Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Entrecard Ad Snappers and That Little Voice

Would you ever buy an ad at 500 EC? Personally, I wouldn’t. So as I watched the price to advertise on my site grow from 2EC to 500EC during my first three weeks with Entrecard. I just grinned at the price knowing no joker was going to snap it. After all 500 EC is more than an hour’s work. I was wrong, one joker did. No! I take that back. Mike's Blog Marketing Tips snapped it. “Ok! People take risks and that is how gains are made so don’t act like it is a big deal” I reminded myself and left it at that.


But you can count on me not to leave it at that for long. Blame it on this little voice that found residence in some hidden sanctum in my head which kept drumming on me to “Go make it worth the EC credits your advertiser paid for, idiot! Gains are made because someone makes it happen. Besides, it is the ethical thing to do”. My weakness! Spice your argument with the word ethical and I am silenced. I could go ahead and win the argument but I am gonna pay for it with bouts of insomnia. That would not be worth any EC.


I had to get more traffic to my site so as to generate more ad clicks. To do that, I needed to up scale my daily dropping from one hundred to the maximum three hundred. That was not enough. Like the crazy that I was, I went on ad buying spree. I was just new to Entrecard so I didn’t have ECs stockpiled that I could use for the purpose. I had to source out the ECs I needed. As to where and how, just go ahead and play the guessing game.


Again, just to calm that little voice, I worked out a generous “triple it” formula. If someone buys an ad from my site, say at 500 ec, I would make sure that on the day the ad runs, I would have 1500 worth of ads of my own running.


The formula worked. The result gagged the little voice. The advertiser is happy. The little voice is happy. I had a good sleep. But not for long. The ad snapping went like crazy and the ad price to my site soared. The price went to 2048 ec credits and the Serian Man snapped it. This raised the ad price to my site to a ridiculous 3,072 EC’s.


I immediately dumped the formula. If I stuck to it, it would have brought holes into my pocket. I limited my ad buying run to a reasonable distance. To temper that little voice, I decided to add the Serian Man to my link list. If that was not good enough and I hear a whimper, I could always drown the voice with a glass of gin tonic.

29 comments:

  1. Hi! I know you're kidding but your fellow bloggers who purchased an ad from your site are not jokers. My friend Michael of Mike Blog Marketing Tips is one of the most sensible and respected bloggers hereabouts.

    I just purchased an ad also, and am not a joker either, making your ad price skyrocket to 3072 ec, which is equivalent to more than 10 days of dropping cards at 300 maximum daily.

    If people purchased ads from your site, maybe they have seen your blog as good wherein they can get maximum exposure for their ads and clicks through to their sites.

    Your blog now, at this very moment, is currently No. 29 of the most popular blogs in ALL categories in Entrecard, with a popularity rating of 1475. This means you have an average daily visitors of 295 who are all EC droppers, since popularity rating is computed based on the total number of visitors for the last 5 days.

    I also drop at your site daily, and I can see your blog's potentials.

    Here's to our blogging success. Cheers.

    Eli

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  2. Yes, Eli! I was kidding as you could tell by the tone of my write-up. I got high respect for Mike and her wife Pj. Their blogs are in my reading list.

    I was just trying to raise the point that accepting ads carries with it an implied responsibility. You do not just approve ad applications and forget about them. When advertisers entrust their ads to you, you are expected to live to that trust by translating said trust to results. You have to make sure you put all your resources to work to make sure your advertisers investments are not put to waste. It is a simple business ethics which I am sure as a businessman you would agree. Incidentally, I am no businessman.

    Anyway, thanks for the trust.

    Good luck be with us!

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  3. I enjoyed reading your post and could tell by the tone of your writing that you were indeed kidding. I've not figured it all out yet. Some days my ads are as cheap as dirt. On other days, the price soars. I wish it were a way to keep it at what I feel is a realistic price. I drop a lot more than I get dropped on. But that's just me. I enjoy reading many of the blogs I come across and just can't help but click on the little widget...even if the favor isn't reciprocated.

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  4. Thanks Roschelle! All I want is for my ad price to be accessible to as many fellow bloggers as possible. The way it is going, only a few could afford it.

    I hope I am not remiss in reciprocating the favor.

    Good luck!

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  5. I have never bought any ads with my EC credits, mostly because I just .. never get around to it. It is like playing the lottery for me: I always think I ought to buy EC ads with the credits I have, but I never do.

    I dunno why. But I have found some blogs that I like after they bought ads from me, and more than a few are in my blogroll now.

    And to me, EC is less about marketing and more about finding other bloggers without all the hassles of a social network or an aggregrator that pretends to be a social network. Or vice-versa.

    Cool article.

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  6. Hi Paotie! I couldn't agree more. Sadly, the pricing manner of the ads tends to promote a "class system" where you have the "can" and "can't" afford the price which dampens rather than promote community building.

    You got here a kindred spirit. Glad to have virtually met you.

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  7. I also enjoyed your post. I am new at EC myself and at first had no idea what I was doing with it. As a new blogger I tended to add to many blog sites and did not spend enough time at EC in order to develop my credits. I have scaled way back on the amount of time I spend at many and have devoted it to a few. I have met some great people also in the first few weeks, which is a nice added bonus. Just wish I had known about EC earlier before all the ruckus about forced paying ads. I also wish the people who ran EC would listen to their most trusted resource, the BLOGGERS. In particular the bloggers who have been at EC for a long time. Great site, now another blog to keep me away from working on my own, lol Glenn

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  8. I still don't understand how the ad prices work - my jumps around so much!

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  9. Very cute post! I enjoyed it. :) Unfortunately, I'm leaving EC very soon, due to the paid ads and them charging a monetary fee to keep the paid ads (the blogger cannot and has not approved) off my site. But I'll still drop by here - this is a good blog. :) xx

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  10. I loved the article but am also loving the comments, I have learnt more about entrecard from this one article than all their help files! LOL thanks!

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  11. Hi Glen! I would say this is the best time to be part of Entrecard. It is in times of trouble that you get to know the whole system better which includes not just Entrecard but the members that make it up. It would be interesting to watch how this whole ruckus as you call it develops.

    New or not, all our voices as members should have same weight with entrecard.

    Thanks Glenn!

    Leigh

    The ad price doubles each time someone snaps it. Thanks for the visit

    Katherine

    I hope you would reconsider your decision to leave but leave or not expect me to hear from me. I also "own" a group. I would soon write about it. I hope yo join us. LOL

    Rosie

    I take that as a compliment Rosie. It was like you invited me to have a taste of that "cake". lol

    Thanks

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  12. Thanks for the advice. I'm also a newbie now, just started and hope to do fine.

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  13. Well its my personal opinion but I don't like these type of ads too much or I don't like attracting traffic by these means. I want to write good content and till now Google is the best thing which has sent me the maximum traffic

    Thanks

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  14. I have been around Entrecard for a while and still don't know a lot about it. To behonest I think I'm too lazy to read all the help files and blurb.

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  15. I pretty much ignore what my EC ads cost and just advertise on blogs I like when I can afford them. I'm not offended if bloggers don't advertise on my blogs, but I'm certainly delighted when they do. EC works differently for different people.

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  16. Franko

    If It was of any help, I am glad. Thanks

    Neo

    To each his own devise. I am glad you found what works for you.

    Lizzie

    Knowing a lot about it is not really that important. As far as I am concerned, you only need to know how to use it to meet more friends in the blogosphere is all that matters.

    Patricia

    I wish I could ignore how much my ad price cost because the price it takes to advertise on my site is really ridiculous. LOL

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  17. Wait! Let me just check if I got my facts straight? Hmm! The record shows you are guilty. There is no doubt you did it. :)

    Glad to know you and PJ made it safe to Dakota Mike. It would take time getting used to a new setting but I am pretty confident you are going to make it fine.

    All the best!

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  18. I never spent enough to get my ec to raise that high

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  19. Hahaha that little voice!

    Followed your blog now.. Hope to See you around..

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  20. I Too was on a droping spree on my first day at entrecard ...and learnt that was not worth it!! ..Nice post btw

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  21. I'm new to EC, and that's how I found this site, but I've gotta say, so far I've been really impressed by the quality of blogs I've been able to discover since I started using it (who knows, maybe I've just visited all the good ones in the beginning, and now there's only shitty ones left).

    All the same, reading posts like this one about people who are genuinely trying to provide value to their advertisers makes me smile.

    Nice site, man.

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  22. I only advertise on blog with under 256ec /day

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  23. i only drop with 100 up to 200 ec/day.

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  24. Momstart

    I would say if you see no reason why you should then don't. I only did because I felt the advertisers should get their ec's worth since I know how much work is involved to earn them.

    Chubskulit

    Thanks for following!

    Stco3

    There are other reasons why I am dropping crazy aside from what I already mentioned. But we will come to that.

    Adam

    Lucky you! LOL there's lots of 'shitty' ones as you call it out there

    That smile is a major reason why I blog. :)

    Thanks Adam!

    Boyz

    Hi! The same is true with me. I buy the ones priced higher only when I feel they are a good deal. Buy those that are priced 64. Sometimes they deliver well.

    Tahnks for dropping by

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  25. Interesting article bro. I learn something here :)
    Interesting in link exchange? Drop EC here :)

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  26. I try to balance my ads so I have about 400ec worth running every day. It's not so easy now we don't receive credits for being dropped on :-(

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  27. My head is spinning! I just joined EC a week ago, and I am amazed that you drop the max of 300 a day. Guess I better step it up and not spend so much time on my other efforts to boost traffice. Impressed by your site, will have to come back, and work on some sexy titles for my blog! Thanks!

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  28. I enjoyed your post so much.I am a newbie so I know little about this,but I will try to do fine .
    Thanks for your advice.

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