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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- The Last Day For EntreCard!
- EntreCard to take action against bounce rates!
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Twitter: mattstratton
says:
I finally made the decision to drop Entrecard last night. I was already on the fence – I wasn’t sure I got any valuable traffic from it (of course, I would never have found this blog, or had YOU as a reader without it, so I suppose it has some good value!). With a lot of the recent “drama” surrounding Entrecard, I finally said, “enough is enough” – for the limited amount of traffic I get from Entrecard, it wasn’t worth having the widget there and possibly making my blog look less “professional”. I’m debating doing a similar thing with Adgitize as well.
So far, in April, 19.7 % of my traffic has come from Entrecard and 35.1 % from Adgitize. So cutting off Entrecard is most likely not going to hurt me a lot (dropping almost 20% of my traffic will hurt, but I don’t think it is dangerous to me in the grand scheme of things, as that traffic is generally not very “valuable” to me). For example, I only show Adsense units on older posts, so the ad value comes from search engine hits, etc – Entrecarders don’t do me any good there, nor do they EVER click on ads anyway.
@mattstrattons last blog post..Friday Fun – People actually factually search for this stuff?
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I thought as much when I dropped by and the widget had gone, I’ve subscribed to your RSS so I can keep up to date on your blog
Twitter: thatgrrl
says:
I don’t have any worries about my blog traffic as far as Entrecard. I’ve become a pretty quiet EC user in the past several months. I will only miss having a list of blogs I like to read through the EC widget. But I’ve been working on training myself to use Google Reader instead. It just takes more time and patience.
I’m still with EC because I don’t see any harm in just leaving it where it is. Like Project Wonderful, it’s interesting to see what blogs come up on it.
I can’t read your word verification. Likely this comment won’t get posted which is annoying after I took the time to type it.
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Hi Laura, thanks for taking the time comment, sorry to hear you had problems with the word verification, but you have got posted
I am not happy with the changes with EntreCard either but what is worse is Graham Langdon’s recent behaviour toward his members. This is causing a people to leave faster.
Yesterday, I read a post at John Cow, about the real value of blogs on Entrecard.
Many of my favourite ECer’s are moving out and there is no point for me to stay. I tweeted about this several months back, when I noticed all we were doing was “exchanging” ads and building EC credits.
I have decided to stay nevertheless. I have a post about it on my blog. Just because I want to see where EntreCard goes.
P.S. I knew about you for some time. But came to this post via Lady Banana’s Retweet.
Jaffers last blog post..If you are leaving Entrecard…
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Hi Jaffer, thank you for commenting, I’ve just stopped by and read your post and commented
I am staying put for now. I honestly don’t care so much about the credits. I do get a good chunk of readers from EC, but more than that, EC is how I stay in touch with blogs and bloggers I like so much. Those that have left, I just don’t visit as often, even if they are on my blogroll…..
I figure if we wait it out, they will get the whole thing under control. Anytime changes are made, it gets a little crazy.
~Kelly
http://30somethingandsearching.blogspot.com/
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
Thanks for you input Kelly, like I have said before, EC is great for finding new blogs to read
I don’t think anyone is happy about the changes. At least, I have yet to see anyone who is. I’ve made the commitment to not accept the paid ads out of respect to my regular droppers. Like many other bloggers, the non-authorized ads are still showing up. The only reason why I am hanging on is because I enjoy visiting the other sites and I like have the other bloggers visit my site.
Harriets last blog post..APRIL IS TELL ‘EM YOU’RE A FAN MONTH!
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I think that is another one of the reasons I’m in two minds, I do find EC helpful in finding new interesting and fresh blogs, but pais ads do seem to still pop up when I don’t even allow them, it is so annoying.
As I have already commented on another blog, I am in shock over the cash-payout. For it was initially suggested that it could be around $15 per thousand credits, and now it would seem to be only $1. Yeah, a dollar is better than nothing, and the new friends that I have gained through Entrecard are priceless. So, I’m going to hang in there for at least a little while longer. Nonetheless, the introduction of paid ads to the system certainly could have been handled better.
@mattstratton: Never say never. For I do click on ads when they are positioned near the Entrecard or Adgitize widget.
FishHawks last blog post..A Sunday Drive
I went through very much the same process however I received a lot of emails encouraging me to stay so I’ve made a badge to declare I won’t accept paid Entrecard ads and will see what happens. Basically the whole system has been ruined by greed – if only some smart programmer out there could clone EC but offer an open credits market, buy credits from droppers (without tax) sure! But force paid ads on everyone is awful – where’s the option to “opt out”?
Paul Bainess last blog post..King Apparel – Tees That Reign Supreme
I don’t understand how the paid ad works. I like entrecard because it would help to lower my alexa ranking.
Getfreestuffs last blog post..Free Sample of Mighty Leaf Tea
I’m like you, I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to do just yet, but I am cutting back on my dropping…that has nothing to do with the paid ads, buit rather time constraints and whatnot, but the paid ads are the starwa that’s about to break the camel’s back. i hope it won’t come to that, though, becuse i’ll lose 99% of my traffic if i leave EC. We’ll see what happends, though.
Mystery Mans last blog post..Eye Candy 4/19
Twitter: AdviceMaven
says:
I’m new to EntreCard, so I am glad to find your explanation of how the paid ads work. I couldn’t find a clear explanation on the EC site. I’ve notice several blogs that have a the regular EC box and then have an additional EC box that reads “paid ads” I’d hate to take up the space for 2 boxes, but this seems like a fair way to handle this problem. I have no idea how they get the one box to only show the paid ads and the other to no show the paid ads, so I guess I’ll look into this.
Tina Ts last blog post..When Friends Become Lovers
I am running 3 blogs – all still on EC = I just decided to make them “ad free” – so 100% exposure for the older fashioned EC people…
I have bookmarked about 130 pages… about 4 monts ago – they all had EC = and now-a-days about 85.
So – less old EC people… but on the other hand – also new ones are coming. And those are the reason I am staying…. to see new blogs coming…
And if I like them… I still will drop visits – even if they leave EC.
Sjelturs last blog post..Dark clouds gathering over America
I can understand the annoyance at people only having 50% of the time for their ad, but then at the end of the day you don’t have to post ads, and even if you do, it’s not like they cost money anyway. (Well, obviously the paid ones do, duh).
I’m still accepting paid ads, though I reject the ones I don’t like, and my traffic hasn’t suffered at all. People still drop about the same it seems.
If you have so many hits to your site you don’t need EC then I guess you can drop it, but it seems like you’re cutting your nose off to spite your face. I mean what’s the harm of leaving it there? You are the one gaining traffic from it!
To Fishhawk:
I’d say you are very naive if you thought it would be USD15 for 1k EC! I don’t think any agency would pay that much! I make about 1k EC in a day or so, which means I’d be getting 300USD plus a month!! (And that’s with only 300 or so hits a day.)
Having said all that, I don’t think the way it’s been implemented is good, and I think the payout system is flawed.
Meh.
NB. I also find the captch hard to read.
Chinarens last blog post..Five rants
Twitter: BlazingMinds
says:
I’d like to thank everyone who has taken the time to comment on my post, I am reading all your comments and visiting your blogs, I haven’t replied to each comment as most of my replies would be roughly the same, it is interesting to see where bloggers stand on the whole EC debate!
I know myself. I wouldn’t visit blogs often that don’t have EC or Adgitize or something that gets me a credit for being there. So many blogs, so little time. I have to narrow the field somehow. Maybe weekly or semi-monthly to read all the recent entries at once.
Twitter: mattstratton
says:
I have to agree, to a point. I don’t necessarily “visit” blogs directly without going through something like EC.
However, most of my blog reading happens via RSS. I have almost 200 blogs in my Google Reader. I will tend to “click through” to posts that I find interesting, but generally, I don’t do a lot of blog reading by hitting the blog directly. But by having the blogs in my reader, it lets me know when there’s new content, and a lot of times, reminds me of blogs I might have “forgotten” about.
@mattstrattons last blog post..Interview – Erika Buchholz, Opera Singer
You are not alone
Please read and see who else has agreed with you
http://vanillaseven.com/2009/04/12/entrecard-hoolabaloo/
I think I will be dropping Entrecard next week. The traffic it brings is to little and the increase in bounce rate it adds is annoying. I had a fun time with Entrecard, and have found some quality blogs, but hey, RSS is always here.
Chris Brandricks last blog post..It’s Easter