Do You Treat Your Entrecard Dropping as A Business? Why do you drop Entrecards?
Do you have a specific strategy that you regularly follow? Do you chain drop?
Do you reciprocate drops? Do you drop 300 cards a day? Do you just drop within
your category or do you target specific categories? Do you ever read the blogs
you drop on? Is it possible to get an
Alexa Boost by dropping cards? Are you dropping cards for the
money potential of the Entrecard credits?
Treating Entrecard Dropping as a Business Event
I treat my Entrecard dropping as a business. How much time does it take to drop
100 cards? What else could I be doing with that time? How much money is it
costing me? Do you know what it costs to drop an Entrecard? Do you know how
much your time is worth?
Most people I think will tell you they are involved in Entrecard for the
Advertising benefits it provides for their blog. They are interested in driving
traffic. If you are a new blog you might not be able to afford $100 a month in
advertising. Entrecard is perfect for you. Just by dropping cards you can make
some Entrecard credits which then allows you to advertise. You get more traffic
and earn more credits and off you go into blogging success.
But, if you are making money on your blog could you get the same amount of
money without using as much of your personal time? If you drop Entrecards an
hour a day, could that time be used to write more? Should you be calling on a
client instead of in front of the computer? When was the last time you wrote an
article for your blog?
These are questions you should regularly ask yourself. If you are just going to
sit in front of the TV anyway, then drop until it's bedtime. But, if you are
taking time out of when you could be making money then you may want to rethink
your Entrecard strategy.
Reciprocal Dropping
Some people seem to be offended if you don't reciprocate their drops. I have
many different strategies. I like to reciprocate drops. I don't think it is
required and I know I miss dropping on some people because I can't do this all
the time. I think the new rssfeed along side the row of recently dropped lists
(top right hand corner) will allow more people to reciprocate.
I don't think you should ban people that don't reciprocate. We all have
different strategies. Would you like it if someone were to ban you because you
didn't comment on their article? Or if you didn't Stumble their article? No,
that is silly. The Entrecard community is a large town of people with many
different interests and goals. You can't expect everyone to follow your
strategy.
Should You Chain Drop?
What is chain dropping? Entrecard chain dropping is when you drop your
Entrecard on site A. Then you click on the Entrecard image (advertising image)
and go to site B. Then you drop your card on site B. Then you repeat the
process by clicking the Entecard advertising image and going to site C.
Now, if you follow this process you will eventually run into a site you have
already dropped and the chain ends.
Do you chain drop? Is there an advantage to this behavior? Well, it depends on
who you talk to. Personally I chain drop. The advantage I see by chain dropping
is I reach sites that I may never reach any other way. I am not interested in
dropping my card on the exact same 100, 200 or 300 blogs everyday. What is the
advantage of doing that? Would you advertise on a blog that never gets new
traffic? Of course not.
Imagine you advertise on a blog that gets 300 visitors a day. In the first week
all 300 visitors took the time to stop by your blog. Would you stop advertising
on that blog? I would. You have to remember why you drop cards. Is it for the
money? If that is your motivation then you want to drop as fast as possible and
you don't care about the traffic to your blog. But, if you are dropping for the
advertising and driving new business to your web site then you need to
constantly find new markets.
Chain dropping in my opinion allows you to find those untapped markets. I think
why some people don't like chain droppers is because of the Entrecard credit
boost those advertisers are receiving. But, I want those visitors. I love chain
droppers. I want you to stop on my web site. I want you to read this article. I
want you to Stumble the article. I want you to click on my ads that interest
you. I want more traffic which is why I am involved in Entrecard.
Entrecard Recently Added List
I am also interested in the recently added list, because they probably have
never visited my web site. That's right. You see I don't know who is going to
like my blog. I don't know if you are going to be the source of my next
Stumble. I don't know if you will be the person that links to this article.
When I am dropping Entrecards I am looking for new traffic. I would love
everybody to come to my site and subscribe to my rss feeds and keep coming back
day after day. But, the truth is I know only a handful of every 100 visitors
will become a member of my little blog community. And that's okay. So, I just
want to expose as many new people to my small world as possible. Some will stay
and most will go.
The Entrecard recently added list I know will be mostly newbies. The chances
are high they have never visited my site. This is their first look into my
thoughts and concerns. If you are a newbie to You Can Learn Series web site
then WELCOME! Thanks for stopping by!
Category Dropping
I like to stay within my category some days, which is Home and Garden, though I
spend most of my time blogging about Internet Marketing and make money online
topics. I really don't know which category I should place my widget into. When
I first signed up with Entrecard I was not blogging about on line marketing.
For some reason I have gravitated to this category. Maybe it is my minor in
marketing or maybe it is because I watched too many Fred Flintstones cartoon
shows as a child.
But, I do make it a habit to drop my Entrecard on the Home and Garden section.
I have a terrific
Landscaping and gardening section to my web site and I know that
many of the Home and Garden enthusiasts will love my site if they visit. Plus,
I think they could gain real value from advertising on my pages. So, pretty
regularly I drop my cards on their pages to let them know I am still around.
Dropping within your category insures you become a mover and shaker in that
category. Invariably the bloggers in a market will talk about other bloggers in
that same market. You want to either be one of the people talking or be talked
about. What is that old saying, "I don't care what they say, just as long as
they are talking about me?" That probably isn't the exact quote but you get the
idea.
There is tremendous value in seeing what the bloggers in your market category
are doing and talking about. As a member of that community you may gain from
their ideas or even better; express your ideas influentially to that group.
Dropping Entrecards for the Alexa Boost
I like the Alexa boost of the Online Marketing and make money categories, so I
try to score there regularly. Let's face it.
Alexa can be scammed. In my opinion the whole Alexa process is
flawed. If every single person on the planet was required to run the Alexa tool
bar then it would work.
It turns out that isn't true. Just a handful of the 6 billion people on the
planet actually surf the web with the Alexa Toolbar. Now, we can identify those
people pretty easily. Tech people might run it. But, we know that advertisers
are highly likely to run it. So what Entrecard categories might contain people
that are running Alexa? It could be the Marketing, Make Money Online, Internet
Marketing, Blogging Resources, Web Development, and Business categories.
I admit that this is just a theory with me. I just know that I see ebs and
flows in my Alexa score and I attribute it to this theory. It could easily be
an effect from the advertising I have been running on Project Wonderful.
Do You Drop 300 Entrecards a Day
I have a "must drop 300 cards today list," which I will bring out on occasion.
But, not often. I don't see much value in just dropping cards for the sake of
dropping cards. When I first started with Entrecard I really wanted to be one
of the first three in my category. Now, I know that isn't really that
important.
I know that Yimto consistently
drops three hundred everyday. It only costs 452 Entrecard credits to advertise
on his site. Ouch! His Entrecard drop rank is: Takes Dropping Very Very
Seriously. But, I like Tim, because he always includes me as one of his
300 drops. I appreciate it.
I do try to drop 100 cards everyday. I miss on some days from achieving that
goal. But, if your goal is to drive traffic to your web site then dropping 300
cards everyday is important. Because when you drop cards you don't know who
will visit your site. Since there are so many strategies then you want to
encourage as many people as possible to visit your blog. If you have the time
and energy and you haven't developed carpal tunnel syndrome yet, then drop
away.
Reading the Blogs
There is no requirement that you have to read the blogs where you drop your
Entrecard. You might be criticized by some people if you are a Drive by Dropper.
But, everybody has different reasons for doing Entrecard. If you want to be a
Drive by Dropper, then God Bless you. Keep doing what works for you.
I love to read the blogs. I learn about what is going on. I can analyze writing
styles. I can stay atop the new trends in the blogging field. Sometimes I will
start a card dropping segment at night and find out after half an hour I have
only dropped 10 cards. What have I been doing? I have been reading the blogs.
Commenting on the blog articles. Stirring up trouble and I have been Stumbling
the articles.
In essence, I have been involved in the community. That is what reading the
blogs are all about. Becoming part of the larger blog community. I don't read
every article placed in front of me. Let's face it there is a lot of crap on
the internet. Not your blog, I love your blog, it's the other ones I don't
read. :)
But, you have to love how some writers are able to hook you into the article.
Their prose is so charming that you can't stop until the very end. When it is
over you are aching for the article to be longer. You want more. Those I read.
Those I am most likely to subscribe to.
If you think you don't have enough readers then work on your writing skills.
Make your articles longer. I know there are bloggers that run away if they
don't see an image or video every 2 paragraphs. But, community members will
stick around. They will comment and Stumble and will enjoy the dance of the
language. They enjoy having their brains stimulated.
Summary
Do I have a strategy? I guess you can say I don't have a strategy. It is a
complicated strategy at best. But, it is helping me to double my traffic. I am
boosting my Alexa rankings which will help me grow my advertising. I am seeing
many cool articles and meeting a great many people that may become my friends
in the years to come. Thank you for wading through this article. It was
supposed to be a quick 10 paragraphs and done. It was supposed to be let's get
it on the blog quick. It never happens that way. :)
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