The Definitive Guide To Long Term Stumbleupon Traffic
This Story Inspired by a PostWritten by Caroline Middlebrook on her Blog
It is a well documented fact that using Stumbleupon you know it can drive huge amounts of traffic to your blog. However, if you have spent anytime “Stumbling,” you know that the traffic spikes initially, but then tends to drop off rather dramatically. This happened to me, and so I’ve decided to comb the Internet and write The Definitive Guide To Long Term Stumbleupon Traffic.
Analyzing The Stumbleupon Traffic Algorithm
Tim Nash of The Venture Skills Blog ran extensive tests against Stumbleupon to derive their traffic algorithm. I’m going summarize how it works, but if you want to read the details of his tests and results, take a look at his post: Stumbleupon Mathematics For Stumblers
Audience Score
The Audience score is comprised of 3 primary components, and understanding it will help us to focus our efforts. The 3 components are as follows:
-
Number of fans you have
-
Number of thumbs up / thumbs down you have given
-
Your thumbs up bonus, based on the number of thumbs up you receive on a specific page
-
The Authority of the users who stumble your page. If they are stumble power users they will give you better results.
According to Tim, the basic model for dominating Stumbleupon is this:
-
Recruit lots of fans
-
Thumbs up as many great pages as you have time to stumble
-
Write reviews only on pages that you believe will be very popular Stumble pages.
After taking a long hard look at that list, let’s start to formulate a plan for maximizing our long term traffic from Stumbleupon
The Guide Begins
My Bag Of Tricks For Recruiting Loyal Stumble Fans
Trick #1- Send A Stumbleupon Invite To All of Your Contacts -I know this may seem very obvious, but unlike trying to sell your friends the latest MLM scheme or affiliate product, they will actually be interested in Stumbleupon. Just make sure you give them instructions in the invite you send.
Trick #2 -Reciprocal Friend Exchange - There are tons of places you can do a reciprocal stumble friend exchange.
1. I have started a very popular group on BlogCatalog.com called The Stumble Upon Friend Builder. If you are not a BlogCatalog member, click on the link and register, then come back and click on the friend builder link above.
Once you’re there, all you have to do is open the discussion, add your name to the list, and then proceed to add every-one’s name on the list. Be sure to state that you saw their name on the StumbleUpon Friend Builder discussion
2. There are tons of forums out there where you could start a similar post as above.
3. Create a myBlogLog community for connecting stumblers
It turns out the this tactic explicity violates the StumbleUpon TOS.
“StumbleUpon does not allow personal accounts to be used for the purposes of incentivization or promoting sites. This would be considered a breach of our Terms.
The practice of sending PM’s encouraging or inviting other stumblers to rate/review sites in exchange for reciprocal reviews/ratings, monetary, or any other form of reward is strictly forbidden.
The practice of actively soliciting a rating or review for a site is also forbidden. Should you receive a PM, or encounter forum postings that breach this rule, you are encouraged to report this via feedback.
Accounts participating in such practices will be deleted and banned, and the related sites deleted and banned from the system.”
Trick #3 - Send Thank Yous to People who Stumble Your Site
Caroline wrote a great article on why you should thank your stumblers. Check it out.
Trick #4 - Write A Review or Trackback for This Post on your Blog
If you have read this far then you’re smart enough to know that by sending someone to read this article, they’ll probably try a couple of the tips and tricks and add you as a StumbleUpon friend. Just make sure you tell them your stumble ID.
Trick #5 - Stumble Websites That Link To You.
This trick is one which we’ll be further discussing on our Internet Profit Dominator. The basic premise here is two-fold.
1. By stumbling pages who link to you, you are sending traffic to a site which contains your link. It is entirely possible people will click on it.
2. More importantly, you are helping someone develop their web page or blog. The will be more likely to review your website and possibly even create more backlinks and content for you.
————————————————
The follow tricks are a bit more shady. Many people are finding that it is a bad idea to try and “game” StumbleUpon. Use these at your own risk:
Shady Trick #1- Use The StumbleExchange
Techinically the StumbleExchange is against the StumbleUpon TOS. However, for now StumbleUpon isn’t taking any action against the StumbleExchange or their users. If you do decide to use this site, make sure you are linking with people who write really good stumbles, and who choose great content to stumble
7 Places to Find Great Pages To Thumbs Up and Review
#1 - Visit the Alexa.com Movers And Shakers page
The Alexa.com Movers and Shakers page displays a list of the top 10 websites moving up in the Alexa.com traffic rankings.
You can usually find some great stumble material here. I don’t recommend stumbling high profile websites like the Tennis Masters Cup shown in this picture. However, the personal website of Patrick Moberg probably contains material that people would want to read.
For instance, while writing this article I checked out the Alexa.com Movers and Shakers list and saw the website bfads.net. This website tracks all of the best deals and where to get them on on Black Friday, the nations biggest shopping day. Clearly this is a relevant topic as I’m writing this article exactly 1 week before Thanksgiving, making this great stumble material.
Also, since these websites are shooting up in the traffic rankings, it is likely they have links to some very interesting websites. Be sure to review them.
#2 - Use The MSN.Com A-List
There can be little doubt that top 10 lists are very popular with Internet surfers. The MSN.Com A-List contains top lists for the following items:
-
Most Popular Searches
-
Most Popular Headlines
-
Top Videos
-
Top Movies
-
Top DVD Rentals
-
Top Sports Stories
-
Tops in Tech
-
Holiday Hot List
-
Top Health Stories
These are usually OK sources for stumble material, but if you look at the bottom of the page, you will find links for some really juicy content to stumble in the “more a-list” options.
I particularly like to use the “Hot Authors” as it frequently turns up interesting stories. They also maintain an archive so huge that you’re bound to find stories that very few people have stumbled.
#3 - Find Quizzes and Polls
Don’t ask me why, but people love to take online quizzes and fill out polls on everything from relationships to world events.
You can easily find great sources by using your favorite search engine. I generally use Microsoft Encarta & CoolQuiz.Com
#4 - Track YouTube Featured Videos
Keep an eye on this list. As highly rated new videos make there way on to the list you can stumble them.
#5 - Picture Posts
If you find a really great picture online, stumble it. This picture was taken by the Hubble space telescope. It is of a Galaxy 1000’s of light years away. If you were to stumbleupon a picture like this, would you be interested in reading more?
#6 - Online Magazines, and Newspapers The Online version of your favorite magazine or newspaper will constantly post up exclusive online content and deals. Entertainment magazines like Rolling Stone, tech magazines, and trendy local magazines like Seattle’s “The Stranger” tend to provide the most popular Stumble material.
#7 - Controversial Topics
Content on controversial topics such as religion, politics, abortion, ExtraTerrestrial life, etc. make great Stumble material. One great site that frequents my stumble list is The Onion; a great satirical news website.
Bonus: How To Create Top Notch Stumble Material
The intent of this article was to teach you how to build a consistent flow of traffic to your website with StumbleUpon. Although I haven’t done a great deal of research on the topic, I felt this guide would not be complete without learning how to create great stumble content.
Here is a link to Writing for StumbleUpon:High Impact Content “Above the Scroll” in Four Easy Steps, an article produce by CopyBlogger.com; a very highly respected blog on writing better online sales copy.
