Jan
24
Just over a month ago, I recorded my disappointment with Blogrush. Lots of people shared my view, and some of them recommended a new traffic building site, Entrecard. I didnt wait and signed up the same day, posting a review on another site after only three days of use. Now that I’ve been using it for longer and the honeymoon is over, it’s time for a possibly more balanced review.
An Internet Business Card
Entrecard says it’s an internet business card. When you sign up, you create a 125×125 ad for your site or blog. (Whatever you do, don’t use the default ones, because they are NOT pretty!) Just as you do when you visit an office, you can leave your card at other sites thanks to a handy Entrecard widget. There are several versions of this widget depending on how much sidebar space you want to give up.
Racking Up Credits
Dropping the card on other sites gains you Entrecard credits, which you can use to buy display space on their widgets for 24 hours. You also gain Entrecard credits when people drop cards on your site, or when they buy ads from you. The cost of the ad space reflects the number of cards dropped on your site in the last five days, multiplied by two. Entrecard credits can also be used to buy other blog related products and services through the shop.
Site Features
The dashboard is the hub of your Entrecard operation. The main page shows recent card droppers on your site, ads you have bought and sold, and statistics about ad views, card drops and more. You can see more detail on these on the statistics tab.
There’s also a campaign tab, which is where you can find blogs listed by category, blogs with low wait times for advertising, popular blogs for advertising and more. To advertise, just click on the advertise tab and then click again to confirm the sale. Ad money is debited from your account immediately. When an ad is bought on your widget, you get the money after the ad has been displayed.
Using Entrecard
Entrecard is simple to use and seems to do exactly what it promises. The time consuming part is dropping cards, because if you go through the dashboard it’s a two step process. First you find the Entrecard entry, then you click on the URL of the blog. Then there’s a third click for the card drop.
However, you can speed up this process. One method I have used is to create a bookmark group labelled Entrecard which includes most of the Entrecard enabled sites I visit. That takes one click away. There’s also a site called Sitehoppin, which loads Entrecard enabled sites within a frame, once you select the right tag. This site attracted a lot of negative comments from Entrecard forum posters, but you may find it useful.
Niggles
The only problem I have had with Entrecard is that sometimes its automatic widget scanner thinks my widget is gone. That means that people can’t advertise on my blog. Usually, that problem is solved quickly, but sometimes it takes a couple of hours.
The Big Question: Traffic Building
What everyone wants to know is whether Entrecard really delivers site traffic. In my experience, it does. In the last 10 days of December, I got 490 new visitors. I’ve had even more so far this month. Some of those surfed by and never came back, but at least a few of them became new readers and subscribers, which is good news for me.
Entrecard is also good for indirect traffic building. I have discovered a lot of new blogs in my niche, and my comments on those blogs have brought new visitors and readers to my blog.
Tips
Entrecard is visual, so if you have a good card, people will stop and look. It’s worth spending a moment to get the right design for your card. Also, the higher you place your widget, the more drops and ads you are likely to receive.
Drop and you will be dropped on. The more you drop, the more drops you receive. The more drops you receive, the more you get for ads on your widget. The more credits you have, the more ads you can buy on popular blogs and the more visibility you can gain for your own.
Participate in the forums, leave recommendations for blogs you like and take a moment to send messages to some of the bloggers you’ve met. A small networking effort will make your Entrecard experience even richer.
So that’s my story and those are my tips. I know there are a lot of Entrecard users here, so what tips can you share and how have you found Entrecard?
Entrecard is good way to get your brand out there in front of bloggers. Even if they are dropping their card and running, if your site is well branded they will remember your logo, site design or colors.
I also agree that if your card looks good they may be more inclined to look around your site.
I have subscribed to a few good blogs through Entrecard.
I have gained a couple of readers through Entrecard as well.
I’ve found Entrecard really useful, Debby, especially in my niche. I’ve also been able to discover which blogs send traffic to me, which is something to keep in mind if I ever want to pay for advertising.
Sharon,
Thank you so much for this information! I’ve been hearing a lot about Entrecard lately, but I never really knew what they were all about. Your post gave me a better understanding of Entrecard. I’ll have to check them out and read more on their site, but I just may give them a try.
I love trying new things out, Misti, and so far Entrecard looks good. Sometimes I play a sort of Entrecard surfing game, where I drop a card and click on the ad to visit a new blog. It’s fun to see how many blogs I can visit before I get back to the first one.
“Sometimes I play a sort of Entrecard surfing game, where I drop a card and click on the ad to visit a new blog.”
That sounds as if it would be a lot of fun, Sharon.
It certainly is, Misti
Sharon,
“I’ve also been able to discover which blogs send traffic to me, which is something to keep in mind if I ever want to pay for advertising.”
I haven’t thought about that before. That is an excellent point that would make a good topic for a post.
~Debby
Was that a hint,, Debby?
Entrecard worked very well for me too.
I was able to discover several blogs which belonged to the same niche that my blog was and in few days time, have become online buddies with them.
I received a substantial increase in the amount of traffic from Entrecard which is always good.
And finally, my feed subscribers increased.
Congratulations to Entrecard! Soon this will be a must-have for new bloggers.
Yes, I’m starting to make some new online buddies through the site, too.
entre is a good system that needs a few improvements to make it a great system
I guess every new system has teething troubles, but they’ve added a couple of new features since I wrote this. You can now add your favourite blogs, and can also locate bloggers near you.
I have yet to try Entrecard but I hear there is really nothing special about it!
Darin
you need to try it for yourself Darin and make your own judgment
Thanks for this post, Sharon! I had heard about Entrecard too, but thought it was just another passing fad. It’s hard to keep up these days. You laid it out in real plain and simple language, so even a skeptic like me said, “I’ve got to give this a try!”
My only question now is how in the world do I design my own card? Maybe if I figure it out I can write a post about how I did it.
Theda K.
EntreCard is good but the only problem I have is that most people who come to my blog from EntreCard.com just come to drop cards, not to see my blog…
It’s true that there are lots who drop and run, but I’ve found that there are some blogs that make me stop and read. If the content is good, then I hang around for a while, and may even subscribe.
i am new in entrecard i dont know xactly how it works..
please help me how to get the image of 125×125 free photo to attach in my blog. pls give me some credible site..
if you have time please visit my blog @ http://mindbogblog.blogspot.com/
i categorized my blog as men’s interest, its base on my views, opinions and observations.. please help and view my site..
tnx.
entrecard is a sham that won’t last through the summer. creates NO viable traffic. think about it….what industry has ever made a go of it that is based on ficticious credits rather than money. This sin’t a shameless plug here…because describing how I scammed entrecard would take much more space than this form would allow - http://natespost.com/index.php/entrecard-scam-mongo-credits/
Entrecard is good for building traffic. but what i realized that most of them just come to drop and to advertise. they just come..drop..and run
other thing is that i am getting so many mail which is not related to my blog’s niche. so it’s very frustrating for me to decline those cards.
No doubt that Entrecard increases traffics but most of the Entrecard will drop and run ,it definitely increases bounce rate of our blog.Well to reduce /solve Entrecard’s high bounce rate,i suggest that we should organize a simple survey among your website droppers through sending message to them such as “What kind of info you want to find out””What type of topic is the most attract you to read” and so on,so this will save our time to research what type of topics we should post.Secondly,we can build up rapport with other bloggers by exchanging ideas and link or even advertise on their website-This will build up a strong relationship between you and the droppers.It will reduce bounce rate ultimately.
[...] wasn’t always a cynic. I tried widgets and enthused about Blogrush, Entrecard and others. However, I didn’t find that they worked well for me so I have decided not to put [...]