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Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko —  — Web — blog, entrecard, traffic, widget

Parting ways with Entrecard

Entrecard Entrecard widget stayed in my sidebar for a long time:

  • as experiment;
  • through being a habit (just there);
  • and until a time to see results.

Is there much of result to see?

What Entrecard promises

Entrecard is cross between social network and advertising network. It uses widget based on common 125x125 ad format – general impressions are in my study of those . Quoting home page it promises:

  • boost your unique visitors;
  • grow your blog audience;
  • help bloggers succeed;
  • ad network just for bloggers.

It is supposed to be nice way to discover good blogs, connect with other bloggers and bring loads of traffic to your own blog in the process.

What it had delivered

entrecard_traffic

entrecard_traffic

~900 visits in five months. Notice heavy spikes – only periods when I was getting numerous visitors were those when I was actively dropping cards and spending credits on advertisement. Entrecard has zero conversion into lasting traffic.

Comparing to average visitors those from Entrecard:

  • spent twice less time on site per visit;
  • browsed ~30% less pages per visit;
  • bounced ~30% more often.

Overall it was consistently sending me visitors that had completely no interest in my blog .

My problem

I was using Entrecard at my own pace – making drops when I was seeing widget at other blogs and exploring computers category . Using it in this way, which I assumed to be suggested, was completely useless to succeed and get more value out of it.

Entrecard favors people that are focused on Entrecard. Doing more drops will get you more credits, more people to drop on your blog. Make hundreds of drops and you will attract hundreds of other mass droppers. Notice that social and networking aspects are suddenly out of equation.

I consider visiting blog with primary goal of clicking Entrecard widget plain rude to blogger. I was flamed few times for saying this aloud.

I want my blog to be useful and popular resource, Entrecard makes credit source out of it instead.

Alternatives

If choosing service to spend time on I suggest Twitter . Unlike Entrecard it doesn’t have anything to do with traffic but a lot of with networking and people – something Entrecard promises and fails to deliver.

Overall

Entrecard generates excellent amount of traffic comparing to other widgets . However I consider amount of time it requires high and quality low . It was nice in early days but not worth attention in long term. So we part.

I thank all visitors from Entrecard who discovered my blog through it but stayed for my content instead, I know there are few of you out there.

Those who had seen drops from me – know that I will keep reading your blogs and Entrecard was not a reason for my visits.

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16 Comments

  • Lyndi #

    I made this move a while ago and I am not sorry. I have to agree with you, I would like visitors to my site that are there because of what the site has to offer them, as opposed to those just looking for a widget to drop on. As you know I now use Twitter as well (I had to try a second time though) but now I am enjoying it, it is fun. I even get a bit of traffic from Twitter but that is not what I am really there for.

  • Rarst #

    @Lyndi I think biggest problem with Entrecard that it is somewhat delusional. :) It promises social experience but only delivers mechanical traffic crunching. Maybe mechanical traffic crunching is exactly what some people want and content with, but I wish it told me that months ago and I went elsewhere.

  • Talk Binary #

    I decided to drop EntreCard awhile back. It's great for beginning blogs to find out what blogs are in your niche, (I think I found yours through Entrecard), and it fails to serve a greater purpose. All the traffic it drove to my site seemed to be mass droppers. I have saved time without having it and haven't felt the need to go back!

  • Rarst #

    @Diego Entrecard users can be almost precisely classified into four categories: 1. Insipred beginner 2. Mass dropper 3. Forgot he had it 4. Ex-user We seem to have high concetration of 4 around here. :)

  • Talk Binary #

    Yes, I forgot I had it as well. I ended up trashing it when I switched design. :P

  • Donace #

    I played around with entrecard in the beginning as well (when I was in category 1). After the 'powerdropping' craze began I developed a small bot that made me join category 2. Then I saw the traffic conversion etc. and found even though I was getting 350 or so hits per day in relation to EC, all it did was increase my bounce rate and use up bandwith. So I dropped it on my main blog(So I became an 'ex-user'). Though it still resides on my test site. (because I forget about it :p) Alternatives I am currently trialling Adgitize and while i'm not 'dropping' at the mo just using it as a CPM ad, it is making a decent amount of cash.

  • Rarst #

    @Donace Heh, 4-steps-to-join-the-club. :) Off to check what Adgitize is.

  • Donace #

    sweet; I got an interview with the founder on my blog ( http://thenexus.tk/adgitize-a-critical-look/ ). Though the program is still in its infancy and hopefully once a bit more mature will be more beneficial.

  • Melvin #

    Entrecard doesnt really bring much but I still use them and its because the credits are still online assets that you can use in other ways...

  • Rarst #

    @Melvin Sure it does bring something. As dozens other programs, question is - how to spend your time and bandwidth best. Welcome to blog and thanks for your comment btw. :)

  • Nihar #

    Rarst, I haven't got rid of it. But, thinking about it. As donace meintioned, I too have joined adgitize 2 days back. Will keep it for one month and check how it works.

  • Rarst #

    @Nihar I've taken quick look at Adgitize site and thinking for now. I am not big believer in widgets after my big study. Still will consider it, there are more pressing issues at moment for me (like finishing damn design already and fixing SEO). :)

  • Madmouse Blog #

    I tried out Entrecard for a short period and quit because of the high bounce rate and the visitors just weren't taking any time to read my blog. For the most part I did meet a few very decent bloggers there, but the majority were what I call, drive by droppers. When I quit Entrecard, I didn't notice a drop in Alexa rankings at all. They actually improved and my bounce rate improved a lot it just three weeks.

  • Rarst #

    @Madmouse Comments are so consistent it's almost scary. :) When I see too much similar opinions I want different for a change.

  • Jim Sefton #

    Hi, I completely agree, I too follow you and Lyndi into the world of Entrecard. It was interesting but that it about it. I never was an active dropper, so I guess I never got the best out of it. I can see how kids would enjoy it with their personal blog, but personally I have more important things to do with my time, such as actively participate on other peoples blogs, and occasionally work on my own. I will be finishing up with EC as soon as my ads have expired, and using the valuable sidebar space for other things. Thanks for the writeup, you're right, the comments are so similar it's scary! Jim

  • Rarst #

    @Jim Yep, Entrecard never really made it to serious blogs. And I seen some people treat it like badge of low blog quality because of dominating personal and newish blogs in system.