Marketing on the Cheap
Over the past month I’ve been using Entrecard like never before. I must admit that I turned sour on the whole “drop card” thing many months ago, but I still kept my account open even though I wasn’t accepting new drops. With my first go around I wasn’t terribly 
impressed with this form of advertising, thus my shelving of the project.
Sometime in early November I decided to take a fresh look at Entrecard, deciding to give this free advertising method another chance. Not really for the same reason that other bloggers have been using Entrecard, rather as a way to network.
I’m very active with social media (StumbleUpon, Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo Buzz!, etc.), but with Entrecard I’m glad that droppers actually visit my blogs with some leaving comments, connecting with me privately, etc.
By no means do I consider myself to be a “pro dropper” though I freely admit that there are many days that I am dropping my cards hundreds of times per day. I’m the type of person who gets completely into something when I decide to do it, hence my new found enthusiasm.
To that end, the following are some of the steps I’ve taken to improve my Entrecard experience:
Choose Your Blogs Carefully — At the moment, I am actively managing six blogs, all of which are updated regularly — four daily, the remaining two at least weekly. I closed down one of my blogs months ago, but allowed people to keep dropping on it. However, I thought that this wasn’t being fair to advertisers (as very few people actually visit the blog) so I ditched the site and replaced it with another one which hadn’t been registered previously. Right now I have four blogs registered with Entrecard and they’re linked.
Drop Early, Drop Often — I like to pull up my “drops inbox” to see who has been dropping on me and return the favor when I can. I have also been experimenting with various Entrecard drop lists, but most of them get pretty old quickly. I did take one list and changed it around somewhat by removing defunct blogs and adding my own and some others. However, don’t believe the claims that you can drop 300 cards in as little as five minutes — that doesn’t work!
Advertise Freely — Accumulating points is one thing, but spending them is entirely much better. I’ve learned that you can generate a lot of goodwill by advertising on other people’s sites — many folks are appreciative and will reciprocate. I accept a lot more sites than I have done in the past, but they still need to be relevant and I reject certain sites when they inappropriate.
I’ll be taking a break from dropping for several days around Christmas and again around the first of the year. Generally, I do the bulk of my dropping on weekdays with a limited amount over the weekend, particularly on Saturday mornings. I can see how this whole thing can be addictive so I want to keep everything in its proper perspective.
Happy dropping!
Tags: business, Entrecard, marketing
SEO | Matthew C. Keegan, 20 Dec 08
By ettarose, December 22, 2008 @ 2:28 am
I am the same when it comes to dropping my cards. I have a certain content I enjoy and have met some very good folks through EC. I mostly drop on my humor friends, but will recip. most of the time. Some cards I do not recip because they know nothing at all about my site. Make money blogs need to go away.
ettaroses last blog post..Collective Ruminations
By Matthew C. Keegan, December 22, 2008 @ 3:21 am
Ettarose — I agree with you on those “make money online” sites particularly when they ad zero value to the internet. Most are set up exclusively to generate ad clicks on nothing else. Fortunately, I haven’t come across too many of them, but when I do I move one.
By ettarose, December 22, 2008 @ 5:34 am
Hi Matt, it’s me again. Dropping from my other blog. Just an FYI, I live in Bullock, just north of Oxford. Little tidbit.
ettaroses last blog post..Picture of the week
By Kirk Petersen, December 22, 2008 @ 7:15 am
Hi, thanks for advertising on my site — I just approved your ad. I’ve been on Entercard for about a month now, not sure what to make of it — I definitely have been getting traffic, but Google Analytics tells me that the bounce rate is significantly higher than for most other sources of traffic — most people seem to come to the home page, click the drop button, and they’re gone. Frankly, that’s what I usually do — this is the first time I can think of that I’ve stuck around to leave a comment.
I guess it’s worth belonging just for the incremental visits, but I can’t get excited about it.
Kirk Petersens last blog post..Grateful to Live in the Shining City on the Hill
By Matthew C. Keegan, December 22, 2008 @ 7:57 am
Thanks for sticking around and leaving a comment, Kirk.
I usually do the same thing — drop and move on. But, I’ve also been making note of several blogs which interest me. Those, including yours, I will advertise on not expecting much in the way of traffic, but mostly as a gesture to the blogger that I like their site, what they’re writing about, etc.
I consider Entrecard just a small part of my overall marketing thrust, a way to get visitors without any cash outlay.
Thanks for “linking up” with me too — I’m all over the internet. Collectively, this effort seems to help my business, but it does take up a lot of my time.
By Margaret, December 22, 2008 @ 9:36 am
Hi Matt — thanks for “dropping by” my blog. I hope you read my most recent post on bounce rate and Entrecard — it’s titled “Like a Rubber Ball” where I address the Entrecard phenomenon that creates this high bounce rate.
I once did the 300 per day per blog thing, but let’s face it, you are not getting your “money’s worth” when you do that. It’s truly only by sticking on those blogs long enough to not BE a bounce that you’re doing the blogger any good. Those folks are going to be the ones to reciprocate in kind on your blog and that’s what’s going to ultimately help your SEO.
If you don’t want to take the time to comment on a post, you should stumble or digg one, or perhaps even click an ad. I understand that you don’t want to do that for a blog where making $$ is the primary focus. Clicking ads on blogs that have good content and just have ads to help offset the cost of domain names an hosting is just a neighborly thing to do.
Margarets last blog post..Merry Christmas — Bah Humbug
By Matthew C. Keegan, December 22, 2008 @ 12:59 pm
Thanks for stopping by Margaret and for sharing your comments.
Once in awhile I hit 300 ECs, but it isn’t a priority for me. I understand that EC artificially raises the level of visits to a site, but the bounce rate is huge. Therefore, I weigh my dropping against other methods of attracting traffic including StumbleUpon, Digg, Yahoo Buzz! and others.
Though clicking on an ad can seem to be the neighborly thing, it is also against Google’s Terms of Use to do so for any reason other than to visit an advertiser’s site. My clients would be mad if I encouraged this practice too as they put their hard-earned money on the land when they choose AdWords.
By Vlad, December 22, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Thanks for the review Matt. I was debating whether I should try Entrecard in the first place. Probably will give it a try after the Holidays. Marry Christmas and Happy New Year!
By Jane Doe, December 23, 2008 @ 2:40 pm
Thanks for the Entrecard info! I joined recently and I’m enjoying dropping and finding new sites to read.
All the Best,
Jane
Jane Does last blog post..Rant, Rant, Rant
By Matthew C. Keegan, December 23, 2008 @ 3:09 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Jane. Enjoy dropping and I hope you make some good contacts with other ECers. I dropped in on your site as well.
By current account, January 22, 2009 @ 4:33 am
Great for highlighting those key issues. I’ve been using entrecard now, with a reasonable amount of traffic to my site. I still wonder why I can’t measure my visits with free analytic tools.I have a certain content I enjoy and have met some very good folks through EC.
By Matthew C. Keegan, January 22, 2009 @ 5:39 am
Hi Current — You should be able to measure the number of Entrecard visitors with Google Analytics. By clicking on the Traffic Sources Overview pie chart, you’ll get a better break down of visitors to your site.
My returns show entrecard.com and entrecard.s3.amazonaws.com as senders of traffic to my sites.
By Vlad Zablotskyy, March 23, 2009 @ 8:10 am
Matt,
I just recently joined Entrecard and am trying to understand (so far without success) the benefits. Your approach is indeed worth considering, however after few days in the system I find very few relevant blogs to mine… Probably I should give it more time.
Would love to hear if you have any new advise to those who just starting using Entrecard.
By MattK, March 23, 2009 @ 3:45 pm
Vlad, at a minimum Entrecard brings spurts of traffic to your site. If you’re lucky, some of your visitor will actually stop by long enough, read what you had to write and leave a comment.
Entrecard does inflate traffic numbers though most will agree with me that the quality of that traffic is quite low. However, I’ve picked up a handful of followers which seems to help my cause out and I’ve connected with some like minded bloggers, people I probably wouldn’t have discovered in any other way.