StumbleUpon is a website and content discovery service enabled via a browser toolbar. StumbleUpon is categorized as a social media website which allows its users a new way to experience the internet. StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. Using a combination of human opinions and technology learning to immediately deliver relevant content, StumbleUpon presents only the sites which have been suggested by other like-minded Stumblers. StumbleUpon offers nearly 500 topics which users may choose to indicate their interests and preferences so each Stumble produces only the most relevant content. Information on the Internet changes rapidly. StumbleUpon is a dynamic approach to keep on top of this ever-evolving pool of knowledge.

StumbleUpon uses positive and negative user ratings to form collaborative opinions on website quality. Instead of searching for specific items on search engines like Google, StumbleUpon users only have to tag specific personal or professional interests and then ‘channel surf’ the web by simply clicking on a button on the StumbleUpon toolbar.

Why StumbleUpon?

StumbleUpon is known for its ability to generate massive amounts of traffic to a specific webpage or website that has been Stumbled. If you just wrote a great article or created a website which offered creative and useful content, you’ll want as many eyeballs on it as possible. Once your website gets Stumbled, it’ll usually start to immediately receive visitors from all over the world. This allows you to:

1. Generate rapid exposure for a specific website, brand or concept.
2. Establish a reader base for your blog very quickly.
3. Gain numerous backlinks from StumbleUpon visitors with websites.

Here is a graph just to show how StumbleUpon can be an effective tool for bringing massive amounts of traffic to your article or website.

The above image shows the traffic stats from the StumbleUpon toolbar. This gives a clear impression that the traffic is fantastically well-targeted and looking for viral content. It is noticed that Stumble traffic lead to a resurgence of traffic to a particular site or page that Stumblers have given high marks.

How to receive traffic?

StumbleUpon can be a great traffic generator - if you give the Stumblers what they want. StumbleUpon generally attracts people looking for interesting news, good site design and unique content/concepts. Making sure that these elements are all present can ensure that you are liked and receive a thumbs up as well as repeat visits to your website.

Here are some points which may help you to improve the rate of repeat visits from StumbleUpon visitors.

Aim for the market: You should have a clear idea of what you are aiming for. What do they want form the articles? Which category are they interested in? Write your article very specifically for those categories. Get your posts submitted to those exact categories.

Choose the most appropriate and attractive title: The title of the post to be used on StumbleUpon is quite important when it comes to getting visitors to read your articles. Use strong, concise subheads. Make the article easy to start and easy to continue reading.

Content depth: Your website should be full of content that cannot be digested in one single visit. Try to only Stumble the best content available on your website. It’s very important to put out great content after you’ve been Stumbled. Perhaps something similar to what received a large number of Stumbles will attract even more visitors.

Appealing Design: Your website should be visually appealing, with an attractive site design.

Subscription: A classic trick to use if you want to build up your marketing list or feed subscribers. Give away free videos, ebooks or other materials that are only available to subscribers. Your website must prominently ask visitors to subscribe to your blog feed or newsletter for updates.

Think “unique insight”: StumbleUpon users compete with each other to find and share the newest, most valuable guide, discussion, approach or evaluation - especially if it’s easy-to-use - of whatever their #1 focus is. That’s a tall order, but filling it can give you a big payoff. Very alert participation: Whenever you feel the site or the article worthy and precise, take a moment to give it a StumbleUpon “thumbs up” and a clear review of what is so valuable to you. You will gain credibility and make social bookmarking friends this way, and you’ll have a head-start toward bringing your own articles to the attention of a wider, friendlier audience.

Exclusive on-site materials: Your website should offer tools or in depth material which can only be accessed from your website.

Branding: Your website should have memorable branding or an easy to remember URL.

It’s very likely that your blog will experience a mini spike in feed subscription, which may decrease gradually with time. Your goal is to retain these subscribers and make them a part of your reader base and community. While there is no definite method that guarantees success, the above mentioned tips can help you increase the likelihood of converting Stumblers.

REFERENCES:

1. http://www.stumbleupon.com/about.html
2. http://www.doshdosh.com/five-ways-increase-stumbleupon-network/
3. http://crenk.com/stumbleupon-can-make-you-famous/#comment-8495
4. http://www.seomoz.org/blog/stumbleupons-fantastic-ability-to-drive-traffic
5. http://socialmarketingjournal.com/2008/03/14/10-step-stumbleupon-plan-to-make-your-article-famous/

Bookmark It

Related posts:

1. Social Bookmarking Roundup: Delicious, Stumbleupon, digg, mixx, reddit