Sunday, May 30, 2010
Stumbleupon
The Stumbleupon Download: Who Needs Another Toolbar?
You probably know that, as a user, you can quickly find sites others have found useful through the Stumbleupon download of – yes – yet another toolbar. Sometimes with these toolbars, you tend to wonder if the added load on your browser memory is actually worth the aggravation. But if you’ve done what I once did – downloaded the Stumbleupon toolbar, only to discard it as a time waster, not long afterwards – you might reluctantly wish to go ahead and restore it again, just like me.
You see, it’s not with you as a user that Stumbleupon can actually benefit your business. On the contrary: You can use Stumbleupon from the other “side”, as an effective means to actually increase site traffic!
The popularity of Stumbled sites is not set by Google, or any other Search Bot – it’s set by readers, who attach a perceived value and promote the ones they like best.
The truth is, you don’t even have to spend hours being a Stumbleupon user for being Stumbled to suddenly explode your traffic. All you need is one person to give your site that vote of confidence and pass on the link – and if you’re lucky enough to actually get stumbled to your relevant market, away you go!
A Double-Edged Sword?
Now, there are 2 huge drawbacks to Stumbleupon traffic – and they should be obvious to you, straight away!
PROBLEM #1: Your visitor may have fallen in love with your magnificent front page photo of a spectacular Old English oak tree. She stumbles it for the photo – and your site is flooded with people who like to draw elves, and want to use it as a background. It’s hardly targeted traffic. But that experience can actually be a great lesson for you!
ANSWER: It gives you a chance to go over every element on your page, asking yourself the question – “Does every item I have on here support my USP and message? Does it speak only to my niche? Does it have a clear purpose?”
That gives you a chance to remove any distracting elements – like that fairy-tale tree. If elements need replacing, replace them with something more targeted and focused on your market.
PROBLEM # 2: Stumbleupon has taken a tip from Google: It doesn’t tell you its Secret Formula – the one that will push you to the top of the “favorites” heap quicker than any other strategy.
ANSWER: Again, it goes back to Problem # 1. Overhaul your site, and make sure every message and element supports your USP. Your site will need to be content rich – and above all, you’ll need to know how to send a specifically-focused message with universal appeal.
And if you don’t have time to do that – or you don’t need to – take a tip from the Squidoo community: Make sure you interact and “Friend” people whose relevant sites you genuinely like. (That proved to be the quickest way, for me, in getting people to Stumble my sites back.)
Avoid artificial ways like Tweeting a trumped-up, artificial Stumbleupon link in Twitter. Your Twitter followers won’t thank you for “tricking” them – even the ones scrambling to duplicate your brilliant, sneaky strategy!
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