StumbleUpon Traffic and Quality Case Study

I’ve literally only been using StumbleUpon for about… a month at most. I’ve always been aware of it just never really aware of how much traffic potential it has and I never used it basically because I was just too lazy to go install the toolbar and get going.

But, over the past few weeks I’ve realised how lucrative and advantageous it is traffic-wise. In the past few days alone, I have had over 1 thousand hits from StumbleUpon to this blog and I have done hardly anything.

There is always debate about the quality of the traffic of StumbleUpon users given that they flick through sites like crazy so are most likely going to leave within a few seconds. Well, this is true of most Internet users anyway. I don’t believe it’s only apparent with StumbleUpon users, the comparison I have seen is basically that people who use it are like people who flick through channels on TV. Well, doesn’t everyone watch TV? it’s not just a select few and when you watch TV and you do find a good channel do you still flick past? no, if you find something you like you stop and watch it. The same is true with the net and the StumbleUpon tool. Yes people do flick through but what’s the solution to get them to not flick past your site? make quality content. That’s it.

If you make quality, captivating content that will capture the majority of people’s attention within that niche then you will get not only targeted traffic but you will get traffic which browses for longer. Traffic that links back to you. Traffic that shares what they’ve found with friends. Quality traffic. Now obviously there are dozens of other elements which will affect and determine how long somebody stays or the average time the average person stays on your site. Those mainly being:

Web design - This for me is probably the main one other than content. The design is the absolute primary core of any given human impression of your site. They SEE it before they read or click anything, it’s impossible for them not to. If they look they will make judgement, consciously or subconsciously that will instantly convince them of hundreds of things at once. And help them decide within a matter of seconds:

What quality your site is to them
How professional your site is
How unique your site is
How old your site is

Amongst other thought. So absolutely make sure that your design is pure quality. And pure quality doesn’t just mean you payed some guy a grand to do it. I’m talking about thoughtful quality, the type of design that you have thought about and themed, made or had made to fit your site’s message, style, whatever.

Let your personality come through in your design, if it’s a personal project of course. If you are loud and outgoing then let that show in your design, don’t just copy other people’s designs, be unique, be wacky, be anything but ‘just another site’. If you’re reserved and professional, then let that show in your design because chances are if you have a bland design and people read and discover you’re a crazy, loud, fun person. Even on an unconscious level, they’ll notice the contrast and it wont seem right. Make designs that you like, make designs that are quality and well structured.

Usability - Another key point for any website. Go to all the biggest sites on the net, what’s the one thing they all have in common? they all have easy, clear usability.

YouTube - Big buttons, white background, big writing.

Bebo - Big buttons, clear writing, white background.

And so on. So make sure your usability is clear and noticeable. That’s not to say to make huge buttons for example for the sake of ease, of course set the level of notability according to your sites theme and aesthetic surrounding. But make sure it’s easy to use for the average person, don’t assume that just because you are a web pro that everyone visiting your site will be to. It’s easy to make that mistake and you would be surprised at how non-experienced some people or a lot of people still are with the web and sites in general, so they like simplicity. Make your site usability easy, clear and relevant.

Branding - Is your site name, logo, slogan or theme one that people will remember? if the answer is no, why haven’t you done something about it. Branding is the ultimate staying power, even on a small scale, forget monster sites and powerhouse sportswear, which is what you normally think of when the word branding is mentioned. Just think about branding your blog or site on a basic level. You don’t need millions of dollars and a team of pros to brand yourself well. If you’re smart enough and motivated enough to even make your own blog or website and build continuous content for that, then you’re surely smart enough to create a memorable staying power factor to it.

Now branding isn’t what keeps people coming back, people don’t go to YouTube because they like the logo, they go because of the content. But the logo and the name is partly what made them so huge, obviously the service itself was the absolute reason but the name in itself is so brilliant that it sticks in your mind avidly. It’s simple and catchy, that’s it. Forget SEO. Viral quality and human traffic multiplication is much stronger, it’s better quality traffic and it creates more traffic.

So how do you brand your site? just think of what your site is, what it aims to do. What you aim to do and what it’s all about. That’s basically it. The reason I called this site ‘Internet Babel’ is because it covers a fairly broad range of things on the Internet. This IS an Internet marketing blog at heart but I also occasionally discuss other things on the web not to do with making money. So for me… the name just sort of shot to mind. It’s talks about things on the Internet so the word ‘Internet’ was an automatic for me. Next, what does it talk about on the Internet? well I blog tutorials, case studies, examples, tips, discussion, news, personal views. So how could I sum all that up one word? …babel! it’s a huge list of things which could only really be summed up with a fuzzy sounding vague word like babel or blab or something. And babel sounded more viral to me, so that’s it.

Finally, back to the core factor people comeback.

Quality content - So how do you make it? well, if you’re a blogger there isn’t really one answer. All you can do is put stuff out there and see if people react and see if people like it. I’ve never agreed with paying people to blog for me, I would hate the thought of people thinking I was behind something I didn’t write. Because I’m extremely opinionated, so if that person wrote something I thought was ridiculous… I would be too annoyed to just let it be. I need to create my own content and make it good to be satisfied. And that’s what you should do to, forget shitty tools, autoposters, content creators, instant content and all that. If you buy them, if you invest money into them, you may as well be wiping your ass with that money. Because you are investing that money in shit. They don’t work, if they did do you really think the sellers would be practically begging you to go to their desperate 100 ft long landing page which follows 1990’s sales principles to mainupulate people into buying. Do you think they would be selling their precious secret. NO!

There isn’t any avoiding hard work. If you can’t be bothered to create quality content which you have put serious effort into, quit now.

If you own a blog, make sure it’s a blog on something you like and will never stop liking. Something you are passionate about and could write about until your fingers can’t move. If you aren’t a good writer, learn to be. The more you blog and force yourself to use correct grammar etc the more fluent you will become at writing. Even if you feel your writing is hopeless and you will never be good. Get a grip! how do you think good writers got good? they weren’t born with special bones to enable them to write a language that we don’t know instinctively. There isn’t an excuse if you are a capable human being.

But perfect writing isn’t the main factor anyway, it helps but look at Shoemoney he admittedly has bad grammar and uses slang. What makes his blog good is his thoughts and maybe something else (cough Adsense check).

So that’s writing. But media wise, if you can, make as much media, graphics and what not for your site. Logos, wallpapers, icons, videos… that would seem a bit weird with a blog but you could still do it. But away from blogs, other sites like fansites are particulary good at being able to use to multi-promote. If you own a fansite on a huge music artist and you create an original wallpaper on that artist, if you get traffic, think how many people will use that wallpaper if they find it. Because… they’re already a fan hence being on the site and it’s not like they’re being convinced into downloading a wallpaper based on your site. It’s a wallpaper based on something they already like, just add a link on it and you’ve got yourself another visual representation of your site. Do this avidly, as much as you can, in as many different ways you can. Versatile, quality content.

How to get traffic from StumbleUpon
Well, as I said I’ve been using it for a very short time so I’m not claiming to be an expert. I’m not just re-wording what other people have said either though, this is my own thought based on what I’ve experienced. Basically, just stumble good sites you find and also bad ones you find. Stumble like mad for a day and stumble fast but well based on your opinion and stumble your own pages to. Just the really ‘great’ ones, articles etc you think people will enjoy. It’s all about giving quality to the community and it’s easy, so do it. Just do this… not even excessively and you should soon see pretty amazing results for the absolute pathetic amount of effort needed. Great system.

So I’ll finish here as I must of written a novel by now. But if you’re new in Internet marketing remember these key things:

Making long-term money online in large volumes is hard
Quality content and services are what will make you rich
Treat people well, gain parternerships and you will get further
You can’t avoid hard work
Learn from your mistakes

So that’s it. Hope you enjoyed the read and got some genuine quality advice or tips from it.
Also, use StumbleUpon if you aren’t already. It’s a good source of quick traffic.

Thanks, also post your comments below and share your thoughts!

Oh and if you are already using StumbleUpon, Stumble this page by clicking the logo below! and why not Digg it to. Don’t be shy! Cheers