I was going to call this new post "Just Because You Build It Doesn’t Mean They Will Come" but I went with "StumbleUpon Traffic Sucks" instead because that was exactly what I said when I launched my new site http://www.SleepWinks.com just over a week ago.
I did a pretty quiet launch… Did a couple of blog posts (one here and one at My Mind Shift Blog ) and then posted it at a few social bookmarking sites.
No emails, no affiliates.
And the results were disappointing to say the least.
Approximately 30 sign ups and no viralness (will update you on this one in the next week or so).
Did I get traffic? Yes I did… I got some. I got over 150 hits from StumbleUpon… Guess how many signed up? Maybe 2 maximum… could be less.
That was when I said… "StumbleUpon Traffic Sucks"
I know what you are thinking… "Your squeeze page just isn’t converting, Paul"
And you are absolutely right. For non-targeted, ’self improvement’ stumbleuponers my site does not convert at all, maybe 1% if I was lucky.
But this is where I get excited.
I went away for the weekend and enjoyed a nice camping trip… The End ;).
Kidding… Well actually I did go, and had a fantastic long weekend, perfect weather, cold enough for a fire, but warm enough to swim. Friend brought his speed boat as well… yeah it was great, thanks for asking ;).
Anyway this week when I got home, actually just 2 days ago now… I sent out an email to my MyMindShift affiliates saying I had a new affiliate program. A few of them signed up.
When I woke up the next morning (3am… yep I’m still doing it)… I discovered that my email exploded with notifications from Aweber saying people had signed up to my list.
Within 42 minutes of one affiliate signing up to my affiliate page (http://www.sleepwinks.com/affiliates ), I had the first subscriber sign up to the optin via his affiliate link (I can tell because his Id is automatically embedded for lifetime commissions) and when I woke up 4 hours later he had already sent over 140 subscribers and they are still coming in every few minutes 2 days later. I loved watching it.
So far he has sent over 370 subscribers with a conversion rate of over 68.5% (didn’t you just say this page didn’t convert… WRONG! 
).
Moral of the story…
Affiliates 2 | Social Networking 0
All the best to your online success,
Sincerely,
Paul Kleinmeulman
Australia
P. S. Challenge repeat. Give me a list of how many viral/traffic multiplying methods am I using at http://www.SleepWinks.com Hint it is more than 3.
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It might be possible I am blind here…that has happened before…but you didn’t mention your approach using a social bookmarking site like Stumbleupon to gain results to your squeeze page. You can’t just straight up market links and posts there and get the same results.
Have you built a social network within Stumble yet? I mean, no offense (at all), but even if you are Paul Kleinmeulman, a marketing star…your credibility “starts over” on social sites…as they typically don’t respond to marketers very well until you build within the social network.
Just some thoughts.
Joseph Ratliff
Lets add a little perspective to this
1. You submitted it yourself
2. All you ever really stumble are your own pages, and SU has algorithms that reduce the effectiveness of users who stumble the same sites all the time.
3. You have 3 fans on SU
4. It is quite obviously a page trying to sell something - stumblers are just looking for something cool
I know people in certain niches that are quite happy using SU as a paid traffic source with returns as high as 500%
Don’t write it off, just do a lot of testing
p.s. I am going to see if an SEO/Marketing blog can rank for Binaural Beats soon - I have a few products I can use in a case study including yours
We have been disappointed by the low response to our attempt at viral marketing our sites at http://www.SummitFinance.co.uk http://www.SummitForum.co.uk & http://www.SummitProperties.co.uk - but especially http://www.SummitFinance.co.uk where we are running a free draw with a high-value prize. It’s also promoted on Facebook… which has delivered no traffic at all so far! Maybe, as you have found, affiliates are the answer?
Paul,
1. I tend to agree with the 2 comments above.
2. WRT your viral methods, I have liked your scheme of design..wish to know the software that you are using for the langauge options and also for the referal software on the thank you page (the one that mentions the download page link is in the email),the one that allows importing of the addresses.
3. Thank you for the generous gifts, Paul. I will experiment with the audios tonight and let you know if it helps me…I do have problems with sleep!
-Ashish
Hi Paul,
Long time since we chatted last.
You have me interested with your comments “I had the first subscriber sign up to the optin via his affiliate link (I can tell because his Id is automatically embedded for lifetime commissions)”
I have been recently setting up JVM-1 and would be keen to hear from you the best way to set things up.
Ideally I want to have many products in a Niche, ie Dogs, and then 1 affiliate program for them to signup too so they can promote them all.
Do you have anything on this type of stuff or can you share?
Cheers
Justin Bryce
Paul,
I agree with the other comments. Try stumbling a page where people can first listen to your audios. Hopefully they’ll stumble it before they doze off
I also noticed that “sleep” is not spelled right in your header subheading, the tag above “Sleep Winks”
I think Andy and some of the others have raised some good points that the best way to use stumble upon is to stumble other peoples pages and build some friends. But I have had a site receive up to 400 people from stumble upon and I did not make a dime. So I agree with you that its traffic does suck
Sorry, Paul, I agree with the others, as well. Also, your list was predisposed to purchase from you. Stumblers are, well, just stumblers. Perhaps you might consider creating a landing page specifically for such 2.0 traffic, which then integrates with your main site.
ADG
P.S. Once more, this post proves that a controversial title always gets a reaction. I’ll remember that!