Signs of the Times: Entrecard Gets ‘Moneytized’ and People Get Cunning
By
When do you know that something is getting addictive? Usually when the demand for a service or a product increases, and the number of sellers follows suit. This is happening right now in Entrecard.
I. The Signs:
1. Entrecard credits being vended at Ebay by sitecash.info (and there are bids!)
2. People have been asking in forums if it is legal to exchange a certain number of Entrecard Credits for dollars, and Entrecard’s lead developer (Phirate) says,
- “We explicitly permit the sale of Entrecard credits. It was part of the plan from day one. We are watching all of this closely to ensure that things don’t unbalance, and if they do some changes may need to be made, but overall we believe entrecard credits have real value, and thus dollar value. Exactly what that value is isn’t clear at this time although we have our own internal valuation.”
3. People are getting curious if Entre will allow third party programs to drop the cards (based on a forum post). To which, Phirate replied “No”. But would anyone ask the question if the possible use of a bot did not occur to that person?
4. Several blogs have been joining the system and these contain only a few or no stuff, except for that big Entre widget at the header or upper sidebar. These are obviously “harvester” blogs that people may go to to drop cards (therefore earning the owner credits, which may be transfered to a main account). In the moneytization point of view, why will anyone bother to set up these blogs if not to sell E-credit for real money? Ok, benefit of the doubt, they might use these credits for their own promotion and not for selling. But my point is, they obviously don’t want to market these “dummy” blogs’ content as there is no content to market. And obviously, they won’t even develop these blogs because there is nothing to develop.
5. The demand for gazillions of E-credits is increasing. Everytime a person drops a card on someone’s blog, the price of advertising in that blog increases. So the price (in E-credits) to advertise in more popular blogs like John Chow’s will increase hour by hour, as hoards of readers drop their cards on his widget. What is a newbie Entrecard user to do if he wants to catch the advert price on JC’s blog before it increases some more? Buy credits. Using real money.
II. A Lesson from Blog Rush?
While Blog Rush’s traffic promotion system is a dismal failure, they did do something right. They set out to manually screen the blogs that are coming in so that each blog in their system is a quality one, and eligible for the free traffic/promotion service.
III. My Take
I am very lucky to have joined Entrecard when it was starting. Regardless of what others say about Entrecard, I was there when John Chow’s advert price was just close to 50 e-credits, and I could see the potential of the service to increase traffic in my blog. It was friendlier back then (goodness, it was just a month ago!).
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42 Comments
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
I never thought I’d say it but it seems like Entrecard is becoming everything Blogrush SHOULD have been. Initially I thought the traffic was worthless, since most referrals from Entrecard only spend about 10 seconds on my site (just enough time to drop a card) and then move on. However I’m noticing more and more people are actually sticking around to read my stuff.
I especially love it when hot girls come and visit, so thanks for stopping by.
Merry Christmas!
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:33 pm
good info for entrecard members like myself… but i think it’s beginning to get too commercialized now.
jessie’s last blog post..The Google Your Mom Didn?t Tell You About
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Nice post! Just to point out a few things, we are aware of everyone who is attempting to “harvest” credits by setting up blogs of poor quality, and because every credit transfer leaves a paper trail, we wait to see who is doing it, then we zap all the credits and close out all their accounts, the whole process takes a day or two.
And as for bots to drop credits, we have gear in place that catches it, and zaps your credits.
We are committed to making sure everyone plays fair, and the blogs in the network are of high quality. As Entrecard becomes larger, our tactics will become more advanced.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
We’re you able to land an ad in johnchow.com?
Culture Shiok! Singapore OFW’s last blog post..For the love of Ma Ling….
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:30 pm
@lincoln
good for you! hope you get more of those… thanks for coming by also
@jessie
i just realized that if this goes on and entrecard users use dirty tactics to gain credits, it would be unfair for everyone (unless we all do the same things)
@graham
Hello graham, you used to email me my entrecard updates before that support-at-entrecard.com guy replaced you! *smiles*
Thanks for replying to this post and for reassuring us that you’re on top of things.
To those who don’t know, Graham is Entrecard’s top man. “Credit” goes to him for making this service possible … get it? (yeah, that was a lame joke, lol)
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:41 pm
@cultureshiok
no, i wasnt able to advertise there because the price has always been too high, but I don’t feel it’s a loss because this is not really a “money blog” so it’s not related to JC’s blog. I am very lucky to have been able to advertise at antibarbie.net though. That blog is like the “John Chow” of literature blogs.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Hey woobie, I believe its a good thing cause it would afford Entrecard some form of longevity that blogrush didn’t and hopefully enable us to continue receiving traffic to our blogs.
As an offside, have you noticed that your new commentluv plugin can’t read some blog post. I noticed mine first on Joanjoyce blog and here again. Apparently there is something wrong with my feed. I wonder what, plus I wonder what am to do about it. Any ideas on troubleshooting feeds or feedburner feeds?
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:38 am
I’m beginning to see new blogs with one post on them (within the last day) appear. I think they are being created just so people can get another 300 credits per day.
gary’s last blog post..Everytime I try to get out, they just keep pulling me back in
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:59 am
@gary
hello gary. yeah and though it’s not officially said in entrecard, you should report these too when you see them.
anyway graham just said they know about these sites.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Great post woobie. It’s nice to see people are caring about these not-so-nice practices and working to fix the issue this quick. People will always try to scam a system especially if it makes them a buck.
Michael White’s last blog post..Win $250 and 1000 Entrecard Credits!
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
@michael
hello. i’m in love with the system and the system loves me back, why destroy that right?
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:22 pm
woobie, first off, ur blog was down a while back. second, i have written an in-depth analysis of entrecard in my blog… i’m not totally against it, pls dont get me wrong. analyses, like mine, are but natural to present two sides of the coin, else it won’t be in-depth at all.
i hope entrecard users play a bit more fair… in all honesty, i see many blogs there during my monitoring hours to successfuly increase their ad placement value in less than a day. at times higher than old ones submitted prior to their entry to the program.
jessie’s last blog post..The Google Your Mom Didn?t Tell You About
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:48 pm
@jessie
HUWAT? this site was down?!? ggrrrr… hehe. One of the few things that could make evil woobie come out of her little nook in a corner of my mind. *rushes to write a bristling email to hosting provider*
Anyway, I’ll go check your blog later!
December 24th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
i guess it was just that entrepreneurship thing in people. most of us anyway. if it is not contrary to the TOS of entrecard, i say go with it. after all, we are trying to monetize our own blog too, right?
assuming i have a gazillionth of credits, i would like to cash in on it too.
but personally, i would prefer to have some credits come as a gift to some blogger friends. or make it a promo thing.
anyway, you seem so into entrecard lately. but thanks to you who introduced me to it. i am now enjoying it as well.
December 25th, 2007 at 5:03 am
Hi I’m Danny,
I’m the one who placed the $1.25 bid on 50 credits.
I just wan’t to make one thing clear
I do not believe 50 credits are worth $1.25 I just felt like messing around a little bit 
Well I hope you include me and my blog in your final post about your e-bay listing
C ya all.
Danny @ MarketTreasure.com’s last blog post..Drop your card and WIN!
December 25th, 2007 at 6:15 am
@danny
Hi there! Yeah, 1.25 is too much, a few cents maybe.
December 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Hey Woobie, this is a really good article. Surprised I missed it. Not sure if it’s an addiction to Entrecard or, as Tim Ferris puts it in ‘4 Hr Work Week’ more like an addiction to filling time. Anyways, gonna go to my supermarket… they take Entrecard Credits now.
Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blog’s last blog post..Oh, It’s Gonna Be A Click Fraud Christmas…!
December 26th, 2007 at 7:52 pm
Hey Woobie,
Entrecard credits on ebay? Hmmm….too bad Danny replied, I thought I’d found a new way to make millions!
menopauseprincess’s last blog post..Sunday Scribblings:Holiday Memories
December 26th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
@MP
hello sis! we can only hope that more people get into this!
December 27th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Uhh.. I’m the guy from number 3. I wanted to discuss possible exploits and how to prevent them but phirate didn’t seem to want any of it. I’ve already removed the said post.
sylv3rblade’s last blog post..Myself Yourself – Series Review
December 28th, 2007 at 8:12 pm
@silverblade
he doesnt want to give away any of their SOP on catching bots. And I guess he learned early that responding to a query regarding bots will only lead to people getting more and more curious.
January 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pm
meh… it was my fault for not going about it the right way. I’ve learned the lesson of asking before testing.
sylv3rblade’s last blog post..What to do when your PC dies
January 11th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
http://www.blogblogcherry.blogspot.com
wow. this is a great blog post. i really enjoy your in-depth review of entrecard. i am quite interested in the way you dissect your subject matter.
great post.
william hessian’s last blog post..Loose Change Vs Google Adsense: Enter the Dirty Laundry Room
January 11th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
@william
thanks william
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Looks like it is getting bigger and bigger and people are getting more innovative and finding more ways using the credits. I’m going to put up a post about it soon.
Gerri’s last blog post..Sell Your Advertising Space
May 13th, 2008 at 2:05 am
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June 17th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
Wow! The controversy on the internet is huge!
Cactii’s last blog post..GPS Tracking Systems for Cars, Pets and People
January 19th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Thank you for your post. It is advantage for me.
Alex’s last blog post..Bankofthewest
January 20th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
unfortunately, my account for entrecard was being deleted so i can dropping anymore.but my opinion entrecard was good to increas our traffice blog.btw, greetings from me
ipanks’s last blog post..Take Your Mail
February 9th, 2009 at 7:29 am
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February 11th, 2009 at 5:31 am
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February 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
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February 13th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Thanks you for this post.
February 26th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
thanks for your share.
March 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
you blog is excellent!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I wouldn’t see it ever anyways thanks
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Thank for Great tips
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
Wow, now that is a very cool concept!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
thanks for the news
March 17th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I was thinking of putting entrecard on my magazine, but now with all the changes at entrecard, I’m not so sure I want to ??
I am confused by all the new rules, and don’t know if it will really make much of a difference in my readers?
The Angels Weekly’s last blog post..March is National Nutrition Month
April 18th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Thanks you for this post.
Manop’s last blog post..myeasypayment
April 28th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I guess I’ll have to go check out entrecard myslef.
Instyler’s last blog post..Instyler Transformation Video