Entrecard Tips

Small Update: Weekly Stat Emails

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:21:00 +0000

Recently, Entrecard began sending out weekly stats emails with a few stats on how many Entrecard credits are in your account as well as links to visit your account. These emails contain a prominent link to unsubscribe from the weekly email.

In the future, I would like to see more stats sent through this email (like how many credits were earned during the week, for example).

New Entrecard Reviews Area

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 20 May 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Entrecard has recently improved the "details" page associated with each website on the network. The changes include a tabbed interface, split into a "reviews," "dropped cards," "favorites," "blogs," and "similar blogs" tabs.

Even though one of your visitors may not be a member of Entrecard, they can still leave a review of your site if they sign into Facebook or Twitter.

Another way that this tool can be integrated into your site is using the "Is this your site?" link, which brings up a listing of HTML images you can embed into your blog's sidebar to let others review your site.

What do you think of these features?

Entrecard's Traffic Rebounds in March

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:47:00 +0000

For the first time in several months, Entrecard managed to increase traffic, at least according to Compete.com, a service which is heavily US-based and measures traffic indirectly. These changes come after some fairly significant changes to the credit system at Entrecard.

Unique visitors during the month of March rose 6.98% to 881,278, although total visitors were down 1,777,126, a modest decline, at 5.64%. Against all other sites ranked by Compete, it is number 2,042, a rise of one versus the previous month.

EntreCredits.com to Launch Soon

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 14:41:00 +0000

According to a recent blog post on Entrecard, a new credit-based system will be put in place. It will be designed to complement and expand Entrecard, although few details are being released at this point.

More than likely, it'll tie into other programs (similar to how it was used in conjunction with OIO Publisher), where users can integrate the system onto their blogs (or other sites).

Let me know what you think of this proposed opportunity.

Entrecard Highlights Main Reasons to Join

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 21:13:00 +0000

On the main page of the Entrecard site, you can now find the top reasons to join Entrecard, and they have been highlighted in a list. Please see the main page of Entrecard or enlarge the image below.

Just a Friendly Reminder About New Terms

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 21:26:00 +0000

Who This Affects: All Entrecard members

If you have more than 100,000 credits in any of your accounts (whether they're linked or not), you must reduce this number within the next week (by March 31, 2010) or you will risk having your credits reduced to be within the new terms.

In addition, you will no longer be able to sell credits through the Marketplace or through any other method after this time.

These changes have gone into effect to help eliminate the users who do not spend credits and to increase the value of the credits across the network.

For more details, see the Official Entrecard Blog.

New Entrecard Marketplace Launched

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 20:07:00 +0000

The new Entrecard Marketplace, which wasn't launched too long ago, replaces the old marketplace that was built into the site. The look and format of the site is quite similar to other online marketplaces, like Craigslist. You will be able to manage advertisements and products being sold through the site.

A content is currently being run to help promote the new Marketplace, with up to 100,000 up for grabs - all you need to do is post an ad and create a blog post about the marketplace. 2,000 credits will be given to anyone who does this - only fifty people will be able to participate. Simply email Entrecard the link to your blog post.

Another major change with the new Marketplace is the ability to sell Entrecard credits through the Market. One of the main concerns that still exists with the new Marketplace is that members will devalue the credits. In order to restrict this from happening, they have limited to accounts to just 100,000 credits. All accounts with more than this number of credits will have their credits removed from their account on March 31st, so now is the time to spend them.

For more details about the Market, please see the FAQ page.

What do you think about the new Market? Please let me know in the comments area below.

Advertisement Rates on the Entrecard Network - Just $10

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:59:00 +0000

One of the main sources for Entrecard continues to be their Advertising Network, and a discount rate has been applied (which is still taking place). For just $10, you'll be able to advertise throughout the network and save 65% off the regular rates. Starting at this price, you'll be able to get at least 40,000 guaranteed impressions, which is a rate of less than $.25/CPM.

The ads are based on a 125x125 pixel format, which is the most popular format currently for bloggers. Detailed stats are available for anyone who is advertising through the network.

For more details and to begin advertising through the network, click here.

Entrecard's January Traffic Information

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:54:00 +0000

Many of the "traffic exchanges" out there depend on a lot of traffic flowing through the network in order for visitors to see the most success. Entrecard's traffic has continued to dive, although it hasn't been quite as drastic during the month of January as during previous months.

In review, the total number of unique visitors was down 3.12% to 962,793 visitors, drawing in 2,415,814 visits, which just happened to be up 14.57% on a month-to-month basis. The ranking of the site dropped three to 1,909, which also wasn't as drastic as previous months.

The biggest percentage of referring sites came from Blogger, Google, and Facebook, which represented nearly a third of the traffic.

While this traffic information was from January, February's traffic information should become available within the next few days from Compete.

Entrecard Virtual Currency Platform

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:45:00 +0000

Entrecard has released a new Developer Platform, which has been designed to make trading and exchanging Entrecard credits easy for developers who have or want to create an online product. The key benefits, as listed on their virtual currency page, include being able to connect directly with anyone using EntreCredits, you will be able to keep all credits earned form your application, and you can sell your credits for cash and keep 100% of the sale.

Anyone who wants to develop for the system and fully integrates it into their application will receive 50,000 EntreCredits. It is suggested that you have a familiarity with PHP and OAuth in order to develop for the platform.

Please see their blog post for more details.

Entrecard Cleaning up Virus-Infested Blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:33:00 +0000

Over the past few weeks, Entrecard has been removing a lot of blogs from their network that have been "infested" with viruses and malware-type content. The main types of content blocked through use of their Terms of Service include: pop-up ads, redirections, outdated blogs, and non-English blogs. If you have blogs with any of these, there is a good chance that your site will be reported from another member or from an administrator at Entecard.

These changes are welcome, but it would have been much better if there had been a more sustainable approach taken, in order to avoid the larger problems that occurred as a result of a non-proactive approach.

Have you been able to notice that the network has been cleaned up?

Entrecard Traffic Continues to Dive

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 02:50:00 +0000

While traffic isn't the whole story behind Entrecard, the more traffic flowing through the network, the more traffic you will likely see on your own sites. According to Compete, which I've used in the past to judge how much traffic Entrecard is seeing, traffic fell nearly 12% during the month of December, resulting in a yearly change of 30.29% and 87% across all the subdomains.

According to the traffic adn.entrecard.com receives, which is the subdomain/server the ads/widget are served from, about 905,000 unique visitors were served. Now, none of the traffic is exact, and they could certainly be reporting higher numbers, but the trends are right in front of you.

Last year, the site was serving nearly two million visitors, traffic declined dramatically from March to June, and leveled off (compared to the height of the decline) through November, and if current trends continue, there will be another 150,000 visitor drop this month (January).

In the end, have you noticed traffic from Entrecard declining or are these figures not representative of what the network is still serving?

Entrecard Now Allows "Regular" Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:08:00 +0000

As per a recent blog announcement, it is now possible for everyone to join Entrecard, no matter what type of site they have. Because comments are closed on the announcement post, I don't have a broad picture of how members are reacting, but I am open to comments here.

Rather than placing the bloggers at the forefront of the site, now they are putting users at the front. While this can be positive for the long-term success of the site in terms of welcoming new members, it might have an adverse effect on the bloggers of the site who aren't just a member to increase traffic. I briefly glanced over the twenty or so sites that have joined under the new "sites" category in the Browser, and many of them are forums and other community-based sites.

The only issue I would have with the new inclusion policies would be if they didn't screen the sites, and many affiliate sites or those with very little content would enter. As long as they maintain quality sites entering the network, there shouldn't really be a problem.

In addition, when you look at all "regular" sites, they are quite similar to blogs, however they don't allow comments for each post, or they don't display posts in a reverse-chronological order. Overall, very little issues should arise over this change.

What are your thoughts on this? Please share them in the comments area below.

Allow Your Visitors to Jump to the Entrecard Widget

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 06:55:00 +0000

I don't believe that this quick tip infringes on any of the terms of Entrecard, but will solve the problem (at least for some) sites where the widget can't be placed near the top of the site.

Essentially, this is an "old" HTML tip, but can be effective for use on your site.

Above your widget, place the following code: <a name="entrecard"></a>

Then, when you enter your website address your want visitors from Entrecard to go, append #entrecard to the end of it, as in http://entrecard-tips.blogspot.com/#entrecard, as this is the word contained within the shortcut.

Generally, this tip will work across all blog platforms, but there may be small changes if you want to use different text, etc. Let me know how it works and whether you see an increase in the number of clicks through your widget.

Join Entrecard and Earn 200 Credits Today

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:39:00 +0000

If you've never heard of Entrecard, it is a free advertising system for your blog. You join, place a widget on your blog, and visitors from the network will be able to communicate and interact with you, while you also increase traffic. As you may know, traffic is the number one way to increase conversions and profit from your site.

For a limited time only, you can join and earn 200 credits just for signing up and placing the widget on your blog. There really isn't much to lose!

Just a Friendly Reminder

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 05:05:00 +0000

According to the Terms of Entrecard: "Widgets must be placed "above the fold." (No more than 850 pixels from the top of the page.)"

There have been a lot of blogs not following this as of late.

Drop Entrecards Much Faster

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:34:00 +0000

Flash has become a serious problem on the web as more and more sites use this technology to deliver video and advertisements. Although it is considered the industry-standard, it still isn't optimized for your browser and can cause quite a bit of problems when you browse through sites.

With Entrecard, you try to view as many sites as possible, leaving comments, and interacting with blog owners. However, Flash is quite prevalent on these sites, and can quite often cause the browser to crash, leaving any additional tabs you had opened left to crash.

There are three tools that I want to mention to help remedy this problem.

1. Flashblock - This plugin is for Firefox users, and is ideal for blocking web video. While you can also block advertisements, ads are generally not the main cause of slow browsers, but instead the large videos that are strewn throughout the sites.

2. Toggle Flash - This plugin is for Internet Explorer users, who may want to disable Flash due to its overuse on the web.

3. ClickToFlash - This is a plugin for Safari on Mac OS X in order to help you block obtrusive Flash from loading.

I want to hear your thoughts about blocking Flash when browsing sites through Entrecard, and whether it has sped up the time it takes to "drop cards" each day.

Pricing of Entrecard Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:08:00 +0000

Entrecard has listed what you can get through their advertising program, and I'd like to share this information with anyone who may be interested in learning more about it.

For $25, you will receive 40,000 ad impressions across 20,000 blogs ($0.60 CPM) or 20,000 ad impressions across a targeted category ($1.20 CPM).

What do you think about these prices, and is it really worth it to advertise through the network, compared to just dropping your card on other blogs for "free?"

Earn 200 Credits Just for Joining!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:46:00 +0000

If you haven't already become a member of Entrecard, now is the best time, as you will earn 200 free credits just for joining!

Entrecard Continues Nose Dive in Traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:15:00 +0000

October wasn't a good month for Entrecard. Unique visitors dropped by nearly 7% in the month, with a drop of about 2% in total visits. Traffic remains fairly high, but you can see the progression in traffic declines.

Coming off a high of more than 1.7 million visitors in March, traffic is now at 1.1 million, and ranking is down 200+ sites.

While these figures can't really be viewed as 100% accurate, they can still give a good idea of the overall direction of site site - down. Not enough updates were provided, and the 15% reservation for their own ads also didn't appear to have a significant increase in their own traffic, but perhaps for new members, it did.

Additionally, you can't view this traffic as Entrecard's own, as it is a representation of clicks and views, as they serve the widget through their site. Perhaps the amount of traffic on the entire network has been decreasing at a fast rate, too.

What do you think about this decline?

Increasing Click-through to Your Widget

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:15:00 +0000

The Entrecard widget was designed to make it easy for others to advertise on your site and for other bloggers to earn credits/attract the blog owner to visit their site in return. However, like all bloggers, you need to increase traffic, and Entrecard's traffic can be optimized further if you follow some basic steps.

Place the widget in an area that everyone can see it. Typically, this will be above the fold (or within 1300 pixels of the top of the page.
Don't include too many images near the widget, or it will be harder to find when someone scrolls down your page.
Explain to your readers what Entrecard is and how they could benefit, including a link near your widget.
Don't necessarily use the word "ad" near the widget. People don't usually click on anything with this word, so use something more friendly like "friends" or "follow blogger." Hopefully you get the idea.
Ensure your theme doesn't break the widget. I've noticed a few blogs that have un-responsive widgets, which are preventing the rest of the site from loading. Obviously, you are doing a disservice to your blog advertisers and those who visit your blog looking to drop.

I hope these tips have helped you, and they should address some of the issues that I've noticed across some of the blogs on Entrecard. What other tips could you suggest to increase click-through rate for either advertisers or bloggers?

Advertising Rates on Entrecard (Under the New Ad System)

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:04:00 +0000

Within the new ad system (using 15% of their ad network), you can purchase advertising across all the member sites within Entrecard. I wasn't aware of this (the link is rather hidden on the homepage) mainly due to the fact that it wasn't promoted heavily. I figure they want more of the "outside" to advertise on the site, rather than purely the members.

I don't know how successful this has been - three of the ads that appear in my Sponsor Ads area are still from Entrecard. So, if this is true, they haven't enticed any long-term deals yet.

Pricing is $0.60 CPM for the entire network or $1.20 CPM for targeted categories (choose from one of over fifty categories). They will only accept 125x125 pixel advertisements, and a $25 minimum deposit is required.

The main benefits, as stated from this page are: maximum exposure and click-throughs, professional results, highly effective with detailed stats, and discounted rates.

What do you think of this pricing model (quite similar to the last time advertising was introduced) and how it is being marketed?

Entrecard Credit Pricing Reduced

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:00:00 +0000

You can now purchase Entrecard credits for half the price, they can be found on this page. However, it is slightly harder to compare the value, as the interval has also changed, as follows:

4,000 Credits - $12.00
6,000 Credits - $23.20
16,000 Credits - $44.80
32,000 Credits - $84.40
64,000 Credits - $166.40

Have you ever purchased credits through this manner?

Advertisement Credit Tax Lowered from 75% to 50%

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:19:00 +0000

In an effort to retain some of its users, Entrecard has changed the advertisement credit tax to 50%. So, if it costs 512 credits to advertise on your blog, you'll now receive 256 credits in return, rather than 128. The change will remain in effect for three months, unless some dramatic problem arises within the network to suggest that too many credits are maintained.

Please leave your thoughts on this here, and the discussion will continue.

September Entrecard Traffic Up Slightly

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 09:14:00 +0000

Taking a look at Entrecard's traffic, you'll find that it was up slightly for the month, but is down nearly half since its peak in the January to March period during this year, when unique visitors were over 1.7 million and total visitors were over 4.4 million. During September, traffic figures rose about 2.3%, to 1.2 million visitors, but total visitors were down nearly 5%.

I expect next month's traffic to be quite a bit lower unless something is done to combat the people who are quickly leaving the service and not staying on the site.

Something interesting to note, however, is the number of visitors not going to the Entrecard site. According to the sub-domains feature of Entrecard, about 6,700 visitors went to the www.entrecard.com website during the month of September, while the rest of the traffic (1.1 million unique visitors) came from serving advertisements (at adn.entrecard.com).

If these figures are anywhere near correct, this may be one of the reasons why Entrecard stopped offering advertisements on their blog and main page - the amount of traffic on their blog/website is extremely low. The only reason the site is even considered in the top 1,500 sites is because of the number of advertisements it serves.

Let's assume there are 26,000 legitimate sites within the network (an average of 500 sites per category). I'm sure that there are less than this, as there are only about thirty "expensive" sites, which are the primary users of the service at this time. There are quite a bit of sites within the 384-1024 credit/day range, with traffic of these blogs in the 3-10K range/monthly.

The most popular/highest costing site on Entrecard at this point receives about 14K visitors per month/45K total visits. It also means that the average Entrecard user (assuming all traffic is from Entrecard) visited the site three times during the month).

Apart from these higher-trafficked sites, the average site on Entrecard receives about 42 visitors per month. Again, this is assuming my estimates are correct, and they may not be - I am open up to discussion and dispute on this if more accurate figures can be proven.

There simply isn't any reason why traffic will increase during the next month across the network, and the main reason traffic will drop in the future will be when the more higher-trafficked sites begin leaving the service. Compete's traffic may be really wrong, as Quantcast estimates traffic at 61.2K, coming off of a maximum of 95.2K since the beginning of Entrecard. However, approximately 90% of the traffic is from "adn.entrecard.com," similar to Compete. I'd assume these figures are low, as "100%" of traffic is from the U.S., which it definitely isn't.

Please lave your thoughts on some of these figures, especially if you can add more specific information about the traffic and return that can be expected from the site.