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Have you seen the commercial for DirectTV, where Jessica Simpson says “I don’t know what it is, but I want it…” Well, I used to feel a bit like that about Stumbleupon. StumbleUpon can seem like visiting a foreign country. Let’s see if we can begin to help you speak the language.

What is StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a social networking website. You set up specific topics that interest you, and StumbleUpon feeds you websites that match your interests. You can thumbs up or thumbs down sites as you view them. StumbleUpon figures out more and more what interests you and feeds you more sites that match your interests.

How do you get started with StumbleUpon?

Go to StumbleUpon and set up an account.

Click Join and Download Now to download the toolbar for Firefox or Internet Explorer.

Set up your profile. Fill in a summary. Upload a picture if you want. Add your website address and any other information you want to provide.

Go to My Interests and click on different topics down the left sidebar and explore the available subjects, then click on subjects that interest you. This is important, it helps StumbleUpon feed you sites you’ll like.

How to Stumble

There are lots of things to click on the toolbar. Ignore them for now. You’ll use the Stumble! and the I like it thumbs up or thumbs down. Click on the StumbleUpon button (it says Stumble!) on your newly installed toolbar and begin your fascinating trip, stumbling along the internet, finding sites that match your interests. If you like a site, give it the thumbs up. If you’re not interested in it, give it the thumbs down. Not sure, just click the Stumble! button and move on to the next site. You can also review a site. Click on the talk bubble on the toolbar. Add your review, and tag the site.

So you find a blog post that really interests you when you’re out blog hopping? Click on Thumbs up. If it hasn’t been discovered yet, you’ll see this screen. Fill out the blanks. Submit. Let people know about the cool site you found.

What’s in it for Your Blog?

Is your blog listed on StumbleUpon? Check it out

If you’re not listed, you can thumbs up your site, and tag it. Or get a friend to discover it. Now, it’s spammy to submit all your posts to stumbleupon yourself. That’s not what Stumbleupon is about. If you want to use StumbleUpon well, stumble other sites and review them. Take an active part in the community.

What Helps Make Your Site a Good Stumble

When your site is stumbled by a user, you get one quick chance to catch their attention. Good design and fast loading pages are important. If your site is slow to load, Stumblers will just click right on past you. Stumblers are scanners. Make your posts quick to scan with bullet points and bolded headings to keep stumblers from clicking on past. Put your RSS feed subscription prominently displayed on your page. Stumblers are internet savvy and will click on your feed to subscribe if your site catches their eye.

What’s in it Besides Stumbling Fun and Increased Traffic to Your Blog?

How about research for your book? Or research on a place you want to travel to or a subject that interests you? Or just any wild term you want to stumble. Use this cool feature to stumble sites limited to your search term. If you don’t have the search magnifying glass showing on your toolbar, click on the drop down arrow next to the word All. See it? When you click on it, you’ll see this box.

Click on the search magnifying glass and you’ll get a searchbox. Fill in your search term. Hit Stumble! and see what you find.

There is so much more to StumbleUpon–friends, groups and lots of cool things. But I’ll leave that for another post. I just wanted to give you a quick guide on how to set up StumbleUpon and get started. If you join, come back and comment here and leave a link to your profile. Friend me on StumbleUpon. Are you already a member? Leave a comment, and I’ll drop by your profile. And just remember, it’s really hard to force yourself to keep to the promise when you tell yourself “Just one more stumble then I’m logging off. Honest.”

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Tags: How to Blog, Marketing //