If you are a profit-driven blogger like me, there are many sites, services, and offers always begging for your attention. If you get sucked into one that doesn’t provide value, It can waste days, weeks, and months of your time causing you to miss out on earnings. Currently, I’m trying to decide how much time I should spend at Entrecard. I’ve been back using it again for almost 2 months and found that the referral traffic has been negligible. Entrecard may have other benefits for me though, which I am explore in this post.
The way Entrecard works is this: Users click on each others’ widgets and earn “EC” credits for doing so. These credits can then be used to “buy” a 125×125 ad space on a chosen blog for usually a day but deals can be made privately for longer amounts. This past week, Entrecard introduced paid ad services to external advertisers. This has created more than one some disgruntled EC user because most the ad spots are not other bloggers as they used to be. Those spots are now movie ads and everything else you see on any advertisement on the web.
Entrecard has attempted to appease the community by allowing users to “cash in” their EC’s at a payout rate of $1 per 1000 EC units. Since I know Entrecard is not bringing me an exceptional amount of referral traffic, I decided to test the profitability of this for me. I conducted a short experiment. Here is how my experiment went.
First, I needed to know my speed at which I could “earn” EC’s. In 1 hour I dropped 144 times, reading and commenting once in a while. I tried to keep my pace comfortable, normal, and non-rushed to get a valid reading. It should be noted that EC dropping can become a “game” of speed where the blogs one clicks on are never read. When I checked the bounce rate of my EC “spikes” in traffic” I noticed they were always 100% (which means the reader came and left without reading my blog). I try to read blogs I drop on. If used conscientiously, Entrecard can be just like a giant “Google Reader” or Blogroll providing you with a list of blogs to visit. It can be the same except of course, you are earning EC credits while you “make your rounds.”
Based on the new Entrecard payout rate, I made about .14 cents an hour. This means, to make one dollar, I’d have to drop at this pace for roughly 7 hours. That’s not including the estimated 1,000 more per week I’d need to purchase (minimally) their advertising process for my blogs. That’s another 7 hours.
So what does that equal? This: To make $1/week through Entrecard drops and still use their low-return traffic referral ads, it will cost me about 14 hours a week. To me, that is not a valuable use of my time.
But wait! In attempt to get all points of view on Entrecard out there, I consulted my good friend Justin. He has been a prominent user of Entrecard since he started blogging a year ago. He is averaging 700 visits a day currently. In an email recently, he mentioned another aspect of the service I knew nothing about. It’s called “The Marketplace” and it could be a reason for me to hang out at Entrecard. Only time will tell. Here’s what he had to say:
“Far better way than dropping to earn traffic. Use the Entrecard Marketplace to make money. People charge 10 or 50 EC to DIGG or Stumble a post. Or even charge 1000 or 3000 EC to write a 200 word guest post. Using this method people make thousands of EC’s per week and never do a single drop. Think of this, 50 people purchase your 50ec stumble/dig, and you spend what 30 minutes doing 50 Stumble/Digg’s and you make 2500 EC? This would be $2.50 per hour true, but these are just examples.”
And this:
“I charged 5000ec for a 1 month 125×125 spot on my blog and 2 people bought, that is how I made 10,000 EC without doing any work. So same as being paid $5 per month right?”
In conclusion:
Entrecard is a very organized service and I enjoy using it as a blogroll or RSS reader. I also appreciate the way the admin states the users are the most important thing. This, however, is not evidenced in their payout rate for EC’s. A blogger could make more money writing 50 cent sponsored posts. The marketplace is a new aspect I haven’t checked out yet. It may draw me back in to drop more. If I find, as Justin has suggested, that EC credits can buy me items that significantly increase my traffic, then I will be interested. I will report my findings on the marketplace in a future post. I’ve almost gathered enough data to write part II and answer the question in the title.
Please share your opinion: what is the value of Entrecard to a blogger?
13 Comments
Ya well whatever. Entrecard demanded a link spot higher than my better traffic generators, and I had to devote time and energy for it even to do that.
-Per my refusal, the thugs deleted my account (with around 1000 credits) without honoring the advertising they facilitated and I approved … ads purchased before they tried to flex their macho BS.
Entretard is HISTORY, and I’ll be leaving more than flowers on that grave, I PROMISE.
I dont understand the demanded a link spot higher? I was able to purchase 20 DC comic books for my five year old and only paid like 2500 EC included shipping is just one physical item.
Non-physical I purchased a dozen digg/stumbles one night and had a huge surge in traffic to some AC articles. Pay people to stumble your AC articles since you get paid for pageviews you can get some good surges.
That’s nice you profited, but Entretard was ranked #4 on my blog, and that was already disproportionately high -I could not in good conscience rank them over better services.
And I didn’t really complain until their ultimate fatal mistake and they breached the contract between myself and their advertisers. Those advertisers bought my #4 spot, and Entrecard decided it wanted to try and swing some extra leverage for more.
It’s a criminal and totally dishonorable enterprise, and I’ll be looking forward to watching Graham Langdon (and staff) wither and die into bad internet history.
Of course by that time Graham Langdon will be in Fiji.
-But I’m on record. The entire experience is well-documented on my blog.
I may be mistaken, but isn’t the bounce rate those that leave your site on the same page that they arrived? A person who is following your blog regularly can easily read the latest post and leave by the same page, thereby looking as if they might have just dropped and left. That’s something I’m considering with my own blog. I despise the blogs that give excerpts and you have to click on “read more” to finish reading the post, but at least people who actually read the latest post aren’t contributing to the bounce rate.
Entrecard is my major source of referral traffic.
Since I’m not blogging to make money, I don’t really care. I just don’t like having paid advertisements on my blog…
I suspect that if you are looking at EntreCard as anything but a source of additional traffic, you are likely to disappointed.
Personally, I don’t think getting paid 1000 to 3000 credits (the equivalent of $1 to $3) for writing a 200 word blog post is particularly compelling. I value my writing much more than that.
As to the traffic, yes, it does have a high bounce rate. People look at the front page and then move on. As a general rule, I don’t mind that. I want my regular readers to find what they want when they visit, so a high bounce rate is actually a good thing.
What is more important is time on site. EntreCard readers tend to spend very little time on my site. The skim my articles and move on. I would rather have readers that become more engaged, the way my readers do from Facebook or Twitter.
The other thing to keep in mind, is that when people frequently see the same blog, providing it isn’t overkill, they are more likely to pay attention to it and people who have often skimmed my blog have eventually become regular readers.
So, I find EntreCard of some value for attracting new readers. However, we must recognize what Lobo said. EntreCard is one of the worst run organizations I have ever come across. Use them as long as they are useful, but expect them to do additional dumb things that will drive away good readers and writers.
My two cents…..
This is one of those situations where I cringe. Google mail is apparently falsely identifying comment notifications as email spam and I’m missing them. Sorry I took so long to reply everybody.
I feel like Entrecard is something people recognize as helpful, at whatever level you define that. I also recognize there are many I have run across recently who are downright pissed and alienated by the company. I really feel the $6 cost and $1 payout of an EC is beyond insulting but then again, it’s not my company so I don’t know what precipitated that “economy.”
The ebay style marketplace is worth checking out. I have started a service there helping people with Social Media and gotten a nice response. There is a lot of selling of links going on in there though that I am not comfortable with and I don’t think Google will be either.
As with anything, be wise and I applaud people who speak out on their blogs about unfair tactics. For me so far Entrecard has not done me wrong, but I empathize with the complaints I have heard so far. Great business growing pains or precedent for bad business? Only time and Entrecard’s decisions will dictate that.
Thanks to all for your input. Please feel free to continue this discussion here.
I have been using EC for a couple of months aswell. You are right referral traffic is negligible. I average maybe 10 per day if lucky. I have been sucessful selling in the market but the rates right now are verylow. I think I am wasting my time but i have yet to find anything better. I do find it outrageous that they in essence closed the forums yesterday. I have a blog forum and I added an EntreCard section if anyone is interested in venting or discussing EC on a forum. I welcome everyone at http://blogfluence.com/forum . I am trying to get the word out some those in the EC community can still connect with each other in a forum atmosphere. Please help me spread the word.. Thanks.
Sadly I have to say that entrecard has none of the same value it had initially when I first used it. To me the changes they have made have only made it worse, not better.
The ONLY value to a blogger to use entrecard is to network with other bloggers and make friends. (That’s how I think I found your site oh so long ago!)
If the objective is to make money and be productive though…then you’ve got to go after search traffic in my opinion. IMBL gets roughly 1500 visitors a day, about 80% of them from search engines… I’d go crazy trying to get that many visitors through social networking alone!
I am new to Entrecard, so I’m still using it to network with other bloggers. I hadn’t made it over to the Marketplace to see what it was all about, so I’m glad that you explained what it is. For someone who is new to it the descriptions on their site are not worded in the clearest manner, so any clarifications are always appreciated.
@Chelle: That is truly a staggering stat. Great job. I’ve been meaning to say hi more! Pardon my crazy schedule I am on the way there ;)
@Tina T: There is so much about blogging and the web that is alien to me. There really is no shortcut other than getting friends to explain it. Keep up your curiosity that is also a great tool for success.
Hi Readers: I’ve been trying out the Marketplace and a few new tricks to be a better dropper. Sorry about the wait. Look for my update on Entrecard value soon.