A month ago, I reviewed StumbleUpon at face value for all who might be new to the idea of social bookmarking. Over the course of the holidays, I was able to test StumbleUpon quite thoroughly, was able to experiment and succeeded in getting substantial traffic to my blogs via “Stumbling” on pages. I am also quite new to social bookmarking web sites. My plan was to present my findings and observations here as we go along, each one more in-depth than the other. Here is what I’ve observed, so far:

1. When you add people to your friends’ list, there is a potential to add you back.

When you decide to Stumble, search for the categories of your niche, find people who are active within those categories and add them to your list of friends. Not all of them will add you back on one go. But in time and if you’re on the right track, they will. How do you know you’re on the right track, you say?

Simple. First, make sure you’re Stumbling posts worth reading. If there’s such a thing as quality posts, there’s also something called “quality Stumbles.” Posts worth reading are usually well-researched in-depth articles, breaking news, funny stories, head-turning facts and anything similar.

2. Don’t forget to use StumbleUpon Photoblog.

When you begin Stumbling articles, you’ll find that you have the option of Stumbling photos too. These photos would appear on your StumbleUpon Home page. It serves as an icebreaker, sort of a reprieve from the monotony text on the page. It also has the potential to catch people’s eyes if their only intention, initially, was to skim through your Stumbles. See below pic for reference.

3. You can’t only Stumble your web site.

They’ll block your URL if you only Stumble your own. Make sure to Stumble other pages in your niche too. One way to take advantage of this is to Stumble pages and web sites which link back to you. That way, you’re still driving people to your web site albeit in an indirect manner

4. Reviews mean a lot.

When you Stumble pages, you’re given the option to leave a review. Reviews are greatly appreciated by people who view your StumbleUpon home page. They’ll want to read what you think about a certain issue.

5. Stumble other people’s stumbles.

Go through other people’s Stumble and as long as they’re in your niche, the probability of them stumbling your Stumbles back is quite high.

6. Update regularly.

Make sure you Stumble web pages at least once a day. Don’t let your home page die. You need to build your network of SU contacts and the only way to do that is to constantly update so people would find you.

These are my initial observations about StumbleUpon. So far, I’ve only stumbled short new articles. I’m planning on doing an experiment on Stumbling linkbait and see how much traffic SU brings me. I will update here, of course, on how it goes.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 at 3:07 pm and is filed under social networking. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

About the Author: