Is StumbleUpon Really of Any Value?

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Okay, tonight is going to be my night for asking some perhaps stupid questions as I re-evaluate the different things I'm doing for their usefulness.

First up, is StumbleUpon really of any value?

I've had websites and blog posts stumbled, and I of course see the increase in traffic from those stumbles, but I've not yet seen any kind of evidence that the traffic is valuable in any way.

On days when I have high traffic due to a stumble, there is no corresponding increase in ad clicks. Nor is there any increase in sales of any affiliate offers or anything involving a monetary transaction.

Nor have I ever had anyone tell me they found my site through StumbleUpon.

I know it doesn't work the same, but it reminds me of the old traffic exchanges where people would just sit and rapidly click through other web sites in order to collect their own credits to have their site shown to other people who will pretty much do the exact same thing.

And, I don't stumble my own content, so many stumbles happen because someone thought something was worth stumbling.

So, what am I missing here?

[Jordan Matthews]

People think traffic is good, and stumbleupon does provide traffic, but I am of the same opinion as you...it brings people, but it brings useless people who don't do anything but suck bandwidth. Of course, I still do use it. Never really hurts to try.

[plcarr]

Thank you for asking that question. I thought I was the only one!!! It seems like there are so many ways to get traffic it hard to determine what works.

[onera]

You will get one time traffic rush and then they will fizzle out. News popularity sites (like digg) is better because of their link value. But any traffic is better than no traffic.

[ltdraper]

Stumble can be quite valuable.

The traffic is a lot more targeted than you think. The stumble algorithm does a pretty good job of pushing people towards things they'll be interested.

If you're expecting conversions from stumble visits, then you're taking the wrong approach. The things to measure from Stumble are RSS feed signups, twitter followers, submissions to other social networks, etc. It's just a chance to start a relationship. Some of that traffic is bound to be bloggers that may very well give you a link.

Traffic, even if it doesn't purchase, has other good effects. There are a lot of rumors that Google is looking at it's toolbar data to refine the SERPs. So if you're a site with heavy traffic you've got a better chance to perform. Likewise, having good alexa, compete, etc ratings opens other doors to you.

And frankly, stumble isn't that much work even if you're working it. When you notice that your article has been stumbled, get 20 friends to also give it a thumbs up. Message 20 friends on stumble to do the same thing. 10 minutes of work can get you 1,000 visits pretty easily, which is hard to beat.

[Li Weng]

I do social bookmarking for link building and stumbleupon is one of the few sites that give me direct traffic without me doing anything (even though it's quite minimal), so I guess it's not bad.

Imagine if you actually built a proper profile on it.

The key is to get involved in the community and participate. Create your profile and do bookmark your own stuff, add some friends, and etc..

Traffic they do bring but you need to fully understand how to use bookmarking to your advantage.

James

[Wakunahum]

I've been stumbled both others one some of my pages that give away a free pdf, but I haven't noticed any extra money from it all.

Just looks pretty in the stats, but I guess it's kind of nice that someone actually thinks something on my sites has value enough to tell others.

[Dan C. Rinnert]

Originally Posted by onera

But any traffic is better than no traffic.

I don't know that I agree with that.

Mark Twain said that a man who doesn't read has no advantage over a man who cannot read.

I think it's very similar with traffic. What advantage is there with traffic that doesn't convert versus no traffic? In both cases, you're not getting a benefit and, with the former, it's just using up your bandwidth.

Originally Posted by TheRichJerksNet

The key is to get involved in the community and participate. Create your profile and do bookmark your own stuff, add some friends, and etc..

Traffic they do bring but you need to fully understand how to use bookmarking to your advantage.

Maybe you have something there. Maybe I just don't get StumbleUpon, but it just doesn't seem too community oriented there. I mean, it just seems like a gloried traffic exchange with a little bit of MySpace thrown in. I have friends there, and have swapped stumbles and whatnot, but I just don't see the community. Twitter, I get. That's a community there. With StumbleUpon, I just don't see it.

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

I don't know that I agree with that.

Mark Twain said that a man who doesn't read has no advantage over a man who cannot read.

I think it's very similar with traffic. What advantage is there with traffic that doesn't convert versus no traffic? In both cases, you're not getting a benefit and, with the former, it's just using up your bandwidth.



Maybe you have something there. Maybe I just don't get StumbleUpon, but it just doesn't seem too community oriented there. I mean, it just seems like a gloried traffic exchange with a little bit of MySpace thrown in. I have friends there, and have swapped stumbles and whatnot, but I just don't see the community. Twitter, I get. That's a community there. With StumbleUpon, I just don't see it.

I will agree it may lack on some things but it also depends upon how you use it... You are bookmarking your pages, you have your friends.. Well let's release a huge bombshell here...

You get 10 friends, you all bookmark each others sites with StumbleUpon. Make sure each of you are subscribed to each others profile and you are added as friends. Make sure each of you comment on the bookmarks, heck start a small discussion on each.

Ok sounds like nothing special, except it will bring in more traffic for all involved but that's only part of the deal here.. Remember now StumbleUpon has RSS feeds (about 5 different ones) for each profile. Ok so now all 11 of you go and slap those RSS feeds into about 20 or 30 RSS directories.

Ok we getting even better traffic results now... let's not stop there though because we are having fun.. So you and your 10 friends go and signup for Delicious & Clipmarks - What are you finding on the web? and create your profiles, now go into clipmarks and choose the setting to add bookmarks automatically to delicious. Next all 11 of your will go and bookmark each others StumbleUpon profile and maybe a few sites while you at it.

When this is done not only are you adding to clipmarks but you are adding to delicious also on auto-pilot. Now each of you run around and "follow" each other and give each other "pops" on the bookmarks and post some comments, heck make a discussion out of it..lol

We are not done yet because this is getting good because guess what ClipMarks will be added in google within hours, yeah all your bookmarks will be indexed. Guess what though ? We still not done yet....

Look at your Clipmarks profile and what do you see ? a nice little orange RSS buton. Well guess what that's for ? You guessed it .. Go submit the RSS feeds of all 11 profiles.

WooHoo!! .. we are having fun and enjoying the traffic now but we are still not done.

Let's give it a little more push just for the heck of it... Go and signup for Mister Wong | Social Bookmarking Tool and login to delicious and export your bookmarks that was added on auto-pilot and then login to misterwong and import your bookmarks, takes 2 minutes...

Now if that does not explode your traffic and link building then nothing will.. You see as I always said social bookmarking is great when done properly and done manually. Software sucks and can't do what I just explained. Sure it takes time but is your business worth spending a little bit of time on for some huge traffic returns ??

Everyone that reads, please do not forget... There is a "thank you" button below this post..

James

[GreatBiz]

Hi, just as in any social bookmarking site, the real power lies in bring a spike in traffic, ie creating inital buzz. Whether the buzz will continue or not depends on where you are sending them to. If your content is viral, word of mouth will get you a consistent stream of traffic. But if your content is only good for the moment, then you will realize it dies off just as fast as it comes.

But another advantage is in the backlinks you get.

[Mr_Julian_S]

Not only Stumble Upon but other channels too drive good but irrelevant traffic to your site. It depends on you that how and what type of traffic you want to visit your site. Following are some tips that can help you improve your stumbleupon experience:

1. Don’t spam others with your own website content: this advice was consistent amongst all my friends - nobody likes spam of any sort, regardless of how good it is.

2. Don’t just thumbs up your own website: people on Stumbe Upon are quite web savvy and can generally tell a person’s motivations by what they bookmark/thumbs up. If people see a list of Stumbles with the same domain name, don’t expect to make a lot of friends or get fans fast.

3. Incorporate Stumble Upon into your Daily Website surfing routine: We all use the web. Using Stumble Upon just makes the process more intelligent especially for keeping a repository of favorite sites. So when you find something you like or don’t like, make sure you Thumbs Up or Down and use the “Send to” feature to send to Stumbler friends.

4. Stumble through your friends favorites daily: If you’ve made some friends on Stumble, press the friends button then you’ll see that your Stumble Button will from that point just stumble through your friends favorites. Don’t forget to review the stuff you really like as well.

5. Make meaningful friendships: I must admit when I first joined SU, I was adding people like there was no tomorrow. I am now far more selective and only add people who genuinely want to be a friend, share similar tastes in websites and are active.

6. Nurture relationships on Stumble Upon: Once you’ve made a friend, don’t just leave them there alone! I recommend you send them a welcome message then look out for their new stumbles.

7. Personalize your profile: Get a decent headshot or interesting photo to set you apart from the pack. Update your likes and add some information about yourself. This always makes someone’s Stumble Upon page more interesting.

You can actually get good and relevant traffic by following the above tips.

Regards

[forthwrite]

I think everyone should check out Caroline Middlebrook's videos on using StumbleUpon. They are very informative.

Do a search for her on here.