You might have noticed the exclamation mark in the title.

Sorry if I’m a bit excited, but this has never happened in this site before. Usually, I get 50 - 60 hits tops each day. Today, though, I got a whopping 110 hits! I was shocked, of course, quite unbelieving when I saw the data. My first thought was that there was some sort of glitch in the matrix, but then it checked out. I did get 110 hits in a day.

I had to check the live traffic feed widget to see how it happened. Through this widget, I could see where my visitors were coming from. A lot of them came from Stumble Upon straight to my latest post on citation styles. It was shocking, to say the least, since I rarely stumble and would much prefer to digg.

But there it is.

I still don’t understand exactly how Stumble Upon works, so I did a bit of research around the net. It turns out that Stumble Upon is not entirely similar to Digg or del.ico.us.

With Stumble Upon, a user need only select a channel that interests him (technology, education, etc.) and Stumble Upon will show him all stumbled websites under this field. This means that these websites get maximum exposure, particularly as more people vote for them. Unlike Digg, the exposure on Stumble Upon is a lot more long term and is geared specifically towards readers interested in your site’s niche.

Anyway, so how can you make Stumble Upon work for you?

Here is a short step-by-step guide you can try:

1. Visit the Stumble Upon page to see if your site is already listed. If it is, good for you. If it isn’t, we’ll have to do this the hard way.
2. Sign up with Stumble Upon.
3. Download the Stumble Upon toolbar and install it.
4. Surf to your site and then click the “I like it!” button in the toolbar.
5. Enter a brief review and submit.
6. Now readers can find your site!

Note that it’s not just your home page that you can submit. If you have a specific article that you think is stumble-worthy, then by all means stumble it. Don’t be a hog, though. Don’t abuse this stumble power. Also, one good way to get more exposure through Stumble Upon is to stumble other sites related to yours. That way, you build a good network with people interested in what you may have to offer.

I’m not an expert, though, so you might want to check this out.

Good luck stumbling!

XOXO,