For every one of us who is trying to build a business we often get caught up in a whirlwind of tasks that seems to have no end or beginning. We know we need to produce content, build backlinks, evaluate affiliate products and butter bread all in the same workday. What we lose is a macro view of our progress in each of these areas. We’re too often content to think as long as we take some action in any area of our business that we’re doing good.

Never is this more true than with social media. We open account after account because we’ve heard or read that they can help us rank or build our email list or increase our contact list of influential people. While this can all be true, in order for us to be effective in any marketing or social endeavor, we need to have a framework to keep the activity in perspective.

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I want to write a short post and get some feedback from my readers to see if I’m just on another planet or if Tumblr is completely missing the point.

As part of this year’s 30 Day Challenge, we watched a video on how to sign up for and use Tumblr to help drive traffic to our new niche sites. The video was very careful to tell us to pay attention to the Terms of Service and to abide by them. We were reminded that it would all be for nothing if we tried to set up a crappy site with no value and affiliate links because this is something Tumblr expressly prohibits.

I had never used Tumblr before but because I have a great deal of trust in and respect for Ed Dale and his associates I thought I’d give it a try. Here is my story.

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I don’t think a week passes when I don’t read some blogger’s story about how much Twitter has helped them get more blog subscribers, traffic to their site or sites or opened up tons of opportunities for them.

The thing that disturbs me about these posts is that it seems to me that these people already had a large following and getting on Twitter just gave them a new 140-character avenue to stay in touch with an established fan base.

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I recently “stumbled” the following article that I thought you needed to read.  We hear a lot about what we should do to make StumbleUpon work best for us.  What I haven’t seen is a breakdown of the inner workings of the service that can drive tons of traffic to our sites if utilized correctly.

One thing I found interesting is that SU apparently counts it as kind of thumbs down when you land on a page and just stumble again without voting.  I thought that only happened when you clicked to do a review of a site and closed the window without doing the review.

It’s a quick and informative read.  Have a look at it here:

Don’t forget to check out Caroline Middlebrook’s new e-course, StumbleRush.

Best,

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[tags]stumbleupon,stumblerush,caroline middlebrook,stumbleupon traffic,social media[/tags]

Are you like most people? You’ve been given snippets of information about StumbleUpon but lack a coherent plan? Maybe you only set up an SU profile because your favorite internet marketing maven says that you should. You read various blog posts and forum comments which tell you to do this and do that so you write down and try the stuff you’re told. Maybe you stumble a few sites, add some friends and submit some sites just to “cover the bases.”

But is any of this working for you? Can you honestly say you know what you’re doing?

If not, don’t feel bad because most of us are either in or have been in your same situation. But there IS help for you!

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