reputation ... got it?

7) Most importantly, have fun while doing all of the above! =)

Tips and Tricks To Increase StumbleUpon Friends:

1) Just heard about this trick from someone ... he says to join the blogcatalog stumble group because the group is full of like-minded people building up their account profiles. It's a bit of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" sort of thing. Again, have fun while adding other Stumbler users to your profile.

2) Send other great stumblers a nice message. It can only work well in your favor. Tell them that you'll like to be friends with them and most importantly, share the benefit of doing so. Whatever you do, DON'T BEG.

3) Take a bit of time to be active on the StumbleUpon network by reviewing member profile pages. If you like what you see, review their profile and add them as a friend. "Smart" stumblers will be sure to return in kind. For sure, you'll always meet people who don't but ... who cares? Screw them! *wink*

4) Work a little harder to add active stumblers that have between 100 and 200 friends (so long as they have not reached their friends limit which happens to be 200 at this point in time). I say this because if this active stumbler (suppose he has 150 friends) stumbles on your link, his other friends can see it as well and you increase your chances because ultimately all of marketing is a number's game.

Hope you enjoyed reading all these! If you haven't checked out the social bookmarking or the digg pages, I suggest doing so! =)