flyingrose/stumbleupon

Maki writes extremely clear comprehensive explanations to get the most out of whatever you're doing. Here is but one of the posts he has made at DoshDosh on using StumbleUpon.

One thing about how I use StumbleUpon - if you want me to see something you send me in a timely manner send it to me via message here. As I type this I have 206 stumbles backed up so anything sent there may not be seen for weeks!

From the page: "StumbleUpon is a great way to not only share interesting content you come across, but also your opinions on various websites or issues. By thumbing up and reviewing a website, you give it more exposure by increasing the possibility that others will view it as well.

But that's not the only way to share a website that you like; you can also use the toolbar to send any webpage directly to both your StumbleUpon friends and other non users as well.

In fact, there are some very good reasons why you should do so.

This article will examine the various ways of using StumbleUpon to share content directly with others, while studying the numerous benefits that arise when one disseminates web pages and shares opinions in this manner.

There will also be various tips on how you can use this StumbleUpon feature to network and connect with audiences that are interested in you or your website."

I'm beating the DIVERSIFY NOW drum so here is one method to consider and a post detailing test results from someone who tried SU's advertising program.

From the page: "StumbleUpon is known by most website owners and bloggers as one of the best sources of free traffic available. However, SU also offers paid traffic and it's advertising program is a lot different than other alternatives.

With StumbleUpon you can pay $0.05 per visitor and you can choose to target visitors that have selected certain topics, such as web development or blogging, as some of their interests. You can also target visitors by their age, sex and location if you wish.

The interesting part of the program is that your paid traffic can lead to even more free traffic. If some of those visitors that you have paid for give your page a thumbs up, it could spread just like any other page submitted to StumbleUpon and lead to hundreds or even thousands of free visitors.

This potential for extra free traffic encouraged me to give StumbleUpon's advertising a chance (it's the only type of paid advertising that I've done for this site so far). StumbleUpon has consistently been one of the top sources of traffic for my blog so I thought I would see if I could increase traffic to a few specific blog posts that haven't gotten much from SU.

For each of the blog posts listed below I spent $10 for 200 visitors. Here's a summary of my results..."

From the page: "Above is a screen shot for a search for [yelp] on Google, the three icons next to the listing tell me someone has submitted the site to stumbleupon (the su logo disk), some people liked it (1 star = some votes, 4 stars = lots of votes), and the comic book like talk bubble tells me there is a review of the site. This has been around for a while and not new."

Do you use the StumbleUpon shortcuts?

From the page: "there is a `Shortcuts' tab under `Toolbar Options'. When enabled, the toolbar provides you 5 keyboard shortcuts to accomplish the following tasks:
Functions:

1. Stumble!
2. Rate "I like it!"
3. Rate "Not-for-me"
4. View Reviews &
5. Toggle Toolbar

Shortcut:

1. Alt+`
2. Alt+1
3. Alt+2
4. Alt+3
5. Ctrl+F11

From the page: "SU has really been on a tear lately. According to Alexa, Stumbleupon has never ranked higher in its history, currently ranked 170 . It is also becoming more mainstream, now having over 3.7 million users (consider they only had 1 million in July 2006)."

From the page: "StumbleUpon, the social Web service, is doing something pretty cool. No, it's not going to earn back the $75 million eBay (EBAY) paid for it. But it's going to start overlaying the information its members have provided about a Web page - whether they like it or don't, and what they've written about it - onto the rest of the web.

StumbleUpon's product is a toolbar which learns about people's preferences for Web pages to help them find new ones they'll like, and the company has collected 100 million "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" for Web pages and 13 million reviewed Web pages over the years."

more from the page: "StumbleUpon, the social Web service, is doing something pretty cool. No, it's not going to earn back the $75 million eBay (EBAY) paid for it. But it's going to start overlaying the information its members have provided about a Web page -- whether they like it or don't, and what they've written about it -- onto the rest of the web.

StumbleUpon's product is a toolbar which learns about people's preferences for Web pages to help them find new ones they'll like, and the company has collected 100 million `thumbs up' or `thumbs down' for Web pages and 13 million reviewed Web pages over the years."

More from the page: "As Camp points out,

1) StumbleUpon has tons of data, so it will already be useful at launch -- in internal testing StumbleUpon apparently had results for at least 60 percent of queries. 2) People are unlikely to switch to a new search engine, and the new StumbleUpon feature doesn't require them to."

Why is using StumbleUpon superior to a search engine? Simply this: would you rather spend time trying to find the best information offered by a search engine or go directly to a stumbler with vast knowledge of what you are looking for who can offer real insights into which product/service/information is best for you?

Too shy to ask anyone directly? No problem - simply click the review cloud icon in the StumbleUpon (SU) toolbar and read the reviews.

Use the tags in the reviews or the search boxes found throughout SU to visit related category pages. To see an example go to stumbleupon.com/tag/stumbleupon/ [stumbleupon.com/tag/stumbleupon/] - that is the category page for StumbleUpon. There you will find the featured reviews about SU and the stumblers who frequently post on that subject.

This makes it easy to identify who really "knows their stuff" on any subject. Quickly and easily get advice on anything you want to do BEFORE you do it.

Want to switch from Windows to Ubuntu?
Trying to figure out which software program does what you want to do?
Can't decide which stereo or car to buy next?

No problem. Every question you can think of can be researched here. If you don't find just the right answer get up the courage to ASK. Click the contact button and ASK.

Don't you like it when someone appreciates what you know and wants to hear your opinion? When you offer the gift of appreciation and listening to other stumblers you also benefit yourself.

What are you waiting for? Just go for it? What is the worst thing that could happen? They don't answer? Don't take it personally - maybe they're really busy or only come here once in a while. Just ask someone else.

From the page: ""If I took half an hour to search the Web in a normal way, I may find one or two sites that are interesting to me," said Trevor Joyce, a user from Cork, Ireland, whose interests include poetry and photography. "If I use StumbleUpon, I get 10 or 20.""

From the page: "StumbleUpon: The Antithesis of Google?

With over 3.5 million registered users (up from 600,000 two years ago), StumbleUpon has left the techie niche and has become mainstream. But unlike Google which makes its billions from helping you find what you're looking for, StumbleUpon helps you discover content that you may not be looking for but will probably find interesting."