By Special Request

Today I am going to discuss Entrecard. This topic was suggested by one of my readers Tammy. Hi Tammy! If you are not a blogger I fear you may be bored to tears so I suggest that you read this post (one of my favorites) and come back tomorrow for entertainment. All others please continue reading; this may be very helpful for you.

Let’s start from the very beginning.

What is Entrecard? Entrecard is billed as the online equivalent to a business card. By “dropping” your entrecard on a person’s blog you are letting them know that you have visited and perhaps they will return the favor. Dropping your card provides you with an opportunity to be introduced to new blogs and network. With Entrecard you can easily find bloggers with similar interests because all blogs are categorized. You pick and choose the sites you want to visit.

What happens when you drop your card? You earn entrecard credits (E.C.s) every time you drop a card. You also receive E.C.s when someone drops a card on your site. These credits can be used to purchase advertising on Entrecard users blogs. You either accept or deny an advertising request. You can see this on my blog - the “blog of the day” is an entrecard user that has purchased the space from me. The price of your E.C. advertising space depends on the number of ads in line for your space. The more ads lined up the more expensive your space. Therefore the more E.C.s you earn.

And that my friends is a quick and dirty explanation of Entrecard.

There are two different schools of thought regarding Entrecard. I like to the call the first Power Droppers. Power droppers utilize Entrecard to drop as many cards as possible and to have those drops reciprocated. Most of these droppers leave 300 cards a day. You may be asking yourself why someone would do such a thing. Well if you drop 300 cards you will potentially have 300 unique visits each day to your blog. You earn E.C.s and you can buy more advertising space or you can also sell your E.Cs.

The second group of Entrecard users I will call the Networkers. They take a less aggressive approach to Entrecard, dropping anywhere from 1 – 100 per day and truly utilizing it as a way to network. These individuals may actually take the time to get to know the bloggers that they are dropping in on. Of course there are individuals that blend approaches and I believe that is self-explanatory.

Many people argue against Entrecard. They feel that many times visits are “false” visits and are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Others are pro Entrecard and want to be able to advertise, find new blogs, and increase their traffic. As for me, I am no Power Dropper. It is time consuming and I just can’t do it. When I first started using Entrecard I was clueless and didn’t understand it at all. So I left it alone.

I returned after hearing from numerous people that it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I had to figure it out. So by trial and error I did and now I drop from 50-100 cards per day. Initially I was a drop and go gal. But since I drop on the same blogs on a daily basis I stop at the ones that really interest me, read and leave comments. This has enabled me to connect with people I never would have found without Entrecard. By taking time to read the blogs I am also able to identify blogs that I would like to advertise on.

Is Entrecard for you? Only you can answer that question. What I will say is I have provided you with more information here than I started with so you are already ahead of the game. I ask that you help me out here by answer these questions: Has this been helpful for you? Or has this been a total waste of blog space?

Comments

Gem said…
I agree that you connect with people you wouldn't have connected with otherwise. Yes, there are those that drop simply to drop, but I have found many blogs that I enjoy reading. And I already found you through MBC before i joined Entrecard, and I enjoyed reading your blog (and checking out the cute diaper cakes) since I found you on MBC.

and congrats on the BlogHer write up!
Carol said…
Thank you for taking the time to post this, Rene'. I believe it will answer quite a few questions for folks not familiar with EC.
jen aka mommay said…
Thank you for posting this. I'm new to EC and didn't get some of the things! =)
Anonymous said…
Thank you for the mention of my name. I have not officially added it to my blog yet. I am doing some soul searching. I plan on making a post sometime soon in my final decision. I will post a link to your blog, if you don't mind, and let them read your take.

Congrats on the above post. In a hurry or else I would post a second comment.

Have a great day.
Weith Kick said…
Thanks for the tip Renee. Since I am relatively new to blogging I am trying to learn all I can, slowly but surely. I am going to forward this to my sister. She is also blogging crazy these days.
MaricrisG said…
I have tried this and earn quite a few "bucks" but gave it up. I guess I wasn't quite ready for it or didn't bother with the concept. They had some cheating going on and it was disappointing. I guess, some people take the entrecard challenge into a different level but yeah it is a good concept nonetheless. Maybe I should put it back! :)
Mitch said…
Thanks for the education. This thing isn't for me though. That's just me. I don't want to beg anyone to visit -- that's not what I'm there for. If someone likes it, then please visit me (and of course leave a comment!) However, I don't hold anything against any one who does use it!
JenEverAfter said…
I appreciate your thoughts on it. I was just reading on another blog against entrecard, but he had an entrecard ad on his site. Weird huh?
Hadn't even heard of it, so your description was helpful and explanatory. I'll have to check it out.
Rachel said…
Thanks for this article! I joined EC recently, but am just starting to figure out how to use it.
Dori said…
I'm new to Entrecard.I enjoyed reading your article and I learned some things. Thanks.

Dori
Shades of Pink said…
I just joined entrecard yesterday or the day before. I had no idea what I was getting into and the emails I kept getting were confusing. Thank you for posting this for clarification. I would have to vote NOT a waste of blog space! :)
Anonymous said…
I just signed up with entrecard about an hour ago, thanks for explaining it to me in English. Your little boy is adorable, btw. Thanks again.
BeebaBottoms said…
I guess I;m the networking type... I'll drop if I'm on a site with a card already, but I don't go looking for them... personally, I think that kind of drop is higher quality traffic anyway. btw, ever thought of doing CLOTH diaper cakes? they'd be more expensive to make, but you could also sell them for more, and you would have a corner in the market... I thought of doing it, but making the diapers is time consuming enough. However, if you used a mixture of good prefolds, covers, and fitted Diapers, maybe with a few extra nice embroidered diapers in the mix, I bet you could find a combo that works... I could even be a supplier for some of the diapers if you wanted. Just a thought. I may still do it myself, for all I know... I never have let go of the idea entirely.
hippos toes said…
This is fabulous information!! Thank you so much for posting it. I have just joined EC and I was quite confused and have left it alone, but the way you put it makes so much sense.

Thank you!

Popular Posts