Starting with StumbleUpon

Stumbleupon can be an important aspect to gaining your blog a wider distribution and a new audience. It is important for you to make “stumbling” easy and accessible to your readers and make it visible as a constant reminder. You will find that stumble traffic also carries more weight than similar sites such as Digg.com.

What is StumbleUpon?

StumbleUpon is a type of social network built around sharing web sites of various interests with people who have similar interests. It is also a way for you to find various web sites that you might not normally traffic. Upon initial activation of your account you are given an exhaustive list of subjects to pick from which will become the basis of your stumblin’. Once you install your firefox stumble bar it’s time to get stumblin’! Upon clicking your stumble button it will process through your list of interests and show you a web site based on other stumbleupon users recommendations with the same interests.

Extracting Importance

You probably were able to extra the importance of what stumbleupon can do for your blog. If people who use stumbleupon like your blog then people with interest in your blogs topic will be referred to your site. Stumbleupon can create a constant stream of visitors if your blog is recommended enough, and if you are able to hit a topic in the midst of its popularity than you will see a huge influx of visitors.

Making it Available

StumbleUpon can be a big traffic bringer, and I consider a big factor in driving traffic towards your blog. With that being the case, StumbleUpon should occupy an important region in your web site. You have probably noticed the big StumbleUpon logo in my sidebar. That isn’t there on accident. I am hoping people like you (hint) will click it and recommend my site! You also may have noticed I have another StumbleUpon button below my post. Keeping the button visible and available will help contribute to gaining more recommendations and in turn increasing your visibility to StumbleUpon users.

There are many ways to add StumbleUpon to your web site. Here’s a list of Wordpress plugins that will do the work for you:

• StumbleUpon Wordpress
• I Love Social Bookmarking
• Bookmarkify
• Social Dropdown

I also like the AddThis button. You can use it whether you have Wordpress or not.