In the past, I have actively wrote about how great Entrecard is for bloggers. The service allows for bloggers to receive traffic right off the bat–something other services just don’t offer.
If you don’t know what Entrecard is, it is a service in which you gain credits for dropping and receiving your internet business card.
With such a large network, Entrecard is bound to have some problems.
- Spyware. If you are like the many Entrecarders who use the service daily, you have probably found one or two blogs which have tried to infect your computer with some form of malware. This is a large problem which can’t be fixed. Even if the service did check sites one by one, a blogger could easily add the malware after being added/checked. The only way to remove the sites is if a member of Entrecard reports it.
- Poor content. Many websites using the service have poor or no real content. Splogs were a major problem several months ago and will continue being a problem in the future. But besides that, when I am surfing the system I notice many blogs who have not updated in months. And these are blogs we are talking about. Why should I drop my card on someone who doesn’t even update? Another question, why do they bother dropping when they haven’t updated in months?
- Small blog heaven. This is both a negative and a positive. Small blogs rule Entrecard and always will. With this in mind, it pushes large blogs away from the service. Traffic is only large enough to benefit those who are in need of small amounts of traffic. The positive? Small blogs are generally more acceptable to linking out.
- Widget is large. Entrecard was released with the concept of 125×125 ads in mind. That is what is uploaded and used. However, the choice of widget is the 127×148, 200×127, and the 250×127. The size just doesn’t fit in most ad spaces.
- Traffic is mostly from Entrecarders. The majority of traffic comes from other Entrecarders who are blog hopping–either using the toolbar, clicking on ads, or going through the site lists. This is good to an extent–bloggers are the most likely to give free links; however, this is also a negative in that the average web surfer doesn’t view the ads as often as one would hope.
You might be thinking, “What about the amount of time?” Well Fran, you aren’t required to drop cards. The only thing you are required to do is add the widget to your site.
In conclusion, I love the service, but I also realize the disadvantages the system holds. Changes need to be made and I don’t have the answer on how it could be fixed.
Written: Sep 12, 2008
Tags: blogging, entrecard, Web Development
Earnblogger
September 13, 2008 @ 4:44 am | Reply
The first point is really serious. Actually I was thinking about writing a blog post on that aspect. While browsing some blogs in the ‘Computers and Internet’ section of Entrecard, I always face this problem. My security software prevents anything and everything suspicious. So, it results in Firefox crash, whenever I open those blogs (by mistake). Entrecard must look towards this.
Dennis Edell
September 13, 2008 @ 3:05 pm | Reply
I’ve never looked towards EC for traffic purposes, that;’s just a bonus.
It is however one of my greatest finds so far for networking with like-minded individuals and bloggers.
Jamie
September 13, 2008 @ 6:21 pm | Reply
Tighter control on Splogs and a *your account will be terminated unless you make a blog post at least every 30 days* rule would be nice.
Sanjo-chan
September 15, 2008 @ 5:12 am | Reply
I think Entrecard should have more categories… The niche of my blog is very spread out between the Gaming, Entertainment and Hobby categories. They did it with Web Comics, which I personally don’t think fits Entrecard, but meh…
I did a similar post about this a while back. I have thought about removing the widget altogether, but if you write good articles, even if it’s a post outside your topic, it pays off. And I agree with the widget size…I would like to see a widget where you can hover over the banner to get the drop button so it can blend in with your other 125×125 banners (to even up the pixels at the bottom, hehe)–if you have them– and save sidebar space.
Harish
September 21, 2008 @ 5:22 am | Reply
Hey even though there are some rectifications to be made in entre card.Its a good service