by Doreen Martel

Created on: June 07, 2010

Social bookmarking sites provide writers of all genres the opportunity to share their work with others who are interested in similar topics. While social bookmarking sites can generate additional income for Helium writers, it is important to understand that not everyone will have the same experience on StumbleUpon or any other social site.  Each user must find out what works for them while "playing" by the rules set down by the site.  Here is how to promote your Helium articles on StumbleUpon.

Do not submit them all - First and foremost, resist the urge to do a bulk upload of all of your past Helium articles to StumbleUpon (or any other site). This is likely to get you banned almost immediately. The fact of the matter is that bookmarking your articles at StumbleUpon should be a gradual process, and you should consider making sure that the article is of high quality before you submit it.

Proper categories - Take the time to review the categories at StumbleUpon to make sure that when you do submit your Helium articles they are being posted to the proper categories. If you are consistently posting articles on personal finance to investing when they talk about cutting coupons, you are likely to lose readers, and may even be flagged for spamming.

Reviews - Be judicious in your reviews. Not every posting needs a review, and often if you are posting reviews for your own links that becomes more like self promotion than an honest review.  Do review the work of others, you can leave honest reviews for them (without being nasty).  It is strictly up to you whether you wish to do a review on any link.

Timely - If you find that you have submitted an article on a specific topic and you discover that you have had a number of hits on that article, you may want to consider submitting similar articles. Remember, do this in moderation, do not suddenly add ten or twenty links all at one time.  If a single topic is "hot" you can benefit by submitting articles that are of similar genre.

Be active - In addition to being a bookmarking site, StumbleUpon is also a social site. Make sure you take the time to learn about the other people posting in the same categories that you are.   Make a point of reading their work and leaving a review if it interests you.  Remember, like any other community, you will get back what you give.

Summary

All users of StumbleUpon and other social networking and social bookmarking sites will have different experiences.  You create your own experience when you agree to become part of a community. Do not submit your work just because you feel like submitting it, make sure it offers value to the community. Be aware of how you post your work and how you are received by other readers as well. Remember, just because an item has only one hit today does not necessarily mean that it will not gain additional attention in the future.  Think about StumbleUpon as another piece of your marketing plan and be actively involved.  At the best, you will earn additional money when people read your work and at the worst, you are developing worthwhile links to your work.

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