8 Tips for Effective Stumbling

I love StumbleUpon.  In fact, I'm addicted to it.  It’s easy to use (that Stumble button is right there in your browser bar), covers a variety of topics that appeal to a variety of users, and an excellent traffic driver (because it’s easy to use and appeals to a variety of users).  StumbleUpon is easily the top source of traffic for this blog, and I highly recommend it if you’re starting your own blog or website, or if you’re looking to venture into social networking for the first time in order to promote your business.

Having stumbled my way through the ins and outs of using StumbleUpon, I’m going to let you in on what I’ve learned along the way so you can make effective use of StumbleUpon for your own site.

1. Golden Stumbling Rule: Stumble upon others as you would have them stumble upon you.  Social networking is all about developing relationships, and when it comes to using for your business, there’s a little give and take involved.  Make sure to take time stumble pages of your friends, and you’ll reap the benefits in time when they stumble your pages in return.
2. Cardinal Stumbling Rule: Don’t just stumble your own stuff.  One thing that puts me off when I look at someone's StumbleUpon profile is seeing nothing but pages from their own site.  Believe me when I say that most of the StumbleUpon community (and the social media community in general) feels the same way I do.  Now, it’s OK to stumble your own pages every now and then.  Sometimes that’s what it takes to get the ball rolling.  But, do so sparingly.  Remember the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”?  Contestants had only 3 lifelines, so they had to use them wisely.  Think of stumbling your own content as using a lifeline, limit yourself to maybe once a week or 3 times a month, and choose only your best content to stumble.
3. Build your network.  Seek out Stumblers to add to your network by searching for topics that interest you, and visiting the profiles of those who like those topics.  Keep an eye on your Friends page to see who has added you as a friend, and then visit their profiles.  Check out your “What’s New” page to see who has visited your profile recently.  
4. Look for “power users”. Power users have:1) discovered a lot of sites, 2) received a lot of thumbs up and reviews on their stumbles, and 3) have received a lot of good reviews for their profile. Befriend them – one stumble on your content from a power user can drive a boatload of traffic to your site.
5. Build relationships.  Review those in your network who have good stumbles.  They’ll receive notification when you review them, which may prompt them to review you in return.
6. Stumble early and stumble often.  The more you stumble, the better.  By “discovering” pages that haven’t been stumbled yet, you’ll draw attention to your profile.  Even if you stumble something that has already been discovered, your profile can still attract visitors (and in turn, your own content). 
7. Tag wisely.  Make sure to choose the best possible main topic in which to categorize your discoveries, and then tag using the most appropriate tags.  I highly recommend researching your tags by searching for them in the StumbleUpon search box.  The more stumblers who have marked that tag as a favorite, the better your chances of getting your discovery seen.
8. Don’t forget your bio!  Even though StumbleUpon “nofollows” links, you can still drive traffic to your site by including it in your bio on your profile.  Check out mine as an example.

Knowing how to use StumbleUpon the right way can not only help you to drive traffic to your blog or website, but also build business relationships with potential customers and partners.  It won’t happen overnight; but with careful cultivation, StumbleUpon can be an effective networking and marketing tool for you.