Friday, January 23, 2009

Online Venue #8 -- Entrecard


As I look back over my last few posts, I realize I skipped #8 in my list of online-things-that-take-up-my-time. Not that I'm doing them in any particular order, I just skipped using the #8. Things like that make me crazy, so I'm "backtracking".


I've been with Entrecard for a few months now. It's sort of a virtual business card exchange, where people with blogs who belong to Entrecard visit each other and "drop" their avatar/widget on those blogs. It exposes other people to your blog when they reciprocate the "drop", and it exposes you to various blogs as you surf around and visit the other Entrecard members. You earn credits for each "drop" you make on someone else's blog. You also earn credits when people purchase Entrecard advertising on your blog. These credits add up and you can purchase advertising on other people's blogs. Theoretically, people who visit the blogs where you've advertised will then click on your avatar and find YOUR blog. Builds traffic to your blog. A cool idea, but pretty time-consuming.


The most "drops" you can make in one day is 300. I don't know why that particular number was chosen, but for me it hasn't made a difference because I've never been able to drop more than about 150. And that's on a day when I have pretty much nothing else to do! On a typical "dropping" session, I manage to visit between 50 and 100 blogs, and that takes me better than an hour and a half. I see some advertisements for "300 Drops in Less Than 5 Minutes", but I've never explored that option. I can't imagine how fast your internet connection would need to be to "drop" on 300 blogs in 5 minutes. I can only assume it's a "shortcut" of some kind. And I enjoy actually visiting the blogs I "drop" on. I've found some really interesting blogs this way. I invite you to check out some of my favorites:








I have more, but you can see just from this short list that there is a WIDE variety of reading material out there!


I like being a part of Entrecard, but it sure does contribute to my Spread Too Thin? problem (see post below). Perhaps I should take my laptop home every night and "drop" while I'm sitting around watching TV...?


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5 comments:

Ray Gratzner said...

Well I agree, I like entrecard too and you see a lot ov valuable blogs
Happy Blogging

Angela said...

It does take up a lot of time, and I don't get the "drop 300 in 5 minutes thing." I don't see how that is possible, but I have found so many wonderful blogs through Entrecard, and it's free, which I definitely like:)

Kirk Petersen said...

Get the Entrecard toolbar for the Firefox browser, it's made and authorized by Entrecard, it lets you open 10 sites at once in separate tabs, so you can Ctrl-Tab from one to the next doing your drops.

Kristin said...

I am like you..I typically drop 50-100 entrecards a day..probably closer to the 50 mark. And it takes SOOOO long to drop those...But I like to stop and read too! Like Just now! =)

wiregems said...

I appreciate all the comments! Kind of reinforces the idea that poking around Entrecard and finding cool blogs is not a chore...it's FUN!