A Step-by-Step Guide for Using StumbleUpon for Businesses

Today I’ll be writing about a little website rating and sharing network, maybe you’ve heard of it? It’s called StumbleUpon and it’s growing in popularity. It’s easy to get sucked in and “Stumble” the day away as you come across more and more great websites. So what does this highly addictive social network mean for businesses? It means you have the potential to attract people to your website in droves, especially if you maintain a blog with unique, high-quality content. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started on StumbleUpon today.

1. The Premise of StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a website rating and bookmarking network that allows users to search for and organize great websites and blogs. Users set up a profile and choose topics of interest. When users are ready to be bombarded with content, they simply click the “Stumble” button, and StumbleUpon presents them with a site related to one of their chosen topics. Users can rate the site by giving it a “thumbs-up” or “thumbs-down.” The more “thumbs-ups” a site has, the more frequently that site turns up in other users’ stumbles.

2. Install the StumbleUpon Badge

In order to introduce your website or blog to StumbleUpon, you first have to add the StumbleUpon badge to your site. StumbleUpon gives you instructions for how to copy and paste the code for the button into your site, but if that’s beyond your comfort level, your web developer should easily be able to install the badge for you. Once your badge has been installed, be the first one to “Stumble Upon” your site in order to introduce your website to StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon will ask you to fill in some basic information about your site so that they can categorize it and suggest it to other “stumblers” who are interested in that particular topic.

3. Set up Your Profile

When you set up your profile, StumbleUpon will ask you to select topics that you are interested in. If you are using StumbleUpon for business purposes, try to resist selecting personal interests that have nothing to do with your industry. You want to pick as many categories that relate to your business as possible so that you will attract followers who have mutual interests. You can also gain followers by adding friends from Facebook and Twitter. StumbleUpon will go through your list of Facebook friends and Twitter followers and find out which of those people are also on StumbleUpon.

4. Start Stumbling

Once you’ve “stumbled” your own site, your website is now in the database and fair game for other users to stumble upon it. But your activity on StumbleUpon shouldn’t stop there. It’s important not to use StumbleUpon purely for self-promotion. You should get in the habit of bookmarking and rating other sites that you think your followers would be interested in (besides your own of course). The more active you are, the more you and your followers will get out of the social network. Plus, if you’re like me, you’re already constantly looking for quality content to read and share with your followers on Facebook and Twitter, so this is just one more media stream to help you easily find new information.

StumbleUpon is just one of many social networks dedicating to rating and bookmarking content. Digg, Del.icio.us, and Reddit are a few other popular social networks that serve a similar purpose as StumbleUpon. Have you dabbled in any of these content rating and sharing networks? If so what are your thoughts?