EntreBlast

Archive for June, 2009

Alright, a lot of Entrecarders are angry about the paid ads system and refuse to allow them on their Entrecard widget. I’ve considered removing paid ads from my widget as well but have decided to let them stay. Here’s why:

I want to make sure Entrecard stays free. Okay, it probably will not matter what, but then again if they aren’t breaking even, eventually they will have to shut down. I definitely don’t want to see that happen. A (very) small portion of the revenue from paid ads goes to paying for Entrecard upkeep.

I want Entrecard to improve. The only way Entrecard is going to get better is if they have the funds to make it happen. I’m tired of Entrecard loading slow and the Entrecard widgets taking forever, aren’t you? Wouldn’t you like these to speed up? I’m sure if Entrecard had some more funds to put into their server, we would see faster loading times. Plus, I want Entrecard to improve with more features. The marketplace could definitely use some tidying up.

I want to sell my Entrecard credits. I’m not going to use all of my ECs, and I want to make money online, so I will eventually sell some ECs back to Entrecard. However, Entrecard buys their credits back depending on how much revenue comes in from paid advertising. I’ve got thousands of credits to sell, and I want to be able to sell them whenever.

Entrecard has provided us all something that has helped us. Now, our blogs are noticed. It’s easier for us to get our blogs out there to others. It’s only fair to help out and give back to the site that’s given our blogs new readers. It’s really not that big of a deal to accept paid ads.

If accepting paid ads results in less Entrecarders placing ads on my widget, then so be it. I’m not going to remove paid ads and try and horde all the ECs I can from Entrecard ads. If you’re so concerned with getting the maximum amount of exposure, then buy an ad directly on EntreBlast and you won’t have to worry about sharing your spot with other ads.

Hopefully, this has given you a new light on paid ads, and maybe it’ll change your mind about them.

As the title reads, I won’t be doing any Entrecard dropping this week at all. I’m on vacation at the beach for this entire week and would rather spend the time relaxing and resting rather then attempting to drop using a crappy internet connection.

I’ll be on vacation until the 26th but don’t worry, there still will be new posts this week! And I will be checking in on EntreBlast for new comments and on Entrecard in case anything new comes up. You’ll see a post similar to this about a week after I come back because I am going on vacation again for a week. After that though, I’m good.

In one month with Adgitize I’ve earned $13.25. I came $0.75 short from my goal of $14 which is not that far off. With just one more post in that week and if I didn’t receive just 3 cents on one day I couldn’t get the 100 points for clicking on ads, I would have reached that goal.

With my ad costing $14, in the end it works out to me only paying $0.75 for the one month ad which is a pretty good deal considering it has sent over 3,200 visitors to my blog in one month! I’ve already renewed my ad for another month.

After my experiment, I can strongly recommend trying out Adgitize especially becoming an advertiser with Adgitize. It is so easy to earn back the cost of $14, and you’ll receive thousands of visitors. Plus, the more people that advertise on Adgitize, the more people will earn back. I’ve tried Project Wonderful (and am using it now) but there is pretty much nothing I can do to increase my earnings besides maybe making the ad in a better spot. I’ve only made just over $1 with Project Wonderful and have had it on my blog longer than Adgitize so if you’re looking to make money with ads on your blog, I suggest Adgitize.

I’ve been with Adgitize for a whole month now and it’s time to post the results. I’m skipping the points earned section because it’s a bit redundant – the points earned each day are shown in the earnings stats.

Advertising

The numbers for advertising have remained steady and I’m still pleased.

Earnings

Earnings this week were abnormally low due to a lack of posting and because of not having internet connection.

Week 1 Earnings: $4.09

Week 2 Earnings: $3.15

Week 3 Earnings: $3.17

Week 4 Earnings: $2.87

Total Earnings: $13.25

Stay tuned for a follow up post and my conclusion.

Hey guys,

Just wanted to make a short post today for not posting this weekend as well as not dropping.

Every night since Wednesday it has thunderstormed where I live and a storm on Saturday knocked out my internet connection. Of course, the Comcast guys weren’t available until today. Well, everything is fixed now however on Sunday I was unable to drop with Entrecard or get my 100 points for clicking on Adgitize blogs. Because of this, the data will surely be skewed. However, we’ll make the best of the results and I will post them on Wednesday.

A new feature has been added to Entrecard with a new way to earn Entrecard credits! Now, you can earn ECs by completing offers!

If you’ve ever joined a “Paid to Complete Offers” site, then you already know how this works. For those who have never done this before, it’s pretty easy. There are a variety of offers available with different instructions. Some are free, some require a credit card, and some are trials. The free ones are the easiest to do, but are also the lowest paying. If you see an offer you like, go ahead and click on it. Make sure to fill out the offer completely.

A new tab in your Entrecard dashboard says Earn EC. That’s where the offers are. I’ve seen some as low as 30 ECs (free offers) and some worth a couple thousand Entrecard credits. Check it out, complete some offers, and earn some Entrecard credits!

One suggestion that I would make to the Earn EC page is allowing users to sort in order of highest paying offers or lowest paying offers. In the e-mail sent out, Graham said there were some offers worth 20,000 Entrecard credits, but I haven’t come across it.

I can’t believe it’s already been three weeks with Adgitize. Just one more week to go with the experiment!

Advertising

More advertisers in the network (currently over 100) means less clicks to my blog. It’s still a good amount of clicks.

Points Earned

My points for ad views and page views combined are no longer adding up to 100, but instead 80. This will certainly reflect on my earnings.

End of May

June

Money Earned

Week 1 Earnings: $4.09

Week 2 Earnings: $3.15

Week 3 Earnings: $3.17

Total Earnings: $10.41

So if I want to reach my goal of $14, I need to earn $3.59 this week. It’s going to be a close one, but it looks like I might fall just short of my goal. If I really wanted to reach the goal, I could just make sure to post every single day. However, I am trying to do this experiment by doing what I normally do. I usually post every other day unless there are a lot of updates going on with Entrecard. We’ll see what happens in the final week!

This is the second month of rewarding the top droppers on EntreBlast. Drop daily to make this list and receive a free link!

After seeing the advertisement for The Ad Master EVERYWHERE (seriously, if you haven’t seen it, you must be new to Entrecard), I decided to do an interview. Learn about The Ad Master blog, their success with Entrecard, and where the image that represents The Ad Master on Entrecard came from.

So, describe what your blog is all about.

I started this blog so I could consolidate all of the information I had learned on Internet Marketing. I had 100s of bookmarks and quite a few ebooks to look through everytime I was promoting a new product. I finally got fed up and started a blog. The posts in this site are usually the result of me trying to learn more about a specific subject.

What inspired you to start your blog?

I started Theadmaster.net because I wanted one site where new marketers/bloggers/internet entrepreneurs could find information on everything they need to get started online. This was kind of, I wish there was something like this when I started, sort of thing.

How many cards do you drop daily? How many cards do you get dropped on you daily?

I drop 300 cards everyday. (I have a couple other blog and I try to drop 300 on them too, but that hardly ever works) – Before the paid advertisement fiasco I was recieving 500-600 drops a day, now it is more like 400-500 a day.

How many ads do you have running every day?

It depends, I have at least 5 running every day. I spend all the credits I earn every day on advertising. I never save them up.

Where do you get all of these Entrecard credits from? Have you had them saved or do you buy them?

I earn around 3000 ECs a day (all three of my blogs together). Sometimes I buy credits and sometimes I buy paid advertising.

How many ECs have you spent on placing Entrecard ads total?

I don’t know how many ECs I’ve spent all together but I have placed 3789 ads (I buy a lot in the 512-768 range)

How has placing all of these ads with Entrecard and dropping daily effected your blog?

Entrecard has helped me gain a steadily growing reader base. I know a lot of people don’t like the whole drop and run concept, but I think, do anything to get the people to your site – hopefully they’ll see something that makes them want to stay.

Now, about the image that you use to advertise with – what made you come up with this idea? Where’d you find the image?

My son picked it out (typical 11 year old) – I told him I was looking for something that would attract attention. I bought the image from bigstockphoto.

I’ve seen your ad in Adgitize and CMF Ads widgets too. How heavy are you advertising with those ad platforms and how successful have they been for you?

I just started advertising with adgitize this week. CMF, I think I have bought $20 worth of credits and I reinvest the credits I earn on new ads. I definitely spend more time on EC – I love the traffic and the interaction with other bloggers.

What’s one piece of advice you’d like to share with Entrecard users?

With everything going on at EC lately I would tell people to not be so quick to judge others in the blogosphere (something I’ve been guilty of) Too many people getting mad and quitting, stick it out – in the end Entrecard brings you visitors and is worth every minute you spend on it.

Thanks for the interview! Be sure to check out The Ad Master blog.

Looks like Graham has woken up for a deep sleep and has made a few updates around Entrecard. It’s good to know they are still alive!

Cashout Apps Processed

Finally, the cashout applications have been processed and either denied or approved. If you were approved you will notice a few new options in your dashboard where you can transfer ECs to your Cashout balance and you’ll receive money for ECs.

Entrecard Ad Network Only Accepting Entrecard Blogs

A chance to the Entrecard ad network is that it now will only accept blogs and only blogs that are with Entrecard. This is an interesting move that will probably hurt the paid ad network system, considering most Entrecard blogs can advertise with ECs on blogs through Entrecard anyways.

Enter Your E-mail and Receive 100 ECs

Here’s an offer that can’t be refused. You can earn 100 ECs from Entrecard simply by signing up for Shoemoney’s FREE internet marketing course. Don’t worry about getting junk e-mail, it is disclosed that your information will not be shared with anyone and Jeremy Schoemaker is a reputable guy.

Here’s how:

1. Visit Shoemoneyx.com

2. Enter your name and e-mail address

3. Forward the e-mail you receive to Graham at graham@entrecard.com