The first social media that I get my hands on is Digg which I don’t have an idea of how it works other than the action of submitting my contents to it, getting just one dig and the content I submitted will die off with time. I don’t enjoy it because I don’t understand why some stories can get at least 20 digs whereas the most dig I ever get is only 3. 
Del.icio.us is the second social media that I joined after I was recommended to it by pelf from pelf-ism is contagious to me. I tried it out and it is at least better than Digg which don’t even have a proper category for blogging-related news. I enjoyed it for quite some time but it somehow gets really boring for me because of the plain interface.
Love on First Sight
I wandered off to another service which I find as interesting as or maybe more interesting than Del.icio.us but have a nicer layout. I found my love, StumbleUpon! When the first time I look at the service, I actually downloaded the toolbar as per the request on their site and magically, I read their help section carefully which I don’t really do every time with each service.
We Try to Understand Each Other
With a blog, what I want is traffic and StumbleUpon as a social media network need good contents and members to contribute the votes and reviews. I haven’t put any massive effort on StumbleUpon yet but I keep reading articles written by those who are eyeing my love. As time goes by, I slowly knew what we can work out as a couple. I start to use the Stumble! button on my StumbleUpon toolbar and with it, I discovered many interesting blogs and articles!
StumbleUpon Is Mine!
After one month of thorough understanding, I begin to know how I can use StumbleUpon as a network that can bring in traffic. StumbleUpon traffic are just passing traffic but if you think that it is a great source of traffic for your blog, you want to try to StumbleUpon good contents and you have great articles on your blog, you should give StumbleUpon a try. StumbleUpon toolbar won’t force a reader to move on after 30 seconds like those free traffic programs. Instead, if a stumbler feels like staying on and check out your blog thoroughly, he can do so!
I have some results to show you regarding my article, Characteristics of a Dying Blog which got stumbled. My traffic rose 124% on that particular day I posted the article and the day after, my traffic stays at 20% above the previous traffic before my articles got stumbled. Just imagine your contents are good enough to be stumbled by your readers and being voted by others, your site will get a windfall of traffic for the day!
Spread My Love Story
Due to the reason I like social media so much, I have decided to give them a more obvious place in my blog which is at the bottom of my posts. Spread this love story out please and if you haven’t sign up for any social media, you can try out StumbleUpon which I think is the best around, especially their toolbar.
Which social media are you with and how do you use them to market your blog? What do you think about StumbleUpon? Share with me your love story with them here.
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November 6th, 2007 at 6:51 pm
The first social media I have joined is Digg too. Last time I’m don’t really likes to use stumbleupon because it requires me to download the toolbar.
The disadvantages of Digg was it provides votes for members, some of the members might spam for the votes to increase their sites’ traffic and without reading the articles properly.
Once you go through for the full articles from Digg, probably you might lazy go back to previous page to digg for the article
StumbleUpon different from Digg. You can directly click on the links from StumbleUpon. If you feel the articles was useful, you can straightaway StumbleIt on your browser.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
Well, better late than never… I told you to use wp socialize plugin as soon as you setup this site. Have been using SU late 2004 or early 2005(killed that account and rejoined in aug 05).
SU is not good just to drive traffic, you can meet a lot of diverse people which you will not meet on other friends n/ws. Infact, I joined orkut because of SU… You may have not noticed, but I had submitted your site to SU on Oct 3(3 days before you joined)
November 7th, 2007 at 1:59 am
I’m not a big stumbleupon user, but I do try to stumble all of my posts to get the ball rolling. Sometimes I will see a spike from stumbleupon, but usually it won’t effect me in terms of obtaining new RSS readers. What have you found in terms of getting more than just a traffic spike?
November 7th, 2007 at 7:10 am
I’m also a fan of StumbleUpon. It’s nice that anyone can get traffic from it, even if your website/blog is new.
November 7th, 2007 at 8:16 am
I have downloaded the stumbleupon toolbar and it is a great source of entertainment. I have also submitted my site to it and have had a few stumbles.
Mike
Blogging tips, Tech tips and Hacks
November 7th, 2007 at 10:08 am
If you already get stumble! you will addicted I think. I also a fan of S/U. Wayne what your S/U id-maybe I can add you.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:30 am
SU is good. It can bring lot of visitors if some one stumble your site.
November 7th, 2007 at 12:06 pm
Yeah, I know it is good. My articles have been stumbleupon by the readers and it brings lotsa traffic for that day.
As usual, I am poor in exploring this thing, so, I didnt participate on it… >.<”
But I really hope get more traffic to my blog….
November 7th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Sundays were always a day when I got least traffic on my blog but this sunday I was amazed to see no of views higher than rest of the week and reason one of my post was stumbled… it was my first SU experience.
November 7th, 2007 at 4:10 pm
I have this stumbleupon account.. BUT I am not sure how this is working.. can get more traffic ? Hmm.. still not yet feel anything from stumbleupon… Need to find times to explore on it..
November 7th, 2007 at 8:33 pm
@ Merdurian
Yes, the toolbar idea is very smart and useful for me.
@ Derek
Thanks for doing that. No wonder when I submitted my site, I don’t need to write any reviews.
I am not using WP-Socialise plugin now but another plugin which is as good. I was using Share This previously but I find that people will not click the link since it is not obvious.
Thanks, Derek. You are really my guru sometimes.
@ Erik Karey
I got one or two new RSS subscribers every time I get Stumbled, by others.
@ Steven
This is why they are getting more and more popular. Contents rule!
@ Mike
A few? It should be giving you spikes!
@ dott-com
My Stumble ID is yeepiao90. Add me any time dude.
@ Jayce Ooi
Yes, stumbling own site will bring you a lot of visitors as well but this is not recommended.
@ Sean
If you want the traffic, you should join it and gives other the traffic as well.
@ Jalaj
Cool. Sunday is always bad for me as well. Everything from traffic to subscriber numbers will drop.
@ keeyit
You will need to download the toolbar and for every site you go, you can either give it a review, a thumbs up or down to vote it. If your site is being stumbled and got a lot of thumbs up, you will be visited more frequently by those who clicked the “Stumble” button on their SU toolbar.
November 9th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
i think you should try Reddit, it gives the most traffic compare to Digg, Delicious, Stumble Upon.
Try submit your article, and you will have sudden traffic increase!
November 10th, 2007 at 12:40 pm
I tried before but then the impact is not as chio as Stumble Upon. Stumble Upon can make every site stumbled have a rise in traffic, this is why I love her!
November 10th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Yep I also love StumbleUpon. In october it accounted for a shocking 63% of all my traffic!
November 11th, 2007 at 12:30 pm
For me, they will be dominating the social media market real soon.
January 19th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
4 months ago, I didn’t have a clue about all those websites
.
.
, Reddit 
. But for my blog, I discovered Furl (don’t really know what it does for me 
), Propeller 
, My Web 
, Technorati and a few Blog directories 
. Thank God 
I also joined SumbleUpon 
.
I joined Facebook, because I started a free website on Freewebs and Freewebs said it was the thing to do
Then I started writing articles on Associated Content and used Digg
That was 3 months ago; maybe I ‘ll start submitting some of my own posts now, I might get a little bit more traffic
I guess I’ll have to stumble this first:)
January 20th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Well, submitting your own articles can be good and bad at the same time. Just make sure that your ratio is correct so that your thumbs up will have a great effect in getting traffic.
February 27th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I’ve just get started with social medias and beside of being active on large social medias like SU or Digg, I also tried to become a mogul at newly launched PostOnFire or BloggersShowroom (it may function different to SU, but still I think it worth the effort).
SU itself is my top three traffic referrer and all I did was just submitting my post. I haven’t even set up my profile properly yet. Reading your post, I think I better get serious with SU
March 5th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Don’t submit your own blog posts to SU. They have their algorithm in which, after you have submitted too much of contents with the same root URL (ratio-based), your stumbles will not be worth anymore and the worst effect that you will get is a ban from their tools.
March 5th, 2008 at 11:59 pm
Just had unabled to post from my own blog
I didn’t know this before…
Since it’s ratio based, is there a chance I’d be enable to do it again if I submit other’s posts lots enough? Not that I want to flood them with my own posts, but if in any case I found my one of my posts is kinda featured
March 6th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Stumbleupon is probably my most preferred social media network as well. It has done wonders for my blog as well.
Btw why is stumbling your own link not recommended?
March 10th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
@ Louis
You should check whether it is your URL or your StumbleUpon account is being banned.
As far as I am concerned, appeals don’t really work with StumbleUpon. If it is your account that is being banned, try to register for a new one and remember to stick to the ratio.
If it is your domain, try contacting them and maybe something will be worked out even though the chances are less.
@ Fahad
Well, as you can see from Louis’s (the commentator above you) case, SU does not allow excess submission of one domain. You can submit your own domain but you must make sure that you submit other URLs as well to maintain the ratio.
March 24th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
It’s my URL. I can still stumble around with my account. I’ll try the soft approach then. Wish me luck!
March 25th, 2008 at 3:12 am
I’m late to the StumbleUpon game. I just downloaded the tool bar. Like you I need to read the help section carefully. I hope it brings me more traffic.
Thanks for the post.
The Masked Millionaire
http://www.TheMaskedMillionaire.com
April 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm
@ The Masked Millionaire
It sure will if you use it properly. Anyway, I am sure that I will get some praises about it soon.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:19 am
That is very interesting about Stumble. I have heard similar stories from other people too.
My experience has been the exact opposite. I put a Digg badge (I love those things) on one of my sites and my traffic exploded for about a week - it has since settled back into it’s regular traffic. So I figured I would use Stumble as well (honestly I was hoping they would click my digg badge) and I don’t think I have gotten a single visitor from them.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:45 pm
You will need to make friends on StumbleUpon. Also, did you try to submit your blog posts to SU as a start? Not to submit all but just a few as experiment.
Different social media sites work for different niche blogs. Perhaps your blog is more suitable of going the Digg way. If this is the case, optimize your post quality so that it can do well on Digg every time you publish it.
April 10th, 2008 at 3:44 am
Good point about making friends on StumbleUpon. I had not tried that, I guess I have some work to do
Thanks!
April 11th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
You’re welcome. You can always add me though. http://yeepiao90.stumbleupon.com
April 18th, 2008 at 6:43 am
I also love stumbleupon… it increased my traffic quite abit.
April 26th, 2008 at 3:37 am
I hear you about Digg. It STINKS. I haven’t used StumbleUpon yet, but I will give it a try. My issue is downloading that toolbar at work. I would rather do it at home.