In about 410 words (less than 1 typical single-spaced printed page), here's how to use StumbleUpon to get more blog traffic.
What Is StumbleUpon?
StumbleUpon is a community of people who share things they find online. Sign up for free. (See my StumbleUpon page.)
How Does StumbleUpon Work?
StumbleUpon works through a toolbar that you install in your Web browser. At any Web page, you can click a toolbar button to tell StumbleUpon "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down." You can also make StumbleUpon show you articles, images or videos that other Stumblers (StumbleUpon users) have shared. You can even tag, review and discuss what you see with other Stumblers. The act of using StumbleUpon is called "stumbling."
The 10 StumbleUpon Blog Traffic Commandments
At your blog, publish as much content as possible that Stumblers would supremely enjoy.- Make it as easy as possible for blog visitors to stumble your content.
- When (and only when) you find content that Stumblers would supremely enjoy, give it a thumbs-up.
- Submit a useful review of everything you stumble.
- Discover content (be the first to stumble it) as often as possible.
- Befriend and stumble content by Stumblers who stumble your content, visit your blog, interact with you in StumbleUpon or share similar interests.
- Make your StumbleUpon avatar (personal logo) and profile page fascinating.
- Every weekday, stumble for at least 10 minutes, including at least 1 image or video.
- Don't cheat.
- Relax and enjoy StumbleUpon.
The StumbleUpon Blog Traffic Golden Rule
Stumble upon others as you would have others stumble upon you.
The 10-Minute Daily StumbleUpon Power Routine
2 minutes - Visit the Flickr recent photos page. Refresh until you find a superb photo. Visit its page, right-click on the image and click "StumbleUpon PhotoBlog It!"
2 minutes - Visit your StumbleUpon profile page at http://(your username).stumbleupon.com/home/. Click the links along the right to visit the profile pages of the most recent Stumblers to visit your page. Add those with similar interests to yours as friends and visit any blogs or websites they may have.
2 minutes - Stumble within the "Friends" channel (image of two people). Thumbs-up anything superb.
2 minutes - Stumble within a query (toolbar search box) related to your blog. Thumbs-up anything superb.
2 minutes - Stumble anything superb on the Digg Upcoming page most related to your blog (e.g. design).
Now stop and shout "I love stumbling!"
What Think Ye?
Feedback welcome.
Thanks for this! I just did your 10-minute procedure, and I discovered more great stuff on StumbleUpon than I have in the year or two that I've been using it. It's definitely going to become a regular routine.
And your suggestion about the upcoming Digg page... brilliant! :)
Posted by: Lyman from Creating a Better Life | December 6, 2007 6:42 PM | Permalink to Comment