Quick Entrecard Links for July 25, 2008

Some quick links in respect to Entrecard news.  More tips and resources will be posted shortly.

• Entrecard Growth - An interesting look at how the growth of Entrecard is similar to that of Postie/Pay-Per-Post.
• New Features Roundup - A quick look at the dozens of new features released last week.
• Ask Graham Langdon, Round 1 - You are given the opportunity to ask the creator of Entrecard any question- from blogging to the U.S. Economy.
  

Entrecard Teams up with SezWho

Blogging involves the sharing of content and views, and the main goal of the Entrecard system was to help bloggers receive traffic, in turn leading to more comments on their blogs. To make it easier to comment and reward the people who comment, Entrecard has decided to partner with SezWho, a comment system with advanced anti-spam features.

Why SezWho?
The main reasons for the decision to go with SezWho was that it takes an "industry-leading stance on data rights", and the "system is so robust, so powerful, that your comemtns are leveraged tremendously via their suite of features."

Getting Started with the SezWho System
You can see a demonstration of the plugin here (video).  Then, enter the Entrecard Dashboard and sign up for SezWho, entering your email address, blog URL, and display name.  Finally, add the widget to your Movable Type, Blogger, or WordPress blog.

How the Commenting and Earning System Works
When you leave comments on other blogs and others leave comments on your blog, each party will earn credits, which is in hopes of increasing comments and reduce click through rates on Entrecard blogs.

Earned credits for each comment will range between one and ten, with better comments rated higher, on a sliding reward scale, depending on ow your comments get rated.  Two stars or less merits the comments as "spam."

You will receive credits twenty-four hours after you've left a comment, so people have a chance to rate them.  If the comment is rated higher over the next three days, you may earn extra credits.

The Entrecard Browser now has a checkbox for selecting blogs with the SezWho plugin installed.

You can earn for up to fifteen comments per day, or ten credits for fifteen comments on individual blogs, raising the total number of earnable credits per day to 350.

I believe that this new sytem will help strengthen the Entrecard system, as more people will be leaving comments instead of trying to quickly drop their cards on other blogs.

Other:
In slightly off-topic news, Entreview.com advertised in the dashboard for $25 for a single day, and received a pretty staggering 765 visits during the twenty-four hour period their link was placed there.

Entrecard Advanced in Customer Service

In an announcement today, Entrecard's owner stated that more support has been added to help crack down on spammers and help new members answer any question they may have.
Previously, the support was primarily through the forums, but now, more questions will be answered than previously, as long as you present them according to the terms that have been set forth.

Reporting a Site
You may report sites who exhibit the following:

• Is a splog (spam blog)
• Only has a single post
• Quick Drop pages
• Contains nudity
• Non-English content
• Incredibly offensive content - hate speech, etc.

Feedback Form
The feedback form may be used for these purposes:

• Suggesting features
• Expressing your opinion on Entrecard
• Customer service issues
• Need technical support
• You have a complaint

It is great to see these added support options.  Reading the comments, "Skip this Ad" page owners will receive a warning and a twenty-four hour grace period before their account is suspended/deleted.  In addition, it will allow more new members to feel as though there is support behind them, as well as smoother dropping with less spam/fast drop pages - allowing Entrecard to focus on more features and get back to its original purpose.

Recent Entrecard Links

There hasn't been a huge amount of links to recommend since the last post, but there have been a few discussions of Entrecard worth reading.

• Tyler Cruz - Good Riddance, Entrecard - Tyler brings up some valid points, many which I feel are affecting the overall system, including the number of spam/inactive blogs, and the way the crediting system works.  In my opinion, the new crediting system favors smaller blogs even more than the old crediting system, so blogs with traffic/click throughs and content are not rewarded as highly as those who know how to "game" the system.
• John Chow - Make up to 5,000 Entrecard Credits in 15 Minutes - John Chow is offering up to 3,000 credits for completing or signing up for sites (he or Entrecard receives cash for doing so), plus an additional 1,000 credits if you complete all four offers.  Read more details on the offer with the link provided.
• Entrecard - Entreview is a new site created for Entrecard members (domain just registered on July 2nd of this year)  The site is built on Pligg, allowing a "Digg"-like interface, so you can post or link to a blog post you've written.

If you have any other quality links worth sharing, please leave a comment with the link. It is much appreciated.

Largest Entrecard Contest Ever

Entrecard has gathered a large number of members to sponsor a contest - prizes range form Entrecard credits (cash) to free advertisements and music/paintings.

It is quite simple to enter the contest:

1. Write about this contest and just mention the one prize you want to win. Then leave a comment on this blog post with the link for us to see.  1 Entry

2. Write about this contest on your blog, mention the prize you want to win and copy all of the sponsors. Then leave a comment on this blog post with the link for us to see.  2 Entries

This contest will end exactly 14 days from the time Graham posts this contest. Also, if Graham buries this contest with an Outage notice, he will have to answer for the loss of Q3-n’s dinette furniture. Thanks and good luck!

Sponsors:

Fantasy Baseball - 10,000ec — You can trade in 10,000ec for, like, Graham’s car or something.
Q3-n - 5000ec — Q3-n is selling their 1950s dinette furniture to finance this contest. They say, “You’re welcome.”
Øblog - 4000ec — Wow! 4000ec is going for like $30 on the Entrecard market. Thanks, Weird Oh.
Evil Woobie - 3000ec — Hey, maybe she’s not so evil after all! Or is she? You make the call!
Turnip of Power - 1001ec — He was going to go with 1000 then he found an extra credit in his couch. Thanks, Turnip!
Celebrity Pictures - 1000ec — Credits were acquired through legal means. Supposedly.
Evil Entrecard Kid! - 1000ec — Entrecard trivia: Evil Woobie and Evil Entrecard Kid are not related. Yet.
Modern Glam - 1000ec — With the 1000ec, perhaps you’ll buy an imaginary 1000ec pashmina and hang it around your virtual neck.
Dot Com Mogul - 1000ec — With this 1000ec, you might be able to buy back Q3-n’s dinette furniture.
Blabberwocky - 1000ec — It’s a play on Jabberwocky.
Looking For Scoop - 1000ec — Nothing says “I can buy one popular ad” like 1000ec.
Eyespi20.com - 1000ec — And she’ll teach you how she does that weird signature thing. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, look at her site.
Travelin’ Show - 1000ec — Message from the year 2012: Macy’s is now taking credits and a 1000 gets you one earring.
The Hypnotist - 1000ec — She will put you under a spell. Recognize!
Diet Pulpit - 1000ec — You can buy a lot of imaginary rice cakes with 1000ec. Side note, imaginary rice cakes taste better than real ones.
The Realtor - 500ec — You want insight. Listen to her write. It’s like magic beans growing in the backyard of your brain.
Romelo - 500ec — Romelo, Romelo, wherefore art thou 500ec?
WebATBP.com - 500ec — With gas prices soaring, it won’t be too long before 500ec goes for 501ec.
Inspire Emotion - 500ec — Almost pay for your favorite 512ec ad!
Sue Doe-Nim - 500ec — She’ll probably give you the credits then mock you for wanting them. That’s right — bonus!
Thailand Land of Smiles - 500ec — Actually, that’s 500 smiles.
FitnessLifeClub - 500ec — You’ll have to promise not to blow these credits on any fattening foods.
Lisa Cooking - 500ec — Surprise the whole family with 500 Entrecard credits.
JunkieYard Dot Com - 500ec — If you put these credits in a 401K, in 45 years you’ll have enough credits for a free e-card.
Movie Reviews - 500ec — You can’t buy a movie ticket with Entrecard credits. Yet. (Graham twirls his mustache. Contemplating world domination.)

PRIZES THAT ARE NOT CREDITS (BUT STILL WONDERFUL):
Aerten Art - She’s donating a painting. Seriously. Go look at her site and tell me you wouldn’t want a painting. Now. We’ll wait.
ImpNERD - 125×125 ad for a month — Let’s see, ImpNERD usually sells advertising for 256ec/day. You get this for a month. Um, yeah, you want this.
PoemsofQuotes - A cheesy poem about the winner’s topic — Win this and then ask them to rhyme something with, “Orange.”
Eyespi20.com - A custom made 125×125 card. Some of you need this. You know who you are.
Diet Pulpit - One week ad spot right below the banner and a personal greeting from Lady Rose saying, “Congratulations!”
JunkieYard Dot Com - Three blogroll links. Okay, the thing is, you can’t just get these. They’re prizes only won here.
The Hypnotist - A Hypnotic Audio - I don’t think this will simply be trance music. I could be wrong.

[Source: Entrecard Blog]

Advertise in the Most Clicked on Location at Entrecard

You may now advertise in one of the most clicked on places at the Entrecard site - the Dashboard.  The money earned from this spot will be used to purchase additional servers.  (The post is dated January 1st, 2006, strangely enough),

Details About the Advertising Deal:

• Permitted - Links to specific posts, links to the main blog, or links to products and services, as long as they appeal to bloggers, and any links may be denied for any reason.
• Not Permitted - Links to anything that has nothing to do with blogging, and anything remotely close to spamming.
• Price/Limitations - $25 per link per day, or $700 (a $50-$75 savings) per month.  No more than three sponsored links will be displayed, advertising works on a first come first serve basis, and you may purchase as many days as you'd like.

You may read further details about purchasing the advertisement on the announcement post.  With a one month purchase, your ad will be displayed to more than twenty-eight thousand visitors per day and close to one million visitors per month (Compete stats).  While the daily pricing may sound steep, your ad will be potentially visited by several thousand members, mainly those that sign into the main Dashboard area.

[Source: Entrecard Blog]

Entrecard Encourages the Use of Digg for Gaining Traffic and Forming a Community

Graham, the founder of Entrecard, released a statement and encouragement on July 1st, possibly one of the secrets that others were trying to figure out in the beginning of June.

It's quite simple to take part in the new "promotion", if you want to call it that.  The main purpose of this is to help anyone get a post to the front page.  First, you'll want to join Digg, if you haven't already, then find the comments section in this post.  Visit each person's Digg profile, and click "add friend", and continue updating as more people add their account to the list.

In the end, the objective is to grow a fairly large Digg community, in order for the members to gain more activity and eventually the Digg algorithm will recognize the community as more powerful, and it'll be easier to have the content rise to the front page.

You need to have a "Digg this Post" widget in your blog posts if you want to have your posts "dugg".  Eventually, each person that visits your blog (and likes your content), will "Digg" your posts, potentially bringing you thousands of new visitors.

[Source: Entrecard Blog]