Today.com made this announcement concerning Entrecard:
Instead of forcing you to take the widgets down and then having to police everyone’s blogs we’re changing the initial 2 weeks notice that the widget must be removed. Now, as of 4/7/09 we will no longer be paying for traffic from Entrecard.
If you still find value in the traffic without being paid for it then you’re free to leave the widget up, however, no paid ads must be shown on it.
What does this mean? Well to put it simply, it means Today.com blogs can continue to use Entrecard, except the traffic will be discounted.
Of course, it isn’t that simple. The only way Today.com can judge where the traffic is coming from is by the referral. Hint: The toolbar doesn’t show Entrecard as the referral. As well, the referral only shows on the initial page view. Even if a visitor comes directly from the Entrecard website and views more than one page, it will count all pages but the initial.
I know, I know, this still doesn’t sound too promising since some members still don’t use the toolbar and only visit one page. So that is a bit disheartening; however, Entrecard still offers a way for members to connect and grow audiences by gaining exposure.
Whenever another blogger links to a Today.com blog, said blog gains exposure. If someone clicks on the link, the Today.com blogger will still get paid. What is the likelyhood of this happening? It is better than you might think.
Take a look at your stats. What were they like before Entrecard? What are/were they like during Entrecard? Do you see a difference? Most likely you have gotten at least a few links to your blog since you joined. This isn’t a coincidence. Bloggers love to link. Actually, that is what they are suppose to do. Even when a link is displayed in ‘nofollow’ the link is still a link and visitors from the linking source will still click.
Top drop lists, featured blogs of the day, and even contests offer great ways for bloggers to receive links.
Of course, you will obviously receive less revenue due to the changes, but don’t let this get you down. Use this as a learning experience and make the best out of it. Change your dropping style to conform to Today.com and find those who will give you traffic which pays.
Written: Apr 6, 2009
Chameleon
April 7, 2009 @ 4:58 pm
A couple of things: first, I have two Today.com blogs that will stay with Entrecard. In addition, I added two non-Today blogs to EC so that I can participate in the paid ad system and support the community that way. I have no issue whatsoever with not getting paid by Today.com for EC views. I figured it was going to come to that pretty soon anyway. They’re being pragmatic – very little EC traffic converts, therefore it’s not making money for Today.
On the other hand, I as a blogger find a great deal of value in EC traffic. High bounce rate? Sure, for a good chunk of the traffic that’s speed-dropping. However, EC has brought me people who read and comment on my posts, engage in discussion, email me when I don’t post to make sure that I’m all right and – yep, link to my posts. I’m more than willing to wait out the changes and see how things go because those things are all pretty valuable to me.