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11,979How StumbleUpon Is Ruining Mom Blogs *
If you were online in the late 90′s and early 2000′s, you probably received about 30 emails filled with jokes and animated gifs, every day. Your great aunt Cathy might even still forward you and 234 of her closest friends an occasional 3-mile-long email featuring pictures of beautiful vistas, overlaid with motivational quotes.
I can’t help but be reminded of those awful email forwards that most of us would sooner delete than read, when I see the new posting trend in mom blogging.
Did we all wake up one day with a deep passion for funny pictures of cats, tacky motivational quotes, and incessant Pinterest round-ups?
No. We do it, because we know that these stupid, hollow posts, will score us mad traffic via StumbleUpon.
Notice I said we, because I am guilty too. See these beautiful photos of beaches in Japan? Nice images, but do I really care about the loveliness of Japanese beaches? No. I wrote the post, because I knew that I could gain some fast and easy traffic. I feel kind of yucky admitting that, but it’s true.
Why would mom bloggers want huge StumbleUpon traffic?
Well, duh. More traffic means more ad revenue, and more appealing stats. The stats come into play when bloggers are competing for ambassadorships and other sponsored opportunities.
A blogger who is posting once or twice a week for StumbleUpon may easily have 500,000 to a million (yes, I said ONE MILLION… not me, by the way) pageviews a month.
Is the traffic legitimate?
Oh, it’s legitimate all right, and it looks pretty impressive in a media kit.
However, I just don’t think that PR and brands realize that 90% of these visitors are transient, simply passing through the blog like ships in the night.
The chance of these StumbleUpon viewers ever returning to the blog is pretty low. Why bookmark a blog for a repeat visit, when a Stumbler’s appetite for inspirational quotes can be fed by simply pressing the Stumble button again?
Granted, the same could be said for bloggers running a lot of giveaways, the idea being that the traffic is simply passing through to enter a contest.
Blogging for StumbleUpon is an addiction
That sounds somewhat dramatic, but I think that it is true. When you begin publishing posts with the purpose of gaining huge traffic, and you get that rush when you see the visitors in fact flooding into your site, it is pretty thrilling.
It is so thrilling, that you find yourself posting for StumbleUpon on the regular. You then begin asking your friends to discover or like your posts, and you may even be a member of a forum or group where members trade Stumbles — all things that are against StumbleUpon’s Community Rules. Raises hand.
There is certainly some overlap here, and bloggers can definitely rationalize that they are not posting FOR StumbleUpon, but simply posting content they already enjoy, and that is relevant to their blog, but that just happens to be a good candidate for Stumble traffic.
Really wishy washy, isn’t it? Let me reiterate… I love StumbleUpon. I love it, and I hate it, and I am also an enormous hypocrite, no need to point that out to me — I’m guilty.
So what is the problem with the StumbleUpon trend?
Well, maybe nothing.
I’m generally of the blog and let blog philosophy, and while I am pointing out an issue in our community, I am certainly not trying to smack any fingers. Again, I do it too.
I also post giveaways and write sponsored content, which makes me pretty lowly according to some.
I do know that the use of StumbleUpon for traffic has raised the bar across the mom blogging community on traffic. It used to be that 20k-50k unique visitors per month was really impressive for a mom blog, but now, if you aren’t in the 100k+ range per month, you have a small blog.
Your small blog may be thriving, and your 20k visitors per month are actually engaging, clicking, reading, and coming back for more, but again, it looks like small potatoes compared to the bloated Stumble numbers that many are reporting these days.
The same can be said for enormous Twitter and Facebook followings though, too, right? :)
I also see a major change in the quality of blogging content, which again, is really none of my concern I guess? After all, it’s your blog and you can post what you want.
I stand by that. You can post what you want, and I can post what I want. You can post for your readers, for yourself, or for a buck. You can post for all of those things together.
What do you think?
Is the focus on posts that do well on StumbleUpon bringing the quality of your favorite mom blogs down? Is this a bad trend, or just another useful tool for bringing exposure to blogs?
Do we all really want to post quote roundups, funny photos of animals, and incessant Pinterest round-ups, or do we feel like we have to in order to compete with other bloggers’ traffic?
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Thank you so much for this! It’s like you put my thoughts into words! Sometimes SU drives me crazy and yet I’m addicted to trying to post for it periodically. I do try to keep my related to what I’ve been blogging about but sometimes it’s tempting to post a silly animal picture because other people find such huge success doing it!
I completely agree with your post. I think all the “avenues” to “bring up stats” can be so fly by night that actual & realistic stats don’t even come into the PR conciousness, which drives me up a wall….
This totally make sense, and I agree with your completely on this. And I’m guilty too on some aspects :)
I’ve never thought about this before. I have a few posts that were stumbled a few hundred times, but nothing to garner those kinds of hits. After 2 years of blogging for me and my life, I reached 30,000 pageviews. Which I remember used to be the thing everyone said was “it” and now seems like almost nothing.
Is it tempting? Yeah. It totally is. And after reading this, it’s even more so. I’ve worked my butt off for to provide quality reading and engagement, to make my blog a place people want to come and comment and keep up with.
But if I don’t do this – will it ever really be enough?
Ugh.
*hangs head in shame*
As a super small infintessimal blogger (just hit 10,000 all time page views and I’ve been blogging 6 months), I can totally see the issue. I started my blog as an outlet to write. Something that truly feeds my soul and is a huge stress relief for me. But, to that end, my blog has no real “niche.” I’ve guest posted a few places and had one or two posts featured at bigg blogs, and the influx of views at those times really is addicting. So, it’s tempting to stray from who I am/why I started a blog I order to generate those numbers.
Oh girl. You just wrote what’s been in my head for a while now. I really wish bloggers stop with this nonsense AND I wish PR reps would look at more than stats (they good ones always do).
I’m guilty of this and have done a couple of quote posts but I’ve stopped doing it. It’s exhausting to try to keep up with everyone else and really, that’s not what I want for my blog.
I do enjoy posting recipes that I make and my readers enjoy that I share them, most happen to do well on SU so I think it’s a win/win for me.
I’m in the boat that it’s your blog do whatever you want, so I can’t judge.
I confess…I do not stumble that often. I am a small blog by definition, but I’m ok with that. I took all my advertising off as I wasn’t making enough to justify the ugly – and really – I could stumble a picture to increase traffic??? seriously???
I’d rather have more regular readers than more traffic, and I wonder if there is a proportional increase in spam posts.
Interesting. Off to stumble some cute puppies…
Wow. I may be living under a rock, but I didn’t realize that people were actually writing posts specifically designed to garner SU traffic. I’m not a fan of that. I am a fan of SU, I run an SU group where we support each other’s posts, but it would never even occur to me to write a post just to get a gazillion page views from SU. In fact, all the posts that have done well for me on SU are the ones I never would have expected, so apparently, I’d be bad at working the system if I tried :)
P.S. Get ready to write this same post about Pinterest, though, because writing “pinterest friendly posts” is a trend I definitely see growing already. :)
Totally have to agree with you on Pinterest. It’s been up and coming and just in the past week I’ve felt like it has officially arrived. It’s the latest hot thing – but I’m totally addicted to it and not sure that it being the hot thing is a bad thing. With Pinterest it’s all about eye catching and to me, that means upping the bar for myself when it comes to the pictures I take and include in my posts. Which all around is really just win-win.
Hahaha oh man “pintrest ready” blogging for sure. I’ve been in the market for a new camera, but one out of my budget, and found myself saying “So I can take pictures people will want to repin!” when explaining my choice to the hubs.
I’ve never done this. As much as I would LOVE some more traffic numbers, I don’t see the point. I don’t have advertising (boo) so it wouldn’t matter to that bottom line. I feel more honest now, thanks. At least I know the little bit of traffic I DO get is real. But it riles me up to know others kind of cheat.
I am so glad that you went ahead with this post. I don’t have anything to add, because you said it all so well.
To answer your question, yes, StumbleUpon has brought the quality of some of my favorite blogs down. Blogs where I once read about people actually living their lives are now filled with quotes and photos that have nothing to do with the price of eggs in China.
Is it a useful tool? Absolutely, but it is a bad trend too.
Do I want to post Pinterest round-ups, cute cats, and inspirational quotes? Nope. Do I feel like I have to? No. I don’t want to inflate my numbers around a photo or project that isn’t even MINE to begin with.
Thanks for having the balls to say what needed to be said.
I’m one of the few that doesn’t write for SU but I hit decent traffic with them because I am a food blogger and people like recipes. I still have less than 50k a month and if I don’t have LASTING visitors then I don’t count it, ya know? If you need the traffic for money, and I do its no secret, then you will blog for SU. I won’t do it because it breaks the integrity of my content. To each his own though, if I knew I’d make a few grand a month that way maybe I would think about it lol.
I don’t have a “mom” blog, but I’m a blogger trying to work my way up the ranks. I’m guilty of these types of posts too – but I try to keep them to a minimum. It’s just not what I want my blog to be filled with. Having said that, I read a lot of blogs who post almost nothing BUT that kind of stuff – and I like them. Because they give me ideas and lead me to other blogs.
So I think there’s room for them. But you brought up some interesting points about the kind of traffic they bring in. I suspect PR reps and the like will catch wise eventually and it won’t be such a huge issue.
What DOES bother me are the number of completely useless “sponsored” posts I’ve seen recently. Yesterday alone I must have seen 10 eye-rolling posts that the blogger obviously only posted because they got paid to do so. Now, I’m not anti-sponsored post. I think bloggers should leverage their platform, and sponsored posts are a great way to gain extra revenue. Your blog, for instance, I’ve never seen a sponsored post that made me cringe. You do a good job of making it relevant to your readers. So many others just slap some crap together, post it and call it a good work day. THAT is what bothers me. Why should I want to read your blog when it doesn’t seem like you value me as your reader?
So I guess I don’t feel like something like Stumbleupon is going to ruin the mom blog. I think what will ruin them (or any other blog) is a lack of regard for what readers really want. I mean, without them you have nothing, right?
So very well put Trish! Really, there are a million ways to “ruin” a mom blog…or not…it all depends on that blogger’s goals. If a blogger wants her blog to make a ton of money from CPM ads, then creating viral posts that get millions of views can do that. I admire a mom that supports her family from her blog. If she knows her traffic is from Stumble and she writes for stumblers there is no harm in that.
But if a blogger’s goal is to be an influential writer/brand with a loyal audience, stumbleupon-ready posts can be a huge distraction to that audience.
Rule #1 in journalism: Know your audience. Write for them.
interesting. i actually haven’t given much thought to mom bloggers blogging for SU as much as they are blogging for Pinterest which drives me batty.
Not a blogger Crissy (as you know) but as one who visits alot of blogs and who does take the time to read them and comment when there are things of interest, I am finding alot less things interesting- and it is kind of sad.
Bloggers who in the past had some nice content are on some kind of Pinterest mission- I know it isnt the theme here but an example of whats happening. Does Pinterest increase traffic or something? To me it is rather boring to see people make posts about their ‘pins’ and what they think is so interesting- I mean if they want to write a post fine and how it somehow pertains to their blog, but goodness some are going bonkers- I dont want to see 50 bazillion pins or follow them there ( now it is a contest entry)
What is happening? I know you all are busy- heck who isnt? But it seems that the pins have nothing to do with what they normally blog about it is some willy nilly attempt to get us to look at something .
Ellen, I appreciated reading your point of view here! I enjoy it when you comment on my blog and know you do read a LOT of blogs. I had no idea that so many blogs were going “pinterest” crazy. How interesting……
I’ve been trying to understand my stats more. And what I’ve come to find out is that I have the same readers but they are VERY loyal. I don’t have as many unique visitors but I do have high numbers of returning + high pageviews.
I tried Stumble Upon once. Mostly because I think every blogger dreams of “hitting it big” with a viral post. But I really don’t understand it.
I stand in the group of bloggers who doesn’t really get why some bloggers are so popular. I feel left out a lot but I also feel like having loyal readers who like my content time and time again are more awesome than 100k visits a day who never come back or only come to enter a contest.
It’s because of my loyal fans that I keep writing.
Hi Molly,
Quality tops quantity any day. Even if companies might not agree right now. If you have loyal readers now chances are you will get more b/c you are producing quality content. Try guest posting on similar blogs with larger audiences. :)
Excellent post and I agree (as you know since the thread on my FB wall is about this). I understand we all want to increase our traffic – but do it with value to your readers and be true to yourself. Original content is still king I think. I swear if I see one more compilation post from the SAME bloggers over and over I’m going to scream.
I completely agree with this. I find SU annoying – easy for me to say because I’ve never had a post go viral and get a bazillion hits. I am happy for my blogging friends who have luck with it and see great ad revenue, but I also resent how it’s changed the numbers game for all mom bloggers. I’ve worked hard to increase my audience and community to a point that, only a year ago, would have been big time. Now? Not so much compared to 1 million visits a month.
I know a lot of my traffic is search engine traffic that may never return but at least those visitors are looking at my post on purpose and with intent, not because some program algorithm brought them randomly. And, while I don’t blog for Pinterest (or SU), I will now put a pretty graphic at the top of a post if I think it has a chance of being pinned. :)
“I also resent how it’s changed the numbers game for all mom bloggers…”
EXACTLY!
Couldn’t have said it better myself Kate! It has completely changed the numbers game. But like you, I’ve never had anything go viral like that and maybe I’d feel differently if I had.
Well said, Kate. I completely agree with Crissy.
Fabulous post. I love your content.
I am such a small blogger that I’m lucky to get 500 pageviews on a post, but I keep at it because I discuss what I want to talk about…parenting humor, travels, and food. I write what I enjoy, and I’ve come to accept that if no one finds me or stumbles me then all I can say is that I did my best. Loved the points that you made.
I am totally guilty of this…but at the same time…I’m a crafter and I LOVE seeing posts of good crafts all together….I’m a curator through and through, so I enjoy writing these types of posts and I enjoy reading them. There are a lot of times that I have children fighting and lots going on, so just taking a few moments to look at something funny or group of pretty pictures or a group of recipes that make me hungry is all I have time for. I do think that a lot is being done simply for SU, which many of us are guilty of…..but I don’t know that it is ruining mom blogs, maybe just changing things a bit. If you are a good curator, then you will get lots of hits off your posts if they are stumbled correctly, but again, if you aren’t good at putting a post together or don’t have a good eye for whatever you are posting, it will flop on SU.
There are all these tricks that pretty much guarantees that I will never have a super successful blog. I see where Pinterest is headed now as opposed to what it should be and that’s sad in itself. But I wouldn’t even think to specifically write for SU. The inflation, to me, never even seemed worth it because I knew those people who were on my site for 1 second before going on to the next would never come back.
I admit I crave the traffic boosts from SU but I don’t get huge spikes often. Several recipes and a few other posts do trickle in a couple hundred to a couple thousand people over the lifetime of those posts. While I have it in mind at times it’s more about improving presentation of recipes.
So I don’t think I blog FOR it but sometimes with it. It’s not replacing my content but adds occasional fun, I think. As with anything, moderation makes a difference, I think. My first Pinterest collection was honestly because I was blogging about planning my daughter’s Halloween birthday party. So I do party ideas/food ideas once in awhile because I like them and it seems my readers (the regulars) like them.
I think this trend hurts newer bloggers most or those that don’t know how to balance/blend the posts to fit.
I’m slowing coming off the SU high. I’m kinda over it. Thanks for posting. You hit on some really great points.
PR reps should look at blogs with consistent followers, so they know a blogger’s opinion and promotions of product are really of value to some of their potential patrons, or patrons already. People that hit once and never come back, well PR reps should realize they aren’t coming to a blog for anything of any value. PR reps should look at blogs with value to the product they want to have promoted, and not just crazy stats with no real meaning.
Great post! I’ve recently started a blog and by recently, I mean a couple of weeks ago. I’ve not really tried to promote it as there’s not much content there (ok, none, haha), just a few entries by me. I’d like to have a halfway decent blog some day because I enjoy writing, even if I’m the only one reading it. But it never occurred to me to use something like StumbleUpon. I’m not sure if I’d want that kind of traffic anyway. I’ll just keep plugging along and stopping in on blogs like yours every now and then =)
What a FASCINATING post! Like some of the other commenters already said, I have a teeny tiny blog. I have no advertising and I do it primarily for me. It’s an outlet, helps keep me sane, has introduced me to some wonderful ladies I’m now lucky enough to call good friends now and helps me preserve memories from my daughter’s childhood before they got lost in the sludge that is now my brain.
But I do somethings feel it’s an uphill battle to even be considered a “real blogger” anymore. I’ve done a giveaway from time to time but for the most part, my passion is posting real, interesting content. Because of that, I’m skipped right over for some opportunities that I think I’d be perfect for just because I don’t have the inflated (and after reading your post, definitely artificial) traffic. It stinks, but I guess it is what it is. I have to think though at some point, there will be a more accurate measure of a person’s sphere of influence rather than just numbers. Until they screwed up their algorithm, I thought Klout really was onto to something. I think they’ll find their way again and perhaps that will eventually become a better indicator of true traffic — not how many people stumbled your cute cat doing silly tricks post.
Great food for thought!
Thank you for this awesome post! I 100% agree with you that StumbleUpon is ruining mom blogs. It is also ruining the chances of working with great companies for those of us “small blogs”. And I put that in quotes because I really wouldn’t consider my blog “small”, but compared to those who have gotten lucky with SU, it is.
When I write a product review, I do a good job. I post pictures and I really talk about the product and what it does. I like to think that if someone is searching for a product review and they come across my site, I will give them valuable information to help them make their decision. But thanks to SU, I can’t get many companies or PR reps to even look my way. They would rather work with a site with 1 million unique visitors that just slap up a copy and paste about their product and move on to the next. It’s sad.
I have no problem with bloggers posting original content and submitting it to SU. My problem is with all of the copying and pasting going on. The same “motivational quotes” are on 200 blogs, all which are now part of SU. I have to imagine that at some point, SU is going to get saturated with all of this copy and paste crap, and when people see the same quotes, pictures, etc. over and over again, they will stop stumbling all together.
Until then, I’ll sit here with my “small blog” and continue to do the best job I can for my readers, and for the companies I work with. If that isn’t enough, then so be it.
LeeAnn, I could have written this comment exactly. I have a SU account but I haven’t taken the time to learn much about it. I have friends who are very successful at using SU to leverage their unique posts and I don’t begrudge them that. Like you, I just wish PR would look at the quality of a blog and the interaction the author has with her readers as opposed to JUST looking at the stats.
I too will just keep plugging along, doing the best job I can for my sponsors while engaging with my community of readers.
I LOVE your honesty. I’ll admit, I didn’t quite know what was behind those beautiful beaches posts, but I knew it wasn’t really you. It’s so refreshing to hear you speak honestly about this.
I’m REALLY trying to make my blog a blog that I would actually visit. My very new rule is 30% about my kids, 30% about myself, my views, and opinions, 30% paid promos for products I’m proud to endorse. And, I’m trying to stay true to myself, even if it means passing up a paying job to write about chicken, since I’m a vegetarian.
This post is really interesting to me because I didn’t really use to use stumble at all , I mean like once a year maybe lol. But recently another pretty well known blogger told me to start using it as it would help bring me traffic. Well I am on the fence about this because I have started using it and gotten better at going in and checking out the people I follow and stumbling pages that people “send” to me – but when I look at my own pages they have usually zero views which tells me one thing – either people don’t like my content or I am just “not popular” enough in the stumble scene to matter. Personally, though I continue to use it – I could care less about the traffic because 99% of my posts are about content that matters to me – not what matters to others and those who have taken the time to follow my blog, really read what I write and gotten to know me, are the ones I want to keep coming back to my blog and those are the ones who will find a way to share my posts with others if they are posts that they enjoy alot. I still get traffic. So what if I am not in the 100k’s a month bracket, my page rank is still a 4 and I have a dedicated reader base that loves what I do. To me that is what is really important.
I belong to StumbleUpon and discovered the same thing. I love it because I am interested in anything Irish and books. For that purpose it gives me ideas as to what to blog about in these areas. I started out doing all the following and participating…sheesh I could not keep up with it. It is an all day thing if you seriously want to stumble everyones stuff…I had to stop as I would rather devote my time to my two blogs I maintain, even at the risk of having a low number of followers…great article by the way…I think a lot of this stuff has gotten way out of hand.
I stumbled this. ;-)
HAHA, thanks, Laurie!
I’ll be honest here, I’ve been blogging for over a year now, and I still don’t even know what Stumbleupon is! I see it all the time, bloggers asking for a post to be stumbled. But the way I see it, is if I don’t use stumbleupon to find posts (is that how it works?) than there’s no point to it for me.
But I don’t care if other bloggers do it :)
<3 this. I agree with every word. I do it and I am not even ashamed. I LOVE making Pinterest posts and if I get tons of traffic for it? All the more reason to make them!
XO
I’ve been living under a rock, that’s for sure! :) I’ve been blogging for 3 years and I’ve only heard of SU, never used it. I bet if I knew that I can get extra traffic that way, I would have taken advantage of it during my ‘stat obsessed stage’ about a year ago. I have a teeny tiny blog, I don’t even get 10k a month. At this point I don’t care, I don’t mind the slow growth and few loyal readers! Thanks for sharing this :)
I am really glad that people are starting to talk about these kind of issues – It’s a conversation that needs to happen.
I completely agree that when some people are able to increase their traffic and stats by using sites like StumbleUpon, Pinterest, or loads of giveaways, it makes it harder for other bloggers who don’t use those things to “keep up”. I think that it’s time for PR people to realize that there are huge differences in the types of “mom blogs” out there, and that different campaigns fit differently with the different types – Blogs shouldn’t be separated into categories by numbers, but on a bigger set of criteria.
If you’re a major corporation that wants an ad placed in a header, you want the blogger who finds a way to keep huge traffic coming in – since you just want your ad seen by the highest number of faces possible. If you’re a smaller boutique brand, perhaps you are more interested in the smaller blogger, who posts relevant content and original photos, and has a more dedicated set of readers. When PR and brands realize that there are more factors to consider than just numbers, everyone will be better off.
But — I see nothing wrong with using sites like SU to drive your traffic numbers! I don’t think it’s at all cheating – and I don’t think you have less “integrity” as a blogger for using everything to your advantage. My blog is my business, and is the income I live off of. So, I don’t write a post JUST for StumbleUpon, but I know which posts will probably do well there, so I encourage people to stumble it, which is just smart marketing in my mind.
I get what you’re saying though – and agree that if you lose focus, and forget that your blog is for your readers, not numbers – the quality suffers. I read an awesome article about this – http://theiqmom.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/are-corporations-killing-mom-bloggers/ – She compares it to teachers “teaching to the test”, instead of encouraging creative learning. I think that brands are beginning to realize that the blogger with the biggest numbers doesn’t always give the best quality, and I do think that things in the mom bloggin’ world are going to be changing a lot over this year….
Great post as always – and I’m glad you started this conversation, and got people thinking! :)
I think it’s all about balance. Not every post I publish is Stumble-worthy, which is a good thing! I also think that it depends on the genre/theme of our blogs, too. For example, a personal family blog that starts posting photos of Hawaiian sunsets for Stumble traffic doesn’t necessarily make sense, but for those of us that cover a number of topics on our blogs (food, fashion, reviews, blogging, etc.), having Stumble-worthy posts is not so out of character. All in moderation and taste. Great blog post!
THIS exactly.
I have to agree. While I am a niche blog who posts baby/kids deals, I still write reviews, recipes and try to do fun posts of kids clothes, toys etc. A stumble worth post here and there is nice. You wrote this beautifully Crissy and I do believe many may be guilty.
SU like many things is what you make of it. It has actually helped me, in that is has made creating my own recipes and other content, that I truly want on my blog, lucrative.
Not knocking anyone who does jokes, quotes etc, for SU traffic, but for me it would have been shortsighted, since it doesn’t fit with the direction I am going in… and well, I am just not personally into those posts.
I didn’t realize this was a trend, but now that you point it out…I have seen lots of those types of posts! I didn’t know they did well on StumbleUpon, though, and that that may be the reason they are being published. Great food for thought…
I feel like this has happened with pinterest. I discovered pinterest months ago and now every blogger has it put on social media network to watch in 2012.
And now I get a gazillion follow me emails and now what I loved about pinterest has been hijacked.
Forgot to mention that I can see stumbleupon somehow figuring out a way to change their algorithm to subvert all the mom blogs from getting traffic.
Bravo, bravo, bravo! Kudos for speaking up, and I couldn’t agree any more. I have been wondering the same, and why this has become such a widely accepted form of blogging and I’ve thought I’m alone who thinks it’s not ethical.
You hit on several things that I hadn’t even considered, but I completely agree. Thank you so much for putting a few basic principals into perspective. :)
I’m trying to not be discouraged after reading this article:) So many of us are sincerely trying to cover topics that we’re passionate about, and often in an in-depth manner. Too bad quality can’t rate as highly as popularity these days when it comes to blog content.
I get really tired of people posting a million recipes, especially when they’ve never posted one before Stumble , and then getting opps over me because one or two of those recipes brought in 90k viewers. Hearing about blogs who make over 250k uniques per month makes my stomach churn. I agree that it is their blog, but at the same time I’m losing opps when I have organic traffic. I have traffic that comes to each and every post on my site. It’s just a touchy subject, one that makes me snippy. ;)
Lee
It is true, I have been passed over for bloggers in the 250k pageviews per month range too — blogs that had half my traffic 6 months ago. I think PR will start asking for stats that show traffic sources soon.
The recipe posts don’t bother me near as much as the quotes, pins, and photos. At least a recipe requires some effort on the creator/ blogger’s part. I do get what you are saying though, Lee.
Honestly though, something about being asked for my stats (show us a picture) bothers me as well. I had a PR rep once tell me asking for a pictuer of stats is like asking a woman to show her bra size. It’s kind of true, it seems personal. Like someone is saying “We know you stuff your bra…so just show us”.
Whitney I know what you mean. I mean at least recipes DO take a ton of time. The motivational stuff I skip directly over and won’t stumble. The reason recipe posts bother me is because some people had never posted a recipe a day in their life before they found out about SU and now it’s every 3rd post. And they do it because of SU because many of them come out and say it.
I say this as I prepare a recipe post, but hey, it’s for a program not just SU.
Lee
I know there are those bloggers that just post photos, quotes, and roundups of others content, but then there are those of us that try to create original, creative content and hope it will get picked up by stumble. When/if it does, it just means that we are doing something right and people are liking our content.
(I hope) PR can usually look at the bloggers content and if it isn’t original, but rather filled with those photos, quotes, and roundups than they know the traffic isn’t really “theirs”.
100% agree with this! Creating an original recipe that you photograph yourself is way different than doing a roundup post where you use pictures other people did the hard work of taking.
I think that you bring up the perfect point – PR people need to actually look at a blog, and check out their content, before partnering with them. It’s very easy to get an idea of what a bloggers reach and influence are like, and what kind of work they do, by taking 5 minutes to read their site.
What I hope, is that more brands and PR places realize the value of a lasting relationship with a blogger. Instead of sending 100 products to 100 bloggers and then moving on, how about finding 10 bloggers who are the perfect fit to represent your brand, and work with them over the course of a year, giving each of them 10 products. Same cost – MUST better benefits for both parties.
I still think that using StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Triberr, whatever – I think that when your blog is your business, you have to use whatever methods you have available to drive traffic. But I would LOVE for things to change, and for reps to actually read your site to see if you would be a good fit, instead of just asking me for numbers! :)
I do have a stumbleupon account but rarely use it..It’s already difficult enough posting or co-ordinating posts to FB fan pages, Twitter and other social platforms. I’m still a newbie at using all these gadgets/sites.. it’s tempting to stumble a cute picture or so ..maybe I’ll give it a try.
Excellent post. I was just talking with someone the other day about the fact that SU hits do not result in increased comments or long lasting readership. And while I understand the desire to wow the brands, I struggle with balancing my desire to create a great community with creating content that would be good or SU or Pinterest.
Excellent points Crissy and I agree. I admit I am guilty of a few Pinterest roundups. Even infographics just to get some SU traffic. Over the summer I hit a high in August of 20k uniques and yeah it felt great. But then I came back down to reality. I have been at 10k ever since, which is 10x better then where I was this time last year, but I feel so inadequate compared to all those high numbers out there.
I do believe in you blog whatever it is that makes you happy so I don’t care what people are doing. I try not to worry about what others are doing and just focus on my own blog. It just sucks when it negatively affects the rest of us.
And yeah, I am not a fan of the quotes posts. At all. But to each their own I suppose. :)
Yes, Yes, Yes. The posts that irk me the most are the posts that are just a list of pictures or quote swiped from elsewhere (with credit given, of course). When did blogging become “Make a list of 10 things other people wrote or photographed.” Isn’t that a little cheating, shouldn’t we be creative enough to write our own content, take our own pictures? I mean once in a blue moon, posting something that is relevant to your site, ok. (I’ve never done one of these, but I might someday. I get the rational, so I am not hating.) But weekly, daily… posting a list of things you found elsewhere and neglecting writing your own CONTENT. That’s not blogging, that’s BORING. I actually unsubscribed to a “big” blog that turned to doing so many of these list posts. I got tired of seeing them.
i get some traffic from stumbleupon but i’m not a big fan of that kind of traffic because it’s not the kind of traffic i want. if having 200 visitors/day that are quality and come back to see what i have to say verses passing-throughers…then i’m not all that interested. but i guess i’m not looking to my blog to make me an income so…there’s that.
You’re so funny, Crissy. I love how you put this together. The beaches post…*giggle* :)
I actually work hard NOT to post for hits. I rarely look at my stats, because as soon as I do, I lose my passion of writing from my heart.
I have to resist competition as much as possible. It gives me too much anxiety.
However, to be honest… if the blogosphere began looking like a bunch of fly-by-blog posts made just for StumbleUpon I would wonder if my favorite readers lost their focus.
I liked this post so much I stumbled it, lol ;)
you crack me up Crissy, you are unbelievably sharp for someone so young!
I’ve been struggling with StumbleUpon since my first crazy traffic surge from a silly Spider Cat video. After that, I tried to create “stumble-worthy” posts with funny .gifs or beautiful pictures. After a few hits and a few misses I decided that I wasn’t going to try go create Stumble-specific posts anymore. Besides, it kills my bounce rate.
Instead of creating posts specifically for SU, I’m trying to create posts that are innately “stumble-worthy.” I’m actually pretty pleased that one of my most popular Stumble posts is one that was just a recipe for kettle corn – not something created specifically for SU.
P.S. I stumbled this post. LOL!
I can’t say I am surprised at all the bashing here.
The truth is, some bloggers wanted the traffic so they started to post things that didnt fit their blog because they wanted the 6 digit numbers and now they are blaming SU or bloggers who actually used SU the correct way because they sold themselves out.
Yes, SU is a HUGE number driver and yes, there are those out there that totally abused it. I feel the key is making it work for you. Dont write for SU, write for you and stumble away. I’ve never seen a huge spike in SU but I know I gained new readers and my bounce rate dropped by 10%, so I must be doing something right? LOL
I can say that all these things are a little confusing for new bloggers. I started blogging for me and have absolutely no ads on my blog but I do want my blog to grow. I read a lot of negative things though about things that I’ve also read are great for growing your blog such as linky parties and giveaways. I personally agree with you when you say blog and let blog because really if you don’t like the way someone is doing something on their blog don’t read it. It’s easy. Don’t judge. I joined StumbleUpon recently and honestly I don’t have a clue what to do with it.
I am not a blogger. I found your blog through a stroller giveaway. All of the other blogs I follow are for coupons and giveaways and 1 other for a local photographer. Since entering the giveaway that was on your blog, I have read every single post that has shown up in my emails. The only other blog I actually open and read is the photographers. Just wanted you to know, even though it hasn’t been long, I am a loyal blog reader of yours!
Very interesting Chrissy. I have a SU account but I just don’t “get” it. I still am completely lost as to what it means or what you do with it. Currently, my number one traffic source is from Pinterest for a sponsored post where I had to create something…so I guess some would dislike that in several different ways. I have 1 post that gets SU traffic. I wasn’t the one that Stumbled it and if I had to pick a popular post it wouldn’t be that one. I guess I’m not savvy enough to create content specifically for Pinterest or SU.
I’ve always curated other people’s idea, post thumbnails only of their photos, write a personal description or recommendation, and properly to give them credit so they get the benefit of traffic. To me it’s letting my readers know about other great sites and I always hope someone will do the same.
Some of my favorite sites I found from someone else recommended a post or the site. I kinda feel like it’s the basis of the blogging community. I also love to Stumble for the same reason. I’ve discovered blogs I’ve never seen in my 3-years of blogging that I’ve fallen in love with. There are thousands of spammy sites I block with the Stumble tool bar…personally, I love Stumble Upon but I guess I’m looking at it from the side of the Stumbler.
Other blog genres and communities I used to be a part of often did weekly round up posts to share other bloggers and their great posts with their readers. It was awesome as a reader and a blogger. I don’t see that in the mom blog community very much. I thought the Pinterest collections were at least a move into the sharing realm, but it sounds like many people don’t see it that way at all.
I’m still pondering the traffic that make big or small blogs! I’m nowhere there , but yes I see the rat race everyday. I’m not sure if I’m up to it.
I was Stumbling years before I started a blog & I love it. It’s a great way to find new blogs, interesting articles, & sometimes just completely random stuff.
A few of my blog posts have been stumbled & have done quite well…but it’s my own work.
I don’t think StumbleUpon is ruining mom blogs. Bloggers who are solely on the hunt for traffic are ruining their own blogs…SU is just one of the tools they are using.
I don’t get squat from SU, so I can’t really say I do it for that reason :P I just hit buttons for the most part.
I had no idea Stumble Upon was that huge and could produce those kind of #’s!
Maybe that’s why I’m a small, teeny-tiny blog. And here I was thinking that I was actually growing and doing pretty good. My #’s must be laughable to companies when I submit them with fingers crossed that I’ll get that reviewing gig.
Thank you so much for opening my eyes to another tool that is being employed.
Funny you should write about this. I have a nice, little blog. Generally 500-600 unique visits a day. One day earlier this month, I received 7500 unique visits. According to Google Analytics, my top source was from Stumbleupon. I have no idea who stumbled what, and frankly I don’t use stumble myself.
First, I want to say I have never been on Stumble Upon. I don’t even know what it is. But I admit, when you say that posting things there could get me thousands upon thousands of visits, it is really tempting to look into it! But I want people to come read my blog because they are touched somehow by my words. Words, thoughts and feelings that they connect with. They keep coming back because they like what they read.
That being said, it would be really, really awesome to see that many visits in one day!
Interesting read. To gain some traffic fast, I guess it’s fine, but I would think that in the long run having a more consistent flow of traffic with fewer but engaged readers would be more valuable – also for advertisers.
I typically forget about SU most days when I post. I’ll go through periods where I remember. Like today, seeing your post.
I don’t expect to draw a lot of followers from SU but I figure I’ve come across some interesting blogs and was glad I did so someone might find something I write or others write as interesting as I did.
Great post and subject.
I am huge defender of StumbleUpon, because unlike a lot of services, SU puts your blog in front of people who want to look at your kind of content. For instance, I was just stumbling through a bunch of cat-related stuff, because I am a shameless cat lover. I wasn’t stumbling through stuff that was completely random; it was TARGETED to me specifically based on what I’ve liked in the past.
This means that SU sends fairly meaningful traffic.
I see stumbling a blogger’s post like clapping for them from the audience and taking the time to tell my friends to go see the show, too.
Love this analogy!
I love this analogy too! I actually take the time to comment on posts I come across on SU that I enjoy, and I get comments randomly here and there from SU visitors…I do count my (however small beans) traffic that I get from SU as real traffic.
Love this response…I shall now think of you as “a cat lover blogger”…
I have a very small blog in terms of stats — and I really enjoyed your comments about SU because it’s something I’ve been thinking about as well. I want 2012 to be the year that I move forward in my blogging but increasingly I see that in terms of improving my content rather then my overall numbers. I don’t think I want to spend my time worrying if I have enough page views to impress a PR agent, I would rather have a couple sincere comments that indicate I’ve reached someone out there in my reading audience — that really makes my day! I’ve tested the waters doing a SU hop but honestly it just doesn’t seem to matter for a blog at my level. I think it will be more important for me to find my voice and that is my goal going into February and beyond :-)
Someone shared this with me on SU (ha ha), and I feel compelled to comment. For a long time, this whole SU thing bothered me and I couldn’t quite put my finger on why. Because I certainly don’t begrudge anyone making a living from their blogs. And there are a lot of other blogs and websites that make a ton of money from curating, rather than creating, content, so why not mom bloggers too? Then I realized (and this is something that both you and many commenters mentioned too), what bothers me is the PR end of things. PR seems to think these numbers are the norm now–I don’t think they really get how bloggers are getting stats like this. Or perhaps they do know, but they don’t care–well, they should, because a blog that gets a million views on a round-up post might not have any true readers. I get about 1000-1500 pageviews a day, but only 100-200 (maybe 300 on a really good day) are from SU, and even though I’m super proud of this (especially as a niche food blogger), it’s irritating to me that this makes me a “small” blogger.
Some commenters have mentioned “the same thing happening with Pinterest.” While there are certainly bloggers writing for Pinterest now, there’s one big difference between SU and Pinterest: SU is much more passive, with the bulk of visits being shuffled through at random, while Pinterest is less easy to game because a user must actively choose to click through to view a post. I think Pinterest rewards good, original content in a way that SU doesn’t.
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So…did you stumble this post? ;)
I am guilty and not guilty. I have my main blog which I am lucky to get 6,000 visits a month or page views I should say. I don’t get uptight about it as I feel one day I will get there and most likely NOT with SU. Then I have a humor blog, yeah mainly pictures and omg’s… I go from 5,000 a day up to 35,000 or more a day depending on the post. It eats up bandwidth and when I really think about it so silly, but I also am making some money I think..lol but to me its not ‘earned’ traffic. A post I didn’t really think would take off, did and then another post I was hoping would, did not, then another one did. Its like a race and a high and then I want to reciprocate for a fellow blogger and my ‘mojo’ isn’t great enough in a certain area. But where I see it happening is pr reps want huge page views… in order to review their product. I won’t review a product on that ‘other blog’ as most likely their product wouldn’t want to be amongst silly pictures. So its a catch 22 so to speak.
I really feel as with any fad this too shall pass. Your post made me feel guilty, then made me realize I am not alone in my thoughts… lol. So I am wondering, what new thing will be next? Thank you Crissy for writing this and most likely posting what others or many may feel. :)
I was having this conversation a couple weeks ago with a good bloggy friend. I have definitely noticed the uptick in pin worthy and stumble worthy posts, and how some blogs are posting photos of a collection of images that have zero to do with their blog just for the sake of the pageviews.
In reading through the comments, I agree with those who said PR firms should look at traffic sources and how spending a little bit of time looking through a site can tell a PR rep so much more about the level of engagement of a blog.
I totally agree – PR should be looking at what is on our blogs, not just the numbers. If a blogger’s traffic is super high, but there are ZERO comments on any posts, then obviously, no one is actually reading and caring about what they are seeing.
I’ve had this post sitting in my email inbox for days. I’ve read and reread it and I’m completely enamored by it. I’ll admit, I thought to myself “why in the world is Crissy sharing photos of beaches from Japan?” lol Now I get it!
Here’s the thing, I’ve experienced a little bit of StumbleUpon success and I’ve gotta say, it’s great! I haven’t hit 28k Stumbles like your Beaches of Japan post did, but I did fairly well with my photo texture tutorial post at 9,824 Stumbles. I Stumbled and reviewed it myself. No help from a Stumble group. (Ummm, if you’d like to Stumble it, let me know! lol Totally kidding.) Honestly, I didn’t even think about it’s Stumble factor when I wrote it, mind you, but I’ve been pretty thrilled with the results.
I’m not going to lie. I’m tempted to do a little experiment of my own. What if I really did create a blog post specifically for its Stumble factor? What would people respond to? How would that play out in terms of CPM ads? Hmm…
PS I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your transparency. This post is incredibly insightful on so many levels and it certainly leaves one with a lot to think about. What are my long term blogging goals? What direction to I want to go in? How can I maximize my ad revenue? What type of posts will resonate with readers, create discussion and go viral? So much to think about…
I’m a very small mom/lifestyle blog. I get about 6000 pageviews a month.
However, those are actual, organic pageviews. Those are a combination of my regular readers and those who found something on my blog through search engines.
Wold I love more traffic? Sure! I’d love to encourage more moms, make people think, help someone out. Would I love to have a post that gets virally reposted on Facebook? Sure I would.
do I want drive by readers? no…I care about my bounce rate more than my pageviews.
Would I like to make some cash from my blog? I’d be lying if I said no.
I do some reviews, I giveaway some stuff, I love doing ambassador work, and I write some sponsored posts. That is enough selling out for me. I really don’t want to pimp things out much beyond that.
It is a fine line. I’m always worried about crossing it.
I appreciate the honesty here. I don’t blog,but, have seen how people change from when they first started out. Some, not the majority,put it above all else. I like that you have stayed grounded and focus on what is important!
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I’m a niche blogger, so I can’t really write for SU or Pinterest without looking totally crazy, LOL I tried to make a cloth diaper collage of cute diapers that was “pinnable,” but I guess it wasn’t!
I DO have a giveaway a few times per month however, it’s not cash or gift cards to bring people in to enter & leave. It’s a cloth diaper or natural parenting product I’ve reviewed, and likely if someone is interested in that, they will probably want to stay & follow me! There are some exceptions when I review a product that appeals to people beyond the cloth diapering world though of course!
I didn’t know that this post was going to be so controversial when I first read it. After all, you weren’t nasty AND you admitted you did it yourself. I tried to express the same feelings in a group (linked this post) & felt jumped on – especially when someone else linked to a post criticizing this one.
Does it seem weird to anyone else to post saying you shouldn’t criticize other bloggers, in which you criticize other bloggers??
Oh, and I stumbled, hee hee!
I love the quotes and photos and don’t see a problem with it. I don’t see the bloggers that are doing this as any different than giveaway bloggers that get huge traffic for their giveaways – traffic is traffic. PR can take a quick look at our blogs and see what we are blogging about and get an idea as to what kind of interaction we have from our readers.
I am getting tired of the Pinterest round-ups though – I have a Pinterest account and it seems like I’m just seeing double!
We will never surf SU again, we got a virus so bad we had to take it in to get fixed…a hi-jack virus that was so evil you couldn’t do anything on safe mode.
Just our bad luck, but we learned.
I read an article you were linked at and honestly, I didn’t really find anything too disturbing with anyone’s posts, there here or at SavvyMama. It was interesting and eye opening though.
I have a blog and I’m pretty sure I’ve had less than 600 visits in the 3 months since I’ve started it and I think a lot of those page views were from me learning how to navigate and check on what I posted. Naturally, it’s because I’m very new to blogging and taking it moderately slow with some exceptions. I do a lot of contest entering and twittering so I have about 900 followers, but on the flip side I have only about 60 g+ followers, and 1 google friend connect member. Anyways, when I started blogging 3 months ago, my examples were blogs that would host contests and it definetely is true that these blogs get people’s attention. The first time I entered this community of bloggers was when I simply fell upon a page offering a giveaway for a car seat (non-rafflecopter). It had the mandatory entry that was easy but to really “compete” to win it had a list of other things to complete for more entries. In my opinion, it’d be best to limit all the extra entries because everyone who wants to really win does all of them anyways so it just is a huge time-waste. I understand that blogs are competing for sponsors so they try to “buy” followers who will enter their contests and they get a fun way of living ie getting to try new products. I’m not putting them down for that; It works. The fact is any blog is going to eventually get a reputation if they do giveaways because people love giveaways. But I personally didn’t realize the “stumble upon” inflation happening just for recognition. I don’t think there is anything wrong with your provocative post and I don’t think there’s anything wrong the others. I get what you are saying. Youre almost saying “Why Should pr worthiness be subjected to an application such as Stumble Upon? It’s a bit monotonous, and a lot of bloggers use it for reasons they don’t even want.” And I think that’s brave to say. The only problem I guess is that bloggers who are used to doing pr and getting nice products in exchange for a review are subject to losing that privilege if your page views don’t stay up. And for new bloggers like myself, it seems like an age in blogging popularity without giveaways never existed. I didn’t realize blogging popularity mattered when giveaways weren’t so pungently involved. Personally, if you want to have a popular blog, you want it to be popular for a reason. Money or notoriety? And don’t pick both. Pick the one that matters the most to you as a blogger. Did you start your blog years ago when all that mattered to you was writing and connecting, and then incorporated giveaways?
I agree that tacky posting just for SU hits is just that… but I think that writing quality content that gets stumbled is good for driving traffic – I stumble my recipes, household tips and occasionally another post… I get good results from my recipe posts because they’re quality and people keep thumbing them up… I’ve never written a post just to be stumbled and I hope I never will…
Really? That is how all these people are getting insane amounts of hits on their blogs? Wow, I didn’t know that secret. Really, I didn’t. If I had, then maybe I would have tried to stumble more.
I’m a teeny tiny blog in comparison. I would love to have even 1000 views a month. I’ve been wondering how in the world people get their stats to 50k a month….when I’m trying so hard to even get a handful of people to come visit me.
Hey, can you come visit me? Maybe I’ll feel a little better. :)
http://www.atticgirl.com
I’ve never thought of it like that – to write a post specifically just for StumbleUpon. I stumble post or will ask a friend to stumble a post when I think it’s a really good one that many other people would enjoy – a post I would like more people to see and to get more readers for.
I don’t know how to tag posts on Stumble the best way, so I’m not sure I’m doing it right, and I can’t say that StumbleUpon is who sends me more traffic. I like to think that the increase in traffic to my blog is a momentum that has finally picked up after 2 1/2 years of blogging :)
I’m sure that this has been brought up by others in your comments…but I feel that some people have moved on from StumbleUpon to Pinterest. I love love love Pinterest, don’t get me wrong. But people are basically writing their posts and making their posts more “pinnable” now, which captions and descriptions on their photos. Totally annoying by the way….
I use SU, but surprisingly my best received post was a post I actually wrote (a review for Diamond Candles). I received over 60K unique visitors to that post alone. So, I do think SU posts CAN be worthwhile and legit to use on blogs.
However, I do think some bloggers go a tad overboard. If a blogger can stay true to their blog and use SU, then that’s great. But if you have a specific type of blog (let’s say Tech blog) and all of the sudden there are posts with furry kittens and funny signs it’s a bit annoying.
I didn’t realize people did that. Interesting. I think there’s a big difference between reach and influence. I’m not a fan of the numbers game.