If you are not familiar with the site called StumbleUpon, it is a service that allows users to discover new sites. With the use of a toolbar (spyware free), users of StumbleUpon can find new sites that are related to their interests, or they can choose a random option. Millions of people are using StumbleUpon and it has caught the eye of many corporate bloggers as being a great new way to pick up readers.

This is a veritable minefield however in the blogging community. Many people swear by the service, others can’t stand it. While there are some flaw that are inherent with StumbleUpon, there are a few cases where it can actually be useful for your corporate blog. Let’s take a hard look at the pros and cons of StumbleUpon and whether or not it can help you.

First off, although advertising on StumbleUpon is incredibly cheap, and very targeted, few have found it to be effective. Basically, when you purchase a StumbleUpon ad, your blog will be automatically loaded for viewers that are interested in your niche. It sounds ideal, but this rarely works. In our testing we found that we did get the number of visitors promised, but none stayed for more than a few seconds.

Paying for targeted visitors that barely see your site is just not a good investment. There is a lot of controversy over StumbleUpon’s ads, and although they are economical, we have not found that they are effective for the majority of corporate blogs. If you are running a very special contest or offer you may have better results, but you really cannot rely on these ads to help build up a solid readership.

So, what about their organic services? These are the visitors that just happen upon your site and you don’t have to pay for them. This is a little hit or miss and again, it is really only effective for contests, special deals and controversial content that grabs a visitor immediately. While it is still important to get listed as a StumbleUpon site, you should not expect hordes of people to descend on your site as a result.

Overall, StumbleUpon is a great premise that should work, but it just doesn’t seem to for most corporate blogs. The review feature is also worrisome for many corporate blog owners. Get a bad review and that will stay up, in connection with your site, for any StumbleUpon user that happens to visit your site. If the reviews are good, this is great. If they are not, it is a whole other story.

While using StumbleUpon has some benefits, it is certainly not the most reliable means of attracting new readers to your corporate blog. With the right niche and targeting this can change, but for the average corporate blog owner, it is just not worth the trouble. This may change as StumbleUpon grows and evolves, but for now, your efforts are probably best spent elsewhere.

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Originally posted 2008-10-02 05:50:15. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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You want your blog to be engaging, but that may not always be easy. Here are some great tips on how to keep your corporate blog reader friendly.

1. Pick your design well.

One of the biggest problems for corporate blogs is design. You can need to make sure that your blog is easy to read. This means sticking with simple backgrounds, regular text and a dark font. While black backgrounds may look nice for a blog, they are hard to read off of and your customers won’t appreciate having to strain their eyes. Shoot for a very neutral palette that is very easy to read on.

2. Don’t bore them to tears.

Sometimes, corporate news can be a bit boring to the average consumer. Try to change up your posts so that they are not continuous dronings that would put even the most die hard fan to sleep. Add fun elements such as polls to keep your readers engaged and willing to come back each day for more.

3. Talk to your readers, not at them.

One of the worst mistakes you can make is sounding like you are pontificating. Try to develop a writing style that is engaging so that you are talking to your readers not at them. This may take a little practice but in time you’ll be able to develop the right kind of writing style for your audience.

4. Always publish regularly.

Once you have a posting schedule stick to it as closely as possible. This may not always happen, but really make an effort to be a dependable blogger. You won’t have to worry about your readers losing interest and failing to come back since they never see anything new.

5. Try to run a few fun contests.

One of the best ways to make sure that your readers are engaged is to run a contest. Offer a free giveaway or something similar to all of your readers. You can have them place their entries in the comments section of your blog.

6. Allow comments.

Today’s blog readers want to be able to interact with you and this means allowing comments. If you are worried that things may get out of hand, use a moderation feature which will allow you to preview all the comments before they go live on your site. This gives you the best of both worlds and will make your blog much more fun to read.

7. Have a little fun.

While it is important to be professional, you don’t need to be dreary. Don’t be afraid to change things up every now and again to keep your readers guessing. This will help increase your daily visits and your readers will want to check back more often.

These are just a few tips that can help you create a very reader friendly blog. You may also need to work with a blog management company to increase your readers and to stay on target with your goals.

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Originally posted 2008-07-02 05:41:01. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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