Lessons on Blogging - Can You Build Real Traffic With StumbleUpon?
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
IF YOU ARE BLOGGING FOR FAME OR FORTUNE, YOU CAN ACHIEVE NEITHER WITHOUT HITS TO YOUR SITE. SO THE QUESTION IS THIS: CAN YOU BUILD SUSTAINABLE TRAFFIC FROM STUMBLE UPON?
Within minutes of setting up your blog, you are inundated with terms like SEO, Organic Traffic, Niche Blogging, etc. And as you quickly learn, these terms all refer in some way to the how and why visitors come to your site and how you build traffic.
After reading the post, Why You Shouldn’t Stumble Yourself, on Pandemic Labs, I’ve finally come to a conclusion about whether or not you can really build traffic from StumbleUpon.
Nope!
Sure, this blog has enjoyed the ego-lifting bumps in traffic and, by all means, feel free to give me a thumbs up after you’re done reading. But I suspect if you read this far, you would like genuine information to help you create a real strategy for building your blogs traffic.
Firstly, if you use stumbleupon, you know that there are many times that you do not hit the thumbs up or thumbs down button, regardless of whether you like the page or not.
In fact, I know that I am far more likely to make an actual comment on the blog page than instinctively hit the thumbs up. There are times that I am conscious of how my stumbleupon presence is increased by stumbling and will make sure that I thumb and review the pages I like.
Otherwise, the content doesn’t move me to do much of anything.
Looking over the last sentence, I wondered if that sounded dismissive of my fellow blogger’s hard work. If it does, it shouldn’t be…I have had friends and others give me their opinion of posts that I have written, but not take the time and effort to register their opinions on my blog or through stumbleupon.
And that, in my opinion, is a realistic reflection on non-bloggers’ browsing behavior.
So, if you are thinking about building traffic, then StumbleUpon may not be the answer in the long term, and what’s more, that shouldn’t be seen as a bad thing as building your blog’s traffic is not SU’s business.
Well, than….what is the answer for building a blog with steady traffic?
I have some real life data that has led me to a conclusion…but that’s for my next post.
However, if you have been blogging for any length of time, you already know the answer.
But here is a hint…It starts with an “N”
Well I’m inclined to agree here, although there are so many posts on the web that tell you how to use SU to get traffic, it’s immensely time-consuming in my opinion… I also forget to stumble when I’m surfing and I guess 99% of the SU users are the same! Well, I guess I’ll stumble this anyway…! I’ve found one of the easiest ways to generate traffic is to join up with the blog groups like BlogCatalog and then just add loads of friends - gets you some nice comments along the way and adds to a busier feel on your site.
Cheers, Dan
Thanks for the comment and the stumble….I will be checking out blog catalog…
I have used SU pretty effectively to create bursts of traffic to my site. Of course, Stumbling your own posts or getting your friends to Stumble your posts too often won’t work. In the end, content is king. If you are writing high-quality traffic, then your readership will grow. Tools like SU simply help you to get the word out.
I have also found that building relationships with other bloggers is very important. This can best be done through commenting, Stumbling and generally participating on their sites. This is an excellent reason to thumb sites when you visit them.
Jeff
I agree…I try to remember when I’m stumblin to take the time to comment, giving a thumbs up, and reviewing….
And particularly, remembering to take the time to engage with other bloggers when they take the time to participate on your site!
Thanks for this post. I agree with you and your commenters. It’s interesting that one of the first things I did when I started my blog was “thumbs up” it.