Sticking With Entrecard…For Now
The uproar over accepting/rejecting paid ads on Entrecard (EC) seems to have passed. At least for now.
Graham Langdon Feels The Heat!
When EC first announced that a paid ad program was going to be put into place, they made a poor decision by not allowing people to reject ads. Fortunately, as is often the case with EC, if you squawk loud enough than Graham Langdon changes his mind. Now, EC allows bloggers to reject any and all ads if they so choose.
Still, the paid ad initiative has been a bit of a fiasco as it seems that some ads are still appearing while even approved paid ads tend to push ahead of the traditional EC ads. This isn’t good. Personally, inasmuch as EC has an “approve all” function for paid ads, there are times I would like to “reject all” in order to allow Entrecard ads to pass through first.
One gripe I have with EC is that if you “favorite” a site, then it stays in your favorites even after that blogger has removed their widget. Right now I have three blogs linked to my account (WordJourney.com and AutoTrends.org are the others besides this one) and have favored quite a few sites with each blog. This means I often hit up the same blogs over and over again, but there are many times when using the EC toolbar I discover as many as five of the ten favorites are no longer “droppable.”
Life After Entrecard
I’m sure that there will be a day when I will no longer use Entrecard, but I thought that day would have occurred much sooner. Granted, I don’t drop on sites every day and I rarely get to the 300 drop level with any one blog…I simply do not have the time.
When I first began to use EC I simply dropped my cards and moved on, choosing not to advertise on any sites while generally not approving ads either. After taking a lengthy break for about half the year, I returned this past fall — immediately I began to drop regularly, accepted Entrecard ads and placed my ads on other sites. These days I’ve taken a break from advertising elsewhere, but I still accept both kinds of ads.
If anything, EC is a decent way to keep up with what other bloggers are saying. I could bookmark like crazy to follow people, but with the EC toolbar I can surf in, drop a card, read your article and perhaps leave a comment.
Maybe I’ll end up dropping by on a sporadic basis instead of completely shutting down, but for now EC is stuck with me and I’m still stuck on you!
Related — I’m Giving Entrecard A Whirl!
Tags: Entrecard, Graham Langdon, paid ads, social media
Social Media | Matthew C. Keegan, 22 Apr 09
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By Deb S., April 22, 2009 @ 8:06 am
Entrecard is an interesting concept. I hope that you can make it work for you.
Deb S.s last blog post..Cut IT costs with Phase 2
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 22, 2009 @ 9:01 am
Thanks, Deb. It has its many quirks and, as you know, doesn’t always load up when you want it to. But neither does Twitter!
By Dominique, April 22, 2009 @ 1:27 pm
I know I should probably do the ad thing but I really hate it when I go to blogs and they have ads popping up everywhere. Also, I just have no desire to spend the time and commitment to do this, not to mention, I am absolutely illiterate on this subject.!
Dominiques last blog post..Town Hall of HOPE
By Matt Keegan, April 22, 2009 @ 1:45 pm
All good reasons for you NOT to use Entrecard, Dominique!
It does take a commitment to do the “dropping” which is why I limit myself to a certain number each day. Then again, I rarely drop on weekends and I sometime skip during the week.
One thing about social media: it can be a decent tool, but it does take time, perhaps much more than any of us can afford to give.
Matt Keegans last blog post..10 Environmentally Friendly Cars This Earth Day
By Brustvergroesserung, April 23, 2009 @ 7:05 am
Interesting…. I don’t have much to say about this yet, but I think there is some likelyhood of abuse.
By Matthew C. Keegan, April 23, 2009 @ 1:15 pm
Brust, there is abuse with Entrecard at least in the form of people not returning drops or loading up pages filled with ads. Still, it can be a good way to help a website get noticed, perhaps a new one that is being held down because of its age.
By ViCky, April 24, 2009 @ 2:09 am
Exactly Matt , Its a good tool for those websites which are new and would do anything for having few visitors . Anyways Entrecard Needs to be take Bloggers opinion on things as must be happy for that Site to run
By Matt Keegan, April 24, 2009 @ 5:15 am
Vicky, that seems to be the complaint I’m hearing from some card droppers: EC isn’t listening to them. Of course, EC can do what it wants but then you end up losing some people who could really benefit the system. I’ve seen people come and go because of some annoyance or another, but I think most of these people wore out or were worn down by the system in the first place.
Matt Keegans last blog post..Fired Columbia Prof Back In The News
By ViCky, April 25, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Matt, What determines the Success of a Company is to listen to the People who use it. I have been with Entrecard for around 4 months and i fell many people in the Staff do care about Bloggers opinion and many dont. Its upto Graham to Decide that . Anyways i found some Good Blogs From it and that Keeps me Going !
By MyU, April 26, 2009 @ 5:26 am
I’m still new to blogging and EC has encouraged me to get around other peoples blogs and peoples comments and feedback has encouraged me in return to keep writing.
The problem I have is I started to do paidposts because well frankly I need the dough….. but that has done some damage I feel to my blog and diluted the theme quite a bit…
As for paid ads on entrecard…. it’s only a tiny square and the benefits I get for what I ghave to sacrifice are small.