How To Use StumbleUpon to Promote Your Site

StumbleUpon is a brilliant site for anyone who enjoys surfing the net for fun and interesting articles.  It has millions of users, most of whom are there for their personal pleasure and enjoyment, but a few are there for self promotion.  Unless you know what you are doing, you time there will be of no value in promoting yourself or  your site.

1.  Join StumbleUpon and write a blog about yourself that will attract people who view the kind of things you will be promoting.  If you are going to promote sites about the economy and so forth, than make a blog that will attract people who are interested in reading that sort of thing.

2.  Add a Profile Picture.  Again, make it something that will apeal to the view you want to attract.  If you are going to be marketing vehicles, have a classic car photo for your profile picture, or something along that line.

3.  Fill in your Preferences and Manage your Interests.  Put in any valuable details you want people to know.  When you check off your Interests, make sure you fill in all the fields that will create a overview of yourself and the sites you may want to promote because when people compare themselves to you they will use your Interests to decide if they want to add you as a friend or not.  Having too many interests is just as much of a problem as having too few.

4.  Stumble many sites other than your own!  This is very important.  Stumble at least 100 sites over a week period.  This can be sites already submitted to Stumbleupon, or new ones, but they cannot be the sites you are interested in promoting.  Giving a Thumbs Up will get a site added to your Stumble Blog, giving it a review is even better.  You can review a page by clicking the little speach bubble on your StumbleUpon Tool Bar, or by Editing the site.  You will figure out how to do this on your own easier than I can explain here. 

5.  After you have Stumbled at least 100 sites, then  you can send out friend requests.  Add People who have similar interests in what you want to promote later, and of course accept any who have asked you too add them,  within reason of course.  Try to send messages where people allow you to, so you can encourage them to add you.

6.  After, and only after,  you have at least 20 people who have accepted your friend offer, should you add your own sites to StumbleUpon.  If you have more than one site, do not add them all at once, two or three a day is plenty.  If they all come from the same webpage, you can only add so many before StumbleUpon will block you from adding new ones, so select only your best. 

7.  No more than three times a week, you can send links to your friends, by opening a page and clicking the StumbleUpon "Send to" button, on your StumbleUpon toolbar.  I say not to do this more than three times a week or you will be labled as a SPAMMER.  It is important you continue to add sites that are not your own.  Again this is to avoid being labled a Spammer.  Although StumbleUpon does allow people to submit their own sites, being blatantly obvious about it is wrong and against their rules. 

8.  If you know people in real life, family, or friends, who might enjoy StumbleUpon, send them an invitation to join too. 

9.  Finally, do not abuse StumbleUpon or you will be banned.  Remember it is for entertainment purposes mostly, marketing secondly, and only if it is not blatant.