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Dropping EntreCard
It seemed like a good idea didn’t it? Other bloggers would visit you to drop their cards while providing everyone who is part of the “system” a free source of traffic. But trying to figure out why blogs with 10, 20 or 30 RSS subscribers are demanding a price of hundreds of EC credits was beyond me. No wonder the widget is literally dropping off blogs. This one too.
This does not mean Entrecard will slow down, as long as ProBlogger is getting paid to have the widget on his sidebar, it won’t. As Graham points out on John Cow’s “drop” post -
But Entrecard is, without a doubt, most beneficial to small and medium size blogs who can really benefit from an extra 50 visitors per day, an extra couple comments here and there, 25 more rss subscribers, a boost in Alexa rank, and a free ad on Problogger for a day. It’s not for everyone.
Even if top bloggers decide to remove it, it will not slow down. Why? Because there are enough new recruits in the blogosphere to keep it running for some time to come. Inevitably free traffic exchange services are always doomed for the basement of the internet, including the “surf for credits and pennies” type.
BlogRush and Entrecard have been monumental examples for me while building my personal web product. It’s looking pretty sweet right now and works well too. It’s been quite some time in production and I’m glad that it didn’t get launched in the midst of all these other launches that we have seen in the past few months. But I need to get things rolling, more on that soon.
As for Entrecard, I have three more adverts to go before I completely take the widget off my blog. I will not be accepting any new adverts.
~ 11 Comments so far...have your say ~
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I Twit, You Follow
I don’t see why so many “big named bloggers” are hating on entrecard and ridiculing the service making it seem as if only newbies with with barely any authority in the “blogoshere” use it or need it.
Imo since you are going by RSS subscribers as a measuring stick. I don’t think 500 puts you in the league of Daren or John.
I use entrecard on two of my blogs and I see your point though about overpriced spots, but all you need to do is ignore those “over exuberant” and some might say abusers of the system. Like most things in this world entrecard is not perfect (but at least it’s not utter crap like blogrush) with a few tweaks and guidelines entrecard will continue be a godsend…for medium and small sized bloggers.
Carib Web Dev -
1. I never pointed myself out as a “big named blogger”.
2. It is the creator of Entrecard himself who says that his product is best suited for small and medium sized blogs. I have nothing against new bloggers, otherwise I would not start a challenge blog with Zach, who is 15 yrs old btw.
3. Just as with BlogRush this is also another fad, I tried it out and it didn’t do anything much for me. Probably because I have many other priorities than going around dropping cards on other blogs.
This is not meant to say that it won’t work or be the right thing for you.
thank you for your response, it’s good we could understand each other
As with any system there are going to be those few individuals who will figure out how to game it. The ones who have done this somehow figured out a way to collect 300 credits a day. That normally means dropping your card on 300 blogs or at least 150 and having those blogs drop on yours.
The model isn’t completely broken though. Even if your blog commands 300 credits to advertise you don’t get all 300 of those credits, you only get a fraction thereof which is explained on the site.
I’m keeping my widget because I think it offers a way for others who can’t afford to monetarily advertise and those that are advertising on my blog have taken the time to see if it’s a good match. I also don’t accept just every ad. I prefer those that are relevant to my own blog.
“I’m keeping my widget because I think it offers a way for others who can’t afford to monetarily advertise and those that are advertising on my blog have taken the time to see if it’s a good match.”
Exactly. And, thank you for helping us out.
do you think for smaller bloggers that scratchback would be a more better solution than entrecard? I hear it provides visitors, cost nothing and you can make some extra side cash from it
A boost in Alexa rank can always help. Some advertisers prefer Alexa over Google’s page ranks. In all there should be a weighted average or some type of formula to determine the value of your sites advertising.
Maybe Alexa + Page Rank + Technorati + visitor counts + ….
Yep, we hear you loud and clear. The new pricing structure and ranking is going into effect in a week or so as soon as we finish ironing out the kinks.
great news Graham…looking forward to the upcoming changes and tweaks ^_^
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The problem is that Entrecard has yet to hit the… shall we say… ’sweet spot’ of the internet.
Yes, bounce rates are horrendous. This is because (and I hate to say this in a karma system like Entrecard) we are seeing Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of the stuff in Entrecard is pure, unadulterated, CRAP. Widgets are grossly inflated because of all this back-pattery, and no good system for separating wheat from chaff has emerged yet - at least, not one I can see.
Strangely, Entrecard had about a 82% bounce rate with me on the first day, which sadly was an IMPROVEMENT over my usual suspects. I’m still picking up the Newbie Bonus, though, so we’ll see if it improves over the next week.