‘Drop Yours’ Like It’s Hot & Get an Ad on John Chow
24 November 07I’ve just posted about the EntreWiki. Now here’s another “Entre” project - Entrecard. Entrecard is a networking and advertising program exclusively for bloggers created by Graham Langdon and crew.
Entrecard - Internet Business Card 2.0
If you focus your attention for a second on Fresh Geeks‘ sidebar, you’ll see a 125×125 ad with an orange bar on the bottom of it. That’s the Entrecard widget. The concept of this widget is to allow blogger’s to network and easily exchange advertising space. The Entrecard is a digital internet business card that bloggers can swap amongst themselves. The ad you see in the space above the orange bar is another blogger’s card. When you register for an account, you create your own internet business card and then place a widget in your sidebar. This is Fresh Geeks‘ card:
How It Works
The system is based on credits. To obtain credits, you swap cards with other blogs. To do this, just find the Entrecard widget and click on ‘drop yours’ on the orange bar: You receive 1 credit per drop you make and 1 credit per card that is dropped into your widget. You are allowed one drop per website per day. The credits are redeemable for the ad-space above the widget.
The value of the ad-space on your blog starts off with 2 credits per day. As the number of cards dropped into your widget increases, so does the value of your ad-space…I believe the value of your ad-space is estimated by the 5-day average of how many drops your widget receives.
The program layout is simple and easy to understand. The above picture is a shot of the RSS feeds they provide you with. The feeds give you info on who dropped a card in your widget, the card that’s showing on your blog’s widget, a list of ads you requested, and who’s requesting ads on your blog. You are given complete control over whose card is shown on your blog, so play the game strategically and accept [or reject] as you please.
How To Get an Ad on John Chow Dot Com
John Chow, Shoemoney, and John Cow are among the big dawgs that are in on Entrecard, although I’m not so sure about Shoemoney as I no longer see the widget on his site. Anyway, the value of John Chow’s ad-space is currently 52 credits per day but I expect it to rise soon. All you need to do to get the ad-space for a day is ‘drop yours’ like it’s hot until you get 52 credits and then wait in line to redeem it. It requires a little work, but you don’t have to dish out any cash. Hopefully he doesn’t opt out of the program before you get your chance.
First Impressions
I’ve only signed up yesterday, so I can’t review the program in depth just yet. But from what I’ve seen so far, this is a great concept with lots of potential. The wheels in my brain have been turning, and I’ve been scheming up some strategies to manipulate the system (legally and ethically, of course) to my benefit…I’ve already thought of a few possibilities to test out. I’ll do a follow-up post to report how things work out.
I’ve been having geeky fun browsing blogs that are signed up and dropping my card :). I’ve gotten a few extra traffic hits from other bloggers stopping by to ‘drop theirs’. I wonder how long before the novelty wears off…
It provides smaller blogs an affordable opportunity to advertise on bigger blogs, and also it’s the next best thing if you lack the traffic to make ad sales. I’ve managed to get an ad spot on John Chow’s widget scheduled to go up next Saturday. It cost me 48 credits. I was actually aiming to land a spot for a weekday, but I can work with what I’ve got ;).
I also like the fact that, as a user, you have the potential to make money. Selling and trading credits for cash isn’t frowned upon…in fact, they are somewhat encouraged.
Criticism
Well, I don’t have anything to complain about, but what would possibly be a great thing to incorporate, since quite a few of us are already blogging about the program, is a referral system where you get rewarded a certain amount of credits for everyone that signs up under you.
So overall, Entrecard is worth a try. But what do you think? Hit or Miss?
If you liked what you read, stay updated by subscribing to Fresh Geeks' RSS. Thanks for visiting and come often.
Related Posts
8 Responses to “‘Drop Yours’ Like It’s Hot & Get an Ad on John Chow”
Leave a Reply
Categories
- Blog Fuel (22)
- Blog News (12)
- Blogging Carnival (1)
- Blogging Tips (12)
- Factoid of Week (3)
- Gadgets (25)
- High Yield Savings (1)
- Link Building (3)
- Local Niche Blogging (1)
- Make Money Blogging (3)
- Make Money Online (8)
- Making Money Online (7)
- News (38)
- niche blogging (3)
- Other Stuff (10)
- Project Fresh Slant (5)
- Ramblings (12)
- Social Media (8)
- Software (3)
- Tech Hacks (2)
- Websites (8)
- Wordpress (4)
Fresh Posts
- Build A Niche Store Tips | Use Niche Store Writer
- Niche Affiliate Marketing and BANS
- 29 Reasons for Neglecting Your Blogging Blog
- Make Money Online and Blogger Unleashed
- Content and SEO are Priorities
I guess I’m pretty foolish, especially for being in this niche, but I haven’t even tried out Entrecard yet. And it has so much potential for advertising! Thanks for writing about this, now you’ve inspired me to definitely give it a look.
By the way, I LOVE your blog’s design.
Hi Tay
I do believe this program has potential and the potential expands when more bloggers use the service. Thanks for your thoughts
I thought this was gold as well to be able to get a 24 hour spot on John Chow - I got this Friday
I mean, we could pay a nice bit of cash to advertise there, or we could spend a few credits…hmmm…
@Patrick
Congrats on the ad. I’m interested in knowing how well everyone does with their entrecard ad campaigns.
Entrecard is something great. Thanks for showing my site in your pic!
@gLf
No problem
My card has yet to even appear on anyone’s site but I’ve received a fair amount of traffic from people wanting to advertise. I think it has a lot of potential-and you’re right- I think some sort of referral bonus credit system should be set up, although I think I’ve told everyone I know already.
Hi Beth, if I’m not mistaken you’re on my list of approved ads scheduled to run on Dec. 10. I’ve accumulated a long wait line…I didn’t have the heart to press the reject button on anyone’s ad request