Friday, February 13, 2009

Entrecard Experiment is Over

Hey there. I decided a week or so ago, that I would stop using Entrecard for a week. Not because I think the service sucks, or anything of that sort, but because I was curious as to why so many of it's members were leaving. Is there really a benefit for those that simply walk away? I've had a steady stream of traffic (in the vicinity of 250-400 page views a day) since I've joined Entrecard, that I was happy about. I know I'm not a super popular guy and I don't expect 1000's of hits a day but a couple of hundred page views and some committed friends is a satisfactory result. With that being said, my traffic took a huge nose dive during the time off from Entrecard. Somewhere around a 67% drop. It dropped faster than the US economy.


A very humbling experience. I don't see how someone can walk away from a community that not only brings in traffic to your site but also creates friendships. I thank you, friends, that continued to visit and drop this week, even though I did not reciprocate. I made no mention of my experiment cause I didn't want to influence my readers, or lack there of, and I would call it a success, even though I am not ecstatic of the results. I'm back on Entrecard and I'll start my blog surfing. Thanks again, friends. Later!

10 comments:

  1. I tried this same experiment but spread it out over months...some would have called it laziness. to hell with them :)

    The problem I have with Entrecard is that the majority of the traffic are other ec'ers dropping cards. Many of them don't stick around to actually read what each other post. So when you/we stop dropping cards on people, they stop dropping cards on us. So our traffic takes a huge dive. What this says to me is that entrecard shouldn't be used as a main traffic generator. It's a great tool to use to get more visibility for your site. But if your goal is to generate more traffic and get real readers, you need to be working some other things as well. Hopefully those ads we run pull in some "real" readers and not just more droppers.

    Later G-Money

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  2. Agree with the above post.

    EntreCard is a great way to find some great blogs (like this one) which you can add to an RSS reader. And . . . you might get some people to stick around yours.

    My first 100 drops every day are purely for credit. And I do it in less than 15 minutes. Can't really say I get much out of those blogs I visit.

    The next 100-150 are filtering for discovering blogs that I can keep an eye on later.

    The last 50 are where I get the benefit, by building a relationship and finding great content.

    Personally, I don't care about traffic above an beyond those that "stick" to my blog and content.

    Walter Reade (from Wisconsin)
    Slight Edge Networking Blog

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  3. Odd.. I haven't really noticed a boost or loss from EC - but I agree that I, too, have noticed some users leaving - maybe it's just a coincidence that your site dropped views - who knows.. What you could do is check your traffic reports to see where most of the traffic came from one month, then compare it with the latter of those months in which traffic was bad - That's what I do.. Anyhow, best of luck with EC!

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  4. I agree with you, Entrecard did wonders to my site. Barely 3 months and my traffic increased. I can't find time to drop on weekends and I'd expect a decrease in my traffic. But in the end, it's still wonderful to keep Entrecard coz it's where you can also find amazing sites.

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  5. I agree that Entrecard is really solid.

    I recently moved my blog from Today.com to self hosted, and didn't have time to do any dropping for about two weeks. It definitely hurt my usage a TON.

    So now I am kinda rebuilding traffic. :( I could definitely use all the help I could get at this point.

    -Michael
    Muckbeast - Game Design and Online Worlds
    http://www.muckbeast.com

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  6. I feel the same way as the commenter. Entrecard is really useful for traffic, I just wish there was a who to reward those who stay longer. It seems Entrecard uses do not even look at my blog. I mean, I'm offering a free plug and only asking people to vote in the poll and leave their blog's URL in my comments so I can write a thank you in my analysis of the poll. I only have 4 people after 300+ views. It is frustrating.

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  7. Hey there friends,

    G-Money,

    Yeah, I feel the same way. We pull in viewers with Entrecard but how many of those viewers are readers? I figured, if I get 300 page views from Entrecard droppers a day, I'm hoping that at least 5 would stick around to comment and read.

    Walter,

    I treat dropping like checking out an encyclopedia. You'll get to a page, check out the headlines and if it catches my attention, I'll read the article. Same deal with blogs. I'll go check em out, read a few of the posts' titles and if any catches my attention, I'll read and comment. I don't want to over look a great post cause it's in my first 100 sites, you know.

    Rob,

    Yeah, I've gotten some notices from friends saying they're jumping ship from Entrecard for a myriad of reasons. Either way, I think it's a useful tool, that's been kind to me so I can't let go of a good thing.

    Doi,

    I agree that finding time to do it on the weekends can be a major chore. This is where your more valued visitors come to light. You can expect less traffic, but the quality of your visitors is usually better.

    Beast,

    Best of luck with your rebuilding. I was featured in the first page of the "Mixed Bag" section and after my little experiment, I've dropped to oblivion so I'm in the same boat as you. Rebuilding...

    DrBurst.

    The way you reward your readers is up to you. Give out credits for top droppers or top commentators. Besides great posts, most readers would come back if they have an incentive.

    Thanks for the comments friends. Later!

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  8. I can agree with you here. I recently had a crazy work schedule where I wasn't able to drop or blog for over a week. There was a huge drop in my traffic. But I also noticed those who came and dropped almost every day even when I wasn't returning drops. I've also found some great blogs and readers through entrecard. We shall see how it goes!

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  9. Thanks for the experiment and now I don't have to do it.... yet. Just started to fulfill the 300 quota for 2 weeks and just seeing the result. Although getting genuine readers/friends is hard, at least it helps me know new blog

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  10. Wow, I was wondering how much of my traffic was from entrecard too. Thats good to know, I'm going to keep using it =P

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