The Power of Stumble Karma

August 6, 2007 | General

A couple of weeks ago I read a post (sorry can’t remember the link) that talked a little about Stumble Karma and how it could increase your traffic. Basically Stumble Karma is the idea/theory that the more you Stumble other articles and posts, the more your Stumble Karma will increase and the more visitors StumbleUpon will send you. A kind of “do unto others - what goes around comes around” kind of thing.

So being the curious guy I am, and one that is always looking for new ways to increase traffic, I decided to set up a little experiment. The premise was simple, if I Stumble articles and posts on other blogs, thus increasing my Stumble Karma, will I receive any traffic from StumbleUpon? I figured the results would be easy to judge based on the following:

1. I was not a current user of StumbleUpon (No Stumble Karma)
2. This blog had not received any traffic from StumbleUpon

Based on that information I was basically starting at ground zero. To further control this experiment, I decided to only Stumble 10 artilces over the period of 1 hour. By limiting these numbers I could judge how much traffic 10 stumbles would bring and how long it would take to receive any traffic.

According to Google Analytics I received 67 referrals from StumbleUpon and the first stumble came in about 5 hours after the 10th Stumble I gave.

StumbleUpon Traffic

Not a bad return on investment. It’s almost a 700% increase on the number of Stumbles I gave. To further test the power of Stumble Karma I am going to Stumble 20 post a day for 5 days. I’ll give the results of that test in a post next week.

Do you believe in Stumble Karma? How much traffic does StumbleUpon send you?

The Stumble Karma Experiment
What Is Your Biggest Source of Traffic?
Link Lovin’ - Round 01
Join the StumbleUpon Link Train
The End Must Be Near

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6 Responses to “The Power of Stumble Karma”

dcr | August 6th, 2007 at 8:28 pm

This will be an interesting experiment. I don’t think I’ve had anyone Stumble any of my posts since I signed up with Stumble. Had Stumbles before joining! Maybe I’ve got reverse Stumble Karma?
Ad Tracker | August 7th, 2007 at 11:22 am

This is very interesting! I got a few hits from StumbleUpon when I first signed up but none recently. I don’t think I can wait on your results. I’m going to halve to try it myself. Thanks for the tip
dcr | August 7th, 2007 at 8:12 pm

I tried your experiment myself yesterday. Stumbled 10 articles over a period of about an hour. I made a good effort to choose quality stuff too, not just Stumbling things at random. (I assume you probably did the same.)

No incoming Stumbles received at any point thereafter.

Will rinse and repeat today.
Nathan Snipes | August 7th, 2007 at 8:35 pm

There is a very good chance that there are other factors involved. But it does seem to be quite the coincidence.

I’m currently on day two of my 10 stumbles per day for 5 days. No conclusive results yet, but I have received a few referrals. However, nothing compared to the previous 700%.
Brian Heys | August 13th, 2007 at 2:18 pm

Good idea, Nathan. I’m going to try this out myself, although to be honest, I do get Stumbled on a semi-regular basis anyway.

Nice blog, btw. I’ve subscribed!
Nathan Snipes | August 13th, 2007 at 2:31 pm

Brian: If you try this let me know what your results were. It would be interesting to see if your StumbleUpon referrals increased from what you normally get.

Thanks. I’m already a subscriber to yours.