The Last Drop For Entrecard
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We’ve had the entrecard (EC) widget on our blog for a while now and never really actively participated in their booming community. If you’re familiar with their forums, you’ll know there’s a select group of EC power-users. They seem to wake up, and go to bed with nothing but EC on their mind. Their blog’s are filled with post after post on how to increase your EC traffic, how to optimize it for your blog, how to network with the community,Top droppers MeMes, etc etc. That’s all great, but we think some are getting a little carried away with it all, unknowingly destroying the system.
Here’s the thing: The whole purpose behind EC is to get noticed in the blogosphere because your 125×125 ad gets displayed on other blogs that have signed up with EC. Obviously if your card is featured on a huge blog like Problogger (who gets sponsored by EC) or JohnChow, you’re bound get get a nice bump in traffic for those 24 hours. Currently the cost for these two blogs is 330 and 260. So why on earth would someone waste over 400 credits to get featured on a blog that has 21 RSS subscribers? You wouldn’t if you have your head screwed on the right way!
We’re not saying your blog is bad or crap, we’re just saying there’s no justification for such a high price, having compared the stats with the other blogs. It’s like us starting to ask $900 for a review, while you can go and get one for half that amount on JohnChow.com. We’d set ourselves up the bomb!
Now this is where the problem lies. The EC powerusers are so keen on getting becoming popular within the ranks of the community, that they are working hard in chain dropping their cards on all EC blogs each day, just to accumulate more credits and inflating their own advertising prices. Emails keep getting send around, asking for drops, reccomendations and whatever else it is that will get you popular on the categories pages.
Its really not doing any good for anyone. The blogs that get their cards dropped on are experiencing an increase in bounce rates. The bloggers that stops dropping quickly vanish into thin air. The bloggers that keep dropping, is happily inflating their own advertising cost. And for what? Just to get featured in the top 3 on their respective categories?
Bouncerates through the roof.

Unfortunately the current system “Effort=Reward” has become unusable since it has been encouraging this form of ‘gaming the system’ and the end result causes a distorted view of how popular a blog really is on the outside world. If you think you’re paying 400 credits to get featured on a popular blog, therefor getting high exposure to the blogosphere and receiving a bump in traffic, think again. You’ve just wasted your hard earned credits on a blog that might look popular inside the EC community, but isn’t all that popular outside the community - where it matters if you’re looking for traffic.
The only way to stop this is to alter the script so it won’t add to your ‘popularity’ when you’re dropping cards. Getting more popular because cards are getting dropped on your blog is a natural and organic type of growth, which would be a more accurate reflection of the popularity of a blog in the place where it really matters - the blogosphere. Until the EC team can find a way to prevent blog inflation from happening, we’re dropping EC.
(PS We’re waiting for Becky’s ‘told you so!’ comment).
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OK i actually sat here and read all the comments posted and I can tell you its not for everyone. Entrecard can be great for small blogs but for blogs like Johncow, Shoemoney etc it just doesn’t make sense. Imagine the time and effort it takes to check in and review each advert for Shoemoney when he can easily be building another site like fighter.com . So don’t shit on bloggers that choose to remove something that doesn’t work for them on their OWN blog. Its not like hes telling you to drop it now is he? He’s just letting you know he is and giving you HIS reasons I’m sure everyone can make their own decisions right?. simple. So relax and go about chain dropping your cards. I’m sure that will be more effective than writing great content
I like some of the points you made and just recently posted on my blog some tips on how to make the most of your EntreCard credits that many of you might be interested.
http://www.chrisguthrie.net/make-the-most-of-your-entrecard-credits/
But yah, EntreCard please get rid of the effect dropping your card has on your advertising price.
What EC has become:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=655929
I can see both sides of this argument. I’ve seen benefits from using Entrecard, but mostly due to an increased Alexa rank. I realize that the improved rank is because of many ads I placed all over the blogosphere. I think some blogs are overpriced and underpriced in the world of Entrecard though. My best day in terms of traffic from an ad placement came from none other than Problogger, so it goes to show that the bigger the blog, the more hits you get.
To argue for Saphrym’s blog, his blog may be climbing in popularity, so getting in at 400 credits may be a good investment to some. As Graham said though, people should carefully consider the blog they advertise on with Entrecard, and consider if the credits are worth it.
But I also believe in using Entrecard for other aspects. I’ve seen the new shop, which offers some pretty interesting items for credits. People now can get hosting or blog designs without spending money or entering a contest. It’s all how you want to use it I guess. Nonetheless, it still has done more for most people’s blogs than Blogrush has
They should limit the amount of time. Like make there sytem to check how long the use has been on the site.
As all the Dip shits do is go to your blog click drop card and see ya.
That is the only reason you see n00b ass blogs advertising on top bloggers.
Well, we all start somewhere and get traffic as we can. Some copy the style and name of big A-list blogs to get fame and fortune and some drop Entrecards. Get over it.
This is very true…..to be honest, I’ve been saving up to get on the best blogs so that I can get more traffic…….that was something that I was already figuring out early on. They’re all good while they last right? Lol!
very intresseting but i can drop my entrecard ?

no !?
i ‘ll come later
is this really effective
Nice one JC , but I think that traffic is well worth to get exposed to other bloggers, I mean since I use this system I met so much more bloggers and talk to them and comment on their blogs like never before.
You are right about waisting the time.
EntreCard is growing quickly but I’m worried it will burn itself out unless Graham manages to monetize the traffic for bloggers. Its biggest hurdle is that the traffic generated is other bloggers trying to drop cards. This is the modern form of spamming.
In the sense that it generates traffic EntreCard works, no doubt there (at least initially). As far as being of value in terms of users and bloggers alike, I’m very skeptical.
Personally I’m a bigger fan of content linking. It brings better users increasing CTR as well as traffic. Remember 1% increase in CTR is worth hundreds of users. Link your blog with similar pages (the core of Arkayne) and you’ll get better page rank and CTR.
For The Curious: Arkayne.com
EntreCard’s a good idea, but the implementation lacks: the widget’s ugly.
…Off to some real feedback, I think they should explain what EntreCards really are (instead of leaving us with some 5-minute long video who nobody wants to watch to the end). Their website looks dull too, and as this post points out, there’s some major flaws in their concept.
Wow, looks like your alexa has freakin TANKED since you dropped Entrecard you freakin idiot
And his subscribers has grown by around 200….. not quite sure what you are trying to say Steve.. subscribers up…alexa down…. lets see the $$ report before we start throwing names around..Mr Steve who won’t leve a link to his site… maybe a blogspot eh…with 1 subscriber..hehehe
E card has its pros as well as it cons. All you have to do is identify that with your own blog and forget what others think or say. do your own homework with stuff , cause if you don’t then you definitely are in the wrong niche.
Come on Steve, come to the party …. let’s do a head to head comparison between johncow.com and gutlesssteve.blogspot.com on Alexa.
i just thought i’d give my 2 cents. I started my blog just over a week ago, and at the time I had only a few (3-4?) subscribers on my rss feed. After putting up entrecard i now have close to 40 subscribers in less than 2 weeks. So I think it has been more than worth it for me.
so far so good; as my 1 month old blog (also my first one) is almost cracking the top 100,000! I know it averages past 3 months but if you look at past weeks ave. then i am at 106,000 and the only network, group or whatever I use or ever used is entrecard and really not was to serious w/ it until 2 weeks ago.
I am already getting 250 uniques/day, have a technorati authority of over 240 giving that silly figured blog value of $136,000; I have over 50 subscribers and ready… just started to offer a lifetime membership to a site that is not yet launched at $100/pop and I am getting people to buy-in!!!!! take a look it is tallied using chip-in- i also am going to crack the 100,000 top site mark within 5 weeks of starting this blog and not paid one cent to advertise, no blogroll, etc… just entrecard! my rank on feed the bull for top stock sites is at 11th (for the first week that it has been listed) o yeah technorati rank 22,000, member of that site for a whole 2.5 weeks!! See what you guys think of the numbers?
http://www.platinumpicks.blogspot.com
~~ by the way… if interested , i am still offering a lifetime ad link on top of this blog along w/ a lifetime membership to my pay stock site $100 see my 90%+ accuracy!
Mr. Chow I know you are laughing at these numbers but I am knew to this and read your posts frequently, I am just letting others know the success that I have found so far using this system even though I am sure there are others that may be less effort, as of now this is working for me. Thankyou for letting this comment to be published on your site. Your returning reader,
NicksPicks - Platinumpicks.blogspot
by traffic rank above, i am sorry, I was referring to Alexa traffic ranks

one more thing, entrecard, as it seems like a pain, the window stays open as u move to the next, so the time visited should be longer than a sec or 2. right??
like i said its not for everyone.
Its kinda funny how Saphrym is exploiting his daughter to get more card drops. Her blog doesn’t accept adverts and yet it is always on the “Lowest Wait” section because of it. EntreCrap won’t stop it either. Poor management in my opinion.
@ apple pie recipe
Please DEFINE “exploitation”….
How dare you. A dad wants to share the fun he’s having at his online social network and you call that exploitation?
Saphrym happens to be a funny guy who parodies people’s quirks. THAT’s why he’s famous.
And to even call him as a child exploiter should reflect just how nauseating your world must be.
Big announcement coming in the next two weeks…
Entrecard is going to start making money for its members. Soon, all those chaindroppers will be making you REAL money. Not only will Entrecard continue to bring you steady traffic, boost your Alexa, your subscribers, and your comments, but it will make you MONEY.
Stay tuned… you won’t want to miss this!
Man..such a long comments post
EC is still a good way for a new blog to get some free traffic.
Steve
I’m glad i came acoss this! I thought i was the only one experiencing large amounts of bounce rates but it seems not. The only possible & seeable way forward i believe is creating a certain 10-30 second time delay before users can click the EC widget to another blog.
I have entre card and its more of a pain in the butt than anything else. I can’t justify all the time spent dropping cards. Its the equivalent of begging for change. The blogrush scam is just as bad. The ideas are great but they really do not drive traffic to blogs. I get more hits from one bulletin on myspace.
I think one of the benefits of EntreCard is to quickly find a bunch of other websites that are “traffic-minded” and are looking for ways to build traffic. I can quickly find some amazing tips to build traffic by reading fantastic posts and also network, and get credits for my own marketing purposes.
I’ve started using EntreCard over the past week or so and I’ve seen the nice bump. But after reading your post I’ve checked the bounce rate and your right, it is very very high. I’ll probably keep the widget up just for some of the technorati traffic but I’ll lay back on submitting in the future.
Perhaps the bloggers should set their own EC prices. This way, prices can’t be artificially inflated and people still can get free (non-money) advertising on blogs.
Also, for big blogs, putting up entrecard can hurt their advertising prices. If my EC is 100, but normal 125×125 spots are $85, I will stop making cash….
Just an idea, don’t know much about EC though.
I discovered what a joke etrecard was about an hour after installing it.So I decided to play the system in a MAJOR way - http://natespost.com/index.php/entrecard-scam-mongo-credits/
natespost’s last blog post..Entrecard Scam - Mongo Credits
Or.. you could get the top droppers widget for entrecard. Check out how to use the widget:
Last droppers widget
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Well, looks like I’m late to the party - as always.
Without actually offering much new to the discussion, I think we all have to admit to Entrecard is not for everyone. I have a love/hate relationship with it myself for many of the reasons listed above. However, at the end of the day I have found a number of great websites that I likely would not have without it and made a number of friends. It truly is its own little world in there and the key is to remember is that it is only a microcosm of a bigger one. I respect anyone’s decision to leave of course, but I do believe that having larger blogs participate would be beneficial to all parties. At the end of the day, the system indeed favours though who have a LOT of time to devote to it - the key here is not to care. If you can win friends and influence people by sacrificing a 125×125 square on your site. Well, the decision of course is an individual one … cheers!
Personally I like the system and think Entrecard works very well. Like anything and everything “marketing” online, there are many that ruin the experience (sometimes for everyone). I like to open several, give them all several minutes of “just sitting there” time, and then go one by one visiting each to see if there is something I’d like to add my two cents to… And I find maybe too many opps to do this…
For instance - you wonder if the system is blown and not worth the effort. Well just BECAUSE you wrote about Entrecard, I’ve been here at least 10 minutes or more reading your post and various and sundry comments left by others.
No one can make anyone do anything. If you don’t like the system, it’s your blog. However, we do like it and are meeting some really interesting bloggers using Entrecard
Diane Scott’s last blog post..A Strange Thing Happened on the Way to the Giveaway
EC is a great system if you recognize it for what it is. A Tool. Plain and simple.
If you use it with Alexa’s sparky or some other similar form of ranking before dropping mad credits you can get some amazing results. For example JohnChow’s EC is only 192 ec. WOW!
Warm geeky regards,
Karl “TheAdmiN” Gechlik
Karl L. Gechlik | AskTheAdmin.com’s last blog post..Dropbox Review
I absolutely agree,a lot of EC users have high credits bu low traffics,on the other hand i noticed that some EC user although they have low credits,but the traffics are constant because 1)Loyalty RSS readers 2)Quality content 3)High rank .They have low credits is just because of they are not active in EC not because of the crap contents or whatsoever.
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Now that’s a full blown discussion! I’ll use it for a minute, but like Cow, if at the end of the day it doesn’t add value to the blog I’ll find another traffic solution.
Dave from Welcome Back Rosenthal’s last blog post..Martin Luther King Jr. James Brown and Vh1?
Hi, what you said is absolutely correct. If entrecard is used in a good way then every one is going to get benifited. But on the other hand those who are more keen on dropping rather than reading content will get benifited coz while dropping if the banner is attractive then that site is going to get good visitors.
Anyway though using entrecard on our blogs , It is not mingled with our blog but it stands away and its work is only worth for entrecard users. My bouce rate has also increased and I knew it was because of this Entrecard.
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Will take a look at entrecard now….I have heard a lot about it but never really followed it up.
SEOBloggers.NET’s last blog post..Search Engine Optimization Tips for Google
I’m new into entrecard and i think it’s a nice way for newbies to get noticed (at least a little bit). The future will show ec’s value for me. Thank your for this controversial post and the discussion.
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You are a marketing genius john cow just like your namesake or almost name sake john chow.
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i think entrecard is a failed experiment for users .. with creators apparently earning a few dollars per day via project wonderful ..
PS: dont you think adbrite ads are killing your website??
you dont need them do you ?
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Even with the bounce rate, it gave you 455 users that did not bounce.
I would view that as positive.
Entrecard is only good for getting a hgher CPC in adsense..
I think I wont know is it good or not yet before I try it my own…
mxyzplks last blog post..Secrets of Selling…
Granted by this post Entrecard has changed the system (I love how you can maintain all websites from one login!), but I wanted to read down to get the general feel for “do you love it, like it, or hate it.” Personally, I enjoy using Entrecard, but I also do not just drop and run. I figure if I’m going to take the time to visit, I will do my best to find something to say somewhere - commenting is key.
Also, in reading this caught my eye: “And keep in mind that your homepage has five full posts on it. There isn’t much of a reason for 75% of the traffic to visit another page when they can read your five latest posts from the landing page, unless they’re searching for something specific or are interested in advertising.”
I do believe I will try decrease the number we have on our front page, it may be a tad high LOL!
Oh, and I came via Entrecard
Dianes last blog post..Why You Should Start A Blog or How to Increase Website Visitors Without Really Trying
I think Iam agree with Eerik ;”.. Entrecard is only good for getting a higher CPC in adsense..”. Most entrecard member visit other blog just for click drop button and go..
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Hi,
I think now the visitors of your blog will stay for few minutes not only post their views as comments but also reduce your bounce rate…
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I read about this on another blog and was curious so I did a search on entrecards and your blog came up. I am glad that you posted this but their blog contridicts what you said. Their post says that it helps any type of blog big or small and that it really works. I am going to give it a shot since my blog is a small one but I am only going to do it as a test run. Entrecards kind of sounds like a lot of work when you could be getting a bunch of traffic elsewhere for little work.
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There are so many things going on around the Entrecardosphere that I really will not wnt killing myself over. I really wish there was a way I could avaoid Entrecard. Maybe I will, when my blog gets bigger.
For now, there are only two things about EC that i really care about
1 - Drop as many cards as possible
2 - Spend credits wisely
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Well, you can always give that a shot and see if it works or not, there is nothing to lose.
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Wow this was from a long time ago, so I guess they changed their mind about Entrecard. For us it works great. Its dropped our RR but Alexa is a little slower, but every bit helps. But using it as a tool, mixed with getting ours (and our former customers) ranking high in Google, it serves its purpose.
A lot of times things don’t work. A lot of times people don’t know how to use a variety of tools. This could be a mix of both- a little.
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For a while, I was one of those sites which was in the top three in my category. But, I was not a money making site. About three weeks ago, I could not log into Entrecard from home. I could log in everywhere else but not from my home computer. I tried for several weeks for tech support to help me. Every suggestion they made was very simplistic and did not truly address the issue, so I have been effectively locked out of entrecard. I am still getting a decent amount of traffic from them, but it is slowly declining.
I have decided because of the technical support issues I will try and find something else to generate traffic. Also, it takes a lot of time and clicking to maintain an entrecard presence. I think if I can figure out how to use Digg, or a few other high end social sites, I might be able to get the same amount of traffic without the time investment.
I had problems before. I think they want to make money and often discriminate against sites that are not about making money. A lot of the site categories like photography, arts (there are a lot of etsy stores), web comics are not hugely focused on making a lot of cash.
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This a