Many of you may not know, but I am very heavily into Web Analytics and SEO, both for my personal blog and my company. I have tested many social networking sites to see what sites provide the most referral traffic.

Test Process:

Submit a minimum of one new blog entry daily. Have at least 5 people vote and comment about your blog in each social web site. Submit your blog to forums that promote social networking. Run your test for 30 days. Use Google Analytics to track your progress.

Tips for StumbleUpon requests:

If you’re requesting a Stumble and Review make sure that the person who is stumbling has at least 50 friends or fans. The more friends and fans a person has the better the traffic your site will receive. Make sure you provide the tags you want used. Also provide what category you want your blog post placed in. Make sure your stumblers indicate it’s not Adult related, if this applies. Creative and controversial comments capture more attention.

TechJaws writes and submits 2 to 3 blogs daily. It takes one minute to submit to each social network.

2 blogs per day x 4 socials = 8 Minutes per day or 240 minutes per Month. By reducing the amount of social networks to two, I have now saved 120 minutes per Month or 2 hours. Time is money!

The Best Referral Traffic: (30 days: Aug 8 – Sept 7)

Source/Medium Visits Pages/Visit 1. stumbleupon.com / referral

39,553 1.84 2. reddit.com / referral 4,479 1.05 3. (direct) / (none) 3,406 1.36 4. google / organic 2,486 1.27 5. entrecard.com / referral 737 1.60 6. yahoo / organic 320 1.70 7. digg.com / referral 246 1.24 8. buzz.yahoo.com / referral 164 1.40 9. propeller.com / referral 107 1.21 10. firestormforum.com / referral 105 1.32

I hope this saves you time by knowing what social networks really drive referral traffic.