Yes, I have left  Entrecard (actually I was removed). No, you may not have my stuff (credits). If I could log back into my account to spend my credits or give them away, I would. Sorry folks.

This post is not to add to drama or to EC bash. It’s just my experiences with this network and the feelings that have come from each stage of development.

The Early Days of Entrecard

I have been a member of Entrecard over various blogs and blog reincarnations since 2007. I was around when things were still fairly young and watched as the concept and community bloomed for the first handful of months. Back then, it seemed like Entrecard was really the answer to the small blogger’s hopes and dreams. Though there were probably a few min-maxer 300-droppers in those days, the community was simply in awe of how much traffic and interaction Entrecard brought them. I was one of those bloggers — I met some blogger friends that I still visit from time to time, even though my own blogging has been erratic over the years.

The Downfall of Card Dropping

But then something began to change. I don’t know if it was the aging process of the concept. But the blog-hopping, site-dropping, push to popularity in the EC community began to settle in. While this wasn’t something everyone did, I’ll say up front, it felt like EC became less about stopping and reading and commenting – who had time to do that when there were 300 cards to drop! And dropping 300 cards, even with all images turned off, could take a bit of time to do each day. Satisfaction came from seeing a straight row of green 300 drops on your EC statistic charts night after night… and pushing to be ranked within the top three of your EC category so that your blog could be seen amongst the popular page.

Sounds like I talk from experience? Yes. Sadly. Yes I do. I was guilty of this for a little while… until time took its stranglehold on me and I simply could not keep dropping like that. In the time I dropped 300 cards, I came to realize, I could have been developing quality content for my blogs. Or I could have really been contributing to other blogs by reading and commenting.

I realized I was, instead, contributing to the problem that frustrated me about my own blog – high bounce rates and little interaction. So, for a time, I took a break from EC… and that’s when the whole paid ads drama began.

The Era of Paid Advertising

I watched the announcements and community reactions from afar — I was on the fence at that point. I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having paid EC ads on my site, but I acknowledged that EC needed to have some way to earn money for their network. I adapted a wait-and-see stance for a while. But I also found myself unmotivated to drop during the drama time and uncertain about the future of the network as a whole.

When this blog went through yet another transition with a new domain, I decided to give EC another chance to see if I could catch some interest. What I found when I came back was not the same EC that I left.

Too Much Uncertainty

I could be wrong. I could be very wrong… but when I came back to EC, it felt like a shadow of its former self. I did some drops (not 300 a night, though). I did all the normal things, but I got very few drops in return compared to what I used to get. I saw a lot of blank ads out there. And despite the fact my own ad was only 8 EC to advertise on (which used to result in a flood of people trying to snatch it up), I had only two or three interested in placing an ad on my blog. I’m not sure how folks are getting their credits now… maybe it’s being channeled through the Market now. Who knows.

I visited the forums… but it felt like a ghost town to me. I really doubt that everyone is in the VIP forum either — I couldn’t tell, though. Despite being an EC member since 2007, I hadn’t bought 400 ads to be able to view that forum. So it is locked to me. I think I understand what they were trying to do during the spiel where they locked the forums except to the VIP ad-buying members (400 ads was way too high, though). It wasn’t just  to block spammers and nay-sayers. I think EC realizes that they really need to push an incentive to purchase ads on other EC sites now.

The incentive to do that for me is gone. There is just too much uncertainty in buying an ad — with credits or with money. And honestly, those who purchase the ads with money have the most uncertainty of all. There is no way (that I could see) to tell from looking at a blog in the EC network how many paid ads it has approved (unless the blog announces that they are not accepting paid ads at all). I think this is a major oversight on design.

Since any blog that runs a paid ad will be randomly displaying a paid ad 50% of the widget views and the EC ad the other 50% of the widget view, I cannot be sure that the EC credits are well spent. Does that blog accept paid ads? Should I advertise on them knowing that my credits will only receive half of the view that it normally would without the paid ads? How do I tell?

And if I’m a paid advertiser, it seems my ad just gets dropped in the network-wide shuffle. Yes, it is network wide, and that is a lot of blogs, I suppose. But users can choose to decline the ads. And then my paid ad must elbow out other paid ads for a spot. I’m not so good at math… but if there are ten paid ads already running on that blog, that means you have a 1 in 10 chance of being shown… 50% of the time that the widget is viewed. If anyone can give me real numbers for what a paid advertiser is looking at with that, I’d be thankful. I haven’t advertised on EC, so I’m unsure of whether you pay by the view or for just over an amount of time. Hopefully, it is by the view, because otherwise, it really doesn’t seem to be a good deal to me.

All that being said, when I came back to EC again, I found myself doubting each ad I placed: “Does this blog have paid advertisers? Will my ad only be seen 50% of the time? 32 ECs seems like a good deal for an ad… but only if it gets a full 32 ECs-worth of views during that day.”

I found myself not placing ads because I had no way to tell what kind of exposure I was buying with my credits. So, when it came to blog redesign, I opted out of placing the EC widget on my site, opted out of the drive to drop cards and not contribute to fellow bloggers’ blogs, opted out of knowing most of the traffic I’d get from that network were just hop-droppers that would send my bounce rate through the roof again.

I began to experiment with CMF Ads and Adgitize instead. I have impressions to give on both of these networks… but that will be for future posts.

My Farewell

Now, because I removed my EC widget, EC has closed my account. Fair enough. And a good enough reason for me to stay resolved to keep away from EC and the dropping addiction that it seems to infect folks with. Or maybe not… as it didn’t seem like that many people were dropping anymore. Perhaps in time, people will realize there are alternatives and a better use of their time.