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How to attract StumbleUpon readers to Your Blog
Blog Marketing, Blogging Tips August 16th, 2007
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I discovered StumbleUpon on Google Analytics when I saw how much traffic this site was getting fro it. I didn’t know of it until i found out someone obviously discovered my site and added it on StumbleUpon. Nearly 50% of my traffic comes from StumbleUpon alone.Â
StumbleUpon works like a TV where you can use its very own toolbar that behaves like a remote if you like and ‘channel-surf the internet’. Members can surf the Internet with the StumbleUpon toolbar a bit like flicking through channels on a TV. In doing this you can imagine how many sites there are competing with yours, so how do you make your site stand out from the rest so users stay on your site rather thank flick through to the next?Â
In this article, I will suggest some easy steps you can take to attract more StumbleUpon users and keep them on your site rather than have them stumble away.
1. What you Blog is about
Otherwise known as the core statement whihc tells a visitor what your blog is about. On my site I have this on the right hand sidebar above the fold which means users can see it without having to scroll down the page. The description only needs to be a couple of lines summarising what your blog is about. Make it short but to the point. If a StumbleUpon user can catch sight of something that interests then straight away then they’re likely to stay longer.
2. Use influential visual cues
Ask yourself this, when you switch channels on a TV looking for something interesting to watch what is it that you look for? The decsion you make to stick to a channel or flick to another is frequently determined by its visual cues. Even with no sound or a program in another language can attract people simply by its visual cues.
The same applies to websites. If your blog has powerful visual clues for example a picture of money on the header like on this site, tells the reader that the site has to be about money or a picture of a couple has to be a dating site then those are powerful visual cues that can communicated a thousand words.Â
3. Move your content above the fold
Above the fold means everything a users sees before they have to scroll down. When you search the net and come across a website you often read what is at the top and if you like it you scroll down to read on, however if you don’t like what you see straigh way chances are you move on right? StumbleUpon users have thousands of sites to flick through so it’s important that you keep all the key information that you think visitors will want to read about above the fold.
If you look at my blog home page you will notice that that I have all my recent articles appear at the top and on the rest of my pages I have the most popular posts and top posts for today all appearing above the fold. I also use the top part of my sidebar to introduce my blog.
4. Be original and appealing
I’ve had people tell me that the theme is not that important its more to do with the content you offer. Those people in my opinion are wrong. I know I judge a site based on its presentation. A good theme can give you a personality straight away. It’s like they say with interviews…first impressions count and it’s the same principle here. An attractive website design will attract users and encourage them to stay longer.
If you use Wordpress you will be fascinated with the number of themes you have available to choose from. Even if you like a theme but don’t like the colours its very easy to customise using the style sheet.
I hope the above tips will help you. The importance in all these tips is to show people that have stumbled on your site what it has to offer at first glance. This should help you get more traffic from StumbleUpon and improve your readership almost instantly.
