Entrecard = Junk Traffic
Posted on January 12th, 2008 by DotComMogul under Advertising, EntrecardWelcome. If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Don't forget to leave a comment. I * DO * FOLLOW so you get a link back.
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After Blogrush hit the blogosphere, in comes Entrecard. Both are designed to bring traffic to your blogs. I’ve already removed Blogrush from my sidebar. I got tired of seeing links to all the “big” blogs and never getting more than 1 or two hits to mine from Blogrush. Now tell me, why should I give free advertising to the blogs that are already making a killing off of blogging. If they want to be featured here, they can buy an ad or review.
Entrecard is probably going to go also. With Entrecard, I am getting plenty of traffic, directly from Entrecard, but the traffic is about 70% junk traffic. You see, the only way to wrack up points to buy ads in Entrecard is to drop your Entrecard on other people’s blogs. Every time you do, you get a point and every time they do, I get a hit ….. but what kind of hit is it?
It’s pretty much like a drive-by ambush … a hit and run. They are dropping their Entrecards here as part of a massive campaign to get points and not staying to check out my blog. Therefore, it is completely useless traffic … except that it’s not. The main reason I joined Entrecard is to have the opportunity to get points to be able to buy advertising spots on popular blogs and it has accomplished that. I have sunk some time in it … dropping off Entrecards is a real time-sucking endeavor and not something that I can do for the long term in any significant manner.
Another puzzling thing is the people who have a high rate of rejecting ad offers. I already applied for three ad spots on two great blogs and got rejected. Why? I don’t know. My blog seems respectable enough. Not only that, but some blogs actually approve your advertising only to turn around and then reject it after you are in the que. Sorry, but that seems like a real asshole thing to do. You should take the time to check out a blog before you approve it and once you do approve it, you should honor that commitment.
So, at this point, I am still evaluating the pros and cons of Entrecard and if the time it takes to get enough points to purchase ads pays off big enough to be worth it. As for the traffic … 70% are card droppers who aren’t taking the time to read content but I do get points for it, so what the heck. 
Popularity: 1% [?]
January 13th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Who gives a damn if its junk traffic. Its still free. You shouldn’t ask yourself why Entrecard Traffic isn’t staying but what YOU can do to make THEM stay.
Bait them by making a post that will greatly interest the leechers. Little hint: topic concerning Entrecard always works and don’t forget to place the hyperlink directly under your widget.
January 13th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
It’s only free Neotrepreneur if your time is worth 0 … it takes tons of hours to keep getting points by dropping off your card on other sites… and of course, you’re not staying to read the blog, just dropping off your card to get those points. I have a lot of work to do every day and little time to drop off cards to get points.
January 14th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Well, I do have an Entrecard in my blog. But I haven’t thought about the point which u mentioned here. Now I should consider whether to have EntreCard or not.
January 14th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
yeah well for all that “junk traffic” which you have the opportunity to grab their attention, you’re also earning points every time someone drops their card, which you can use to buy text link ads, blog reviews, blog makeovers, wordpress themes, and more in the entrecard shop. entrecard is good.
January 14th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I’m pretty happy with Entrecard. To my mind, most of the card droppers are other blog owners, so I’m getting a steady stream of bloggers visiting, some of which end of linking to me or even posting about something on my site. In addition, I have discovered numerous quality blogs that I never knew about before. I have subscribed to feeds, posted them to social bookmarking sites and continue to read them regularly. I hope the same can be said about Entrecard visitors to my site.
None of this happened with Blogrush — it was a waste of time and ad space. Entrecard, on the other hand seems very worthwhile. Much of the traffic is undoubtedly junk, but there are a lot of gold nuggets in there as well. I don’t spend a lot of time chain dropping, I mainly visit sites that have visited me. Since I started getting a lot of Entrecard traffic, the cost to advertise on my site has rose high enough that I get plenty of credits without the need to spend excessive time dropping on other blogs.
So I wouldn’t write off Entrecard so quickly. Handled correctly, I think it can be be a very effective way of getting quality traffic and meeting new bloggers.
Regards,
Tom Bonner
http://alpahatracks.com
January 15th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I think the last commenter hit it on the head exactly. You aren’t getting junk traffic at all. Aren’t you running a blog about making money online? Aren’t all the blog owners “dropping cards” looking to make more money?
Even through google and other search engines you have a “bounce rate” of people that leave your site quickly. It’s your job to grab as many as you can in the first 30 seconds of their stay - which is why the section of your pages “above the fold” is so important.
Entrecard is about “networking” with other sites and blog owners, and their system forces you to discover over blogs. I’m sure you see the same blogs in your “inbox” every day. And by “dropping their card” so many times you can’t stand it anymore - the are building up their “brand” and recognition. How well you are know depends on how much networking you are willing to do in Entrecard yourself.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Well, I will hold off on doing away with it and test out the benefits for a longer period of time. My content is normally written to catch attention but it will not catch the attention of Entrecard powerusers who are just mechanically dumping cards to wrack up points with the goal of reaching their 300 per day limit. I try to make my content useful for real readers … something that others might use to benefit in their own blogs.
January 16th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Well, I think I might be insulted…I’ve never been called “junk traffic” before.
I am new to the whole blogging thing as well as to Entrecard. I always try to read at least one post while I’m dropping off my card and many times I try to leave through whatever blog advert you have on your Entrecard at the time.
I will admit that I am probably a more thoughtful person than most (so I’ve been told) and there are bloggers that just say “give me, give me”…”do something for me”, but they don’t want to take the time to “give you or do something for you”. But I still always try to reciprocate.
So, I guess I will keep plugging away at the whole Entrecard thing. Some traffic is better than none, I suppose.
Take care.
January 16th, 2008 at 11:43 pm
No offense intended Patricia. Obviously, if you read this post, you aren’t one of the 68% of Entrecard card droppers who visit here and stay less than 5 seconds, according to my stats.
January 17th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Like your blog. Tried to subscribe with your orange feed button in the top right but get an 404 error!
January 17th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Thanks for letting me know Cecile …. I just fixed it.
January 18th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
I do admit that I have just dropped cards without looking at some sites, but I have found some pretty good ones while dropping…..and some of those I linked to my blog and also read some posts and commented (like this one). So, we’re not ALL junk traffic.
I like Entrecard because it actually DOES provide traffic that Blogrush and some others haven’t, to my page. Hopefully a few of those people dropping cards will bookmark me or link to me.
January 18th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
For what it’s worth, I flound your blog through Entrecard. I am in the same situation as Patricia, where I have just started blogging. When visiting sites through Entrecard, there are some blogs that I visit where I don’t stay very long because the site doesn’t appeal to or interest me, but I am also finding a lot of great blogs with useful information.
Just thought I would add my .02, for what it’s worth
moneyloveandchange’s last blog post..Entrecard - a great way to begin networking
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I like Entrecard for not only bringing new visitors to my site but I have found a dozen or so new blogs that I have added their RSS feed to my reader. I have found blogs that I wouldn’t usually add to my reader that I think are interesting.
I thought I already knew all the blogs that I thought were popular in affiliate marketing but after surfing through Entrecard I found a few others that I have become a regular reader of.
Most importantly by finding these new blogs I am constantly learning something new every day.
Even if Entrecard only brings you a handful of new readers, isn’t it worth it for free advertising?