Maybe this is old news, but I don't think it is. Anyway, it is a new to me.

StumbleUpon is a great traffic source and a interesting place to hang out. I have found so many outstanding resources on about nearly any subject you can image at StumbleUpon.

I was browsing the SU help forum and "stumbled" across a mention of their targeted advertising.

From time to time several of the websites I am involved in will receive a massive influx of visitors from StumbleUpon. Sometimes it can last days (a websites owners literal wet dream). The traffic is at times better than getting on the front page of Digg. On Digg you may get a huge influx for four to six hours and then it dries up. Not so with StumbleUpon traffic. It has a wonderful residual effect that can last for a long while.

Back to the story at hand. I am not sure how long StumbleUpon targeted advertising has been around, but I can bet you a dollar to a donut the results should be better than Google AdWords or even Yahoo's advertising system.

On StumbleUpon everything is broken down to tags (categories) and thus are presented by category. In my opinion this is much better than running textual ads on search results.

One of the other upsides to advertising on StumbleUpon is *NO CLICK FRAUD*, the way StumbleUpon works and the way their advertising system is set up it is quite impossible for your advertising budget to be eaten up from fraudulent clicks. Talk about a plus for budget conscious advertisers. Google, Yahoo and the others can't claim that.

Below are some Questions and Answers from the StumbleUpon advertising pages.

"What am I paying for? What do I get?
Premium inclusion in StumbleUpon starts at 5 cents per targeted visitor. We show your site directly to StumbleUpon members (a demo is available here). Targeting by personal interest, history of rating similar sites, location, and demographics (age, gender) determines who will see your site. There is no ad impression or click-through. Rather than using intrusive forms of advertising (like popup ads), we display your entire page. Your page will be the only content displayed in the user's web-browser. Your site isn't wrapped inside a frame or presented as an ad within another page. You have the visitor's full attention.

How is this different from PPC, pops, banners...?
Paid keyword search is an excellent way to get targeted traffic. StumbleUpon opens up a new opportunity to reach targeted audiences. We recommend using StumbleUpon to complement keyword search campaigns. One advantage of StumbleUpon is the sense of discovery our members feel when they use the service. It's a different mindset than search. Rather than looking for something very specific, our members are in an open state of mind, eager to learn and experience.

Unlike pop-ups/unders and banners, StumbleUpon takes people directly your content (webpage, video, photo, blog...). What people see is not an ad - it is your full site, unobstructed by any other content. No new creative is required (you don't need to create a text ad), no clickthrough necessary, and you get immediately feedback (thumbs up or down) on your content from your visitors. This makes a StumbleUpon campaign one of the easiest ways to improve your traffic and get website feedback.

Why doesn't StumbleUpon do pops, banners...?
We feel that a lot of online advertising is obtrusive and takes away from the user experience. We wanted to create something that benefits both the advertiser and the visitor. Yes, you can acquire sales by displaying thousands of popups and annoying countless people in the process. The StumbleUpon experience is all about discovering new and interesting content, whether paid or organic. Either way, it has true value to the person visiting that content.

How does StumbleUpon prevent click-fraud?
StumbleUpon doesn't syndicate paid listings to third parties - the primary source of click-fraud in pay-per-click networks. We also don't have any mechanism by which someone can force your site to come up as a paid result, so a competitor can't drain your account.

Is StumbleUpon right for my business?
StumbleUpon is an effective way to reach a large, enthusiastic audience. People who use StumbleUpon are excited about the websites, photos, videos, and blogs that they discover here. They're eager to try new products and explore new services.

If you haven't experienced StumbleUpon for yourself, try or see a demo, or sign up.

StumbleUpon works best for businesses with something valuable to offer, presented in an informative or entertaining way. You can target a narrow group of people or seek exposure to a broad audience. As a new and unique marketing channel, StumbleUpon is becoming a valuable part of many business's promotional strategies. Get started today.

How can I target a specific audience?
In addition to StumbleUpon's built-in behavioural targeting, you can target campaigns by:

• Category - more than 500 to choose from.
• Location - country, state, city (US & Canada)
• Demographics - age, gender

What kind of traffic volume can I expect?
StumbleUpon delivers millions of "stumbles" per day. These are spread across a broad range of web-pages, videos, photos, podcasts, blogs.... The volume of visitors we can send to your site depends on two main factors: how many member we have who are interested in sites like yours, and how tightly you choose to target the campaign. For example, if you limit a campaign to a specific age group, you can expect less traffic than if you leave age unset.
In the future, we will offer the ability to predict traffic for each desired set of targeting criteria.

How can I increase how much traffic I get?
If you have targeted campaigns that you would like to receive more traffic, try these approaches:
1. Edit the campaign to loosen or remove age targeting
2. Loosen or remove location targeting
3. Remove gender targeting
4. Make a new campaign targeted to another relevant topic
For targeting by age, we only know the ages of a portion of our users. If age targeting is not vital, or if you want to target a broad age group, you may be able to reach substantially more users by removing that targeting. We have proportionally few members under 18 years and we don't allow people under 13 to sign up.

Can I set spending/traffic limits?
Yes. You can limit each campaign to a maximum number of visitors per day. You can also set a global maximum dollar spend per day. When a limit is met, no more traffic will be delivered until the following day (Pacific Standard Time). There is no minimum spend - you can spend as much of as little as you want.

What frequency caps does StumbleUpon use?
Each unique URL is displayed at most once to each member of StumbleUpon. The same member will never see the same URL twice. If you want to increase exposure, create a new campaign with a different URL. Providing a few different pages on the same theme is a great way to drive your message home. Try to make each page interesting of its own right, with some unique content, even if overall the pages are fairly similar. For example, if you have a DVD or book store, you could make different campaigns for each genre.

Can I promote multiple URLs?
Yes, you may promote as many different URLs as you wish. They many be on the same or different domains. To promote a new URL, you can create a new campaign.

Can I create multiple campaigns?
Yes, there is no limit to the number of campaigns you may have. You can use the same URL in multiple campaigns (but with different targeting parameters). Or you can use the same targeting criteria but with different URLs. Or any other combination.

How long does it for a new campaign to start?
New campaigns usually start receiving visitors within 24 hours.

How can I target multiple topics/demographics?
Choose the topic (category) that you feel is most suitable for the content you wish to promote. For each additional category or demographic group that you would like to target, create a new campaign. In the future we plan to allow multiple topics/demographics within a campaign.
The benefit of creating one campaign for each category is that you can compare the performance of each. Some categories will naturally produce better results than others. Focus more effort on those and perhaps discontinue those that aren't as successful to increase the effectiveness of your targeting.

How long does the review process take?
The review process usually takes one (1) business day. We do not review ads on the weekend or during observed U.S. holidays.

Are there any content restrictions for the URL's submitted?
Visit our Content Guidelines (http://www.stumbleupon.com/content_guidelines.html) to learn more about what content works well in the StumbleUpon community.

What forms of payment does StumbleUpon accept?
StumbleUpon uses PayPal for all payments. PayPal allows you to pay with a credit card, bank account or existing PayPal balance.
Follow the orange "AddFunds" link from your account once your campaign has been approved. This will prompt you to add funds with PayPal.

How long before my funds are active and traffic is delivered?
Please note that despite PayPal notification of a "complete" transaction, it may take up to five (5) business days for funds to become available in your StumbleUpon Advertising account. Once the funds are active you should expect traffic immediately. "

 

Click here to read more about StumbleUpon advertising

You can bet I am going to give it a try. Google AdWords and Yahoo's advertising have both left a bad taste in my mouth. StumbleUpon's features and fairness towards the advertisers gives me great hope that they will outshine other forms of Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising on the Internet.

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