How to Turn Your StumbleUpon Traffic Into Loyal Readers

As many bloggers know, StumbleUpon can be a great source of traffic to their blogs. But later on, some of them find that most (or all) of the traffic they receive are only one-time visitors.

So how does a blogger ensure that some of those visitors return?

Let's get into the mindset of the typical Stumbler; stumble a few sites if you have to. What are the first things you notice, the things that either make you want to read more or continue on to the next website?

Design

Your template is usually the first thing they notice. If Stumblers don't like it, many will stumble on to the next page right away. Most tend to look more than they actually read.

Your website should be visually attractive not only to your loyal audience, but also to the new readers. It should be simple to navigate, easy to read, and free of clutter.

An original template is recommended, but for those who are unable to hire someone or create their own, there are plenty of free Blogger and Wordpress templates available for download. If you don't already know some basic html, I suggest learning so you can customize your blog to fit your needs as time progresses.

If you have ads on your blog, do they blend well with the rest of the page? Advertisements can either make or break a blog, and if there are too many of them or they don't match your website, it becomes an annoyance to your readers. Be picky about your ads.

Content

Are you providing lots of valuable, in-depth content on your blog? The more you have that interests the readers, the higher the chances that they will want to return and read further.

Keep it organized. Break up long posts into small paragraphs and use subheaders, bold and italicized font, etc. wherever necessary to make it easily scannable. Proofread your work for spelling and grammar mistakes as well. Make sure your content is easy to read.

Subscribers

Ask your visitors to subscribe. Place a link to your feed in a prominent spot on your page. Link to it at the end of your posts. In order to grow your feed count, you need to make it obvious that you have one. If you invite them, they will come.

Consider offering subscriber-only benefits. Give away free e-books, blog tools, or other useful extras to your subscribers. Give them something in return for their time and loyalty.

Also, if you have a high feed count, consider displaying it near the top of your blog. People tend to judge a blog by it's feed count (if it's advertised). The more subscribers you have, the higher authority you hold in the reader's mind. It's a shallow statement, but it's true in most cases.

Branding

Of these four points, I think having a brand is one of the most important ones to focus on when trying to appeal to StumbleUpon traffic. It's essential that you make your blog something that visitors are going to remember.

How do you brand your blog?
What phrases, keywords, and images do you use to define your site?
Do they describe your blog?
And most of all, are they easy to remember?

If you can give people a good reason not to forget you, they won't. And that's the key to gaining loyal readers from any website that brings you traffic- differentiate yourself from all the others (and provide great content).

* * And since we're on the topic, if you've got the time, please take a couple seconds and stumble me if you like my blog. Thanks! * *

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Comments

[ROTUS]

Consider yourself Stumbled. Oh, and I gave you a little award, too. It comes with a bit of (optional) baggage, but what the heck.

[A u d e e]

Hello again Raivyn,
yes, I completely agree to the designing part. Recently I've done my blog redesigning and lots of scripting work to make it usable for all social bookmarking site..,I got a little problem with my blog post title headline at SU this morning (when I received your messege), The headline was turning into ugly URLs. That's why I submit, delete and resubmit my own blog URL over and over just to have a look if it is goin to be OK. Now it is fixed and I can see nice headline stumbled rather than to see crappy URLs :D.

[Hipster]

These are great tips that I'll be putting to good use asap thanks for sharing.

[Nadz]

Couldn't agree with you more! Awesome article and find it very useful.

Cheers!

[Nick]

Interesting points. If converting stumblers is your goal, here are a few more tips to add to this post.

http://socialmediatrader.com/how-to-convert-stumbleupon-users-to-regular-visitors/

[Chris]

Hi Raivyn,
This post hits on everything I've been trying to do with my blogs. After reading in one of your recent posts about adding the RSS subscription button after the posts, I did so, and my subscriptions have started increasing more and more. I always pick up a good tip from you, and because of that, I've given you the "Winning Attitude Award." You can pick it up at http://blog.werelivingwell.com

Thanks for everything, and enjoy!
Chris

[Karl L. Gechlik]

All great points and stuff we have been trying to push over @ http://www.askTheAdmin.com. 6 months in 1 million uniques and almost 900 daily rss readers.

We would love to pick up some new authors so if you are looking for some good exposure. Get @ us info at asktheadmin dot com.

Thanks Raivyn and its good to see another blogger in NYC (LOL!)

[Walk Through Money Online Journal]

I didn't know that you can change the template in StumbleUpon. I will try to play around with it this weekend. Thanks for the info.

[Will]

This is a great, well written post that really applies to all traffic, not just from StumbleUpon. SU does provide some unique challenges though and this is my second time here to read this post trying to solve those challenges!

I have noticed that compared to other referrals, like digg for example, SU traffic rarely comments or visits any other pages. It is as if SU visitors are in a real hurry or something. It may just be the nature of SU traffic?

I don't get a huge amount of traffic on my site, but I do have many regular readers and commentators. It seems like a pretty high percentage of visitors look at several different posts and a good number of those comment. SU falls into a totally different category, however. I just can't seem to entice that SU traffic to browse or comment.

-Will