StumbleUpon Hashtag Increases Blog Traffic

by Scott Bishop on August 5, 2009

How To Increase Blog Traffic

We all want to boost and increase blog traffic, no matter what we’re currently tracking.  Real Time Marketer is a very new blog and so far I am happy with the results.  After about a week, I have 100 people subscribing via Feedburner and for only a few posts, that’s not bad.  However, you can always do more.  I have no intention of making money from this blog so pure traffic, although tracked, is not an immediate goal.

I am much more concerned with reaching and influencing more people outside of my current circle and networks.  A creative way to do that, is to rank higher on the social networks Digg and StumbleUpon.  Although Digg is a wonderful and worthwhile network, StumbleUpon is what I will focus on right now.

So I’m creating a twitter hashtag experiment called #StumbleMe . Here’s how I envision it to work:
When you write a new post from your blog and tweet the link, attach #stumbleme to the end of your tweet.  When I and others see the #stumbleme hashtag on Twitter, we’ll use the StumbleUpon tool bar to rate your post.  That’s it.  I’ll stumble your posts, you stumble mine, we all stumble each other.

How #StumbleMe Will Help Your Blog:

  • Your website / blog will be listed on StumbleUpon.com
  • Once your website gets stumbled, they’ll often receive visitors from all over the world.  The more people who are participating in #StumbleMe rating your posts, the more people who will potentially see it on StumbleUpon, thus increasing your audience and influence.
  • Establish a new reader base for your blog very quickly.
  • Gain backlinks from StumbleUpon visitors with websites.


Challenges:

  1. You’ll Need a StumbleUpon Account: Sign Up for an account at StumbleUpon here (this should take about 90 sec).  Use the Internet Explorer or Firefox addon located in the upper right hand corner of the homepage (this is the easiest way and how I will use the experiment)
  2. You’ll Need To See The Hashtag #StumbleMe: You can either keep a look out for it during the day while you’re on Twitter.  Search the hashtag using Twitter Search . Search the hashtag on Hashtag.org
  3. People need to know the hashtag exists: This can only be done by spreading the word.  So either RT this post, or tell others about it, and let folks know you’re participating.
  4. People need to act:  Changing other peoples behavior is often the most difficult task to do, just ask any dietitian.  But I’m hoping this experiment is easy and helps others enough where they will participate.  I will do a daily search for the Hashtag and stumble on any post that uses the hashtag, I am hoping others will as well.  When the community participates, we all win.

Will this hashtag experiment prove to be a success?  Only time will tell, but its certainly worth a shot and I think it will be fun to track.

Do you have any ideas to make this experiment better?  Thoughts?  Leave a comment below.

Happy Stumbling.

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  • obviouslydarren

    This is a great idea. I have just put #StumbleMe on my twitterfeed. Thanks, I will now search for #StumbleMe on twitter and stumble some posts.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thescottbishop Scott Bishop

    Thanks so much for the comment! I think it's a good way to get some additional folks checking out your posts that otherwise may not have a chance to find you. I'll be looking out for your #stumbleme posts and stumble on them.

  • anthonymci

    Thanks for the effort here. I've joined up to StumbleMe and used the hashtag in Twitter for the first time just now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thescottbishop Scott Bishop

    Thanks for using the #StumbleMe hashtag Anthony. I appreciate you finding this blog and trying the experiment. I've just reviewed & stumbled your post. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts. Spread the word! :)

  • anthonymci

    Thanks for the effort here. I've joined up to StumbleMe and used the hashtag in Twitter for the first time just now.

  • http://www.facebook.com/thescottbishop Scott Bishop

    Thanks for using the #StumbleMe hashtag Anthony. I appreciate you finding this blog and trying the experiment. I've just reviewed & stumbled your post. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts. Spread the word! :)

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