Entrecarder.com

I want to say that “Hey, we’re all adults, here!”, but that’s not the case, as there are minors who have Entrecard accounts, too. Instead I’ll just say that the Elephant in the Entreroom has a roommate…an ostrich who apparently has its head in the sand. I’m talking about the idea that Entrecarders “read” other blogs while they are dropping cards. Yes, it does happen…but someone should look at the category rankings and do the math. Evelyn would be proud of all those Entrecard speedreaders who can drop 300 cards a day and read every new entry on the sites they visit. And let’s not forget to comment, stumble, and send love notes while you’re at it. Talk about a full-time job!

This entry is a result of a thread in the Entrecard Marketing Forum wherein an Entrecard member, Sci-Fi Herald, is offering to drop cards for other Entrecard members for a fee. The thread was officially closed and the explanation given by one of the Forum moderators (Saphrym) was:

This service pretty much guarantees that the blogs will not be read. Entrecard does not condone this type of service.

And we remind everyone that if you use this type of service you are putting your passwords at risk.

Thread closed but left as a reminder.

Hmmm…I’ll get to the reasons why I thought Sci-Fi’s offer wasn’t enticing in a bit, but let me start with the “disconnect” as I see it:

1) The Entrecard ranking system rewards those on the Popular page and in the Top 3 of their category. Not directly, but as a result of increased exposure and presumed worth of the blog, or at the very least an indicator of Entrecard activity. Also, more daily drops = more Entrecard Credits (ECs) = more money or ability to buy ads or other commodities. Result = motivation (for some, many, or most?) to earn as many ECs as quickly as possible. Reality check = Reading blogs slows down the card dropping process and for many–if not most–Entrecarders, card dropping is their main and most time-consuming Entrecard activity. The average Entrecarder might read 5, 10, or even 50 entries a day, but they are not reading 100% of the sites they drop on, which “pretty much guarantees that [some] blogs will not be read.”

2) Ever heard of RSS feeds? Of course you have, and yet RSS feeds are an odd fit with Entrecard in that their use is somewhat counterproductive, especially if one is trying to increase traffic to their site and/or maximize the number of cards dropped on them. For example, an Entrecarder finds a blog whose content they really enjoy reading and as they don’t want to miss a single entry they subscribe to the blog via the available feed. In fact, it might be that the owner of the blog to which they have just subscribed doesn’t return drop because they are too busy writing quality content. So what’s the point of visiting the blog and dropping on it if you can get the content via feed and if your card drop isn’t going to be reciprocated? True, you can “reward” the blog owner with your card drop and visiting the blog allows for one to comment on the articles, as well as view any graphics (and ads) that don’t come through the feed. However, if you are seeking efficiency with your 300-a-day card dropping strategy, you’ll want to use your drops on sites that have the highest likelihood or returning the drop. Notice the “if” in the prior statement. Not every or even most Entrecarders are taking that stated approach, but a good number apparently are and in my opinion it’s a disconnect with reality to think otherwise.

3) There’s not 300 blogs in the Entrecard system that interest me enough to read them on a regular basis nor do I have the time to do so. That’s my reality and I’ll bet it is the norm for most Entrecarders. How many times do I need to read about the newest Wordpress release or what Britney Spears is doing or the same contest entry blog or how great a program ____________________ is? Sure, I’ve posted similar content on occasion and my point is that there is a lot of duplicate or uninteresting content out there which “pretty much guarantees that [most] blogs will not be read” by me. I suspect that Entrecard knows this happens and hopes that its members will at least scan the articles they come across while card dropping, and Entrecard can’t really say anything to the contrary from a corporate point of view. Well, actually, that’s not true. Rather than say “Entrecard does not condone this type of service” they could have said “Entrecard encourages its members to read their fellow members’ blogs as often as is feasible.”

Now, for the reasons why I think that Sci-fi Herald’s offer should be ignored. First, they have no track record of having actually dropped 300 cards a day on their own account, so why would anyone believe that they would or could drop 300 cards on someone else’s account? As of this writing they are listed as a Casual and Relaxed card dropper and it costs a mere 21 ECs to advertise on their blog, which has been in the Entrecard system for about a month. Second, there is no identifying info for the blog that would give a potential client some comfort about letting them date your daughter, so to speak. The blog is hosted at Blogger and the About Me default has been removed. None of the entries that I read, some of which I found to be pretty interesting, contained any personal data or clue as to who the author is. Hmmmm. Third, Sci-fi Herald is only charging a $1 a day for a service that takes even the most nimble-fingered seasoned Entrecarders at least 30 minutes to blast through. Talk about a disconnect with reality! Add it up, and if it’s not fishy, it’s definitely naive. Do you want to give this person your password and ability to access your Entrecard account, potentially hijack your ECs, post in the forums in your name, send messages to other Entrecarders in your name, redirect your account to a porn site, upload a picture of their girlfriend as your Entrecard graphic and generally wreak havoc with your Entrecard reputation? {{{shudder}}}

I can speak from experience on this subject in that I have guest dropped for two different Entrecard members, neither of which I accepted payment from for so doing. ( I should note that I did keep the ECs that I earned from card dropping for one of the accounts.) I had my reasons for providing this service and it wasn’t to make money from them. In fact, now that I have done it for free, I wouldn’t guest drop for someone for less than $20 an hour. Honestly, it’s a pain. Do I think the practice should be banned? Heck no, and welcome to the business world. I can agree that Entrecard might want to ban offers to guest drop from their Forums and Shop and even publish statements that they don’t condone the practice, but I believe that there is room for trustworthy professional card droppers to provide a valuable service to Entrecarders who are seeking said services. Just don’t ask me to do it for less than $20 an hour and without payment in advance, paypal only.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
22 Comments »

I signed up for my first Entrecard account in December, and have signed up for a few more since then. Yet, if I were starting over again, I would definitely take a different approach. Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not having or doing a Cow. I have really enjoyed the Entrecard “experience” and have benefited from the time and energy I have spent as an Entrecarder. Having said that, here’s what I (and heavy on the “I”) would do if I were starting fresh today:

1) Drop a card on the new blogs that grabbed my attention each day. New Entrecarders have made the decision to join and are likely hoping to meet other people and generate traffic to their site. Reviewing the newer blogs would allow me find sites that I want to return to later (or subscribe to), based on their content alone, and not in the hopes of winning a prize or even getting a return drop.

2) Drop a card on the blogs that I visit primarily to read their posts and comment when appropriate. In a community of 6000+ blogs it is unlikely that one will get to know more than a few dozen (or perhaps a few hundred) fellow Entrecarders on a first name basis. Next time around I would choose Quality over Quantity.

3) Visit the sites of Entrecarders who show up in my Drops Inbox at least once to see what their blog is all about. Bookmark, Favorite, or Subscribe to those that I find interesting. Oh yeah, drop cards on them, too.

4) Blog regularly. (Duh?) Believe it or not, many Entrecarders have commented about getting caught up with, addicted to, or distracted by participating in card dropping, entering contests, and climbing the category or traffic rankings, to a point where they don’t get around to blogging. At the end of the day, great content will win out over great card dropping.

5) Use my Entrecard Credits (ECs) to advertise on sites that I like or have similar content to mine. Entrecard traffic is directed and active and there is nothing quite like it out there. You can choose where you want your ad to display and you can increase visits to your site by visiting other sites and dropping cards on them, whether you are seeking 5 visitors a day or 500.

Your Entrecard is a tool and you can choose how much or how little involvement you want in the Entrecard community. Set limits and goals for your time and activities and enjoy!

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
2 Comments »

Recently I had the opportunity to guest drop for another Entrecarder for 7 days, in addition to my regular multiple account activities. This particular Entrecarder buys ads in addition to dropping cards and has achieved good results in the form of a high ranking in their category and in the community at large. Instead of Power Dropping my way through 300 cards a day, as I might do on my own accounts, I used multiple card dropping strategies to ensure that this Entrecarder got plenty of traffic.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a fan of blindly return dropping from the Drops Inbox. It might be polite to do so, but if one is seeking to get ranked above their peers, being nice doesn’t necessarily cut it. The trick is to figure out how often to return drop from one’s Drop Inbox and on which cards. Power Droppers do not need a return drop and Widget Surfers are not keeping track of who they dropped on and as such won’t know if you returned the drop. Reciprocative Droppers do need a return drop if they are really playing the game, and part of my daily strategy included hitting both the major Recipro groups. In the end, Alexa showed a significant spike in traffic for the week I was at the helm. So, do I pat myself on the back? Nope. The truth is that it was that Entrecarder’s ads and other activities that caused the majority of the spike and not my wonderful card dropping wizardry. Oh, the wizardry is important, but mostly when one opts to not advertise.

I learned that I wasn’t interested in working with another Entrecarder’s existing account, primarily because of the need to perform and the lack of revenue, or in other words, I had to work too hard for the return. So, I decided to try guest card dropping for an internet acquaintance who had not yet signed up for their own Entrecard account. Their blog had virtually no traffic and an Alexa ranking of 7,595,407, sporting just 10 entries since being started at the beginning of the year. Today marks the end of a week of card dropping activity and the Alexa 1 week average is 251,587. I placed a few ads on other new Entrecard accounts, but didn’t spend more than 10 ECs in all. Again, it really wasn’t all that fun and I did it mostly as an experiment. It took me about an hour a day and the bottom line is that while the traffic rank increase was significant, no one is going to pay me enough money to drop cards for them on a regular basis.

My third experiment consisted of making a concentrated effort to drop on new Entrecard accounts. This blog focuses on the Entrecard community and as such it should have a certain appeal to newer members as they go up the learning curve. I was interested in finding out how many new Entrecarders would return card drops versus more seasoned Entrecarders. I didn’t keep stats as much as obtain a gut feel and my gut tells me that working with the noobs is a good choice. For a week or so I copied the link info from my Drops Inbox into an Excel spreadsheet and tried to determine which of the newer Entrecarders were return dropping on a regular basis. Not all that many as it turned out. Regardless, I believe there is significant value to dropping on the newest members of our community. Doing so says “Welcome” and gives these new Entrecarders a chance to visit your site from the get-go. Interestingly, I did notice an increase in RSS subscribers in the past week, which might be a result of the concentrated card dropping on new Entrecard accounts.

So, it’s thumbs down on guest dropping (unless the Credit Exchange results in a historic high for the value of ECs) and a thumb’s up for pointedly dropping on new Entrecarders.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
5 Comments »

I guess it started with the “U Comment - I Follow” movement, and was adapted for the Entrecard community by Lee Doyle to read U Drop - I Follow. I admit that for a while I was thinking of using “U Drop - I Smile” but figured it would engender the wrong reaction in folks. However, I have seen a “U Drop - I’m Happy” that made me smile.

Now, Deimos Tel`Arin (ahkong.net), who was one of the first Entrecarders to publish a list of sites to drop cards on, and was the first (to my knowledge) to come up with a Reciprocative Dropping group, is pushing a “U Subscribe - I Follow” fellowship. You subscribe to his blog feed via email and he will return the favor and subscribe to your blog’s feed. What a great idea!

Perhaps you are saying “Duh” and yet there are some Entrecard-specific dynamics that make this new movement a valuable one, at least to me. I haven’t yet run contests or used any other device to encourage readers to subscribe to my main blog, The Entrecarder and it took me almost two months to put a standard button on my site where folks could easily subscribe to my feed. Over the past couple of months I have routinely signed up for blog feeds as part of contests and usually unsubscribe a short time later. I don’t feel much loyalty to a blogger just because they gave me a chance to win something, even more so when I don’t get much from their blog entries. The same might hold true for the U-I Subscribers, but at least they are having to see my feed for a nanosecond before they move on.

I actually prefer to read blog posts via email feeds because I don’t have to break my rythm when card dropping. I seem to be able to scan an emailed post quicker than reading it on the webpage and then just archive it when done. And for those who chose to only send a partial entry in their feed? Hasta la vista, baby. I don’t care who you are, if you think your writing is so wonderful that you are going to get me to click through to your site to read beyond the teaser, I’ve got one word for you: Unsubscribe.

I expect that the honor system will have to be the order of the day for the U-I Subscribers and that’s ok. It’s not worth the time to try and track who is commenting back or dropping back and if someone really doesn’t like what you are writing, then let them drop the feed.

Note: Deimos does something that is really slick and that I will probably start doing myself. He updates his Entrecard profile with the specific address of each new post so that the traffic goes to that page and builds a better overall site ranking as a result.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
5 Comments »

Here are the poll results from last week regarding the number of Entrecard accounts that voters have:

1 account……..32 (43%)

2 accounts…….17 (23%)

3 accounts…….12 (16%)

4 accounts…….6 (8%)

5 accounts or More…6 (8%)

Thanks to all who voted last week. Please take the time to vote in this week’s poll!

Tags: poll by kent
4 Comments »

A short while back I posted with the title Entrecard Power Dropper for Hire and talked about the possibility that one could earn some decent money dropping cards for other folks. It was more a mental exercise than anything else, so I was a bit surprised when I was approached by a fellow Entrecarder with a request to drop cards for them for a week or so. I had previously done business with this person, having sold them 50,000+ ECs and so I agreed to do so more as a gesture of gratitude than as an income activity.

Honestly, dropping cards is not an activity that I enjoy and when asked how much I would charge to continue with this service, I deferred and did not give an answer. I realized that someone out there would do likely do it for $6 an hour…but I wasn’t really interested for less than $20 an hour. In my prior post on this topic I suggested that it might be possible to earn that rate if one could drop 300 cards in 15 minutes, get a 2/3 return drop rate, charge each client $1.50 a day, and sell the ECs for $7 per 1000. Unfortunately, with the changes to the security system, it appears that even nimble-fingered card droppers are lucky to drop 300 cards in 30 minutes and the price of ECs is dropping (as I predicted), with some folks selling them in the Promotions Forum for $4 per 1000. Therefore, if one was to earn $20 an hour they would have to charge each client $8 a day…not an unreasonable rate based on the value of some people’s time, but it represented a more difficult task to find 10 clients who were each willing to pony up $250 a month for some Entrecard traffic.

I also found that while I could power drop on my accounts (dropping back on the cards in the Drops Inbox is nice but not the best strategy) as part of my EC harvesting strategy, my clients would have higher expectations for performance and that meant more time and focus put into the selection of which widgets to drop on. Now we’re talking about an hour a day per client and only $2 per hour of potential income from the sale of the ECs, so earning $20 an hour would be out of the question for all but a very select clientele. Really, how many bloggers would dig deep into their pockets to the tune of $18 an hour for Entrecard traffic?

It did occur to me that there are thousands of bloggers who would like to get an Entrecard traffic spike, but don’t want to have to learn the ropes or spend the time doing all that card dropping (or both.) And getting traffic was just one function of having an Entrecard account…in fact, you don’t need to actually have an Entrecard account as long as SOMEONE is pointing their Entrecard account to your blog. Hmmmm. What if…., what if I were to maintain ownership of the Entrecard account and “rent” out its traffic to someone for a week or a month? The system tracks User ID for ranking and card drops/ad prices, and the biggest challenge would be the fact that the URL would change…unless I were to just redirect it to the client’s site.

I would own the Entrecard account and make sure that it got plenty of visits/drops, so that the client would get instant traffic. They would have to supply me with the 125×125 ad and I’d send them the widget code to put on their blog. They pay me for the rental period (in advance) and I’d keep all the ECs for future sale. They could even throw in some more cash and I’d buy ads for them. They would have to trust that they would get traffic, but with a few testimonials from other satisfied customers and my history in the Entrecard community, I think I could find some takers.

The tough spot is still how much to charge so that it is worth my time to drop cards for someone else’s benefit. I just don’t think that I can make it fly on an hourly basis or per dropped card, but maybe there is a price that someone would be willing to pay to experience an Entrecard traffic spike, like maybe $50 for a week? And if they want to continue on I could always just sell them that Entrecard account for a reasonable price. It’s just an idea, and there are plenty of details that would have to be worked out, but I’ll bet there are some folks who treat their blog like a business and $50 wouldn’t be a big deal to see what all the buzz is about, especially when they would only have to spend a few minutes to get it going.

Whether or not I actually go ahead and follow through with this idea, I believe that eventually someone will, seeing as the Entrecard community is continuing to grow and generate more and more noise in the blogging world. Entrepreneurs abound and there are plenty of ways to make a buck with one’s blog…or your blog, as the case may be.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
2 Comments »

Last November I attended a class (put on by our local college’s extension division) entitled Intermediate Internet Marketing. I was interested to see what constituted intermediate versus beginning material and it was a free class, so I figured I couldn’t lose too much by attending. While no expert myself, I ended up fielding many questions on topics that I knew as much about as did the instructor. Blogging was covered, but only in passing, and that in the context of supporting your other marketing activities, both off and online.

In my last post I suggested that bloggers weren’t typical people and to follow up that statement I will further suggest that bloggers aren’t typical internet marketers, if in fact they are attempting to monetize their blogs in the first place. Prior to signing up for Entrecard I have had blogs on at least 10 different places, like niche sites related to weight-loss, myspace, the local newspaper’s website, etc. That is typical (in my never quite humble opinion) of the VAST majority of the blogosphere. The percentage of pro-money bloggers versus no-money bloggers is much higher in the Entrecard community than one might find in any other place I can think of. (How’s that for covering my ignorance?)

Not surprisingly, some of the largest categories in the Entrecard community are Make Money Online (398) and Internet Marketing (197). Many of the blogs listed in other categories are attempting to make money online via internet marketing, too, but have chosen to place themselves in a category more suited to their content. With it’s big “Profit!” on its main page, Entrecard is promoting itself as a tool to build your traffic and make money with your blog. And I’m here to say that it works! Long Live Entrecard! Of course, I haven’t actually made money with my blog in the way that Graham likely envisioned the typical Entrecarder would. I’ve made money harvesting and selling ECs, not as a result of pay-per-review or affiliate ads, although I think I made a buck from a short-lived Scratchback widget and I won a cool coffee mug from Ken at YouCanLearnSeries.com.

What struck me most when I first joined the community was the presence of the Johns and other big name bloggers, although I wasn’t familiar enough with the A list to know who they were. Most of the blogs were better than mine (not too hard) and these folks were serious about their blogging, whether for money or not. My broad business background and general online experiences told me that while there are millions of bloggers, the pro-money bloggers are a relatively small pond, especially when compared to the ocean of Internet Marketers. And as it has turned out, there are only a few big fish that are actually active in this small pond, which I’m ok with as I’m just a very small fish myself.

I have been around long enough to have visited sites where people get paid a penny per comment, and some industrious folks can earn upwards of $3 a day for their 4+ hours online. Well, bully for them, but that pond is too small for me. Even some of the better known blogger communities boast of their top people earning $200 a month for their 80 posts or something like that. Sheesh. Don’t these people have a life? Oh yeah, I’m one of them. Forget that degree in Accounting and the 25 years in the business world, right now I’m scrambling for pennies a day from Project Wonderful? Reality check!

We all pick the pond that we are most comfortable in and Entrecard is a wonderful place to be, whether you are tunnel-visioned on Your Blog, Your Business or Please Don’t Think I’m Trying to Make Money with My Feel Good Blog. There’s room for all sorts of bloggers here in this small pond, although I’m seriously questioning what the hell I’m doing here! I think it was a time and place thing. I came in at just the right time to make some good money ($600+) from selling ECs and now I’m trying to figure out how much interest I have in staying involved. I probably wouldn’t have written these last two posts if I wasn’t ticked off by the assertive ignorance of Pat and Beth, with their respective posts on the main Entrecard blog. Why should I care about them boneheads and their clear lack of perspective beyond their little view on the world? Small fish, small pond.

As a joke I suggested that I would sell a one page ebook about how to make money from Entrecard. I’ve now covered much of what I was going to put in the ebook and if someone is really interested in making more money from selling ECs than the average Entrecarder does from affiliate ads, then wade through my posts and see how I did it.

As for me, I’m looking for a bigger pond.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
4 Comments »

It’s likely that most of us have attended or worked a trade show, those delightful temporary booth cities dedicated to marketing and self-promotion. Likewise, we’ve probably participated in some form of block party, where neighbors get together to socialize and “shorten the fences” so to speak. Personally, I’m not a fan of either activity as I’m not one for idle, shallow conversation, er, I mean, sales pitches and chit chat about the weather and who’s running for PTA President. And while there is a full spectrum of personality types represented in the Entrecard community, we are in the minority in that we choose to communicate via the written word or graphical presentation. Honestly, we’re (as a group) not typical, because typically MOST people don’t spend hours at their computers creating content in blogs or clicking on widgets with an E on them.

Working a trade show can be exhilarating and exhausting at the same time and one of the challenges faced is finding time to go see the other exhibits. Often all one has time for is to make a quick run through, only occasionally slowing down to drop a business card in a drawing and maybe making a mental note to follow up with one or more of the exhibitors that caught our interest. Even if one has the time to browse the event at a more leisurely pace, there many booths that we just aren’t interested in what they are promoting. Sure, every conversation is an opportunity to promote our deal, but unless it’s really slow most folks working a trade show are interested in pitching and not getting pitched. Either way, before long it’s back to our booth and back to business. It’s normal to get to know the folks nearest your booth, especially if traffic is slow. However, few folks are there just to “make friends” and it’s hard to justify the cost and time expenditure if one doesn’t conduct any real business but has a great time schmoozing.

Block parties can be loads of fun (I suppose) and a great way to get to know one’s neighbors. BYOB and find out about that couple who just moved into the Jenkins’ house. Watch the kids run around and talk football, golf, soccer (yeah, right) with the other sports fans in your neighborhood. Forge new friendships that could develop into wonderful lifelong relationships. The opportunity might arise where it’s appropriate to talk about your business without seeming too obnoxious and you could end up with some new clients. However, as “business” isn’t foremost on your mind, the real value in the event is the relationships you build and maintain with your neighbors.

So what is Entrecard more akin to, a trade show or a block party?

The answer depends on you. There is no “correct” way to Entrecard…and anyone who tells you otherwise is assertively ignorant. Entrecard is an opportunity and you can make out of it what you want to, and your desires and motivation might not be the same as the next Entrecarder. Even if Graham were to opine as to why he’s created this place, that doesn’t mean he is dictating how we choose to use it.

To be blunt…I’m not a member of Entrecard because I’m looking to socialize or build non-business relationships. I don’t read many blogs and usually end up canceling my subscriptions because most of what I read doesn’t interest me. I’m in a hurry when I drop cards, mostly because I’m dropping on 5+ accounts and my strategy has been to harvest as many credits as I can in as short a time frame as possible. Credits = cash and cash = justification for time expended creating content for blogs. I don’t comment on others’ blogs unless I have a real motivation to do so, and not just to create backlinks. I’m not playing by the rules, and honestly, I’m coming to the end of my interest with Entrecard. While I believe it is possible to earn thousands every month just by harvesting and selling Entrecredits, it’s also very BORING. I was hoping to earn a few bucks while I wrote some blogs on topics of interest to me, but when I found that I was spending more time dropping cards than writing, I realized that I wasn’t going to be a “true” blogger. Ironically, this blog is the one that I write in the most frequently and it has zero value outside of the Entrecard community. (Although, I do have fun with Where on Earth Am I? and What Do YOU See?)

So, while I wait to see what Graham and Phirate decide to do with the Credit Exchange, what do you think Tiger’s chances are in this week’s tournament? And is that a snowflake I just saw?

EDIT: Tiger won in dramatic fashion, and it did start snowing just a little.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
1 Comment »

It was great to read the various card dropping strategies put forth in the Entrecard Forum recently (or regularly.) I’ve written on this topic several times and it warrants yet another post as Graham and Phirate are constantly changing the rules, which impacts what one should do be the most efficient in their card dropping adventure.

The newest twist is an attempt to slow down the use of bots to drop on widgets by changing the browser generated “Drop yours” to an image file that says “Drop”. This change has a negative impact on legitimate droppers in that one can no longer turn off images to speed up page load time and it’s no longer possible to use the Find function to quickly get to a below the fold widget. While some have written about using Opera or the Opera-ish add on for Firefox, if the image doesn’t actually load one can get an “invalid” message. (I haven’t pursued this avenue too far and maybe it’s still possible to drop with images off. Check the Forum for the latest tips.)

There’s also been a lot of discussion about how long it takes to drop 300 cards. I first got the figure of 20 drops a minute from Turnip who was using folders of 50 bookmarks and opening multiple tabs. He must have a better computer and connection than I do because opening more than 20 tabs at a time causes my computer to run at 1996 speeds. Other speed demons have claimed to be able to drop 300 cards in 15 minutes, but I have not been able to match that pace…legitimately. (I did get Busted once when I dropped 50 cards in 30 seconds. Oops.) Recently I have seen 25 minutes pop up as the most frequent best pace listed in the forums, which starts to make Site Hoppin look pretty attractive as an option. (Atta Boy, Max!)

Even the Power Droppers have figured out that 300 drops in 25 minutes that only yields 100 return drops is not at good as 300 drops in 30 minutes where one receives 200 cards back. Reciprocative (or recipro) dropping has some distinct advantages as a strategy, which is not to say that I’ll ever post a U DROP -I FOLLOW tag on my blogs. As of the moment there are two recipro groups (3 if you count ahkong.net) that each commit to returning drops from their group (Arnold of Chalk is Cheap) or return the drop of everyone who drops on them (Lee Doyle’s aforementioned U DROP consortium.) The bottom line is that it doesn’t make sense to commit to return dropping on every card that passes through your inbox, so why would I commit to that by putting a U DROP I FOLLOW image on my site? Arnold’s recipro-group is a bit different in that if everyone plays by the rules and drops on all the other group members, everyone in the group wins.

Kudos to Lee and his Followers for being good Entrecarders, but I’d join Arnold’s group first, for a couple of reasons. I have mentioned in the past that I sometimes drop cards while riding my recumbent exercycle in the morning. The computer I use is an old Gateway running Windows 2000 and with limited ram…which means I can’t open multiple tabs and I get the thrill of watching every image load, one by one. I have decided that the Followers are a sneaky group of bloggers who tend (not all, but more than half) to bury their Entrecard deep in their page, only loading after almost everything else. Most of the Followers aren’t going to be on Power Dropping’s list of quick loading sites (or BendzG’s.) It as if they are saying to their fellow Followers, “Hah! You committed to dropping back and so it doesn’t matter where I put my Entrecard, because you have to wade through my garbage to find it!” At least Arnold has set up some rules about where his recipro-group is supposed to place their widget so that it cuts down on the amount of time required to make the drop.

While I’m on a roll, let me dispel a popular myth about a fundamental “good” card dropping strategy, that of dropping cards on those cards in your Inbox. Now, this sage advice CAN be effective for some people and at some times of the day. However, just like assuming that Power Dropping or Recipro Dropping are ALWAYS good strategies, thinking that one should ALWAYS return drops on the cards in their Inbox just isn’t smart. I further got a chuckle when I read someone’s advice about returning drops on your Top Droppers. Wrong. Well, I guess it’s not wrong if it makes you feel good. But it’s not the most effective strategy for using your 300 drops every day. Yes, I am assuming that the reason you drop 300 cards is that you are trying to increase the number of drops on your widget and ramp up your ad price and traffic stats. I suppose it’s possible that the reason you drop the max every day is that you just love it.

So what’s my advice? Here we go:
1) Get onto every power dropping list you can. You never have to return these drops because the people who use these lists are about speed and not reciprocation.
2) Look at your Top Droppers and figure out which ones are dropping on you regardless of whether or not you drop on them. Then make sure you don’t drop on them. They are likely dropping out of folders and they aren’t watching their Inbox to see who reciprocated.
3) Bookmark the best of the Followers (Lee’s list) and hit them early in the day. (Tag, they’re It. They should get back to you the same day or shame on them!)
4) Watch your Inbox for Entrecards you haven’t seen before, drop on them, and bookmark the fast loading ones in a folder for future Power Dropping.
5) Drop on Entrecards whose price is between 100 - 250 ECs. They’re active and not getting so many cards through their Inbox that yours will go unnoticed.
6) Widget surf via multiple tabs so that you always have a new site ready to click on. The odds are good that if they are advertising, they are active and you should get a return drop.
7) Power drop the rest of your 300 from bookmark folders of fast loading sites.
Find some good browser add-ons. I like using the Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox because it lets me see the links in the Inbox so I can Linky open them. Also, it helps identify newer Entrecards (by their User ID) that I should return drop on.

OK, so maybe the above is not the BEST strategy, yet hopefully you will get some ideas that will help you be more efficient in your card dropping.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
3 Comments »

There is a fundamental acceptance of the entrepreneurial wiki here at Entrecard and for those of us who can’t afford to toss $1000 a pop for the MillionDollarWiki, the guys from Zedomax (SiteHoppin, etc.) are serving up OneBuckWiki. Are you branding a certain term in relation to your blog? Are you willing to invest some cash ($20 at the moment) to tie up keywords at OneBuckWiki for the next 15+ years? Put your SEO hat on and cruise on over and snap up keywords that in 6 months you’ll regret that you passed on today. OneBuckWiki is Entrecard user #10, if that tells you anything about how long they have been part of the Entrecard community.

Seriously, other than signing up for traffic and affiliate programs, participating in the Entrecard community, and the occasional stumble, what are you really doing to extend your site’s reach? I’m not talking about BlogCatalog or Scratchback. What have you done to get traffic to your blog that comes directly from the search engine motherlode? I’ll freely admit that I don’t have any expertise in SEO and so when I got my keywords from OneBuckWiki I just looked at what others had purchased at MillionDollarWiki and chose some of those. Why not take some of those Entrecredits you have been storing up and sell them to get the cash to buy some OneBuckWiki keywords? In the cash goes to PayPal and back out again. It’s like you never really had it. Or, use your Project Wonderful funds or other money earned from online activities to fund your keyword purchase. Regardless of how you do it, I don’t believe you will find a better investment for purchasing keywords for the long haul than OneBuckWiki.

Tags: Uncategorized by kent
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