How Does StumbleUpon Make Money?

People who are aware of this social media tool called StumbleUpon know that is drives money into many sites. It has the ability to generate money for your blog and e-commerce site or just send relative traffic to your site. Here are a few specifics:

• Generate rapid exposure — for a specific website, brand or concept.
• Establish a reader base — for your blog very quickly.
• Gain numerous backlinks — from StumbleUpon visitors with websites.

If StumbleUpon does all this for people, how do they actually make money?

StumbleUpon makes money by bringing advertisers’ web pages directly to the person. When you click ‘Stumble’, you are actually visiting a website that paid five cents to get you there. Now not all sites are sponsors, however enough are to bring StumbleUpon a profit.

StumbleUpon generates profits in two ways: Sponsors, and Sponsored Stumbles

1. Sponsor – In StumbleUpon, you have the option of donating a certain amount of money and you get a green icon instead of a blue one next to your name. Also, you can start groups and turn off sponsored stumbles.
2. Sponsored Stumbles –  Sometimes, a site that you’re taken to is there because an advertiser paid $.05 to bring you there. This site will generally be related to your interests, and you can’t tell the difference. About 2% of all Stumbles are sponsored.

So next time you’re using this great tool think about what you have done to keep the site going.