Two weeks ago, as I was randomly looking at my blog stats in the early afternoon, I was surprised to see that my pageviews for the day were more than triple the norm. I immediately checked to see where all that traffic was coming from and found that it was mostly from a single post on StumbleUpon. By the end of the day, my total pageviews were about seven times normal. I had gone viral on StumbleUpon!
Over the next few days the numbers settled down, but they still remained much higher than normal. Now, two weeks later, they are still double what I usually expect. And much of that traffic is still coming from StumbleUpon.
How I Went Viral on StumbleUpon
I will tell you up front that I am not a StumbleUpon expert. While I’ve been using it for years, until a few weeks ago, that meant that I’d add a post now and then, rarely stumble other posts, and, if I was lucky, see about 10-15 hits a day. So what did I do differently?
Well, I’ve since read a little more about using StumbleUpon, and apparently I stumbled onto a few things that are recommended by the pros. Here’s what I did.
I joined a StumbleUpon tribe
Or a couple actually. A tribe that would share my posts, like them, and I would do the same in kind. The important part of this to remember is that your tribe should enjoy similar interests. Apparently StumbleUpon does not appreciate it when you like everything that is thrown your way, so sticking to your niche, as well as topics that you really enjoy, is important. My tribes are on Facebook, by the way, but I’m sure there are other ways to find other Stumblers that you can work with.
I followed the Stumblers that I really enjoy
StumbleUpon only allows you to follow 500 people, so I just follow those people with similar interests. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what following someone means (if you know, tell me in the comments), but it does make it easy to check the posts that they have liked.
I (mostly) stopped adding my own posts
I admit it. In the past, I frequently added my own posts to StumbleUpon. Apparently, though, that is frowned upon by the powers that be at SU, so I mostly stopped, instead asking my tribe to do it for me.
I use the Chrome StumbleUpon extension
This makes it so easy to share posts that you love as well as stumble others when you have time.
I Stumble
Until recently, I rarely actually hit that Stumble button. Over the last few weeks, though, I’ve taken the time to use it several times a day. Some of the stuff that I stumble upon is so great! I use the thumbs up button when I really like what I’m reading, occasionally use the thumbs down when it’s something I don’t like (or grosses me out, which happens). I also use the app on my iPad and phone. It’s great when you have time to kill (which admittedly doesn’t happen often).
I made it easy for others to Stumble my posts
Even if you don’t have the extension, it’s pretty easy to share my posts. I have StumbleUpon buttons both at the beginning and the end of my posts.
So, those are the changes I made that helped my post go viral on StumbleUpon. And while the massive numbers have diminished, the increase in overall pageviews is worth the little extra time it takes.
Do you have any StumbleUpon tips?
Oh, and if you like this post, won’t you please Stumble it?
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Yay!!! I used to use StumbleUpon quite a bit and got great traffic from it. But then my sharing plug in stopped working and I (got lazy) never fixed it. Thanks for the reminder to FIX IT!!!
I hope by now you iced it :-). It’s actually quite fun to use too. I notice I get tons of cute animal pictures when I stumble, so it obviously knows me.
Great post! I’m just getting started with SU. Made sure to stumble this for ya! 🙂
Thanks Maureen. I avoided SU for a long time, but I’m enjoying both the extra traffic and finding new blogs.
Very cool! Great post…I’ve always liked Stumble!
Thank you. It can be a great tool.
Very interesting! I am still figuring it out since we began talking about it in our group. I have seen some increase in traffic as well. Thanks for the tips! Not sure how to follow people either except by liking their content. stumbing this 🙂
Thanks Deborah. I am by no means an expert, but I’m having fun learning more.
I love SU! But, it does take a lot of work, which it totally worth it in the end. I would love to see if I can join the SU tribes?! Please send me an email. Thanks!!!
Thanks Liz. Email sent!
Thanks for the info! I just started using StumbleUpon. When I first added a link to their site, it gave me quite a jump in traffic but since then, nothing. Good to know it’s best to not stumble your own posts. Always something to learn in the crazy world of social media!
Thank you. As I said, I’m really not an expert, but I did want to share what I did to gat more traffic.
I know nothing about SU so thank you Debbie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You’re welcome! The only problem with SU is that it’s another huge time sucker. So easy to get caught up in reading new posts. 🙂
Such a great read. I love how you broke it all down, Debbie.
Thank you! I’m glad you found it helpful!
I must admit I have not explored Stumbling.
I’m pretty new to it, but getting extra traffic is cool and I find many blogs and articles I wouldn’t see otherwise.
I also had two posts go viral. But here’s the thing – I actually did add them to SU! However, I’ve also been pretty active with SU – I add articles daily and occasionally press the Stumble button.
No idea what followers means – would also like to know!
And here’s another question I have – you can either add a page to your list or click the “add a page” button and add it that way. I found that using the button results in more stumbles, most of the time. But I would love to know if articles are treated differently depending upon how they are added.
Thanks for sharing – and I will stumble! 🙂
That’s interesting. Also good because it’s much easier to use the button instead of manually adding the page. Thanks for stumbling M
I’m hearing so much lately, Debbie about the effectiveness of using Stumbleupon. I would really like to learn more. I’m still unsure how to use it but thank you for the tips. #BloggersPitStop
Thanks Sue. I hope you find the tips helpful.. It’s really a matter of just jumping in and starting to stumble.
I love SU because it is so quick and easy to use – it certainly increases my page views – not so much my interactions though?? I’m not sure how many people actually read the post when they Stumble it, but it’s nice to have another social media source that requires so little work to maintain. And I love it when I find something really random and interesting when I hit the stumble button (I stumbled this for you tos xx)
I don’t think the traffic from SU sticks around long or clicks on other pages, but like you said, it is nice to have an easy social media option.
I have tried Stumbleupon a few times but have not mastered it yet. I did see a spike in traffic the last time I did a stumble share. I like the idea that it gets to know your tastes and then feeds you more of the stuff you like.
Oh dear! I’m still learning the basics of other social media! Not yet ready to discover the whole new world of SU! Maybe in a couple of months.
I’m still a novice at using SU and I appreciate learning more.
Dropping by from #SITSblogging. This happened to me a few weeks ago, too. I’ve been using SU before but not as active as now. I also followed more people, stumbled more, and gave more posts I like a thumbs up. I observed that more interesting contents and photos get more thumbs up and views.
I’ve just started using Stumbleupon in the past couple weeks, never heard about it before!
Thanks for the post. A few weeks ago I FB group I’m in did a group StumbleUpon day, and my views skyrocketed. None of it led to continued connection, but I enjoy exploring new sites and learning new tips. So thanks for helping demystify this! (And I’m glad I found you via the SITS girls linky today.)
I’ve just added learn how to use Stumble Upon as a 2016 blog goal. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks so much for the advice. I really need to get into SU. Seems like such a cool site, but it’s a rabbit hole and I frequently get sucked in for an hour at a time.
Thanks for this info! I stumble my own articles once in a while, but have never actually read or stumbled anyone else’s. How selfish am I?? I really wasn’t sure how effective it was. I’ll have to get on there and put the app on my tablet so I can peruse it in spare time.
I keep meaning to become more active with StumbleUpon, and this gave me the push I needed. Thanks for the great tips!
Hi Debbie,
Congratulations on going viral on SU. I’ve had great luck there which is why I started my SU group.
Janice
Interesting! I used to use Stumble Upon just for fun probably like 5 or 6 years ago. I had no idea people were still using it or that it could be useful for blog promotion. Nice to see it’s been working out for you.
I just recently started using SU and am loving it for the traffic post. I need to perfect it’s use though, parts of it are still a bit of a mystery!
I haven’t tried Stumble Upon yet. I will have to look into it 🙂
I have joined and done a bit of stumbling but I haven’t really got into it yet. I think I really need to get my head around it and give it a chance – Thanks for sharing this info,
I was very interested to read this. I joined a couple of SU groups and have experienced moderate success. Though I admit, I’m not as faithful with SU as I am with Pinterest and Twitter. After reading this, I think maybe it’s time to give SU some more love and see what happens. I’m trying to expand my blog’s reach to go outside the “blogosphere” and see if I can attract an audience of non-bloggers as well as bloggers. This might be one of the ways to do that.
Debbie – just started using it recently & was surprised at the traffic it generated. What is the chrome extension you mentioned?
Congrats to you! And I also wanted to let you know your post was voted most popular on Inspire Me Monday! 🙂
These are great tips. I love playing on stumbleupon, but don’t know much about maximizing it. How did you find your tribe?
SU is the best way to get traffic for new blogger. I use stumbleupon and flipboard to get traffic
Stumbled!
This is great. I use StumbleUpOn but wasn’t sure how to actually do it. Your advice makes sense. I have installed the StumbleUpOn button in my browser. for quicker access.
Great article Debbie!
I’ve become a big fan of StumbleUpon myself and I think the best way to bring traffic to your website with it is just to use it.
At first I was just posting my stuff 🙂 I guess everybody has to try that.
But then I started to really use it on downtime: walking to the bathroom, etc.
In the end, I probably stumble upon more than 50 posts a day and that allows me to share my posts a few times a week without looking too spammy.
And it works really great!
That’s it! Just my 2 cents on the topic 🙂
Best,
Matt