We hear a
lot about digg, Slashdot and del.icio.us as traffic drivers for media websites and blogs.
But one site that doesn't get enough props in this regard is StumbleUpon. In our recent Social
Bookmarking Faceoff, we noted that StumbleUpon has the largest user base with
1,271,345 users. Its main rival in the space, del.icio.us, recently announced it had
reached 1 million users.
StumbleUpon is basically a browser plugin which makes it very easy to submit and vote on websites. Simply download the plugin (Firefox or IE) and then click the "I like it!" icon to 'stumble' a webpage. Once a link has been submitted, it can propagate out to the large community of SU users in a very viral way.
Neil Patel, who has given me a lot of excellent advice about website optimization, recently wrote a post entitled How to get StumbledUpon. It's a great introduction to StumbleUpon and a must-read. In fact, subscribe to Neil's blog if this kind of thing interests you.
I can attest to the power of StumbleUpon - our most popular post over the past couple of months (according to my Google Analytics service) has been Top 10 Firefox Web 2.0 Add-ons. Usually our top posts are ones that have had the fortune to be Slashdotted or dugg. But this one got neither. Instead, 27% of its traffic was driven by StumbleUpon and 14% by del.icio.us. And the flow from StumbleUpon continues. I have to admit though that it's one of only a few R/WW posts to have been stumbled in a big way, so like digg and Slashdot it's not something publishers can expect on a regular basis.
StumbleUpon is yet another example of a Web-based community that has gained a significant user base in a seemingly short period of time. Check it out!
Comments
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I've found StumbleUpon to be one of the best resources for driving traffic to a new page or site. It's also an excellent resource for discovering new sites. So it's a win-win for both the user and the marketer.
Posted by: Jon Henshaw | September 26, 2006 7:19 PM
Richard,
Also, as a follow up on the bookmarking post. Some people said that stumbleupon does not let you view your bookmarks. I have verified that it does.
Alex
Posted by: Alex Iskold | September 26, 2006 8:35 PM
Jon,
Absolutely agree, I have seen this with our site too. I am not certain about the quality of traffic though. People who wonder to the site by a chance are not likely to stay long. This has been my observation.
Alex
Posted by: Alex Iskold | September 26, 2006 8:36 PM
As one of the vehicles in the traffic, I find myself in places I never knew about. I don't stay terribly long, but now I have something new: a bookmark. I admit I don't revisit every bookmark I have ever collected, but the chance is much greater if I have one!
Posted by: Nancy | September 27, 2006 5:45 AM
One aspect of social bookmarking sites that I do find very interesting is that they can become simple or passive "product research tools".
I often check the links saved to our homepage on both stumble and del.icio.us to read the comments people use when they save it. Every website owner should try this.
Posted by: David | September 27, 2006 8:43 AM
First of all, I got here through my stumble bar. In response to the comment that your not sure wether people will stay if they just "stumbled" across your site; You have to pick a specific set of topics that you are interested in, and websites are picked for you based on those choices. But as you continue to give thumbs up and down, the metrics on which catagories and tags are chosen changes to better suit the sites you actually want.
I like web development, but I detest sites about web standards, so I've had to give a negative response to a lot of sites like that, but after a fairly short time I almost completely stopped getting them(Mis-tagged pages are a problem sometimes).
Posted by: Tony | September 28, 2006 4:33 AM
Hey Thanks! I've never even heard of StumbleUpon but it looks like it can really help drive traffic to your website.
Also, there’s another site out there called DiggHelper.com that helps promote your digg articles if you’re looking to generate more traffic from digg. It’s main purpose is to help businesses who use digg.com to promote themselves.
http://digghelper.com
Posted by: Nate | September 28, 2006 10:12 AM
Good Day! I have arrived here in a similar fashion to Tony in comment # 6 above, the only difference being a "Share" referral from a good friend half a world away in Australia. It is true that "stumblers" arrive here in a targeted fashion, not unlike the store fronts in in towns and cities across the world. The site owners challenger then, is to attract the customer inside to discover or to "Sell them" on the values of their offered goods and services. Like the real world shops and stores, Word of mouth business is invaluable. The Share function of our Bar allows us to "Recommend" sites that we find particularly interesting or valuable with our friends and fellow stumblers worldwide.
I became a Stumbler in order to learn more about the world, it has been invaluable. I appreciate that your site has come to my attention because I have learned something new. I will share this site with my friends to encourage them to look. When they arrive, make your site interesting and attractive to them...Demonstrate the value of the goods and services effectively enough and they and I will become customers.
Respectfully, Timoteo Campos
Posted by: Timoteo Campos | October 4, 2006 4:39 PM
I am new to the stumble world and put up a link to my music and on this one computer site I am in the charts. I have been at number 14 before out of 18,000 songs thanks to the support of the people at stumbleupon. peace. ketogah
Posted by: Ketogah | October 4, 2006 4:50 PM