Blazing Minds » Entrecard

Did Removing Entrecard From My Blog Make Any Difference

Karen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 07:31:08 +0000

Sometime back I mentioned that I was going to remove the EntreCard widget from my blog, so has it made any difference since removing the widget from Blazing Minds?

Well to put it simply, no!

I think it all boils down to the fact that since Blazing Minds has taken off more than I would have dreamed of and to those Guest Bloggers that have written some pretty amazing Guest Posts, the traffic hasn’t diminished at all and the traffic is still coming in strong from the various sources where Blazing Minds can be found such as the search engines, social networks etc.

So as long as you blog has taken off and is past the infant stage and has good followers, commentators that enjoy reading the blogs posts and those that are willing to either ReTweet your posts or spread them on other social networks, then that is probably the time start reducing widgets that are of no longer of any use on your blog.

Don’t get me wrong, EntreCard has brought to my attention some great blogs which I do still read, via my trusty RSS Reader, but as time has gone by, time is tight and dropping via the EntreCards was not on my list of top priorities.

It’s now down to blogging and keeping my readers interested in the article etc that are posted here on Blazing Minds, so shouts out to my Guest Bloggers, Commentators and those of you who are avid fans of the bizarre world of the Blazing Minds blog

Wow Blazing Minds Has Really Grown!, Tweaks And Plugins For Current And Future Guest Posters, Do You Make These 5 Costly Blogging Mistakes When You Blog?

Did Removing Entrecard From My Blog Make Any Difference is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

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EntreCard brings us Sponsored Ads! But we Don’t Want Them!

Karen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:32:14 +0000

I have been a member of EntreCard for quite a while now, but in their wisdom they have decided to introduce “sponsored” ads!

These will force EntreCard users to display ads on their blogs that they do not want to show and worse still they could be for anything and that is something that I just don’t want.

Recently I was reading the blog of Greg Matthews and he mentioned three choices that EntreCard users now have, these are:

1. Accept the fact that EC are going to advertise on your blog, even advertising sites that you disagree or compete with.

2. Pay $50/year to not be forced to display these ads

3. Leave Entrecard altogether.

I am personally thinking of leaving EntreCard as I’m not happy with the whole situation of these ads through EC, the point of EC was to drop on other sites to gain credits and get dropped on by other users to get credits.

So let’s see how this goes… But it doesn’t look promising!

Related Posts
I’m not sure if I should drop EntreCard or not!, Entrecard.com, Inc. has been acquired by ZipRunner Inc., The Last Day For EntreCard!

EntreCard brings us Sponsored Ads! But we Don’t Want Them! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

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Top 10 EntreCard Droppers – August 2009

Karen — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 07:51:16 +0000

Wow isn’t it amazing how the months seem to fly by at the moment, it onl;y seems like yesterday that we were at the beginning of the month, so without further chatter here is my list of top 10 EntreCard droppers for the month of August:

So there you have it, the top 10 EntreCard droppers! A big thank to the top 10 and also to those that have dropped on my EntreCard

Related Posts
Top EntreCard Droppers for September, Top EntreCard Droppers for July, April Top 10 Entrecard Droppers

Top 10 EntreCard Droppers – August 2009 is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

EntreCard has even more changes for droppers!

Karen — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 07:59:00 +0000

It seems that since EntreCard has been taken over there has been some changes made, first of all was the announcement that the paid ads were going, woo hoo, good news there, now they have just announced that they are to update the way users receive credits, this latest change will affect those that are dropping or been dropped on.

What usually happens is when someone drops on your EntreCard you receive one EC and the dropper also receives one EC, great for both parties then, yes, up until now!

We have noticed that the total number of Entrecard credits in the system has grown rapidly. This has been due to the fact that more credits are being created than credits are leaving the system. If this inflation continues, Entrecard credits will be worth less and less. To ensure a stable credit economy and reduce the outstanding credits, Entrecard will no longer give Entrecard credits to the person receiving a drop. In other words, instead of awarding 2 credits for each drop (one to the dropper and one to the blog site owner), only 1 credit will be given to the dropper. This change will be effective September 1, 2009 and will last until further notice.

So will this affect drops on your EntreCard, maybe it will, maybe it won’t, but it will certainly affect the amount of ECs that you can earn, everytime someone drops on your EntreCard you will NOT get any credits, so from September your EC earnings will half.

I suppose only time will tell, to see how this all goes…

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STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day!, I’m not sure if I should drop EntreCard or not!, Top EntreCard Droppers for July

EntreCard has even more changes for droppers! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Top EntreCard Droppers for July

Karen — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 10:04:12 +0000

Now I haven’t done one of these lists for a few months, so I thought it would was about time I did one, so here are the Top 10 Droppers on my blog for July:

So there you have it’s last months droppers, many thanks to everyone who has been dropping with EntreCard and to those EntreCard users that have also taken the time to comment on my posts , you know who you are

Related Posts
Top EntreCard Droppers for September, Top 10 EntreCard Droppers – August 2009, STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day!

Top EntreCard Droppers for July is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Entrecard.com, Inc. has been acquired by ZipRunner Inc.

Karen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 08:44:10 +0000

I had an interesting email in my inbox today! So it seems that Entrecard.com, Inc. has been acquired by Los Angeles based ZipRunner Inc. Here is the email that I received and all EntreCard should also have recieved.

Dear Entrecarders,
It is with great excitement that I announce Entrecard.com, Inc. has
been acquired by Los Angeles based ZipRunner Inc.

ZipRunner has the resources, vision, and dedication to Entrecard that
will allow it to grow in pursuit of the vision I laid out nearly two
years ago.

Moving forward, my relationship to Entrecard will be that of an
adviser, and I will help the good folks at ZipRunner take the whole
project to the next level. Expect a follow up communication from them very soon.

ZipRunner Inc. was chosen out of a number of potential suitors because
of the resources they can dedicate to the project, their exciting
vision for the company’s future, and their understanding of social
media and the blogosphere.

I urge you all to look forward to a bigger, better Entrecard, and I
couldn’t be more proud to bring it to this point before passing the
torch. I’ve heard first hand all the great things that are in store
for the company and it’s members, and needless to say it has me quite
excited.

If you would like to keep in touch with me in the future, your can
find me at my new blog Ontrapranore.com where I look forward to
sharing my stories of entrepreneurship and starting/running internet
companies.

Whether you love or hate the decisions I’ve made for Entrecard in the
past, I always did the best I could to move the company forward given
the resources I had, and I always had the best interest of the members
in mind. Now, with new management and ownership stepping in, I urge
anyone who has left the service to give it another chance, and I urge
those who have been loyal members for days, weeks, months, or years to
look forward to a brighter future, a reliable and stable service, and
great new features and strategic direction.

Signing Off,
Graham Langdon
Founder of Entrecard

So what will this mean to users of EntreCard, well I can just imagine a system coming in where we will have to pay subscriptions to use the service and free users having less access to options than those paying for a service, I may be wrong, but usually this is what happens. Just look at Last.fm when the take over happened there, users outside the UK and USA started getting charged a subscription for the radio services!

Anyway time will tell and it will be interesting to see what happens to EntreCard now that they have been acquired by ZipRunner.

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Entrecard.com, Inc. has been acquired by ZipRunner Inc. is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

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EntreCard to take action against bounce rates!

Karen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:20:55 +0000

Now many users of the EntreCard system have said that is a long time coming, but according to the latest blog post on the EntreCard blog they are to “take action against bounce rates”

So before I get on to this, I’ll just give you a quick bit of info about bounce rates, a Bounce Rate is when a visitor lands on your blog and then leaves straight away without spending time looking around your blog and EntreCard is a terrible culprit for making you have a high percentage on your bounce rates….

So as mentioned by EntreCard they intend to implement a system that will decide if the dropper is a “drop and run” visitor, this is someone who is only there to drop on your ECard and then zip off to another blog, to get in as many drops as they can in the day without even reading your blog, shame on them! As mentioned in the EntreCard Blog:

Up until now, we’ve always allowed the “drop and run” phenomenon to take place. We figured if someone was interesting to the visitor, they’d stop and read, and it was best to let everyone go at their own pace. But now we are taking a slightly different approach, in an ongoing effort to increase the quality of Entrecard traffic across the board.

My problem with the drop and run phenomenon is that you are spending time writing an interesting post only for someone to stop by, drop on the ECard and bugger off! I write these posts not just for me you know but for others to read and show some interest by posting comments, not visit and say, “ok I’ve dropped, I’m off!”

So what will EntreCard be doing about this, well this is what they have said on their official blog:

Starting soon, “dropping and running” will no longer give you credit. We are developing a proprietary algorithm to determine whether or not you engaged in the blog you visitied in some way. If you did not engage in the blog, you will not get credit. We won’t be disclosing exactly the algorithm we use, so that people can’t game it easily.

So it seems that something is been done, but will this cut the amount of view to a blog showing the EntreCard widget? Probably, but isn’t it better to get a few less visits and gain visitors that actually appreciate your blogging, only time will tell when the new system is finally implemented.

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EntreCard to take action against bounce rates! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

The Last Day For EntreCard!

Karen — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:05:48 +0000

Now most of you do visit my blog through EntreCard and may of read in an earlier post that I wasn’t really sure if I would stay or go…

Well my decision has finally been made by the continous issues that EntreCard seems to be having, for example I had no way of knowing who had dropped on my site yesterday and couldn’t return the favour by dropping back due to some error on the EntreCard system where is wasn’t showing the droppers!

I would like to thank everyone who has been dropping on my site and taking the time to read posts and comment on them, your efforts are very much appreciated, all I would ask is that you please subscribe to my RSS Feed and keep your comments coming on my future posts.

So, hopefully I’ll see you all commenting on my blog….

If anyone has a good enough reason to talk me out of leaving then I would love to hear it..

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I’m not sure if I should drop EntreCard or not!, Do EntreCard Visitors Cause your Site to Have a Bad Bounce Rate, Top EntreCard Droppers for September

The Last Day For EntreCard! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

April Top 10 Entrecard Droppers

Karen — Fri, 01 May 2009 06:00:19 +0000

Wow, times flies these days, I can’t believe that another month has gone by and it’s May already.

There has been some up and downs lately with the discussions about if I was going to continue with EntreCard or not and to be quite honest I’m still undecided, but, that doesn’t stop me from dropping and reading some great blogs that I have discovered with EntreCard.

So who are Aprils Top 10 Droppers

60 Were Enough
60 Were Enough blog about Music, Artists, Mp3 and 60 Were Enough News.

Picture to People
Researches about Computer Graphics. New free software for graphics. Hot free graphic effects.

New Dilemma
Looking for a musical breakthrough!

A Simple Life
A 40 year old mother of two who likes to write just about anything. A baking enthusiast, a crafter and a hobbyist. This is about me, my views, my interests and my favourites.

Mommy’s Little Corner
A blog that talks about my adventures of being a wife and a mom. This blog also focuses on food, nutrition and health.

Lainy’s Musings
A blog showcasing my mutterings, random rants, raves and whinings on life’s daily maneuvers.

Life’s sweets and spices
A work-at-home-mommy who loves to cook, bake and read. A frustrated chef, now a dedicated blogger. Blogging makes me happy and this is where I share my thoughts, ideas, [sometimes] feelings, my love for food and then some…

The Modern Mom
Moms like me are becoming more and more housekeeping savvy. From stretching the family budget to diy’s, smart solutions and more.Being a wonder mom is now no sweat with all these wonderful alternatives.

The Way I See It
My thoughts, opinions and personal observations on a wide variety of subjects, sometimes mixed with humor and including travel, retirement, opinion, politics, child sponsorship with Children International and life experiences. News and views from my perspective.

moms….. check nyo
I’m a 40ish year old mom of two. I love to bake, cook, plant herbs (in pots cause i don’t have a garden), cross stitching, hardanger embroidery, bowling and just like any typical pinay moms i love watching telenovelas.

Many thanks to everyone who has dropped on my blog and commented and become part of my little blogging community, see ya all next month

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Top 10 EntreCard Droppers for December 2008, Top 10 EntreCard Droppers – August 2009, Top EntreCard Droppers for July

April Top 10 Entrecard Droppers is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

I’m not sure if I should drop EntreCard or not!

Karen — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 15:43:25 +0000

With the recent changes over at Entrecard I have been in two minds whether to leave EntreCard or stay, I’m personally not happy with the paid ads system over there at the moment, I hate the way that those who take the time to drop on others site have to share their hard earned EntreCard credits with those that are paying to have their ads shown, this means that those that use their EC credits are not getting their full displays on blogs, due to the 50/50 split of EC credits bought ads and cash ads.

So I recently stopped accepting paid for ads at EntreCard so that those using their EC credits to display ads get 100% on my blog. If you have stopped taking paid ads at EntreCard then check out LadyBanana who is making a list EC sites that “DO NOT ACCEPT paid ads on EntreCard”.

My problem with whether or not to drop EntreCard is my blogs traffic, as I was reading over at The Junk Drawer recently it made me think, most of my traffic does come from EntreCard and I would be losing a chunk of traffic from my blog, so I can’t decide to stay or go.

I know that I do have a good following with over 1,500 followers on Twitter and a good amount of RSS subscribers via readers and email subscriptions, so my blog would possibly stand on it’s own, but I really don’t know what to do.

So I would really appreciate any feedback on my dilema and anyone that dows comment, please let me know how you found my blog originally, thanks everyone

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EntreCard has even more changes for droppers!, EntreCard brings us Sponsored Ads! But we Don’t Want Them!, STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day!

I’m not sure if I should drop EntreCard or not! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day!

Karen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 09:27:08 +0000

I was just reading this post via my RSS subscription to Mystery Man’s Blog – Rants, Thoughts and Other Things and I have to agree whole heartedly on the way EntreCard is currently dealing with is paid ads service, so today is No Dropping Day.

An interesting discussion is going on at the entreblog.

Graham: (The BOSS)

The plan is to give members with the highest ratio of paid ad approvals first dibs on cashing out their credits.

Well, I don’t know the word dibs, but I understand the meaning here.

I feel the efforts of the droppers are completely neglected.
And I also feel the loyalty many have for the ads which were approved before the paid ads were introduced is not respected.

Maybe it’s a good idea to chose a day we don’t drop, so Graham can get an idea how much we mean for the system.
When there are not enough droppers active he can’t do enough with his paid advertising.

I’m calling a strike of entrecard droppers!!

Maybe friday is the perfect day for that.

To show the importance of droppers for the entrecard system.
To show we’re no second rate entrecarders.
To show we want to have complete control over our own site.
To get equal respect for EC and money paid advertisers.
To prevent the decay of the system.

Get your graphic here.

To be clear: I’m not against contributing towards the continuation of the system. Not at all.
And I’m not against paid advertising.
In fact I’m all for two sided widgets, or even two widgets.
But that someone sees it fit to break an agreement and displays advertisements on my site without my consent really makes me mad.

When we want to keep the system going and all have a good time droppers need to be respected to (by someone in his twenties who’s in it for the money. Let’s be clear about that.)

Come back on friday to see links to alternative activities. (No ads. LOL!)

update:

This morning I had a different ad in my widget than should be there.
When reloading I got another one; not the one that should be there.
Right now I’m surfing with blogexplosion. Bit of music, cup of coffee.
I’m even able to drop now and then.

Related Posts
EntreCard has even more changes for droppers!, Top EntreCard Droppers for September, Top 10 EntreCard Droppers – August 2009

STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Testing Your Internet with a Broadband Speed Test

Karen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 06:01:24 +0000

So there you are with your shiny new broadband and your service provider has promised the bees knees for a broadband connection, say that you can get an 8Mb connection, but can you?

Majority of the time you’ll find that you are getting no where near that sort of speed and you are getting something far more inferior.

So here is a handy little Broadband Speed Test for you to find out what you are actually paying for, you may be surprised in what you results you get, you may think your getting an amazingly fast Broadband speed, when in matter of fact you could be getting half the speed or even worse!

Provided by UK Speed test

So how did you do, did you get what your Broadband supplier promised or are you worse?
Technorati Tags: broadband, broadband connection, Broadband Speed Test, broadband speeds, broadband suppliers, isp, ISPs, tools

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Testing Your Internet with a Broadband Speed Test is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

What Happened to the Saturday Six!?

Karen — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 08:42:05 +0000

First of all, my apology to those of you that stop by for the Saturday Six yesterday and for my lack of posting since Wednesday.

This was all due to my very busy schedule, I have been working on the SEO and website design of the Remergence website and the release of a Best Of album, so this has taken up a lot of my valuable time, the SEO work is now complete and now it’s just a wait for fans to choose their favourite tracks.

So hopefully now I can get back to my usually blogging, the Saturday Six will be back next week, so remember to suggest a them via my Twitter and if you are an a EntreCard user then the chosen EC user of the selected theme will get 200 ECs.

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What Happened to the Saturday Six!? is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

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Top 10 EntreCard Droppers for December 2008

Karen — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:59:48 +0000

Ok this is the last list for this year of the Top EntreCard droppers to Blazing Minds, I would like to thank everyone who has been dropping on the site and here is Decembers Top 10:

60 Were Enough
60 Were Enough bolog about Music, Artists, Mp3 and 60 Were Enough News.

Small Town Mommy
Small Town Mommy chronicles my day-to-day life. I share my thoughts with my readers, hopefully make someone laugh, and ask for advice. Stop by and get to know me and my family and friends, here in our small town.

Life’s sweets and spices
A work-at-home-mommy who loves to cook, bake and read. A frustrated chef, now a dedicated blogger. Blogging makes me happy and this is where I share my thoughts, ideas, [sometimes] feelings, my love for food and then some…

Rants, Thoughts, and Other Things
This is just my blog where I can get some things off my chest. Feel free to read and comment!

moms….. check nyo
I’m a 40ish year old mom of two. I love to bake, cook, plant herbs (in pots cause i don’t have a garden), cross stitching, hardanger embroidery, bowling and just like any typical pinay moms i love watching telenovelas.

Lola’s Diner
At Lola’s Diner we’ll be sharing recipes and sharing conversation across a virtual lunch counter. Topics will be varied and can include current events, politics, parenting, mental health, and glbt topics.

A Simple Life
A 40 year old mother of two who likes to write just about anything. A baking enthusiast, a crafter and a hobbyist. This is about me, my views, my interests and my favorites.

Mommy’s Little Corner
A blog that talks about my adventures of being a wife and a mom. This blog also focuses on food, nutrition and health.

Lainy’s Musings
A blog showcasing my mutterings, random rants, raves and whinings on life’s daily maneuvers.

The Modern Mom
Moms like me are becoming more and more housekeeping savvy. From stretching the family budget to diy’s, smart solutions and more.Being a wonder mom is now no sweat with all these wonderful alternatives.

And a big thumbs up to Orange Derange and avid dropper but hasn’t made it in the Top 10, but deserves a mention

Thanks everyone an Happy New Year

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April Top 10 Entrecard Droppers, STRIKE! – It’s EntreCard No Droppers Day!, EntreCard has even more changes for droppers!

Top 10 EntreCard Droppers for December 2008 is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Updated the Blazing Minds Toolbar!

Karen — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:40:46 +0000

I know that there are several readers of my blog that are using my humble little toolbar for updates on what’s happening here, so just for you I have made some little updates to the Blazing Minds Toolbar.

These are:

Removed several RSS updates to de-clutter.

Added the most recent EntreCard droppers and Top EntreCard droppers to Blazing Minds.

Added a Vote Button.

Added a new Ticker with the new posts.

So for those who are interested in my little toolbar then Click Here for more information

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Updated the Blazing Minds Toolbar! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2012. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then please support Blazing Minds with a donation or Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter