how to get blog traffic from mix to your website

 how to get blog traffic from mix to your website

how to get blog traffic from mix to your website

Do you prefer to have just a single source of traffic for your blog? I guess the answer is no. Bloggers should try to go for more than one source of traffic. A healthy mix of organic and referral traffic from Social media/bookmarking sites is recommended. StumbleUpon, the popular content discovery site can be used to drive in huge traffic to your blog!

First of all, let me tell you more about StumbleUpon. It is a site which suggests great new sites and content to its users. The ‘suggestion’ of the content depends on the profile of the visitor and his surfing behavior on the site. A user may either ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ a content shown to him. This helps StumbleUpon to know whether the content is good or not.

So, how can a blogger use it to his/her advantage? The only way to drive visitors to your blog from it is by getting it to suggest your blog content to its user. For this you must first register on that site.

#1 Join StumbleUpon and make a good (complete) profile

Yes, this is the very first part. I’ve seen many bloggers register on StumbleUpon just to submit their content. They don’t even care about filling up the full profile.

Joining the site is very easy. Users may even join using their Facebook account. Completing the profile is both easy and essential. Make sure that you follow other people, comment, add interests etc.

#2 Time of Submitting the link

After completing your profile and adding your likes and interests, it is time to submit your blog’s links to StumbleUpon. According to me, the time of submitting a link has a lot to do with the visits it will get. I’ve arrived upon this conclusion, thanks to my personal experiences.

Majority of the site’s users are from India and USA. So, if you want to get good traffic, try to submit link keeping the time of both these countries in mind.

I make it a point to submit links during night time (8 pm- 11 pm Indian time) and (4 am- 7 am Indian time). I’ve noticed that I get much more visits during these time periods.

This may not be the case with you. I recommend that you experiment a bit. Find out the time period when most of your targeted audience is accessing the site.

#3 Submit links in the appropriate ‘interest’

When you submit a link, the site will ask you what the content of the link is about. Which ‘interrest’ it belongs to. Users have to select the appropriate ‘interest’ from a drop-down menu. This list is very big. Topics range from Artificial Intelligence to Zoology!

Before submitting, make sure that you choose the appropriate ‘interest’. This will guarantee highly targeted audience. Because StumbleUpon will show the page to people who have added that ‘interest’ in their profile!

#4 Don’t just submit your blog’s links only!

This is what many bloggers do! They just see StumbleUpon as a platform to share their own content. But this is wrong. Take time to submit other interesting links also.

how to get blog traffic from mix to your website

#5 Spend some time on the site ‘stumbling’

Don’t just submit a bunch of links and leave the site. Spend some time there and stumble! Browse through pages that interests you, give thumbs up and thumbs down whenever necessary.

#6 Optimize your blog keeping StumbleUpon in mind

This is an important part. Make your blog load fast. If it doesn’t, users will press the ‘stumble’ button and move on to another page!

Avoid big bad flash files and heavy graphics. Keeping a simple design will do the trick.

#7 Use catchy titles

When a page loads up on StumbleUpon, titles are what users notice first! Make it a point to write up eyeball grabbing titles. At the same time, don’t exaggerate much and mislead the user.

#8 The first few lines should be captivating

The title is followed by the first few lines of the page. Use some interesting image to grab the attention of the visitor. The first few lines should provide some invaluable information to the user. This prompts him/her to give a ‘thumbs up’ to it. This makes sure that the article will be shown to even more people!

Also, a captivating first paragraph will make users stick around for longer! And maybe he even goes on to read other posts on your blog!

#9 Infographics have a chance to thrive!

I’ve noticed this fact- good infographics garner much attention and do well on this site. I’ve experienced it myself.

This is because of the fact that infographics are easy to understand and grasp. Users find them much more appealing than text articles. So, the chances of it getting ‘thumbs up’ increases! The more thumbs up it gets, the more it will be shown to other users!

#10 Ultimately, content is the king

Yes, you can’t expect poor quality stuff to thrive on this site! No attention grabbing title or captivating first paragraph can save a poor article/page.

Users have the freedom to give ‘thumbs down’ too. So, it is natural that they’ll down vote poor quality pages. Down voting ensures that the article’s reach will decrease and eventually drops to zero!

#11 Consistency

If you are really serious about getting serious traffic from StumbleUpon, make sure that you submit good stuff consistently. This will improve the reputation of your blog on the site.

Sites like collegehumor, funnyordie etc have most of their pages submitted to this site. They have garnered loads of up votes too! And look how they are getting huge traffic from StumbleUpon.

#12 Use Social Bookmarking buttons

The success of collegehumor and funnyordie also has a lot to do with this. These sites have social bookmarking buttons. These buttons make it easy for its users to submit the page to mix

Why not use these buttons on your blog too? While using them, keep the Stumble button in such a way that it is readily visible.

All the above factors, when followed will help you get good traffic from StumbleUpon. The site also has a ‘sponsored’ program. Go for it if you are willing to shell out some money! The advantage of this site is that you get highly targeted visitors. Once they visit your blog and like it, we can expect them to come back for more!