Wednesday, August 13, 2008

A word about my "dropping" style

About a month ago, I stumbled upon Entrecard through a fellow beaders blog. Entrecard is a network where you "drop" your card on another Entrecard users blog. You get 1 credit for each card you drop, with a maximum of 300 drops per day. The user then sees that you have dropped your card in their inbox on the Entrecard site. You also get 1 credit for every card dropped on your blog. You can then use these credits to advertise on fellow Entrecard bloggers. Its a great way to get traffic to your site, but then again, the traffic is questionable. Most of the people are just looking to get credits, so they drop their card and leave, never taking in any of the content of your site. There is even an Entrecard batch generator available (not through Entrecard itself) where you click on 1 button and 10 Entrecard sites pop up. You drop your cards, and move on to button 2 where 10 new sites pop up...and so on and so forth.

Do I try and reach 300 cards a day? Yup. I don't always get there, but I try.
Now, for all the Entrecard users out there I want to tell you a little bit about my dropping style.

The first place I go is my inbox, and drop on all the people that have dropped on me that day, and the day prior. Although I don't have one of those "you drop, I follow" banners, I try to reciprocate the dropping love. Next I visit my "top droppers" and make sure I've dropped my card there. Next I will peruse through my favorite categories and drop on any cards that draw me in...ones I've dropped on before mostly. I usually read the latest post in the blog and if the article is intriguing enough I'll comment.
If after all this, I still have more to go to reach 300, I'll use the entrecard generator. I admit it. And mostly, I drop and run. A lot of the sites that pop up from this generator are about making money online. While the notion is nice, it's just not where I wish to focus my energy. I use the generator purely for "topping up" as it were.
So Entrecard droppers, know that If you drop here, I'll drop you back.

7 comments:

Designing Hilary said...

Me too ... AND I'll read if possible. Especially the blogs of my fellow creative types.

Toni said...

I think that is a good way to drop. It sure is time consuming!!! Especially if you try to check out the blogs...

Have a great rest of the week and happy dropping!

Victoria said...

I should use this method. I never even get close to 300!

SarahKelley said...

I tried that-- but it became a chore. So now I'm super casual. I 'buy' my spaces with credits earned from spaces 'bought' from me.
I'm also pretty picky about what I let be displayed on my blog. I want it artsey:)

Marlaine said...

Interesting to read how someone else approaches the dropping thing. Thanks for posting it.

Beaderjojo said...

It can be a chore...I break it up throughout the day though. If I did it all at once I'd be cross eyed!
I do try to keep the blog somewhat artsy. However I do have links for some causes I feel are important but not necessarily arty. The breast cancer site and such.
I just realized that I had a "penis reduction pill" ad on my project wonderful bar and got rid of it. Comic books, ok. Penis-anything does not belong on my blog. lol.

Silver Canyons said...

I have just about the same style dropping method as you.
Also, another thing I do ..if I purchase and add spot and they don't respond in 24 hours, I cancel and find another spot to list.