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Everything You Wanted To Know About StumbleUpon

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What Is StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon helps you easily discover new and interesting stuff on the Web. Tell them what you like, and they’ll introduce you to amazing web pages, videos, photos and more that you wouldn't have found on your own. Yep, it's a web aggregation and this is perfect for retailers

As you Stumble through great web pages, tell them whether you Like or Dislike their recommendations so they can show you more of what’s best for you. They’ll show you web pages based on that feedback as well as what similar Stumblers and the people you follow have Liked or Disliked.

Whether you’re interested in Humor, Photography, Fashion, home furnishings, decorating or Sports, they have something for you.  Every Stumble is an adventure, and something amazing is always just a click away.

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How StumbleUpon Works

If you think this is another post about voting up your own articles on StumbleUpon, you’re mistaken.

Every blogger should have a StumbleUpon account. Regardless of which social media service you prefer, StumbleUpon is by far the easiest and least time-consuming to use.

How StumbleUpon works.

When you come across something you like online you can vote for it with a button on your toolbar. The page is then shared with others who have similar interests.

When you’re bored, or looking for inspiration, click ‘Stumble!’ and great pages others have liked will be shared with you.

It’s really that simple.

As with most things that seem simple, however, there’s much more to it beneath the surface.

This post doesn’t intend to be comprehensive overview of StumbleUpon. What it does intend to do is show you how you can build your blog and your blogger profile by participating in the StumbleUpon community — while having plenty of fun at the same time!

Getting started with StumbleUponIf you already have an account, great. If not, sign up here. Don’t put it off — the process is worth it.

One tip: make sure your username and profile picture are branded in line with your blog. Use your blogging name for your profile, and a photo or logo your readers will be familiar with.

Once you have your account and StumbleUpon homepage, make sure you customize your interests to suit your tastes. You can ‘manage your interests’ via the sidebar. This is important, as it will effect what kinds of pages you get when you Stumble. It will also change the kinds of people who take an interest in your votes.

There are plenty of other things you can customize, but we’ll stick with the basics for now. Let’s get started building your blog and your blogger profile with your new account.

1. Connect with other bloggersTo start connecting with other bloggers through StumbleUpon, all you need to do is vote up their content (when it’s good). The more traffic you send them, the more likely they are to go and investigate the source, or even add you as a friend. StumbleUpon can be a great networking tool.

On top of that, supporting blogs you like is just good karma. What more could you ask for?

2. Drive traffic back to your blog with great stumblesWhen you vote up a site that hasn’t been voted up before, you ‘Discover’ it. This means that you write its first review and your profile information appears in the sidebar of the reviews page for that item.

Great content can drive a lot of (influential) stumblers to the page profiling you, as they rush to vote and review it. Some of them will be drawn into visiting your profile, simply because you have such great taste. But how can we encourage these visitors to check out our blog?

3. Highlight your blog in your StumbleUpon profileThis is easy. Enter your blog URL as your website address, and this will be displayed above your image on the main page of your profile. You can also write a bit about yourself and add a link to your blog in your About blurb.

4. Connect with your readersWhen you start to see traffic coming from StumbleUpon, take the time to visit the reviews page for the blog post readers have voted up.

The stumblers on this page have been enthusiastic enough about your content to want to Stumble it. If they’re not already loyal readers, this makes them great candidates for becoming one.

Take the time to thank them for their Stumble, and add them as a friend. Little acts of generosity like these leave an impression and may encourage the Stumbler to see what other types of great content you’re capable of.

5. Make friends for a more powerful profileThe StumbleUpon algorithm is a mysterious thing, but evidence seems to suggest that the mostactive and popular stumblers are rewarded with the ability to control large traffic-flows. The ‘active’ part is up to you — how much time are you willing to put in? The ‘popular’ part of the equation, however, depends on how many fans you have. Fans are those stumblers who’ve added you as a friend in order to see the pages you stumble.

How do you get fans? Great, properly labeled stumbles will do it. Another successful strategy is to add those who vote up your content. If they took the time to explore your blog they might recognize you as the author of the content they liked and add you in return. The friendship will enhance both of your profiles and you’ll be connecting with another potential reader.

6. To submit or not to submit?Some bloggers believe that repeatedly stumbling the same domain will see the benefits of your stumbles at that domain peter down to nothing. Others believe it’s absolutely necessary to submit your own articles to ensure they’re placed in the category best-suited to them. I’d be interested to hear which approach you think is best in the comments section of this post.

7. Send great content to your friendsStumbleUpon users have the ability to send pages to specific friends, or all of them. If you’ve written something you’re really confident is worthy of a stumble then you might consider sending it out to your friendship network. They’re much more likely to vote up your content than the strangers who routinely find themselves at your blog.

Moderation is key when using this tool. If you overuse it there is a chance your friends will tire of you. An alternative to a wide-ranging send-out might be to send an article to one or two friends you know will be particularly interested in the content.

8. Create a profile people will visit for its own sakeTreat your profile like another blog. If you make it a place people will want to visit for its own sake, the chance of visitors engaging with it and following the link back to your blog increases.

Take the time to play with the colors, add images to your reviews, and explore the functions on offer to create your ‘blog’ (StumbleUpon actually refers to it as such). Fill your profile with votes and reviews for great content your friends will want to visit, and tell others about. A great profile will naturally attract interested and admiring visitors, and raise your profile in the StumbleUpon community.

9. Use it for inspirationWhen StumbleUpon is at its best, it serves up a long line of great content suited to your tastes. A stumbling session can be a great source of inspiration when your well of ideas runs dry.

A tip: don’t stumble only within the topic you blog about. Sometimes the best (and most original) post ideas are found by trying to relate radically different content to your niche.

10. Have fun!I hope this post has convincingly argued that the secret to building your blog with StumbleUpon is to participate actively, genuinely and enthusiastically in the community there. The rewards are sure to filter back to you and your blog.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips 

What is StumbleUpon and How to Use It
Awesome Article

What is StumbleUpon and How to Use It
Written on August 22, 2011 by LizJostes in Featured, Tools/Apps

StumbleUpon is website that helps you to “stumble upon” articles, posts and photographs that match your interests. After reading the article presented to you, you can choose whether or not to “like” it. The more likes an article receives, the more times it will be presented to future stumblers, which in turn means more pageviews for that website owner.

Many website owners and bloggers encourage the sharing of their articles to StumbleUpon in hopes of driving traffic to their sites. StumbleUpon can be a very powerful tool; when used correctly, some stumblers have garnered up to several thousand hits on a single post, in a single day.

How to Get Started on StumbleUponBefore you can enjoy the additional traffic that StumbleUpon may bring, you first need to create an account and find other users to follow. Like with many other social media and social bookmarking sites, you are given the option to search among your current contacts.

As you find and follow other users, be sure to check the box beneath the Follow button that reads, “Accept Shares from the Toolbar”. This extra action will come into play when sharing your own content with others.

The StumbleUpon ToolbarThe best way to use StumbleUpon is to download the toolbar to your browser (For all available browser options, visit StumbleUpon’s toolbar download page.)

This is the toolbar that Google Chrome users see. If you are using StumbleUpon to find new content to read, click the Stumble! button at the far left. You’ll then be presented with a new article to check out.

For those who use StumbleUpon as a potential traffic driver, you’ll mainly be focused on the Thumb Up (I like it!) and Share buttons on the toolbar.

How to Thumb Up a PostStumbleUpon’s Thumb Up button is similar to a Facebook Like. By clicking it, you are telling StumbleUpon that you give that post your vote.

If the post you thumbed up has been liked before, the Thumb Up button will turn green and you’ll remain on that web page.

But if you are the first person to thumb up a particular post, it is considered a “Discovery” and you’ll be prompted to complete a review of that post. It is important for every thumbed up post to receive a review, and a review pop-up is only presented after a discovery. So be sure to take a few moments to mark the required fields and add tags for all posts that you discover.

But if you are the first person to thumb up a particular post, it is considered a “Discovery” and you’ll be prompted to complete a review of that post. It is important for every thumbed up post to receive a review, and a review pop-up is only presented after a discovery. So be sure to take a few moments to mark the required fields and add tags for all posts that you discover. 

Adding Your Own ContentOnce a post is discovered, it’s added to the extensive StumbleUpon database, giving it a chance at another user stumbling upon it. StumbleUpon wants its database of articles to be based on unbiased readers’ suggestions of enjoyable, worthwhile posts, so excessively thumbing up your own content is frowned upon.

That’s not to say that you can never thumb up your own content. Many stumblers use the 10% approach, meaning that for every 10 articles they thumb up, only 1 is their own content. Also, you can use the toolbar’s Share function, which is a way to suggest your content to your followers in hopes they’ll read it, enjoy it and click the Thumb Up button.

How to See Your FavoritesAs you start thumbing up others’ content (and hopefully receiving some thumb ups of your own), you may want to check on how those articles have fared.

From your Profile page, click on the Favorites tab to see the number of views, reviews, likes and tags of each article you’ve thumbed up.

StumbleUpon is a very popular – and somewhat complex – social bookmarking site. While this post explains how to get started with this tool, upcoming posts will include topics like sending and accepting shares from others and how to add and change a review.

Are you using StumbleUpon?  If so, come find LizJostes, TamingInsanity, MyTimeAsMom andAmandaEAustin.