Hearth and Soul Hop and StumbleUpon for My Foodie Friends

Each week I tell you that you can find the Hearth and Soul Hosts sharing links to entries on the Hearth and Soul  Facebook Page, the Hearth and Soul Pinterest Boards, and on Twitter @HearthNSoulHop. We enjoy your entries and sharing the delicious and wholesome recipes that you link up. Last week, I spent some time experimenting with StumbleUpon to see if I could drive a little more traffic to your posts. I shared some posts from the last two hops and was pleasantly surprised with the results. However, there were a few posts that I stumbled that didn’t receive the traffic that I felt they deserved. I started ananlyzing why and I thought I would share my very unscientific observations with you.

StumbleUpon for My Foodie Friends:

I am not going to explain how to begin stumbling. When you sign up you can watch a short video explaining how it works. I am just going to explain things that may influence your page views and “likes”. If your stumbled post doesn’t receive very many views and likes, StumbleUpon will remove it from the rotation, which is what we want to avoid.

Title is very important. Have a descriptive title and get to the point. If you are sharing a recipe and linking it up to a foodie carnival or hop do not use the carnival’s name in your title unless you are a host. Don’t use: “Tasty Tuesday: Caramel Apple Pie” as your title, instead use your URL to advertise your recipe and simply write “Caramel Apple Pie”. You risk losing people’s interest before they have even finished reading your title, if they have to read several words before you get to the point.

WordPress bloggers have a slight advantage because our title tag automatically puts our post name first and blog name second. So if someone stumbles my post (or Tweets it) it looks like this:

Homemade Chai Tea | Premeditated Leftovers

However, when I was with blogger if somebody stumbled or tweeted my post it looked like this:

Premeditated Leftovers: Homemade Chai Tea

It may seem like a small thing, but when people are racing through stumbles and tweets it does help to hook them early with a catchy post title. However, if you are on blogger  you can follow these directions to change your Blogger Title Tags.

Include a good picture at the top of your post. Stumblers have a short attention span, they will make a split second decision as to whether they are going to stay and read or pass. If the first thing they encounter is several paragraphs that don’t directly relate to the recipe they have been promised by your title, they may just pass on to the next post.

Lead with a picture of the finished product, then add text and pictures of the process. One of my former editors was always apologizing for leading with the conclusion rather than building the story, she blamed it on spending too much time in the newspaper business. She said newspapers tell a story backwards; they lead with the ending and then fill in the details.  You will hook more readers with a picture of the finished product than you will by making them scroll all the way to the bottom of your post to see what you actually prepared.

On a related note, a short header (the header is where your blog title is) on your blog allows stumblers to see your post title and lead picture without having to scroll down. And having a fast loading time means that the stumbler does not have to sit around waiting for your post to load. Make them wait too long and they will move on to the next site.

The more you share, the more views you will receive. And when I say share, I don’t mean your posts, I mean Stumble other bloggers’ posts. Rule of thumb out of every 10 posts that you Stumble, only 1 should be from your blog. If you are only stumbling your posts, you will not receive many views.

When you stumble a post make sure you put appropriate tags. If it is a recipe use: food/cooking and then you can add other appropriate tags like gardening, Thanksgiving, etc. If you stumble a post and discover  it has incorrect tags, click edit and add the appropriate tags.

Hearth and Soul Hop

~ Please link a post that closely fits into the mission. If you are new, read the Hearth and Soul Hop mission statement which includes the rules for linking up. As always, if you have any questions please email me at aleasleftovers(at)sbcglobal(dot)net.

1. FrankenSmores Pops	2. Hummus (oil free) GF	3. Alfajores	4. EASY BAKED CHICKEN NUGGETS (EGG & DF w GF OPT)
5. Squash & apple curry	6. DIY PLASTIC WRAP SUBSTITUTE!	7. Squash & apple curry	8. Chocolate Dipped Apricot Acorns
9. Pumpkin Bread w/ Apple Cider Glaze	10. Oatmeal Raspberry Bars	11. Whats For Dinner Next Week	12. Fajita Burgers
13. Slow Cooked Sticky Chicken	14. Super easy meatballs	15. Hamburger Stroganoff	16. Lentil Chili
17. Pumpkin Pie	18. Chocolate Dream Bar	19. Drunk Turkey 101	20. Apple Pie w/ Gluten-Free Crust, allergy-friendly
21. NM Chile & A Giveaway!	22. Moroccan-spiced Chicken Thighs	23. Making Dilly Beans	24. Carmel Glazed Apple Cake
25. Chunky Bleu Cheese Salad Dressing	26. Sweet Potato Bread w/ Praline Butter	27. Pumpkin Ice Cream Pie with Crispy Cocoa Crust	28. Cheddar Potato Soup
29. Bread by Machine & by hand: my favorites	30. Losing Creek Farm – Brats with Fried Apples GF	31. Tangy Zaatar Spice Mix	32. Banana Nut Bread Supreme
33. Sausage and Spinach Quiche	34. Giant Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies	35. Monday Night Football Chili	36. Matzah Balls
37. Vegan, Gluten and Soy Free Garlic Chive Cornbread	38. My Life With Flyball Dogs	39. Choco Peanut Butter Brownies	40. Vegan GF Banana Roll Ups
41. Tagliatelle with Autumn Vegetables Bacon and Cream	42. Delicious Roasted Cauliflower Leaves	43. Apple Cider Muffins	44. Tempeh Chickpea Burger. Vegan, glutenfree
45. Apple Grunt	46. Pumpkin bread and more!	47. Bitter Melon Egg Drop Soup	48. Glazed and Spicy Crockpot Carrots
49. Aloo Tikkis	50. Chocolate Chips Fudge Brownies	51. Quinoa Profile with Recipe Ideas	52. Review: Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer
53. Everyday Whole wheat sandwich bread	54. Making Apple Butter	55. Homemade Creamed Corn	56. Stuffed Poached Pears