HOW TO USE STUMBLEUPON

Get More Traffic To Your Blog With Social Bookmarking

Guest Blog Post By Karen Repoli

Where does your website traffic come from? Does it come from a specific social media platform more often than others? If you’re an online entrepreneur it’s extremely important you know the answer to these questions. When you know where your traffic comes from you learn where your target audience is and can adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.

I was recently talking to Keith Keller regarding which social media platform works best in terms of traffic to our sites. I took a quick look at my statistics using Google Analytics and found that 70% of my website visitors came from StumpleUpon.

That is significant so Keith asked if I could write a blog post about StumbleUpon and how it works.

(Of course, the answer was YES!!)

What Is StumbleUpon?

StumbleUpon is a social bookmarking site. Like Delicious, Instapaper, and Google Bookmarks, it allows you to save links to articles for later reference and share them. The “Stumble!” toolbar also allows you to randomly discover new articles, based on your interests.

It is also a social voting site similar to Digg and Reddit, it allows you to vote for videos, blog posts, images, and articles you find on the Internet.

Finally, StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that recommends online content about most anything you can think of. Do you need information about blogging? Just type it in the search box and you will discover all the content you can read on the topic!

StumbleUpon is one of the best traffic generators among the top social media sites, ranking toe to toe with sites such as Digg and Tumblr.

Social Bookmarking Sites List (2016)

What is StumbleUpon’s secret to success? It has high quality content. It’s that easy. Poorly written articles and blog posts as well as sales pages won’t last long. One reason for this is that users of StumbleUpon vote on articles. They can easily hit the dislike button and bury your content so it is never seen. (How many times have you wanted a “dislike button” on Facebook!!)

Getting started is really easy:

(1) Go to Stumbleupon.com

(2) Register for FREE and select your topics

(3) Download the “Stumble” toolbar for your web browser.

(4) Start stumbling!

That’s it. You have just added a powerful tool to your content marketing toolbox! Remember to use it well.

Recently, someone on Facebook said “liking” your own post is like giving yourself a high five. Because Facebook is making it more and more difficult to get your posts seen, it’s almost a neccesity to like your own posts. However on StumbleUpon it is a no-no. So give the high fives to other bloggers on the site and build some Karma.

Concentrate on quality content. There are truckloads of information on any topic you can think of on the internet. It’s at everyone’s fingertips. To get noticed, your content has to be better than the other guys.

Rachel Parker of Resonance Content Marketing has a detailed article explaining what quality content is.

Be sure your avatar stands out. It is the first impression of you that people see. The default “ghost avatar” will not make the impression you are looking for. If you have a nice logo that looks good in a small size, you can use it. See how it looks on your profile. Many logos are too detailed to make an impression. Usually a professional headshot of yourself is better and will “brand” your articles so visitors immediately know what they can expect.

Stay focused on business. If you are using StumbleUpon to market your business, treat is as a business network. It’s not a good idea to talk about your personal beliefs on religion or politics (unless that is your topic) and you should always be polite and professional.

Remember this is the “face” of your brand on the internet.

Meet Karen Repoli

Karen Repoli, is a successful entrepreneur who has realized her dream of owning a successful business and having the freedom to live the lifestyle she desires. A seasoned business professional with 30 years of experience in office management, internet marketing and bookkeeping, she holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of NC, Greensboro and is VACertified.

Karen’s practical, proven systems help entrepreneurs accomplish their business goals. Karen is passionate about helping motivated entrepreneurs so they can manifest their brilliance to the world.

She is the author of How To Create, Publish and Sell Your eBook as well as several ebooks including The Nuts and Bolts Series. This series includes books on Coaching Management, SEO, Social Media and Webinar Management. These manuals provide entrepreneurs with the practical tools they need to grow their business. Also, she is the Charleston Internet Business Examiner on Examiner.com. Examiner.com is a top 100 website, reaching over 37 million unique visitors a month.