Entries Tagged 'social bookmark sites' ↓

I have been a member of Stumble upon for over 2 years. It is easy to use and for various sites has sent big surges in traffic. True, this traffic stays for a relatively short time, but even with a short average visit length, it is still a good way to create more exposure for your site. Due to stumbleupon traffic, I have seen the number of subscribers increase as a result.

These are some tips for getting the best out of Stumbleupon.

1. Not Necessary to be a sponsor

I paid $20 to become a sponsor, but, to be honest it is not necessary. It doesn’t seem to help get stumbles.

2. Don’t bother with stumbleupon Exchange sites

It’s hard to Game Stumbleupon. I have experimented with Sites which offer stumble exchanges. However, I no longer use them. I find that the traffic was relatively low for the effort involved. They seem to attract a lot of sites which don’t deserve to be stumbled. It seems a shame to spoil the good reputation of Stumbleupon by promoting less deserving sites. I’m sure stumbleupon will adjust filters to increasingly counter sites like this.
3. Ask Friends for the odd stumble.

The best strategy is to develop relationships with stumblers who have good quality websites. Offer to stumble some of their pages in return for the odd stumble back. This can be very effective

4. Don’t over Stumble your own Site.

If you stumble your own site, you may get a lot of stumbles. But, after about 10, Stumbleupon seem to wise up to the fact and stop sending more stumbles. Therefore, it is important to get other people to stumble your site. If you stumble your own site infrequently – it is fine

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Social networking sites can give significant amounts of traffic, so it is hardly unsuprising people spend time trying to improve their chances of success.

It is difficult to know how much time to spend on these kinds of activities. For example, to do well on Digg, I think you would need to be a daily contributor and work hard at building up a network of helpful friends. If you are able to invest this time, you might be able to have success. But, it is a lot of time, that maybe could be spent on writing content for your blog.

However, if you are successful, then a couple of Digg home pages can really make your blog. For example, it was this that really made John Chows blog 12 months ago.

If you do spend time on social networking, make sure, you don’t neglect your blog. At the end of the day, no matter how many friends you have on Digg, if you don’t have outstanding content you will never make home page.

Also, I would say that you can have a very successful website and blog, without getting any traffic from social networking sites. After all, the traffic is often very temporary anyway.

One thing worth sharing is Stumbleupon Exchange 

As long as you stumble sites, which you feel are genuinely deserving of being stumbled, then it is OK. But, I would not like to see stumbleupon taken over by spammers.

Recently I noticed my friend, John-Paul, has put a Digg and Reddit button on every blog post. It made me think about whether this would be a good idea to implement:

Advantages of Having a Digg Button

1. Traffic and Links

Get on the digg homepage and you can look forward to a ton of traffic, and more importantly a range of new inbound links. This is just what Google likes. A few entries on the digg home page can really make a site.

2. Digging your own rarely works

To get on Digg home page it is best if your posts are digged by other people, especially those who spend time at Digg and build up a genuine account. Digg are quite good at spotting and downgrading accounts which promote a lot of content from one small blog (i.e. self promotion)

3. Save Time

My philosophy is that I am a webmaster. If I spend my time at Digg building up network of friends e.t.c then I won’t have time to post and write. Having a button, hopefully, means you don’t have to worry about getting promoted through Digg, you can leave it to others. *Spending time at Social bookmarking sites can be a great way to lose productivity. see increase productivity)

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1. Categories.

At Reddit you just submit, at Digg I often struggle to find a suitable category, it’s like they started creating categories, but stopped before they had finished.

2. Submission.

Submission at Reddit is easier. You don’t have to worry about writing a description, just a good title is all you need. Nor do you get asked “Are you really sure you want to submit this article?” If it is a duplicate URL, Reddit automatically deals with it, giving credit to original poster.

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