How to Draw StumbleUpon Users Into Your Blog
Blog Promotion, Featured Posts, Social Media
 This is a guest post on How to Draw StumbleUpon Users Into Your Blog is by Skellie who writes tips and tutorials on creating better content at her blog, Skelliewag.org.
The potential for StumbleUpon to send traffic is often under-estimated,
particularly by new bloggers. Unlike digg and del.icio.us, an item
doesn’t need to become popular before you see immediate results. One or
two votes can bring a hundred or more readers — more than a new blog
might see in a day.
StumbleUpon users are, however, notoriously fickle. The service
describes itself as allowing you to ‘channel-surf the internet’ and I
think it’s a very appropriate descr i ption. Users flick through websites
like you might flick through channels, often making a decision on
whether to stay or leave your site before it has even had time to
finish loading.
In this post, I want to suggest some quick tips you can use to draw StumbleUpon users into your site before they stumble away.
Channel-surfing the internet
We’ve all flicked through TV channels back and forth, waiting for
something to hold our attention. The decision to stay on a channel or
surf elsewhere is usually made in a second or two, and the principle is
the same for StumbleUpon users.
With so many other potentially great sites available to them at the
click of a mouse, you need to make it immediately clear why your site
is worth their time. Here are some tips to help you do just that.
1. Make your blog’s core mission-statement unmissable
A core mission-statement as I define it is a one or two sentence
descr i ption encapsulating what your blog has to offer. A good core
mission-statement describes the kind of content you provide and broadly
what your blog is about. It should communicate a lot of information in
only a few words.
If a stumbler can see straight away your blog is about something they’re interested in then they’re likely to stick around.
2. Insert powerful visual cues
When channel-surfing the decision to stick with a channel or move on
is often largely determined by visual cues. Even with the sound off you
can tell a drama from a news program, a travel show from a cartoon,
because visual elements provide clues as to what kind of show you’re
watching.
The same principle applies to blogs. If your blog’s header contains
an image of a pile of cash, we can reasonably assume the blog is about
money (or making it). That’s a lot of information communicated
instantly by a single image.
3. Push your content above the fold
StumbleUpon users often judge a site by what is offered in the above
the fold area — the area of your site which appears on screen before
any scrolling occurs.
I think this blog is an example of how to do that well. Not only do
headlines and the first few paragraphs of a post appear above the fold,
but other content of interest is showcased in the header area.
StumbleUpon users immediately see a site packed with value.
You can use the top part of your blog’s sidebar, its header area and
the post area to showcase your content. In doing so, you’ll straight
away show StumbleUpon visitors why they should stick around.
4. Be unique, be pretty
While it’s difficult to judge the quality of a blog’s content in
just a few seconds, people are much more hasty with aesthetic
judgments. A gorgeous or interesting blog design encourages a stumbler
to stick around and see whether the content is great too.
Of course, a great design is a lot of work (or quite a bit of
money). The next-best thing is a unique logo or header image, an
interesting color scheme, and so on. There are a number of small
changes you can make to create a blog that looks unique and sets you
apart from the crowd.
What we’ve done
The emphasis in all the above tips is on instantly showing visitors
who’ve stumbled across your blog what it has to offer. This should help
you make the most of StumbleUpon traffic and turn more stumblers into
readers. StumbleUpon带来流量的潜能通常被忽视了，特别是被新博客忽视了。和Digg、del.icio.us不同，StumbleUpon上分享的东西不需要等到这些东西受欢迎后才能见到直接的效果。一两个投票就可以带来一百个或者更多的读者——一天不只一个新博客会看见您分享的东西吧。
StumbleUpon的读者是变幻无常的。StumbleUpon用可以“跳频”来描述自己，我认为这种描述非常恰当。读者浏览StumbleUpon时也会像您一样浏览频道，并经常在页面尚未下载完之前决定是继续浏览还是赶紧走人。
本文将就如何在这些读者走掉之前把他们引导到您的博客提供建议。
跳频
我们都会来来回回的浏览电视频道，以便找到自己喜欢的节目。继续看还是跳频往往在一两秒钟内就决定了，同样，StumbleUpon的用户也会这样做。
读者通过点击鼠标可以选择很多潜在的优秀网站，您必须马上让读者明白为什么您的网站值得他们光顾。以下是一些实用技巧。
1. 清楚的表达您的博客主题
主题描述，我的定义是用一两句话概括您的博客提供什么样的内容。一个好的主题描述包括提供的内容以及博客的范围。应该只用很少的文字表达很多的信息。
StumbleUpon用户如果能够看清楚您的博客是关于他们感兴趣的话题的话，就很可能在您的博客上逗留。
2. 插入强有力的视觉线索
是否跳频很大程度上是根据视觉线索来决定的。您可以毫不犹豫的区分戏剧和新闻、旅游节目和卡通片，因为视觉因素暗示了您正在看的是什么样的节目。
这个原则同样适用于博客。如果您博客的页眉包含一叠钞票的图片，我们就可以适度地估计您的博客是关于钱的（或者关于如何赚钱的）。一个简单的图片可以立即传达很多的信息。
3. 把您的文章推到页面的最上部分。
StumbleUpon用户判断一个网页，通常是根据页面的最上部分（即不用拉动上下滚动条就可以看到的部分）的内容。
我想这个博客（指职业博客——精博注）就是一个很好的例子。页面的最上部分不仅包括博客标题和特色文章摘要，而且页眉部分还陈列了其他有趣的内容。StumbleUpon用户马上就可以看出这是一个有价值的博客。
您可以利用您的博客侧边栏、页眉和正文区域陈列您的内容。这样一来，您就马上告诉了读者他们为什么要在您的博客上逗留。
4. 独特并且美观
虽然在几秒钟内很难判断一个博客的好坏，但是读者更加倾向于凭第一印象来判断。一个漂亮或者有趣的博客设计会鼓励StumbleUpon用户在您的博客上逗留并判断博客内容的质量。
当然，一个优秀的设计需要很多努力（或者很多钱）。其次，一个独特的标识或者页眉图片、一个有趣的色彩设计等等也是非常重要的。您可以改变很多细节，从而使您的博客看起来与众不同。
总结
以上4个实用技巧强调的是立即让读者明白您的博客是写什么的。这应该可以帮助您充分利用StumbleUpon的流量并把更多的StumbleUpon用户引导到您的博客。
精博寄语：
1 原文：How to Draw StumbleUpon Users Into Your Blog
2 原文作者：Skellie
3 原作者所讲的技巧其实就是博客的主题和视觉效果的优化，主题明确，给读者的第一印象好，就可以更好地引导StumbleUpon的用户光顾您的博客。
4 其实，我认为如果要获得更多来自StumbleUpon的流量，除了博客本身的设计外，更重要的是要对StumbleUpon的用户做出贡献，比如分享内容、发表评论、多交朋友等等。 | 
