Stumble Upon (SU) is a wonderful social bookmarking tool that if used effectively, can be of great benefit. It is your way of both bookmarking a page you like – maybe a recipe, fun shopping site, or how-to social media post – and a way of announcing to the SU world that “this post/site rocks and you don’t want to miss it.”  SU can also be an effective tool to drive huge amounts of traffic to a particular post very quickly with effects lasting for days even weeks.

Using Stumble Upon effectively can boost both your profile and the posts / sites you stumble.

Set up your account.  Then get ready to Stumble!  It is easiest to use the SU toolbar that can be downloaded.   You stay logged in have the buttons right there if you want to use them.   This saves having to log in to the site each time you come across something you like.

Once you find that post or site is there a way to more effectively utilize SU?  Use it the right way and you are on your way to becoming a Power Stumbler (someone who uses it often and on a regular basis) and a stumble by you will hold more weight than those of newer users.

Three ways to use Stumble Upon and become a Power Stumbler

Discoveries: You hit the thumbs up and you are the first person to Stumble this site.  This is a discovery for you.  The more discoveries you make, the more effective each of your stumbles become.    When you discover a post, you will be asked if it’s safe for work (i.e. not porn) and you will be asked for a topic and some tags.    Then you are asked to review…something short is fine, your first impressions, a synopsis, or even the first couple of lines from the story.

Thumbs Up or Down: You hit the Thumbs Up on the toolbar.  If this has been stumbled before, then you will be asked for no other action.  Your Thumbs Up or Down has registered on their page as a like or dislike.  Do this anytime you like a site or post.  It’s a quick and easy way to give recognition and improve your SU status.

Reviews: If you hit the “info” button on the toolbar, you can write a review, even if it isn’t your discovery.  I recommend reviewing whenever you can.

Which is better to do?  My experience has been that having a review done of my posts is what drives the traffic and the more reviews done the better. If you really want to draw attention to a post,  give a brief review.  A simple “Thumbs Up” is not as effective.   Receive several reviews and in particular ones by big Stumblers and traffic may come in the hundreds or thousands.  If you can get a lot of people to “Thumbs Up” your post, this is beneficial as well.

How do you get people to stumble?  The best way is to make the “Stumble Button” visible and at the end of each post.  Make it easy to find.  I like the plug-in Sociable as it allows me to customize what is shown.

Look for cute social media icons that you can put in your sidebar to attract attention.

NO-NO’s – Stumble Upon is a social community, don’t abuse it

It is not cool and can violate SU’s terms of service if you blatantly ask for stumbles in your post or on twitter.    I see many people do this in contest posts for extra entries and this may get your account closed by SU.  It is also not cool to just stumble one or two people only and have them stumble you back.  Again, you can get reprimanded.  It’s ok to submit a few of your own sites, but this is also frowned upon.  Best not to do it at all or just do it infrequently.  This is a social bookmarking site.  I use it to bookmark sites I want to visit again or remember to share.  It’s fine to promote your friend’s sites, but make sure that’s not the only thing you are doing and the only reason you are involved.  Ends up doing no good and could hurt you in the end.

There is so much more to this, and information can be found on the SU site.   The best way to learn is to get involved and start using the system.  You will find it fun and learn more about the fun sites on the web.  Enjoy and let me know how it goes!!