The NEW "New Entrcard Economy"

Friends, I have bad news to report; the ladies at BadGalsRadio are pissed. Then again, I can see their point. They declare their anger in this post, a fundamental blast against the Entrecard "drop and run" technique. To be fair, EC does not endorse "d 'n' r", nor do they encourage it. Then again, in a system which allows, no, requires the acquisition of vast numbers of EC credits [which can then be used to advertise on the most popular EC blogs], what did they expect would happen?

To be fair, Graham and Co. have tried several ways to get droppers to linger and comment. Limiting the number of drops per blog in theory should give EC'ers the time to leave a comment or two [of course, serious 'Carders simply started multiple blogs, then shifted credits around as needed]. SezWho seemed to be a step in the right direction, but went nowhere [technical issues at the launch didn't help]. Comment contests were nice, but only for the host blogs [and, if memory serves me right, most of the comments were, at best, "Great blog! Hi..."; at worst, they were an excuse for link requests and monitization offers (obviously people who, again, weren't even reading the blogs).]. Nothing seems to work.

Another issue BadGals is aggravated by is this weekend's announcement by EC that, starting very soon, it will sell advertising on blogs, reducing [in theory; see below] the maximum number of ad impressions to 50 % in some cases [if paid ads run on specific blogs]. As EC's in-house J. Arthur Crank, you'd think I'd be bothered by the whole thing myself. Truthfully, though, I'm rather blase about it. Of course Entrecard needs to find a revenue stream to support itself; selling advertising is a reasonable way for the company to do so [with tens of thousands of users, it certainly has an audience]. And, for the vast majority of EC blogs, nothing will change. Let me explain: enterprises spending money on advertising will want the biggest "bang for their buck" [or Euro, Australian Dollar, or, well, you get the idea]. There is already a whole sub-industry on the Internet concerning keywords, ideal ad placement, etc. "Real-world" advertisers already have experts advising them on where to spend a shrinking advertising budget. EC ad buyers will almost certainly want to purchase space on the most popular blogs, within their field of interest. Sure, there will likely be some experimental "mass buys", wherein an advertiser will consider buying space on a large number of blogs within a category. But I expect these to be few and far between.

One point I disagree with the BadGals on; those blogs that are chosen by "money" advertisers will receive compensation, at least to the degree they are willing to sell acquired credits back to EC [I'm assuming "selling credits back" is not mandatory; it shouldn't be. None of this should be mandatory...]. Will EC get the lion's share of the compensation? Of course it will; it created the mass of audience, and it's handling the sales of space.

One point I agree with BG on; there should be no penalty for rejecting advertising. In the above paragraph I said, I think rightly, that EC created the "mass of audience". It did so by creating the social network that is Entrecard. But the most popular blogs within EC are responsible for creating their own following. Just as a radio or TV station, newspaper or magazine can choose to turn down advertising not consistent with its philosophy, EC blogs should be free to refuse advertising they are for any reason uncomfortable with, without penalty, save the loss of compensation. We the bloggers own our blogs. It is our toil, tears, and sweat that power them [no matter what Blogger thinks; of course, with their "I power Blogger" buttons, they've shown that they get the message].

Once again, Entrecard is rolling the dice. Unlike some of their previous attempts, I believe this one could lead to a stronger Entrecard framework, which will make the whole network of blogs more secure. Let's see who comes to the table. Let's see who chooses to sell ad space. Let's see who rejects it, and why. Let's be observant, patient, and willing to let this brave new EC world play itself out for a while.

-Mike Riley

Entrecard Market - Am I Missing Something?

I must be the Official Nay - Sayer when it comes to EntreCard. Don't get me wrong. I am glad to have EC as a promotional service for my blogs. Sometimes I can even work up the energy to do reciprocal drops, and do a little reading and commenting. But frequently, when it comes to other services Graham and Co. offer, I just don't get it.

Take the new "Market" section. I've made a couple of visits, and there is an interesting array of goods and services on offer [I even ordered Jenelle's CD, I like new music, and a little gamble that doesn't involve actual cash is fine by me]. Some services, by definition, probably would be of interest only to EC users [EC/website redesigns, for instance]; what I'm not exactly clear on [and I am far from the brightest crayon in the box] is what the seller gets in the exchange. Sure, someone offering goods or services could save the EC credits tendered, then sell them for cash [and does anyone besides me remember when EntreCard, at least informally, discouraged such transactions?]. But most casual EC users are probably not too interested in that extra layer of effort for compensation [and, by the bye, what is the going rate for EC credits, anyway?]. I can see someone wanting to build up credits for advertising or purchases in the Market. But how much advertising or purchases will the average EC'er want to make?

Let's return to Jenelle's offer [I actually have a bit of interest in this one; I'm hoping to market a CD sometime this year]. In exchange for your 1000 credits, you get a recorded CD of original music. Fair enough. But what does she get? Well, to order a CD [and, I'm guessing, anything else], you have to give out an e-mail address. This is in case there are any problems with your order. If the seller gets access to these addresses, s/he has a list of potential purchasers of future items, which could be marketed directly to those on such a list. Remember, unless the seller plans to re-sell the credits, s/he has yet to make any money on the transaction. And, in the case of physical goods, there are expenses related to making, packaging, and mailing the product offered [of course, this is not as important when offering non-hard goods (125x125 cards, guest posts, etc)]. Then again, a few Market offers involve buying ad space for extended periods on specific blogs. Doesn't that go against the whole EC principle of buying ad space on a variety of blogs with credits acquired through drops? [I understand where the Sellers are coming from on that one; I wish I'd thought to do that myself. See "Entrecard Exploited" for an early experiment along these lines]

As I said at the outset, I remain a supporter of the basic principle of

EntreCard; I just wonder where Graham and the other administrators are going with some of these new services.

[Image at right from Kongtechnology.com, via Google]

-Mike Riley