i’ve been using stumbleupon for a while now and am especially fond of photo-stumbles. whether they are from flickr or from professional photography sites/portfolios, whenever i find something i like, i photo-blog it.

for those unfamiliar with the concept, photo-blogging is an option in the stumbleupon toolbar’s contextual menu that allows users to post a photo into their stumbleupon blog. in this way, not only do you give the photo a thumbs up but you also give it more exposure through your stumbleblog. however, i’ve noticed that most photographers aren’t optimizing their sites for stumbleupon traffic. for those photographers, here is some advice (note: this also applies to stumblers submitting photos).

1. bypass the gateway: social media users are interested in getting right to the content. don’t stumble your portfolio’s gateway (the page with the ‘enter’ link on it), rather get right to the content. this way they can decide whether they like your content or not and get on with it (rather than having to click through to get to it).

2. don’t use flash: sure flash makes your portoflio look very snazzy but it also prevents stumblers from photo-blogging it and as a result you lose some exposure.

3. embrace the right-click: this is somewhat related to number 2. many photography sites prevent users from right-clicking on the sites (probably to prevent people from stealing the pictures). but as a result of this, your pictures can’t be photo-blogged.

4. know your limits: photo-blogging has its limits. any photo that is either larger than 250kb or wider than 715 pixels will not be accepted by the system. it’s a good idea to display an optimized version upfront with an option of clicking-to-enlarge.

but this is just the beginning. check out doshdosh’s guide to building traffic through photo-stumbles.

Technorati Tags: stumbleupon, photo-blogging, photo-stumbles, photography, optimization, traffic