How to be a top stumbler in less than a week?

UPDATE—-
This article got a thumbs down from one of the very senior SU members. Reason – The article is more focused on getting the numbers and does not really throw light on ensuring quality in your stumbles.
I agree on that , but I’ve taken care to ensure that the tips should not be mis interpreted for evil purposes. Readers, please note that SU is a place where quality weighs over quantity, and do not use any method that you think will corrupt the system. The blog deals with search engine marketing so naturally, I’m inclined towards the numbers part. But that is not an excuse to cut down on quality while stumbling pages.

Taken aback by the title? Well, I mean it. (And mind you, this is not the usual s**** where you get to read what you already knew. This is the untold stuff!)

Stumble Upon is the new social media bug that bit me recently! Ouch! That did hurt but seems like I’m enjoying every bit(e) of it.

Stumble Upon is a great way to boost traffic to your site,in fact, I prefer it to any other social media site.

 The reason – it gets me on a high when I receive 1000plus visitors to my site overnight.

Well, the relevancy of this enormous traffic is doubtful. Out of the 1000 odd visitors, probably only a few of them would actually subscribe to your feed or show interest in visiting your blog the next time. But it’ a good amount of traffic however.

Now, how can you make it to the top on SU? Is it really possible?
Indeed yes. If you see the top stumblers list on SU, each of them have some unique features that will give you some pointers.

(Update- I found out that this page is a mere listing of who stumbled the most on SU, it does not give you an idea of who are the real passionate stumblers who live the SU experience. Here is a better ranking based on the number of stumbles/thumbs, combined with the number of reviews , pics and videos. I think this makes more sense.)

And this is not the “usual stuff” article where you get to read the very same things again and again. Things that everyone knew. No this is not it.
If you do a googling on “How to get to the top of stumble upon”, you’ll probably get a couple of site that will give you ideas like, keep stumbling more pages, get reviewed by people, get connected with all, and stuff like that.

But hey, didn’t you already know it? All of us know that if you stumble maximum number of pages, under various categories, you probably will end up the top list of stumblers.

But is there a shortcut way? You came late to SU. Now, is there something you can do about it?

Let’s see. I’ll take my example.
Three weeks earlier, I was not using SU that frequently and I had stumbles less than 10 sites. Today I have stumbled 1,368 pages, 350 videos, 203 photos and 46 fans. See the difference? Huge isn’t it?

Now, I’m not trying to say that I’ve got into the top 50 stumbler’s list on SU. But it’s an example, to show that even if you came late to stumble, you can still make it big. Provided you know some tips and tricks. Let’s see what they are.

To increase the number of stumbles.

Stumbling is more a enjoyable experience to me and I enjoy every bit of it. It’s the perfect exercise if you are running out of ideas. So rather than seeing this as a method to just increase your number of stumbles, take this as a method to enjoy stumbling more than you ever did.

1. So enjoy stumbling, get into it deep and you’ll never regret it. 
2. Stumble using every possible channel like videos, blogs and news. It values more.
3. Rather than just stumbling, write reviews about sites that you stumbled.

Those were anybody’s guesses. Let me discuss with you some of my personal tips and tricks.

How to make it to the top on Stumble Upon in less than a week

1. Short cuts

In the stumble upon toolbar, you have the option to use short cuts to stumble and do the thumbs up.(See screenshot)

Change the shortcut to an easily accessible one, like 1 for stumbling and 2 for thumbs up. By default this is ALT+’ and ALT+1 respectively.

Now with the new short cut, you can quickly stumble a page and thumbs up or thumbs down a page. Earlier you had to do it manually and it becomes a lot easier now. Please don’t mis-use this option.

2. Reviews

Another way to get popular on Stumble upon is to write reviews. Actually, in order to rank high on Stumble upon you have to get reviewed by others. I’ve noticed that many of the top stumblers do have lot of reviews from other stumblers. And the only way to get people review is to review them first. It doesn’t mean that all of the people you have reviewed will review you back, but the more reviews you have the better.

3. Stumble more videos

Another point I noted among top stumblers is that they have lot of videos stumbled. There may not be any thumb rule to it, but yes, I think it makes more sense if you’d stumble more content, like say videos and photos, rather than just use the default option of stumbling whatever comes your way. This way you look more focussed and organized.

4.  Stumble frequently

Stumbling needs to be your daily routine. Just like you’d open your google reader, the first time you logon to the internet, make it a habit to stumble a few pages every day and write honest reviews about it.

5. Connect with the upcoming stumblers

Now, I could’ve easily said – connect with the top stumblers who have a very high stumble rate. But this is not going to help you in anyway. Because, all stumblers have a limit to add friends. After 200 friends (or so I think), you cannot add friends, but they can become your fans. In order to develop your network, you need to add friends. Top stumblers cannot add you as friend so there is no use in you adding them, instead hunt for the upcoming ones.

The upcoming ones are the guys with a good stumble ratio, and who have a good frequency of stumbles. They are most likely looking for friends who are interested in making it to the top, just like you.

6. Third party help

I really am doubtful about this point, but since it makes some sense, I thought I’ll mention it here.

There are third party stumbling helpers like SUexchange.com, which is a service that will list you guys who are interested in exchanging stumble. That is more like a link exchange, if you stumble them, they’ll stumble you.

Now, I am unaware if this is against the SU terms and service, if it is, you know what to do. Get the hell out of there.

I tried it a few times and the sites that are listed there weren’t genuine all the time. But if you need some initial help, this is the place to be.

So there you go. All the tips and tricks you need to make it to the top of stumble list. If you’d like to add me to your network, you can do it here.