Upset With Entrecard

I happened to chanced upon a thread in Entrecard’s forum about JohnCow.com ditching entrecard and it linked back to a post in his own blog. I went to read the post to find out why a high profile blogger like him would ditch Entrecard and reading through the post I felt that he is kinda upset (maybe not) because a blogger with very few RSS subscriber surpassed his popularity within the Entrecard community.

He also mentioned that bloggers are gaming the system but dropping your card on hundreds or even thousands of blogs every day does not increase your popularity which is measured by your blog’s Ad Rate because ad rate is computed by the number of drops received by your Entrecard widget and not the other way around. So, the way I understand this is that even if you don’t drop cards but members continue to drop cards on you then you’ll be popular and have a higher advertising rate than other blogs. If 100 members dropped their cards on you then your blog’s ad rate will be 200 EC and you don’t have to drop any card to get that. Besides, I haven’t seen a blog that has a very low ad rate reach the Most Popular page. O_o

What’s really funny is this. He recommended that:

“Getting more popular because cards are getting dropped on your blog is a natural and organic type of growth, which would be a more accurate reflection of the popularity of a blog in the place where it really matters - the blogosphere. - JohnCow.com“

Which is how the Entrecard system works. You get more popular when people drop their cards on you or when you receive drop cards. Dropping hundreds of cards a day will not increase your blog’s EC Ad Rate (but it will increase your credits).

This was also mentioned by a commentator on JohnCow.com named Graham Langdon (not sure if he is the same Graham Langdon of Entrecard but his name is linked to it though but let’s just assume he is):

“I’m not sure if you are aware, but the formula used to determine popularity has absolutely nothing to do with how many cards you drop. The exact formula is (the number of drops you receive on your widget per day) x 2.

So, when you say that “getting more popular because cards are getting dropped on your blog… would be a more accurate reflection of popularity” you are actually describing the exact way the system works.”

Here is what Entrecard’s FAQ page has to say:

“So, if a blog receives 100 cards on average per day, it costs 200 credits to advertise on their blog. This helps ensure that the economy balances. - Entrecard”

At first, I thought that by dropping hundreds of cards everyday will increase my ad rate that’s why I tirelessly drops cards on all the blogs I encounter but after knowing how Ad Rate increases, I stopped that insane process and just placed my Entrecard widget above the fold so droppers can easily find it.

My guess is that he is either just upset because someone surpassed his popularity or he just want to leave the system with a BANG! In either case, he is doing a great job at it. Bloggers are currently having a feast day on it. LOL!

Anyway, just to be clear. Dropping your cards get you credits which you can then use to buy ads from member blogs and it also gives your own blog exposure because dropped cards appear on the receivers inbox.

Now, to become popular and to increase your Ad Rate you must receive dropped cards. The more cards you receive the more popular you’ll be and the higher your ad rate will become. A good way of encouraging people to drop cards on your Entrecard widget is to place it above the fold. Above the fold means the section of your blog that is seen without having to scroll down which is commonly the top most area of your blog.

Entrecard is a very good way to get some exposure for your blogs. Yes, the bounce rate is high because most visitors are going to be “drop and go” visitors but it’s a start because once you get enough credits then you’ll be able to buy ads from member blogs. These blogs will then show your Entrecard on their blogs which their visitors can click to visit your own blog.