A few months ago, I had never really heard of the popular site (and phenomenon) known as StumbleUpon. Now, I usually spend some part of my online time each day at StumbleUpon. The site has become increasingly important to me, as a way of finding great content to enjoy, while I promote what I consider the best of my own writing.
While online sites like Associated Content and Triond provide links to StumbleUpon, I never really understood what it was all about until very recently. A fellow Triond writer asked if I was on StumbleUpon, and I decided to check it out. There is a great section in the Triond help area about how to use StumbleUpon to promote your articles, so I signed up at the site and created an account.
There is a learning curve at StumbleUpon, and it took me a while to figure it all out. I have to confess that I'm still pretty new there and still trying to understand the etiquette of StumbleUpon. I often feel like I'm just stumbling my way around StumbleUpon (literally and figuratively.)
Some Lessons Learned on StumbleUpon
I did learn a few things from my experiences so far that could be useful to online writers who are new to StumbleUpon. First of all, even though sites like Triond provide links you can use to stumble your articles, it is really essential to download the StumbleUpon toolbar.
StumbleUpon is a huge pool of users who share their favorite websites with other users in the system. When you sign up for a StumbleUpon account, there is an option to download the StumbleUpon toolbar. This toolbar will embed in your browser, usually right under the Menu bar or Google toolbar. After downloading the StumbleUpon toolbar to your browser, you are ready for the full StumbleUpon experience.
On your StumbleUpon toolbar, you'll see a thumbs up or thumbs down button. When visiting a website, simply hit the thumbs up (the button will go green) or thumbs down (the button will turn red). Then you have the option to tag and review the site also. If you want to remove a rating, just visit the site and hit the thumbs up button again, it will turn blue and the site will be removed from your StumbleUpon favorites. This whole process is what is referred to as "stumbling."
Your site must be stumbled to see benefits like increased traffic, but it's frowned upon to just stumble your own work or too many of your own stories to get them in the system. That can be a dilemma for beginning stumblers. I've learned there is a great Triond community at StumbleUpon willing to provide help and advice for new stumblers. I've had a few fellow Triond writers show me kindness by adding me as a friend and stumbling my work, even though I didn't have many sites stumbled as I was getting started on StumbleUpon.
In my opinion, if you are new to StumbleUpon and not sure how to get started, let other online writers like the ones at Triond know you are now on StumbleUpon. Then start reading some of the other writers you enjoy and stumble and review some of their articles. Go to these writers StumbleUpon pages and hit "show me a friend's page." Then if you like it, stumble that page. You'll find that soon, other StumbleUpon members will find you and stumble and review your own work also.
I find that this is the best way to build a presence on StumbleUpon. I like to stumble within the Triond community, because I feel that it is a very safe and enjoyable way to stumble. It's very similar to building a network of friends on the Triond site itself. If you are new to StumbleUpon, you'll find many Triond writers on StumbleUpon willing to help you understand how to stumble and get started on the site.
Tips for Staying Safe While Using StumbleUpon
Recently, I've found out the hard way that you have to be very careful sometimes about sites that lure you to share stumbles with strangers. It's easy sometimes to want that extra traffic so badly that common sense goes out the window and you toy with the idea of engaging in this kind of stumbling. We all want an increase in visits to our Triond or Associated Content pages and there are some sites out there that promise to build massive StumbleUpon traffic, for free or for a fee.
When I saw a site that wanted me to give up my StumbleUpon password in exchange for the promise of massive stumbling and lots of traffic, I immediately recoiled. I wouldn't consider it at all. First of all, think of the loss of security in giving up your StumbleUpon password, and the real possibility of being banned on StumbleUpon, as the site frowns on this behavior.
