My Interview For Dr. Mani

[Matthew Sherborne]

Here's my interview for Dr. Mani's new website IM Interviews:

Matthew Sherborne’s Take On StumbleUpon Traffic

November 12th, 2007 — IM Interviews

Question: How long have you been using StumbleUpon?

I’ve been using StumbleUpon since April of 2007. I find that while the users of the site have a famously low attention span, the traffic can be great as long as you have quality content. Another prerequisite for receiving a large amount of traffic from the StumbleUpon site is having a large friend network. These friends definitely help propel your Stumbles forward and give them momentum.


Question: What do you see as the biggest benefits from being a SU user?

The biggest benefit by far is the sudden surge of traffic the StumbleUpon site can deliver. For instantce I had a popular post about Second Life on my Paid Insider Forum that I stumbled. The post received over 1800 page views in a little over 24 hours. Not too bad for a post that normally would have only received a couple hundred from other traffic sources. This post contributed to several new signups on the forum, which may lead to new long-term customers and name recognition for myself online.


Question: How has StumbleUpon helped you?

I’ve had the chance to make some really great new friends from StumbleUpon. Several of them have been well known marketers. In fact, I ran across you, (Dr.Mani) on StumbleUpon, which in turn lead to this interview you’re reading right now. So the benefit of the site goes far beyond the traffic aspect that you see up front.


Question: Do you use StumbleUpon as a social networking tool? How?

The reality is that StumbleUpon is another avenue to build relationships and create a
core following of advocates for you. It’s funny, but I’ve met people on the StumbleUpon site who have gone on to seek me out on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook and Technorati. It’s amazing that once you make these connections how your network can open up very rapidly to new people. This type of leverage is great to rapidly grow your exposure.


Question: What tips do you have for getting more value from StumbleUpon?

The best way to get more StumbleUpon traffic is to increase your high profile friends count. Here’s the whitehat method I use to get more website visitors by building a bigger network of top ranking Stumble users.


Before you attempt to locate these friends and friend them in the hopes that they will add you as their friend in return you should do a few things.


Start by first sprucing up your profile with artwork, pictures or photography to make your StumbleUpon profile visually appealing. This way you don’t look like you just started out on the site. StumbleUpon users want to make sure that you are active on the site before they will add you. This gives their Stumbles more exposure.


Second, you may want to build up your friends count by visiting other Stumble profiles. Give them a thumbs up, then review their page. Then add them as a friend and send them a comment, saying something that you liked about they website or stumbles. Make sure to say, I added you as a friend, and compliment them.


Once you’ve build up your Stumble profile with some pictures, votes and friends you should attempt to get on the good side of the top Stumblers. You can find the top StumbleUpon users at:


StumbleRank - Ranking Top StumbleUpon Users for Fun and Competition

You want to look for users who have less then 200 friends so they can add you back.(If they have over 200 friends they can not add you back and you will not benefit from the relationship)


Follow the steps laid out above to friend the top users who still have space available. Remember to be yourself. Social networking is all about being real and forming relationships. Make sure to visit your friends occasionally and keep the friendship going.


Question: What features would you like to see on SU that are not yet there?

The beauty of StumbleUpon is it’s simplicity. I think for it to be more effective there should be a way to find the top ranked sites. They already have a similar ranking for the top users on the site, I think it would be great if they did the same for the top websites.


Question: What do you like most about StumbleUpon?

The ease of use, and its ability to quickly generate a substantial amount of visitor traffic.


Question: What do you dislike most about StumbleUpon?

I’m guilty of spending too much time browsing other sites. To tell you the truth it can be a big time waster if you’ve got critical tasks you should be doing instead. I recommend you utilize the site, build up your friends network and network with others. When it comes to Stumbling for leisure, do it on your down time at the end of the work day.


Question: How do you see StumbleUpon evolving in the future?

As for what’s next I think it’s best said by the founder, Muhammad Saleem.
“I foresee better ways of assessing and networking with top users. More focused ways to categorize users by their interests (using tags), etc.”


Authors Resource Box

Matthew Sherborne is an author and info-product creator of many products including Myspace Cash Machine, Instant Money Reports and Paid Insider. His primary goal is to help people around the world realize a better life through the creation of online income.

*** I've still got spots on for you to be my StumbleUpon friend at: StumbleUpon » xperior's web site reviews and blog Friend me quick before all of the spots are gone ***