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New Entrecard Paid Advertising... Your Opinion?

Posted by Bl3ssed • 4/04/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: Advertising, blogging, entrecard, new feature

So, today the new "Paid Advertising" feature was released on Entrecard. Thus far it seems like nothing is fully settled and continuous changes are being made to the system. I'm not too sure how I feel about it right now. From what I've read about it, the current goal is to help the website make money. The advertising seems fairly cheap for the bloggers who are actually paying for it, which is just temporary I believe.

Then, on top of this they have a new cash out feature coming soon. This one was more interesting to me but the amount of information on it out there right now isn't all that detailed. Apparently the "Entre Credits" will be interchangeable to some extent with actual money. This is very intriguing. I wonder if the pay off will be similar to the costs of purchasing credits. Probably not, but yeah.

Your thoughts, feelings, or any more details you know would be cool.

Take Care

User Comments

4/05/09

WT

I find it very confusing. My EC blog accounts get 2 or 3 normal requests per day. I usually approve all of them. Now that EC has this new system, my small fairly inactive EC accounts are getting 30 to 40 paid ad request per day. The list just gets longer and longer. I don't see any way to globally reject or block all paid ads and it would be a huge wast of time to go down the list and reject one by one. I don't like it so far, but admittedly I don't fully understand how it is supposed to work.

[reply]
1. 4/06/09
  
  roentarre
  
  I found the approving process daunting too.
4/05/09

Bl3ssed

Well, to my understanding you can choose not to accept any at all or not have them show up on your account. You have to go to your "Advert Settings" or something of that nature. Honestly, it is slightly irritating, especially considering it doesn't benefit the person allowing the advertising at this point in time. I accept a few paid ads here and there to some blogs I'm familiar with or interested in simply to help out the Entrecard community. Though,I admit it's just a bit much. I think the system still needs to be worked on a bit more before it's finalized.

On a side note, I just checked and I have 34 paid ad requests... O_o Some are multiples of the same blog. Bah, *shrugs* Thanks for the reply!

Take Care

[reply]
4/05/09

Manz

I'm still on the fence... waiting to see how it all pans out! The benefits to users is not all that clear yet.

[reply]
4/05/09

codesucker

Entrecard will eventually upset the Google Monster. These are paid links.

[reply]
1. 4/05/09
  
  timethief
  
  Agreed. Google policy strongly opposes buying/selling links and hence purchase and sales of backlinks is violation of terms of Google.
  
  Entrecard brings in a traffic flood of one hit wonders that produce a very high bounce rate. You may gain some faithful readers but you will not gain many, so it makes sense to consider why you want to participate in a scheme that does not deliver targeted readers.
  
  If you care about Page rank then don’t purchase paid links as it is violation of Google terms, instead allow your blog to grow naturally and seek out ways and means to secure targeted readers. You can use techniques like article marketing, directory submissions, blog commenting, forum posting and other various techniques. While using directory submission technique it is highly recommended to do manual directory submissions to get your site listed in accurate category and also in order to get good approval ratio. Meanwhile work on improving your content.
4/05/09

Manz

Just read a blog post by codesucker - and the argument to leave EC is not new to me. However, reading it yet again has made me think it would be best to say goodbye to entrecard!!

[reply]
1. 4/06/09
  
  roentarre
  
  I have sent messages to Entrecard to close my account
4/05/09

libdrone

It is not at all clear When and for How Much Graham Langdon is planning to actually buy back credits accumulated by long time active EC members. But these blog posts give great cause for concern:

afrogtokiss.net/2009/04/01/exposed-entrecardcom-is-bad-business-and-useless...

afrogtokiss.net/2009/04/03/entrecard-exposed-monies-members-and-mayhem-part...

[reply]
1. 4/08/09
  
  melindaville
  
  This is very disturbing. I think I am going to take the widget off my blog.
4/06/09

Manz

I've now removed the EC widget from the blog I co-author... I just kept reading too many negatives!!

[reply]
4/06/09

sudam08

I have removed that months ago. It is not worth trying at the mature stage. But in the begining for the satisfaction of a new blogger entry card seems to be good. The bounce rate and just flying after dropping is really worrisome. It is for this reason i have removed that as that was only a waste of blog space. The ad now will benefit only the site and not the blogger. Thanks.

[reply]
4/06/09

Bl3ssed

Hmm... All of this definitley is food for thought. I wonder if the Entrecard Staff considered the possible Google backlash for this whole thing. It's kind of ridiculous and now I wonder if I should remove my widget. I've gained some regular readers but mostly just drop and dashers. The increase of traffic was beneficial in the beginning but the more I press forward the less Entrecard seems helpful. *thinks*

Thanks for all of the feedback guys, this is pretty wild.

[reply]