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How to get on the first page of Digg in less than 4 weeks. 
Social media sites can provide great exposure and traffic. Since we released “Breaking the Digg Code” report, I was looking for ways to spread the word about it. One of the things I experimented with is running a StumbleUpon campaign that directs visitors to the report main landing page. The landing page offers subscribers the option to download the report if they subscribe to our RSS feed.
Traditionally, StumbleUpon campaigns and traffic do not have great conversion rates for pages where you have to subscribe to download a paper or a report. When we first ran the campaign, our conversion rate 5/66 = 7.5%.
However, with one tweak, we were able to increase conversion rate to 25/69 = 37.87%. That is a 405% increase in conversion rate. That increase in conversion rate remains consistent over the last 7 days.
Let’s take a look at the landing page pre-optimization:
You will notice on the pre-optimized page, we had our call to action box right below the header of the page. The page offered the following information
- Headline: Breaking the Digg Code: How I got on the first page of Digg in less than 4 weeks
- Sub Headline: A step by step instruction to get on the first page of Digg in 4 weeks or less!
- CTA: To get your free copy of “Breaking the Digg Code” Report, Subscribe to our RSS
That page converted 7.5% of its traffic to RSS subscribers.
Let’s take a look at the new page:
The only difference between the two page is that we removed the call to action box from the top of the page. Now, stumble upon visitors will see the first pages of the report first. As they scroll down and only after they are hocked, we present them with the call to action and offer them the chance to download the remaining portion of the report after they subscribe to our RSS. What is the result? Conversion rate increased from 7.5% to 37.87% as a result of that simple change.
These finding are aligned with what we know about writing for social media sites and StumbleUpon in particular.
Channel surfers from SU usually spend less than 5 seconds time on each page. You have to grab their attention with quality content. Only after they are engaged, you should present them with an offer or ask them to subscribe.
Over the next few days, I will be testing few more elements on the page to see if we can increase conversion rates to above the current 37.87%.
Is there anything in particular you would like to see tested with SU traffic?
. Keep up the good work.
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