I’ve had that stumble upon toolbar installed in my browser for quite a while now. I realized I am rarely using it. I noticed this when I went to my stumbleupon account to actually fill it out and scout around to see what was really going on. I had less than 100 stumbles on my account and I surf the internet A LOT!!
So why am I stingy with the stumble button?
I don’t know. I think I just forget about it. I am not resistant to giving people some stumble love, I really just forget about it and in the craziness of getting things done just don’t even think about hitting the button.
This week I had a few people stumble a couple of my recent blog posts and the power of stumble upon really hit me. It only took a few people giving my post the thumbs up for my traffic to take off! I mean I have had stumble spikes of over 800, but I’ve never gotten any regular traffic from stumbleupon, but now with some thumbs up I am getting frequent and regular stumbleupon traffic.
That makes me ask the question when should one give the stumble thumbs up?
1. Comments ~ If you enjoyed a post enough to leave a comment why not give a thumbs up?
2. Bookmarks ~ If you want to find a post later enough to bookmark it, why not give the thumbs up?
3. Forums ~ If you regularly use forums why not stumble someone blog post you find interesting ~ or even better why not the site they have in their sig file?
4. Your commenters~ Don’t you think your blog readers/commenters would appreciate a nice stumble?
5. Blog Catalog Visitors~ If you have the blog catalog widget installed why not stop by your visitors blogs and stumble if you enjoyed it!
Here’s the thing about web 2.0, including stumble upon. The more you give, the more you get. The more you stumble people’s posts and websites the more likely they will be to stop by your site and say hi. If your content is good they will be even more likely to stumble you back.
Stop being stingy with the stumble button! It’s just so simple to click the little thumbs up and make someone’s day!
[tags]stumbleupon, stumble upon, when to stumble[/tags]
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Maybe some people are not stingy but they just forget like you do. Getting many stumbles is what many people want for their blogs but then maybe some people do not do much to remind you that you should stumble . Great post.
You will probably find the more you use it the more traffic you will get when someone stumbles you. It’s a community ~ you have to participate a bit before you get the benefits. It’s always best if someone else stumbles your site, but it just takes time and activity.
Stumble don’t work for me. I’ve recently joined and stumbled a few sites my own included and read others that I discovered on stumble. Maybe I just don’t understand how it works but I kind of sick of this stumble thing and all the other sites they hype up..
The bookmark sites I come across by accident are the one that work for me…really work.
So yeah..I’m being stingy from now on because stumble is stingy with me.
The primary reason I don’t give as many thumbs up as I could, would be that Firefox (or maybe SU)decides that I have “bookmarked” that site. No, I would have actually bookmarked had I wanted to, I was just saying that “I liked it”.
The secondary reason I don’t thumbs up, is out of pure selfishness. If I find a site that I really like, and it’s contents are free, and I plan on going back to that site, it may not be in my best interest to increase traffic to that site by stumbling. Niche sites that are stumbled, can often overrun their bandwidth limitations via a lot of referrals, free sites can often be “forced” into being pay sites either via supply and demand, or by hit-count greed.
It’s really sad, but sooner rather than later, stumbles will be spam, much like diggs are becoming. The ENTIRE internet wants attention, and most people that run sites for a living would like some money for it. The next trillionaire, or maybe first, will develop something that StumbleUpon tries to do, without all of the spam/inanity/bugs/marketing/prejudice/banality/redundancy/monotony, IF they can get us to pay for it.
Good luck Jackass.
Kimoto @ I definitely agree with your statement about making it an essential part of your routine. Until recently I just didn’t realize how much difference just a few stumbles can do. Now that I know it only takes a few I will definitely be more aware of the stumble button.
Richard @ excellent idea. Pretty fun way to wake up, giving people stumble love.
I tend to get carried away and to stay focused on the task at hand I have been setting a timer. It keeps me moving through instead of getting sidetracked. It’s working great and I’m getting so much more done.
Sean @ WOW that’s a lot of stumbles.
)
Why don’t I tyhumbs things up?
They are either absolute shit or neither good or bad these days.
Thumbs down, for stumbling a post about stumbleupon.
I’m at around 42,000 stumbles. Wow.
I am not hard with the thumb, in fact the first thing I do in the morn’ when they eyes can’t focus too well is to stumble around. I choose a keyword related to my job of the day or client who needs help and bound around. Helps me get into the mood, as it were.
Cheers
Excellent post – and very true. I also have to remind myself to hit the thumbs up button. Some days I do it automatically every time I find something cool, other times I forget completely and plenty of gems slip by unstumbled.
When I think of the benefits my own blog gets when a couple of people stumble, I should make more of an effort to make it an essential part of my routine rather than an occasional thought.