My thoughts on…Entrecard
I intended to post this over the weekend, but my connection was on the fritz again. Flow is really starting to piss me off. Anyway, back to the post at hand.
I originally heard about Entrecard from Jamaipanese. I was hesitant to join as I was around during the age of the blog exchange, and I know the pain of investing your precious time and effort into earning credits only to have the site shut down or be left with no one to spend them on, worse after the failure of BlogRush. But after some convincing, I tried it, and my only regret is that I didn’t join sooner. If you don’t know what Entrecard is, it is a business card for bloggers. You gain credits by swapping Entrecards with fellow Entrecarders. They gain credits as well when you drop your Entrecard on their blog. This creates an interesting way to earn credits, as you can reward your favourite blogs, and is a lot harder than simply staring at the screen for 30 seconds and clicking some random number.
Despite what the naysayers have to say, Entrecard traffic isn’t completely worthless. I’ve seen an increase in my Adsense clicks, comments and most importantly, my RSS subscriptions. Before Entrecard, my RSS subscriptions were approaching 30. Now they’re approaching 50. I also like the way you can use credits. Sure you can use them for the usual ads, but you can also use them to buy anything from comments to blog hosting. I’ve also found some great blogs that now make part of my daily routine, and old favourites such as ProBlogger. And thanks to Entrecard, I can advertise on them now, though I haven’t been lucky enough to get a spot on the big blogs. I also realized, interestingly enough, that BlogExplosion activated my blog soon after Entrecard came on the scene, after over five months of waiting. Feeling competition anyone?
My only complaint is the calculation of a blog’s ad spot price. If you miss a day or two of card dropping due to work or whatever, the value of your blog plummets, and it’s hard to catch up. I normally at least read to content of the blog’s I visit, unless they contain the magic words “make money online”. (The majority of them anyway.) But when I have to regain lost ground, I have to drop cards like a madman without any regard for content. And I really don’t like that. Will Entrecard keep up this momentum? I dunno. BlogMad was something back when I came out. And people have already begun to game the system. But for now, I’m gonna milk Entrecard for all it’s worth.
Doesn’t sound bad, I too read about it from Jamaipanese. I would welcome increased traffic and of course increase clicks on my Adsense, but the whole card dropping thing wouldn’t work out for me and my schedule.
Stunner’s last blog post..Hectic Weekend at River Bottom
Sounds like a useful innovation.
I’m glad you finally took the entrecard plunge and then eventually liked it.
I usually keep the cost for advertising on my site at around 80-120 credits and that takes very little effort once your blog gets into the system and becomes popular.
Jamaipanese’s last blog post..FIFA 2008, a very addictive football video game
bleh.. seen it on jamaipanese’s blog as well. thought about it.. and said.. maybe not… cause honestly its just another thingy that’ll break down eventually.. ..
Maybe if i have time this evening i look around at the site… and see if i can sell it to my inner pessimist
taylor2nd’s last blog post..David Hasslehoff… has a music video… Why was this made possible?
Interesting.
I am still awaiting the day that blog visits are linked to me earning travel points….how cool would that be…
Cranky Putz’s last blog post..David Hasslehoff… has a music video… Why was this made possible?
Yeah, I ‘m not totally down on entrecard, though it hasn’t been an amazing boon. Stumbleupon still drives way more traffic my way. But I have noticed a nice bump in subscriptions as well as some new folks popping in and commenting. So at the very least, entrecard’s helping to build my community feel.
And speaking of that… you have officially been tagged, Leon.
Andrew’s last blog post..7 Weird Facts About Andrew of MyBlogRules
I love Entrecard and it has become my new addiction because it is just like surfing through Blogsoldiers or Blogmad which are pretty much nonexistent for traffic. Glad you like it too
Advertising buttloads also helps keep your price up because you get hit by all of the chain-droppers.
Jason - GorillaSushi’s last blog post..Snowing Is Half The Battle
oh the things they come up with