The Wonder of StumbleUpon
Ten days ago I wrote my 10 Most Stupid Client Questions Ever post - and on the same day Tara from the Graphic Design Blog submitted the article to StumbleUpon. I had no idea that she’d done this at the time though!
Over the course of the last ten days the article has received more than 32,000 views (edit: more than 45,000 as of July 1st), with about 80% of those coming from StumbleUpon users! The rest came from being on the front page of Spotplex, the Upcoming page of Digg (with 7 diggs) and the second page of Reddit - in addition to the usual traffic from Technorati and the like. At one point I was getting an alarming 10 views per second!!
I’ve never hit the front page of Digg, but it would appear from what I’ve read that most people who do get between 20,000 and 30,000 additional hits to the article in question. Not only have I managed to top that, but the traffic came gently over a longer period of time - meaning that I got all the visitors without being Dugg to Death.
So What is StumbleUpon?
StumbleUpon helps you to discover and share cool websites, by installing a browser toolbar (Firefox or IE) that gives you loads of ways to control what you see.
StumbleUpon offers about 500 topics, from which you can indicate your personal interests - so each Stumble produces only the most relevant content. As you rate pages with thumbs-up and thumbs-down, the system actually learns what you like and the content gets more relevant the more you use it. When you stumble, you only see pages which like-minded stumblers have recommended - helping you to see content that you probably wouldn’t find using just a search engine.
There are currently more than 2.5 million people using StumbleUpon, recommending and rating websites as they travel around the web.
Want Some Traffic Then?
Before you all run off to submit every single post on your site to StumbleUpon, there’s a few things that you should be aware of…
1. Stumblers do not click anything. There’s no point in expecting stumbled traffic to make you money - either by increasing clicks on adverts, or getting people to view your portfolio. It ain’t gonna happen - stumblers literally hit the page, read and rate it, and then move on to the next stumble!
2. Stumblers do not use Alexa. The majority of stumblers are not Webmasters. They don’t to know how high a site ranks on Alexa - and no interest means no toolbar. My rank decreased by less than a thousand during the traffic peak.
3. Stumbled traffic does not generate comments. The way stumblers comment is to vote for your site from the toolbar, or to leave a review on the StumbleUpon site. In fact, the only unique comments I saw were on the StumbleUpon site - including one from the local village idiot:
It’s “stupidest”, not “most stupid” […] And he won’t publish my comment. Dick […] I hate stumbling blog entries.
4. Being stumbled eats bandwidth. From the time my post was stumbled to the time it hit 30,000 views, my site ate an additional 5 GB of bandwidth - not to mention the stress placed on the server hardware! Fortunately, running my own hosting company means that wasn’t a problem - but if your post contains large files (such as PDFs or video clips) then be cautious.
Conclusion
There’s no point in trying to ‘game’ the StumbleUpon system! The sites that get the most traffic are those initially stumbled by regular reviewers like Tara. You won’t get more money as a result, or improve your Alexa rank, or get more comments - and it could actually result in you paying out more money for your hosting!
However, it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to know that at least 40 respected stumblers took the time to give my post a ‘thumbs-up’ review - not to mention the fact that more people have read my post than currently live in Monaco. 
Since this happened I have become a user of StumbleUpon myself - and I’ve discovered some awesome sites because of it. Above all else, I think that’s probably the best thing to have come from being stumbled!
[thanks to Ludovic, Vivien, Tess, Dirk and Chelle for commenting on my previous post]
- No related posts
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Hmmm … now that clarifies a few things, I was about to make that mistake of using SU to generate monetizing traffic … good thing I read this …
Oh! and I must add … That place is addictive, especially with their nifty firefox toolbar.
i agree on this - stumble is hard to get great amount of traffic, even tho it is targeted it may not convert into sales, I have created a project and posted my results on this, it wasnt that big of a difference, it became steady again once a “regular” stumbler stumbled my site. a stumbler needs to gain popularity and have a goo source of friends to be considered a great stumbler and for you to get the most traffic
Harshit,
It certainly is addictive! I’ve got the stage where I have to stop myself stumbling to get back to work! Perhaps they should include a (self-imposed) time limit function as part of the toolbar?
—-
Ian,
You’re exactly right. Like Digg, for a stumble to be really successful it must be submitted by a respected user…
Thanks for your input guys!
Right now, as I write this a powerful tempest is building up around me. I’ll post this and turn of all computers here. That is StumbleUpon, or Digg or Reddit. I do not think it’s really worthless to your Alexa or your PR though. It’s just like 1000 hits of those is just worth one generic click. But I gotta hurry, I already hear the thunder!
Well, make sure you take an umbrella.
That’s an amazing amount of traffic for that one post! Your Monaco comment cracked me up. The one good thing with StumbleUpon is that it can get your traffic numbers up if you get regularly Stumbled, and that can play into how much you can charge for ads, if you were going to try and sell some ad space. Otherwise, I agree, they don’t convert to regular readers much.
Hi Randa!
I’m only talking from personal experience here, but the majority of ad networks (and certainly the ones that bloggers tend to use) pay according to one of two things: either your PageRank or your Alexa rank.
The first will never be elevated by StumbleUpon (there’s no backlink to affect the score), and the second only increases a tiny amount (about 1000 for me, as a result of 30000 views) - so I’m not sure how getting stumbled would increase ad revenue at all…
Have I got it wrong, or missed a trick perhaps?
LOL, I guess you showed that guy and posted his comment
Now who looks like a… well, heh.
I’ve never used SU, only recently started using del.icio.us (but not for the social aspect, more for the portability of my bookmarks). I think I’ll have to check out SU, though I’m not sure I need to waste more time online
I get the impression that he’d probably be flattered actually… I think ’self-righteous’ is the title that springs to mind! The submission on SU is here, in case you want to read my reply to him - and his SU page is here, which paints an interesting picture of the guy!
I found your site using Stumbleupon, and I read the 10 most stupid…
Yea, I normally look around the sites if something on them interests me. And that explains how I came upon this…
Nice site!
(Even though I will never read your response…)
I stand corrected then - very rarely a stumbler does leave a comment!
Thanks Robby - even if you never come back!
I’m back! Good thing I put my real email!
Bookmarked!
LOL! Cheers Robby!
Hi Paul,
Glad the stumble worked for you - hope it hasn’t cost you more in hosting! Like the new look too much more cheery than the black
It was an amazing rush - so thanks!
Running a hosting company has it’s advantages - I just increased the monthly limit on the domain!
Plus, I’ve found loads and loads of really cool stuff that I probably wouldn’t have seen if I hadn’t tried SU - which is great too!
Oh, and I’m glad you like the new look!
I’m a Stumbler. Yes, it is addicting. My interests trend toward the realm of design and StumbleUpon has done amazing things for my “Regular Reading” bookmark folder. This blog is now in that folder! Many of us skim, some of us do turn into regular readers though, it’d be interesting to try and figure out what kind of a ratio that is… Anyway, the Stumble button calls to me, but I will return!
Thanks for your comment Joseph - and I look forward to your future comments too!
I Stumbled on your site and you are a gem. I have a design degree and adore your wit and candor. Thanks for the Stumble! Feel free to email me.
Thanks Sharon! I’m glad I made a good impression!
I’m a Stumbler, too and I’m definitely leaving a comment.
NICE SITE!
added to favorites.
Thanks Gestroud - I’m glad you liked the post, and cheers for the bookmark!