Entrecard No Longer Tolerates "Quick Drop" Pages

Beginning on July 1st, many of the "Quick Drop" pages that people have been using to game the Entrecard system and so other people can earn credits more quickly will no longer be available, as the owners' accounts will be banned/deleted.

Recently, I have already begun noticing that people have begun removing their accounts because they garnered these pages, hoping to gain a ton of credits from people dropping or advertising on their site.

This is a sample quick drop page if you have never seen one before. They typically only contain the Entrecard widget, an advertisement, or link to recent posts on their main blog.

It is suggested that you delete these pages, your account, or move your widget to your main blog page, and then input that link back into your account area.

The main reason that Entrecard is cracking down on these pages is because it prevents the credits from being spread to honest members that run quality blogs/websites.

Many of the members that do run these pages have been noted, and may start receiving credit penalties for the drops they do on quick drop pages or credits that they earn from members dropping their credits on their pages.

[Source: Entrecard Blog]

Other Recent Announcements
- Discussion on the Entrecard "Black Market"
- Terms of Service change that prohibits non-registered charities from using Entrecard.
- Chat with Graham on Twitter
- You may contact Graham directly (if you're new) to chat with your experiences.

Entrecard Opens Blog up to Monthly Advertising

Entrecard is now allowing monthly advertising on their blog for the relatively low cost of $75/month. This comes after they have been running Project Wonderful ads on their blog, which has increased dramatically over the past several months to the point it is today - $10.20/day. With the new monthly ads, you'll be able to save more than $200 a month compared to the current rates of Project Wonderful, making it a valuable deal. There were more than 2.3 million total visitors (nearing 900K uniques) to the main page of Entrecard during the month of May, so I am sure that a good portion (at least a hundred thousand) total visitors travel over to the blog.

While the price is $75/month, the ad appears (in most browsers) below the fold, so it isn't as high up as it could be - hidden below an "About" area, Entrecard widget, 2 Project Wonderful ads, a poll, and a subscription box. There also isn't detailed information on the number of visitors to the blog, which would be valuable for people that are looking to advertise there.

[Source: Entrecard Blog | Direct Advertising Link]

Entrecard May Be Planning Something Huge

A fairly large guessing game has been taking place with devoted Entrecard members and the owner, Graham, as to who the new 'mystery' partner is - whether a company or person(s).

A member of Entrecard, the blogger at Turnip of Power compiled a list of the clues and was hoping to bring some clues out as to who the partner may be. However, Graham replied with the statement:

"I hate to rain on your parade, but you’re completely WRONG. Let’s just say there are a few more clues you aren’t interpreting, but they’re staring you in the face. There I go saying too much again."

The new feature or addition to the site would be introduced within the next two weeks, doesn't deal with money, members will "love it", and will address the bounce rate problem. While there were some guesses as to what it may be on the post, there still hasn't been a definite indication of what it may be.

This partnership will likely make you visit the blogs for a period of time, or click through pages of the site, and the partner will be able to complement the traffic people are already getting from Entrecard in its own way.

For now, only time will tell what the new feature will be.

[Source: Turnip of Power]

Significant Updates Bring Welcome News to Bloggers

Today, the Entrecard Team launched a series of new earning and traffic building opportunities for bloggers using their system. Most of these updates are welcome news for bloggers: they now have more credit earning and money earning opportunities.

[Announcements can be found here]

Ability to Purchase Credits
This is likely one the biggest updates. From the start, the creator/owner of the service, Graham, said that he wanted to present the ability to have members sell credits as part of the larger network. Today's update doesn't necessarily allow you to sell credits, as Entrecard is approaching loyal, honest members to purchase credits from on a daily basis (20,000-40,000/day). However, you may also purchase credits for just under 1 cent each ($0.095 USD). Current bulk amounts are 1000, 5000, and 10000, with prices set at $9.50, $47.50, $95.00, respectively.

The demand for the credits is extremely high, thousands of credits were sold out in a matter of minutes, and once the complete credit exchanging network is set up, and if maintained properly, will allow the member to purchase credits at different rates, depending on the seller's preferences.

Purchase Credits

Write Posts Regularly on Your Blog
The main purpose of blogging is to spread your ideas, so why not do it and earn credits for doing a seemingly regular task?

To earn 25 credits every three days, all you have to do is write a post in that period. The Entrecard system will automatically detect that your feed had been updated, and the credits will arrive in your dashboard.

Write on the Entrecard Blog
Ranging from between a few hundred to over 2,000 credits, writing a post on the main Entrecard blog will help you get word out about your site and offer your ability to earn credits at the same time. The number of credits you earn from writing will be determined by your post quality (grammar, length, content, etc.).

Post should remain relevant to the blog, and content that engages readers more will, of course, be rewarded more heavily.

Personal Thoughts
The main idea behind the exchange and the ability to sell credits is to help bloggers generate income from an alternative source and earn traffic, if choosing to sell credits, along the way. Growth of Entrecard has not slowed down and once the second phase of the system becomes enacted, users will be able to sell credits directly from their Dashboard.

Major Entrecard Outage

A major outage at one of The Planet's data centers (where the Entrecard servers are housed) had a fire - a serious one - in which many of the sites on the network were put offline. However, there is a dedicated support team working to fix and/or restore the sites and problem, but it may be some time before they are all back online.

For right now, you may experience a drop in traffic on your blog if you utilized Entrecard for that purpose.