For the past week I’ve been debating with myself (and it was a lively debate!) about dropping EntreCard from my sidebar. At the beginning it was a great way for me to find other sites that were similar to mine, and get to see sites that I normally wouldn’t ever have stumbled upon.
But checking my stats, I’m wondering how many people are like me - you know drop a card, click that link, drop a card, click the link, etc - and don’t really hang around to take in the sites, but just bounce from one site to another. I have to say that there are A LOT like me who do that - judging from the bounce rates I see in my stats. That’s nice and everything - thanks for stopping by for 2 seconds - love ya… kiss.kiss.
I’m now thinking that EntreCard has run it’s course here and I won’t be accepting new cards. I’m not saying never again - but it was a fun experiment and I’m looking to try new things.
I was never quite sure what the rage was to get/earn entrecard credits - I mean apart from trying to advertise on the “big name” sites - but whenever I tried, they were always booked. So my entrecard credits just sit there.  I would spend them on the lower credit sites, and then they’d build back up and try, try again I never had any luck advertising on the big names.
John Cow has also given up EntreCard - you can read what he has to say about that over here.
So the one side of my brain that said “drop Entrecard” won. No more requests will be taken. Once everyone has advertised that is still in the queue I’m taking it down.
C’est la vie!
Popularity: 12% [?]
pagepeel by webpicasso.de
January 15th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I think it can be good for new sites for a couple of months. Maybe even on established sites, but only for a brief while. Then it’s just the same people coming over and over.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
[...] Has Entrecard run its course? [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
[...] Has Entrecard run its course? [...]
January 15th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I think it depends on what your sole purpose for signing up to Entrecard is. I found your site through Entrecard and added it to my RSS feed reader.
Any regular readers that is attained through Entrecard is a benefit for free advertising.
If your bounce rate is high, it is because so many visitors come and go so quickly through Entrecard. I am sure that you have created a few regular readers that stick around read your post.
Good luck!
~Debby
January 15th, 2008 at 7:02 pm
Yes, but do they read the blog and comment? What does the rest of your traffic do? Some of those card droppers will even Stumble your page. What might that do for your traffic numbers?
January 15th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Thanks for the comments, and I know - I’ve commented before that EntreCard really has opened my eyes to new sites that I would never have come across. Honestly I’ve not been stumbled yet - but wouldn’t that be nice!
It’s a hard choice.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I really haven’t been blogging long, and I guess because I am still learning I have found loads of info since I joined EC that I wasn’t aware of, thru the sites that I view. And there are really some amazing sites that I know I would never have found otherwise, just look, I found and am leaving a comment on your blog… 8o)
January 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Oh, and I love receiving blog updates through my mailbox, I didn’t see that tool on your blog. That would be a great add-on for people like me…