If you have a blog,a website, or you write articles, you need a constant stream of visitors. Social networking sites like Digg can give you a quick burst of traffic, but StumbleUpon can give you a steady flow if you use it correctly.
Digg and Del.icio.us are networking sites that work by giving you huge amounts of traffic over a very short period of time. If you make the front page here you can get a sudden boost to your statistics. StumbleUpon works in a different way and will give you a steady stream of visitors if you use it properly. (More information on using Digg is available here.)
First of all you need to become a member and download the tool bar which holds all the controls you will need to use this social network.
Stumbleupon has no front page. The tool bar allows you to rate website that you visit (including your own) and you simply click on the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” buttons according to your preferences. You select preferences and click on the “Stumble” button to see sites that might be of interest to you. This tool bar is simple to install and it tracks what you have seen, and what you prefer, so that you get to see what you want when you “Stumble”. You don’t have to provide any information that you don’t want to when you install this tool bar.
This is the way to add a site to Stumbleupon. Simply click on the “thumbs up”.
If you are trying to increase traffic to your article, blog or website, you need to improve on this. The more sites you visit and give the thumbs up to, the more sites of this type you will be given when you click on the “stumble” button and the more often your own relevant sites/articles will be given to other people. This will increase the number of visitors you have.
You can add you own sites too by simply clicking on the “I like It” button on the tool bar, but over use of this might get you barred from the site, so take care.
Add lots of friends because your friends will be given your latest website/additions when they “Stumble” and friends are more likely to give you the “thumbs up”.
When you add new websites and pages try to add them to the right category so that the “Stumblers” seeing them are more likely to be interested in them and so more likely to give them a “thumbs up”. For example, if you write about computers and you add your new article to the sports section, you are very likely to get a lot of “thumbs down” reactions because the people seeing your article or blog, are expecting sports orientated pages to come up.
Use tags and keywords and keep these as relevant as you can so that when someone “Stumbles” your pages, they get what they expect to see. More information on keywords and tags is available in here.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Very brief explanation on using social bookmarking service. Good article! Thanks Louie, and take care!
January 26th, 2008 at 10:45 am
A very clear explanation on how to use Stumbleupon properly. Thank you Louie.
January 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am
I really like StumbleUpon, but I no longer submit my own work (although when someone else does, I’ll give it a ‘thumbs up’). I do often review my friends’ work, and they do the same for me.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Good article Louie, though it is not always easy to download the SU button. Sometimes even if you manage to, it disappears as soon as you log off which means that you have to redo it if you want to stumble again.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:34 am
Nice clear article Louie. I have been using StumbleUpon for about a month now, and I’ve signed up with Digg, but I’ve never used Delicious.
January 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
thanks bro!
January 26th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Nice article, although stumbleupon does have its own home page.
January 26th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Louie, I guess someone could think you are of the opposite gender, if they didn’t check you out in your profile. lol Good article. Thank you for making it easier to understand for those like me who are not computer literate.
January 26th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Thanks for the comments everyone.
Jared, yes, I agree with you, Stumbleupon does have a ‘Buzz’ page but it doesn’t have a front page that works the same way as Digg does. I think everyone has more chance on Stumbleupon of doing well.
January 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
I am learning to stumble and have found great sites!
January 26th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Stumbleupon is awesome!
January 26th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Nice article and clear information about Stumbleupon.
January 27th, 2008 at 7:38 am
Great explanation on social book marking. Thanks louie.
January 30th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Great article as always Louie…informative and a must-try.
February 5th, 2008 at 9:58 am
Thanks for this as I’m just learning – and slowly.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
Great… now I have a little more knowledge how to get my articles going. Thanks.
July 15th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
I have been using Stumbleupon for years now, I am surprised
when I hear people now just discovering this site. It was the first of it’s kind when it first lauched,and I have enjoyed this site probaly more than any other. I get family and friends to stumble my site, and it works. This site did not happen overnight, but I have yet to see a spinoff, anybody know of any?
Tip..use firefox to stumble, because it crashes alot in EI
July 15th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Spin offs! Yes! Streakr.com works well.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Thank you so much for this article! I’m still stumbling around trying to figure out StumbleUpon. I know its a great way to increase traffic, I just have to learn my way around the system. Good tips!
February 9th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Thank you for the helpful information. I am a stumble user and I have been looking to make sure I am doing this correctly.