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!

The Spring Crunch & Other Blogging Adventures

I mentioned recently that I have been “under the gun” of late as tax season, magazine article deadlines, and my usual stack of stuff have conspired to put a lot of pressure on me timewise. Still, even though I haven’t been blogging here as much as I usually do, I make the rounds to read what others have to say. I need these breaks otherwise insanity will set in!

Among my many recent reads I would like to share with you the following:

Laura Spencer talked about handling the spring crunch, and asked her readers how they handled this situation themselves. See, I’m not the only one struggling with battling work issues right now!

Asia’h Epperson (not the same Asia’h on American Idol Season 7) shared her remarks about a blogging course available from a problogger for the princely sum of $325. This course is aimed at bloggers who want to make $100K annually…hmmmm.

Lee Doyle, like so many other Entrecard users, has opined about the new pricing structure for one-day advertising. I’m new to Entrecard, but I agree: that the new set up prices a lot of advertisers out of the equation. What was Graham Langdon thinking?!

Speaking about Entrecard, the anonymous blogger over at Humane Blogging Tips wrote about one beef of mine: fake Entrecards displayed on blogs which are actually other forms of advertising. Obviously I am not against ads, but as far as fooling visitors that is one practice that angers me. These ads look exactly like Entrecards all the way down to the “Drop” tag, but you won’t get a credit for clicking. Instead, you’ll be whisked away to the offending site.

Marcus Hochstadt wrote an intriguing piece titled, Success Circles and the Law of Influence, a compelling read for people who are looking to succeed by connecting with others (which should be all of us). He cites the work of social psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini, who outlines six principles of influence to persuade customers to buy from you. I believe I’m doing fairly well in the outlined areas, but I also see where I can make some improvements.

The guys over at the Men With Pens blog offer a good read, with so many different articles worth your perusing. Today, I found an article titled: Keeping Up When Your Blog Takes Off. I skimmed it and plan on revisiting it soon, as there is good advice for people who yearn to become a professional blogger. Can you handle the fame?

That’s it for today — I didn’t start off the day intending to write a round-up article, but that is how things have unfolded. Happy blogging!