Tumblr can be used as a blogging platform and/or as a social media outlet and it has the potential to take blogging to the next level. If you are wondering how popular Tumblr really is, let this statistic help you see how impactful it can be- 91.5 million Tumblr users have made 41.6 billion posts!
Tumblr is best used for sharing photos, videos, and short posts to enable quick scrolling. You create visual mini-blog posts on Tumblr to catch people’s eye, then they visit the whole blog post for the whole story. It is a lot like Twitter- just a teaser to interest you in the whole post. Tumblr is a great supplement to blogs. Like Facebook and Pinterest, it can promote and direct traffic to your core blog. Here’s how…
Tumblr is Easy To Use
A great thing about Tumblr is that it is quick and easy to use. You can post content from your Tumblr dashboard with the click of a button or add the Bookmarklet to post to Tumblr from any webpage. You can even install a Tumblr plug-in to share posts from your website on Tumblr automatically. Tumblr also gives you the ability to schedule posts in advance- which is a great feature.
Tips To Use Tumblr to Drive Traffic To Your Blog
1. Customize Your Tumblr
Use Tumblr’s Theme Garden to select from free or paid themes. Customize colors, content, HTML, and more
2. Connect Tumblr To Other Social Profiles
You can automatically publish posts on Twitter or Facebook. Easy to do and just creates more ways for people to find your blog.
3. Repackage Content
Use excerpts & photos from existing posts and link back to your blog.
4. Reblog Other Tumblr User’s Content
Posting and reblogging content between members is what Tumblr is all about. Consistent, quality posting & reblogging increases your blog exposure to new networks of readers.
5. Expand On Original Blog Posts
Explore & expand on topics you have touched on from your blog, but include more images and new information.
6. Fill In Tags
Make sure that you fill out the tags when you post so that others can find you when they search a topic.
7. Include a Tumblr entry option on your blog giveaways
8. Connect With Other Users
For some reason, people often want to skip this step but it is the most important step to really making the platform work for you. It is social media after all! You can make social connections by liking (hitting the heart button) and reposting content, following users, asking & replying to questions, and submitting posts on the blogs that allow you to do so. Try it- this is actually the fun part too! You can even search for your friends by connecting to Facebook which also makes it more fun and extends your blog exposure.
I hope you enjoy creating your blog profile on Tumblr and that you get social to get more readers!
Do you Tumble yet? What’s your favorite thing about Tumblr?
About Scarlet Paolicchi
Brian, I use it for one of my retail sites. I find so many things on there that are almost porn. I have not tried it for inspire and thought about it but not sure I could handle one more place to be. Though Tumbler is quick and easy as I’ve used it for the retail site. You are right about photos, they speak volumes on tumbler. And I researched one on Tumblr and some top notch blogs use it. How long have you been on it?
I have been on Tumblr since November and the traffic build starts slowly but comes along nicely. I know what you mean about trying to manage a lot of social platforms but as long as I am getting a traffic return, I try to devote a consistent amount of time each week. If you want to be Tumblr buddies, you can find me at http://www.tumblr.com/blog/familyfocusblog
Thanks Scarlet, My Tumbler is Fancy Lingerie Store. I may look for you – thanks! I think most social networks are like that – if you are consistant they will work well.
I agree with you, that Tumblr can play a important role for building blog traffic.Most of the bloggers run behind Facebook but believe me Tumblr is also bigger platform to get traffic to your blog and i’m the proof of it
Glad to hear Tumblr is working well for you!
Hi Brian; I’ve been using Tumblr for quite awhile now; just to share my blog posts and a few assorted other interesting items. What I like is that it’s set up to automatically share to Twitter as well. I didn’t think it was that popular though and haven’t been paying as much attention to it as I maybe should be. Thanks for this informative post.
According to Social Chimps, Tumblr got 45 million unique visitors in 2012 so that is a pretty good source of traffic to pull from! I also like that you can connect it to Twitter automatically!
I love Tumblr, too bad it hasn’t gone as mainstream as say, WordPress. I got a couple of Tumblr accounts and I gotta say, I’m loving the themes and the cool functionality that comes with it.
Interesting post, the biggest cost to using Tumblr will be the time you need to put into it. If you’ve got the time though, Tumblr makes it worth your while. The best part is, the service is free to use, and it hosts your blog for free.
You are absolutely right. The only investment is time if you can set a little aside consistently, it can pay off.
Hi,
I am using tumblr for a year and I would say that tumblr was great web 2.0 site that can guarantee impressive services. It was easy to used and having eye-catching themes.
Tank you
I have been on Tumblr since November and the traffic build starts slowly but comes along nicely
I wondered how I could use Tumblr to build traffic. I have posted my content from my blog to Tumblr but I had not considered to reblog content of others Tumblr users. Thanks.
Yes, reblogging content that compliments yours is as simple as hitting the reblog button on Tumblr! It is a great way to network with others- like retweeting!
There are great benefits of using Tumblr. SEO position improves rapidly over competitors not using it. The only disadvantage is the longer the posts you plan on making, the worse Tumblr performs. Good post, thanks for sharing.
Yes, I agree, Tumblr is great for short shares- with photos!
I’m not a fan of Tumblr, I think the service isn’t develoing in a way it should be and it may have a very sad future.
Can you redirect your blog, for example, blog.yourcompany.com or http://www.yourcompany.com/blog to Tumblr? Is it possible to configure your domain with Tumblr? If you have an example, pls let me know.
Tumblr has never claimed to be a service for full blogs. But then again, a good number of blogs donât need to be. If your site isnât or wouldnât be using the full horsepower of its blogging platform, you may save time & money using Tumblr instead.
Awesome post Scarlet an you’re doing a great job with the comments. You are welcome to guest post here anytime. 🙂
I do have a Tumblr Blog, My Stock Photos, and I do see some traffic in my analytics from there.
I’m always behind when it comes to updating it but when I create an image for a post, I keep a larger copy with better resolution in a separate folder just for my Tumblr blog. Once I upload the image, I include a permission statement allowing other bloggers to use the image in exchange for a clickable, do-follow link. That’s why I call it My Stock Photos. 🙂
Thanks! I followed you on Tumblr! I love new Tumblr buddies! That is a great idea to make it clear they can use the photos for free and give you a back link- helps you both!
I think it’s a great idea. I’ve seen some big brands repackage their blog content on Tumblr as a strategy, but haven’t seen as many smaller guys implement this strategy. I assume it will work almost as well though.
I’m not using Tumblr. I’ve to start using it from now to build blog traffic!
Yep, I am seeing Tumblr links come up so often on my Facebook timeline. It’s definitely something I need to look into using for my blogs. It seems you can set up a topical Tumblr page and have thousands of hits in a day.
I’m not really a fan of Tumblr but a lot of my friends in real life and over social media sites are really into it. I think I’m going to start and create a profile in Tumblr to start re-blogging and do other stuff. Thanks for these info you have shared.
Thank you for the great post! I am looking of new ways to improve my networking impact and I have to admit I did not show much attention to Tumblr, focusing more on FB or Twitter- but your article makes me reconsider it and I ll give it a try following your advice!
There are great benefits of using Tumblr. SEO position improves rapidly over competitors not using it. Thank you for the great post! I am looking of new ways to improve my networking impact.
Thank you for the post!
Im a newbie tech blogger and i’ve tried quora and hubpages for posting about my blog. Thanks to your post now i will definitely try out tumblr 🙂
There are huge no. of benefits using Tumblr, you have provided some really good tips, I think Getting started on Tumblr is easy, and itâs fairly simple to maintain, especially when compared to a blogging site like WordPress or BlogSpot.
I did not know that Tunblr is so famous when it comes to building blog traffic. Now that I know it is very popular and how to use it efficiently, I can easily make use of it to build and increase traffic on my blog. All thanks to you.
I am using Tumblr from quite some time and i have seen the difference. It has helped me a lot in promoting my website which is relatively very new. Thanks for sharing this article.
The best part is that it allows you to schedule posts. Instead of relying on third-party posting & it gives you the option to publish immediately or at a later time. Good post, thanks for sharing.
I love Tumblr! It’s really an interactive social media site that caters to all ages. I believe all companies should invest their time in creating a Tumblr site to market their products.
Oh, I have used Tumblr before to see some nice pictures.
If there is a way to get traffic from it, then don’t hesitate to invest some of your time into it!
Tumblr is one of my favorite sites, you’re well informed just like in twitter, you get to post photos like Facebook and best of all you get to laugh your heart out at hilalrious posts.
Actually any social networking site can provide us with traffic. The key is knowing which site caters to what age and gender. It’s important to know which works for our target audience.
That’s an excellent point Sandra. Very true. Of course, some have more traffic than others so are likely to send more traffic as well.
I find tumblr to be suited for the teens and younger adults. I guess it really depends on what you’re marketing. At the end of the day the age group will definitely define the proper social media platform.