Savor the Success - Business Network for women entrepreneurs

So you've been blogging for a while. You've been checking Google Analytics for a while. You've been submitting your stuff to social bookmarking sites like Stumble Upon and Reddit for a while.


And, for a while, your traffic has completely stagnated. If you've seen any Stumble Upon bump at all, it's in the neighborhood of 100 or 200 extra visitors, all of whom stayed on your site for all of 20 seconds.


And you keep hearing about these stinking bloggers who are getting thousands of Stumble Upon or Reddit hits. What are they doing right that you are doing wrong? Is it a matter of knowing the right people? Is it a matter of writing the right type of blog (tech stuff versus other stuff)? Is it yet another white male conspiracy designed to keep the rest of us from rising up and claiming what is rightfully ours on the Internet?


I'm pretty sure the answers to those questions are all, "No," with the exception of the White Male Conspiracy part. You know...um...I'm just going to say one thing about that: John F. Kennedy.


Okay enough with that. I don't want to attract their attention. I don't need any more problems in my life.


Back to the topic at hand. You, too, can get thousands of site visitors from social bookmarking sites. You really can. It's much simpler than you think. Just follow these 5 Secrets to Social Bookmarking Success.


Secret #1

Write a list post. A list post is exactly as it sounds. It includes numbers. The beauty of a list post is this: it's really easy to scan, and people who use Stumble Upon like to scan. Here are two list posts from my site, along with the numbers of Stumble Upon readers they brought in during one 24 hour time period:


26 Things No One Warned You About Being a Parent = 1265 viewers



Top 10 Signs You Are Stuck In A Bad Marriage = 4366 viewers 


Other popular list posts include:


12 Surefire Ways to Get in the Mood


9 Stages of an Unhappy Marriage


13 Reasons to Believe in a Bad Marriage


Here are a few list post ideas that might work for some of you. Feel free to use them and reap the traffic bump. Note that odd numbers (13, 17, 27) tend to be more memorable than even numbers (10, 20, 30):


XX Personality Types, and the Jewelry That Goes With Them


XX Ways to Look Younger .... Tonight!


XX Traits of a Great Friend


XX Secrets to Starting a Business During a Recession


XX Business Functions, and the Clothing that to Wear to Each


XX Ways to Reuse a Paper Plate (Lynn: this one's for you!)


XX Theories About Who Killed John F. Kennedy


XX Reasons Why I love Alisa Bowman, and You Should, Too!

Secret #2


Use photos. Get an account with istockphoto (it's cheaper than you would ever imagine) or learn how to download Creative Commons photos from Flickr. Use a photo that is either adorable (check out the baby photo in my 26 Things post), funny, or so odd that it's eye catching. Remember: these people are scanning, so the entire purpose of your photo is to draw them into your page. Nix any notion of trying to appear intellectual. Just go for the attention grabber.


Secret #3


Keep it short. This isn't a 100 percent rule. Some of my longer posts (Nice Girls Finish Unhappy is an example) have done quite well on Stumble Upon. In general, though, most people from Stumble Upon and other social bookmarking sites are like that guy who's looking for a quickie one-night stand. They want to be entertained in three minutes or fewer. Actually, it's worse than that. You really can only expect about 30 seconds of their time. Write short and to the point.


Secret #4


Write a compelling headline. Again this isn't the time to get all witty and intellectual. Give it to them straight. You get bonus points if you help them solve a problem, which is why "How to" headlines work great, such as, "How to get rid of a pimple fast," "How to attract 1000+ blog readers-instantly!" and "How to get your man to replace the toilet paper roll."


Secret #5


Make it free, fast, and really, really helpful. People who use social bookmarking sites are not in the market to buy something. They are not sitting at their computer with their credit card in hand. So don't bother trying to sell. It's just not going to work.


But... what do you do if the only reason you want site visitors is so you can sell something? Use your blog and social bookmarking to draw them in. But make your sales pitch a soft sell. STSer Lynn Colwell does this brilliantly. She never tries to sell her book Celebrate Green. Rather, she writes useful blogs that help Earth conscious people, and she mentions her book as a part of her title.

Check out how she does it here, "Top 10 eco books for kids of all ages."


Have you experienced success with social book marking sites? Leave a comment and share your success with others.

Alisa offers free marriage help and advice at projecthappilyeverafter.com.