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Last week, on the Webcomics Weekly Podcast we touched a bit on Gary Tyrrell’s new idea about earning more from your Webcomic.

The post, entitled “I want my ten dollars,” posits that a Webcartoonist should focus on getting $10 from every one of their readers in 2008. Readers you get more than $10 from will cover the readers who pay less or nothing.

I’m not sure I entirely agree with Gary or his magic figure. $10 seems like an arbitrary number to pull out of the air. Why not $20? Why not spend my time trying to get $100,000 out of one very wealthily reader or corporation? And how would you even go about obtaining $10 per reader? $1 per reader would make me happy and seems more obtainable.

I still feel the key to increasing revenue from your Webcomic is by increasing the influx of new readers to your site. Readers cycle in and out of your work. It’s inevitable. Eventually, people’s tastes are going to outgrow your comic strip and they’ll read less or move on completely. It doesn’t mean you failed or did something wrong, it’s just how things work. The trick is to keep new readers coming in and discovering your work for the first time.

If only 10-20% of your hard core audience will spend money this year, it seems to me that the key to increasing revenue is by increasing the number of hard core readers you have. And that seems more obtainable than trying to ply a set figure out of existing hard-core readers.

This is something my friend Gary Arndt has been pushing me to do via social networking. My twitter feed has already been a nice boon to improving relations with my fans. Feed subscribers get sneak peeks at upcoming projects, insight into my daily activities, and a non-intrusive way to communicate with me. It’s been great, but it’s not bringing in new readers.

So Gary(Arndt) pointed me towards Stumbleupon.com. It’s a social internet-surfing site that I’ve heard other Webcomic authors talk about. Basically you sign up, make friends, give thumbs up to your favorite sites and blog posts and that helps other subscribers find cool stuff on the web. And it helps you promote the sites you like.

I signed up for Stumbleupon based on Gary’s recommendations and added convenient “stumble this” links to the blog. If you find a post or strip particularly amusing, give it a thumbs up. I’ll be watching the new reader stats closely and will report back on how effective SU has been. Over the last month, according to Google Analytics, my percentage of new readers has gone up from 10% to 12% without my actively seeking to raise it.

Can you guys think of other ways to increase readership? We’d love to hear your ideas over at the Webcomics Weekly forums. We’ll even discuss your ideas on an upcoming show.

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