Entrecard is a fairly huge community. And just like any online community, there are different ways and paths to it. There are a lot of things to do in Entrecard and those vary much between individual Entrecard users.And human nature it is that we make up speculations, conclusions and unwritten laws among ourselves in becoming successful in the EC feat. Some of those prove to be successful and necessary while some end up being useless ones. Let's see a couple of these so-called Entrecard myths that need some explaining.
- Dropping 300 EC a day will bring you instant fame
One of the most common myths in EC. I once dropped 300 EC a day for my first blog. But now I don't as it is tiring. Anyways, exhaustively dropping 300 (and sometimes more) ECs everyday is no guarantee that your blog will get famous in an instant. Content is always king. And Entrecard rank isn't even in the royal family. What dropping 300 a day does is to increase the chances of your blog being exposed to a lot of bloggers or readers. It doesn't directly mean fame. Don't be dependent. But I don't discourage you from such actions. Drop 300 when you can. Just don't let it get along the way of some of your other priorities. - Your blog is famous because you are one of the Most Popular
I really don't want to term this self-deception. Entrecard is not even half of the blogosphere. And your search engine readers don't come from Entrecard. I was once in the Top 50 Most Popular blogs in Entrecard for my first blog and I tell you, it is really a great experience seeing your blog side by side with the other top blogs. But let me stress this: your blog is not famous in general just because your blog is in Entrecard. Most blogs stumble and fall when they leave Entrecard. I'm telling you, be happy when your blog gets to the top in EC. But don't get confident too. That's the worst thing you can do. - Power dropping is beneficial to you
True! How? Power dropping will make you drop 300 or more EC a day very fast. Think how fast hit-and-run is. Personal results are rewarding, but you may be screwing up other blogs' bounce rates. Careful, careful! - A higher ad price means higher clicks to your site
I once got fooled by this one. This is not so all the time. Although I attest that this is true for The Ad Master, I don't think all those with high prices can provide you more blog visitors from your ads. You actually have to measure if the price you paid is actually worthy of the amount of clicks you received. You can see this on the last table for the stats page of your Entrecard account. Listed on that table are the blogs where you advertised on and the credits per click, that is, the actual amount a click is given from that blog. It is better to base your ad purchasing on this than on the table that shows # of clicks. But it's all your choice. If you don't care, well, don't care about this too much. - Visiting only the Most Popular blogs everyday is actually a good thing
Yes and no. Yes in a sense that you are assured that these guys do drop back. They wouldn't be there on top when they don't drop back on their droppers. But the bad thing is less exposure. Always take time to drop on other blogs using categories instead as a selector. It is always good to spread word of your blog's existence. There's a chance that a number of even those you drop less frequently would go back your blog often if they like it.
Those are actually some of the common Entrecard myths that some of us usually do treat as dogmas. Entrecard is actually a very good community. I'm saying amidst the negative sides I see and I'm being unbiased. Entrecard is very supportive. But like any other system, it is imperfect. Those myths can actually be cleared if you are being critical on your thoughts about Entrecard. The myths nor the truths behind it are not the standards. Like any other community, do what you love doing just as long as you follow their general guidelines. Other than the guidless, it is up to you. Happy dropping droppers!
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25 comments:
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:36:00 PM GMT+08:00
I was once a 600-card-a-day dropper (2 blogs) but a few months back I decided not to drop too much. It's true I got famous and I got more friends and some people looked up to me because my face graced on the top categories of Entrecard.
Now I drop less, because I still want to retain those readers that I gained from Entrecard. As you see I've explored other networks too.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:42:00 PM GMT+08:00
@Gem,
Yes, I've also tried dropping 600 drops a day before (for this and my first blog) and I get stressed everyday. So I decided to slow down. I agree with the effects of being on top of the other entrecard blogs. It really is a personal satisfaction.
I won't leave EC though. There are still a lot of great blogger here! :)
Tuesday, January 27, 2009 10:55:00 PM GMT+08:00
I also drop my card not up to 300 per day. Although I believe on the power of its to my traffic. I need a relax time and try to use the others way too.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1:06:00 AM GMT+08:00
I've gone through phases of dropping 300 cards every day. Over the past month I've been doing pretty well.
I did a bit of numerical analysis on EntreCard and note a few things.
First off, consistently dropping 300 cards a day is likely to make you one of the more popular sites. That is, with popularity defined as the number of people that drop cards on you back.
I don't have my statistics in front of me, but I seem to recall that for every four cards I drop, three people drop cards back.
This also gives you credits that you can use for advertising. I don't recall the exact statistics for advertising, but it is something like, for every four credits you advertise with you get an additional drop.
So, for each 300 cards you drop, if you do it reasonably, you should get around 300 drops back. 300 drops should equal 300 unique visits. However, some of the visits are from people with multiple blogs, and some, for some reason or another, never end up showing up in Google Analytics
In my case, I'm finding about 120 unique visitors a day as a result of EntreCard. A nice little boost.
However, as you note, content is king. I suspect if I wrote better content, I'd see a slightly higher number and if I wrote worse content, I'd see a slightly lower number.
Other things that are important, and here is a place where EntreCard can help, is the interaction you have with other people via the blogs. I've commented here before. You've commented on my blog before. It is about building community, and adding comments helps.
Again, this takes us back to content. If you write good content, you are more likely to get more comments.
This takes me to my thoughts about power dropping. If you power drop, you don't add comments, and you miss a very important aspect of what EntreCard can bring.
Now, to my final point. I vary the way I find blogs on EntreCard. I don't go to just the most popular. I don't go just to people that have dropped on me or advertised with me.
I like to go and visit sites that I've found that I like and I like to find new sites. Again, its about community. Make new friends and keep the old, as the kids song used to go. The most popular list just isn't a good tool for me.
So, my thoughts on this topic.
Aldon
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 1:14:00 AM GMT+08:00
Good article! Hello! Great blog, I drop on it often! I started a Ring for dedicated Entrecard bloggers who are dedicated bloggers. Consider joining? :) http://www.ringsurf.com/ring/nr2856/
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:10:00 AM GMT+08:00
Didn't understand the post Bryan - I need to find out what Entrecard is and come back to it. But thanks for letting me know it's out there!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 4:15:00 AM GMT+08:00
Great point!
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 9:35:00 AM GMT+08:00
@traffic and seo,
Good choice. It is always good to distribute our time evenly on our daily tasks. I have noticed before that dropping the maximum amount can really take up much of my time leaving sometimes none to some of my tasks.
@orient-lodge.com,
I always appreciate your comments, they're really informative and helpful. I agree with everything you said. I couldn't say more. And yeah, content is really king, no matter what. Thank you for this comment! See you around.
@Sweepstakes Girl,
Thanks for the offer!
@Mike,
I just saw you're not with Entrecard. Entrecard is a community, more of a traffic exchange system but way more than that. You can check our Entrecard.com or you could ask me for more details. Thanks.
@Rose Works Jewelry,
Thank you.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:01:00 AM GMT+08:00
Bai, I have an entry card account but dili pajud ko kasabot how it works... i tried to make an account pero dili man ko ka log in adto oi...
i don't know if makaregister pako..i'll make another account try ra nako...
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:11:00 AM GMT+08:00
@Lance,
Nag-outage pa ang Entrecard karon jud mismo. Try lang unya.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009 10:22:00 PM GMT+08:00
I dropped 300 cards once since joining EC,and did not think the time involved was worth the result myself.I have been with EC since almost day one,and find the community as a whole well worth being a member.
Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:39:00 AM GMT+08:00
Hi, I am fairly new to Entrecard and I am still learning about all of its benefits. However, I don't know how anybody can have time to drop 300 per day. I'm amazed.
It's a lot of work to review the sites and I also like to leave comments when relevant and pertinent.
This was good reading, thanks for the information.
Thursday, January 29, 2009 3:35:00 PM GMT+08:00
wen i had joined entrecard newly ... i used to drop more then 200 ec a day but nowadays have lessen the process ... and i think visitors from ec are not much valuable on my blog
Thursday, January 29, 2009 7:18:00 PM GMT+08:00
@steven wilson,
It all depends really if the effort spent on dropping is really worth it. Anyways, being an Entrecard member itself is really a big advantage already.
@Lisa,
Others can even drop 900 drops or more a day. Good luck with your EC time!
@Lifted trucks,
Well that's your opinion. I believe that your blog niche also will make you decide if a community like EC is worth joining. Thanks!
Friday, January 30, 2009 3:24:00 AM GMT+08:00
Very informative. Sounds like an interesting community. I took a look at it awhile ago, but it seems to work better with a standard blog format.
I think the widget would look odd on a magazine-style set-up like mine. Looks good on blogs though and I'm sure it helps with traffic.
Saturday, January 31, 2009 8:58:00 AM GMT+08:00
@Gennaro,
I saw a lot of magazine style WP blogs also using Entrecard. The community is undeniably a good one.
Sunday, February 1, 2009 2:44:00 AM GMT+08:00
Like you I can't leave Entrecard. I've tried inviting some readers to other social networks, but most of them are comfortable with EC.
So I decided to bookmarks blogs from loyal readers instead.
Sunday, February 1, 2009 2:58:00 PM GMT+08:00
@Gem,
Yep, seems like a lot of us depend much on EC. It's actually not a bad thing but total dependence is.
Sunday, February 1, 2009 8:50:00 PM GMT+08:00
Some good points.
I currently use Entrecard a lot, but the plan is that my blog will get to such a stage that it won't need it anymore. Still a long way from that yet, though.
Monday, February 2, 2009 12:30:00 PM GMT+08:00
@Brian Karl
I'll have to check their site more carefully then. I'd like to see placements on magazine-style sites.
Monday, February 2, 2009 6:00:00 PM GMT+08:00
@Hindleyite,
Same as me. Long way to go before I could completely leave Entrecard.
@Genarro,
You can visit other Entrecarders' blogs too. http://theadmaster.net/ is magazine-style and uses Entrecard.
Friday, February 6, 2009 1:16:00 AM GMT+08:00
half of my visitors actually do come from EC, and i'm glad that when i didn't drop for a long time there were still people from EC visited me. But dropping 300ec per day seemed impossible to me as i don't get much time to blog. the highest drop per day that i tried only 62 and it was taking hours of my time.
btw, nice post.
Friday, February 6, 2009 8:39:00 PM GMT+08:00
@headed to nowhere,
Hey there!
Haha if dropping eats much of your time, try some dropping technqiques like using NoScript. And thanks dude!
Sunday, February 8, 2009 12:48:00 AM GMT+08:00
i've read somewhere that you can't drop and run (meaning you just drop without reading the blog). i don't remember where but it says if entrecard suspects that, your account will be suspended. how true is this?
thanks
Sunday, February 8, 2009 9:00:00 AM GMT+08:00
@Alem,
They can detect if you use some kind of software to do it but if you do it manually, they wouldn't catch you unless they're on your back watching. :)
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