Thursday, September 17, 2009

Advertising Your Blog with Entrecard - The Experiment

If you follow this blog, you know that I like to experiment before I have an opinion of a source. You can check out IndieCEO's experiment with ProjectWonderful advertising to see what I mean. I have been eyeing Entrecard and thought I would give it a good try.

Entrecard is touted as "The Ultimate Networking Tool for Bloggers." It is a way to advertise your blog to gain readers and boost traffic by adding an Entrecard box to your own blog. You can see IndieCEO's Entrecard box to the right of this post. That is where people will "drop" their cards or have their requested/approved advertising show.

Entrecard is like its own little country because it has its own economy system! No cash payments are needed.

You simply earn credits by dropping your card on other blogs. By purchasing advertising with those credits, you can select the blogs where you want your ad to show. There are other opportunities to gain credits listed on the site that you might explore. I was able to earn enough credits when I first signed up to actually advertise on others' blogs right then and there.

There is a system to receive advertising on your own blog. You can either approve each one or choose to have an automatic approval. I prefer to approve each one because the content and look of ads on my blogs are very important to my brand.

Here are the Pros and Cons of Entrecard that I have found:

Pro
  • Free advertising that costs no money - just time and thought.
  • Fun - there are a variety of categories for artists and crafters to surf through - I have found such interesting blogs
  • Networking - I have begun to see favorites and tend to comment there and receive comments back
  • A way to gain readers
  • A way to boost traffic
  • A way to gain followers to your blog
  • A way to have your blog promos seen, like your shop minis, twitter link, those kinds of things
Con
  • Most traffic is just that - traffic - and not specifically readers
  • Many will "hit and run" by going to your blog, dropping a card to get credits, and zoom out of the blog
  • It takes time - whether little or a lot is up to you
  • You must participate consistently to gain benefit by spending a little time each day to drop your card
Here is my summary of Entrecard:
I do like it, given my expectations. I don't expect tons of readers and commenters. I don't mind the ones who "hit and run" because it boosts traffic numbers. I also have ProjectWonderful ads on my blogs and the increased traffic boosts the bids on the ad boxes.

Those that linger to read and comment are the jewels of the process. You can gain a great networking group long term if you stick with Entrecard and participate. It may take a while but that is what I am going for while I am building traffic. I have also added to my blog "followers" through this method.

If you want to try it, click here for Entrecard!

10 comments:

  1. Very informative for those just starting out. I've been with EC for a couple of months and I love it. I'm not concerned with my blog rating I was just looking for more exposure. It didn't take long for my blog to make the top 100 and I've come in contact with some great people. I gained about 75 followers since I started and my comments have gone from next to nothing to quite a few on EVERY post. It's been great for me and my humble little blog :)

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  2. Wow, that is a great testimony for Entrecard. I too like it. I have heard negative comments regarding the "hit and run" droppers but frankly, those don't bother me. Your comments are encouraging!

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  3. About 95% of my Entrecard visitors drop and run, but for me it's worth it for the 5% who don't :-)

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  4. Hi John, that is how I look at it. Online advertising is not easy with anything. Thanks for your perspective.

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  5. I've been using EC for over a year and I know that it has gained my blog readership. I use to worry about the hit and run...but I don't anymore. There are some blogs that I hit and run as well...since they aren't of interest to me. But I have also found some great blog friends with EC. It has had several different morphs and each one while difficult to adjust to has seemed to make it a little better each and every time.

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  6. Some days I drop and run, other days I just hop from blog to blog. Seeing other creative projects is fun and inspiring.

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  7. I totally agree with Deronda. I have made some good blog friends with some very creative folks with it also. Your pros are pretty much why I have stuck with it with all of their ups and downs the past year in service.

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  8. I am really new with it and love it so far!
    Dropping in to say hello!
    Great blog I am following:)
    http://boutiquestitches.blogspot.com/

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  9. Wow, that's a really amazing blog post and explanation about EntreCard! Congratulation that you like it so much like me :)

    I also gained more than 70 followers with my main blog since May 2009.

    I saw you just added today Adgitize with this program i also could add up on followers (in case you like to spend 14$ for the advertisement, which is more than worth spending!) or if you click the 100 blogs each day, you can opt for the Preferred Publisher Program and get up to 20 visitors for free to your blog. I would recommend this for everyone (clicking daily 100 and signing up for the free option as Preferred Publisher - Manage Blogs - Add to Preferred Publisher) seems like you fulfill already the requirements as you put one ad at the top of the page (just make a little remark below the Adgitize-Ad that you have an EntreCard in the middle of the page, so the existing EC-members will drop on it and this will increase your popularity and your ad price!)

    More information how to earn more money with Adgitize?

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  10. cornyman - interesting! Thank you for the information. I am very new to all of this and am testing the waters. I will check out what you posted.

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