Entrecard Teams up with OIO Publisher

OIO Publisher, a plugin that allows bloggers and website owners to sell ads on their site with little or no cost (normally $47, but $30 with coupon "entrecard") has now partnered with Entrecard, to allow users of the system to purchase advertisements, reviews, text links, inline ads, RSS inserted ads, monthly 125x125 ads, and more.

You can find the post here or the direct purchase link (not ours!) here.

The new version, 2.0, allows more bloggers, using either Blogger or WordPress (must have a hosting account) to use the tool.  It does much more than simply help you sell ads - you are able to track the number of clicks, click through rate, number of clicks, impressions, plus other features.

In the near future (within 2 days), you will be able to browse their Marketplace to find sites that are using the tool and Entrecard.

What this means for bloggers:

• You will be able to purchase advertising on other blogs.
• You will be able to earn Entrecards through both the Entrecard system, selling ads through the widget.
• It will be easier to earn Entrecards and cash through the system, as $1 is roughly equal to 166 credits.
• Advertisers are more likely to continue advertising on your site, with the reports that they are given.
• It is easier to manage ads with the plugin.
• Google doesn't (as far as most people know) penalize sites selling links, banners, etc. through OIO, as tracking links are used instead.

Other Details:

- Entrecard makes a small commission on each sale, so this helps support the rollout of new Entrecard features.

- 12.5% of the Entrecards you spend go back to Entrecard to maintain inflation, sell back to members, etc.  As far as I know, no fees beyond what PayPal takes will go to Entrecard.

My Thoughts:

This is a great addition to Entrecard, although many people will need to implement it before you can use it to its full advantage.  However, I believe that purchasing ads on blogs through the Entrecard widget will become less of value, until the new marketplace/credit trade-in system is put in place.  For example, if a blog costs 512 credits/day to advertise on with the Entrecard widget, but only 166/day with OIO Publisher/private ad sales, wouldn't you want to go with OIO Publisher?

There have been quite a number of people commenting on the price of the plugin.  In a sense, it is high for someone who doesn't have much money they may never see again, but on the other hand, the price is the same as a 3-year domain, or 3 months of website hosting, not an extremely high price.  Set the price at ~2,500 for a month, and you'll (theoretically) make the fee back within two sales.

Secondly, another issue that I see is with the decrease in prices and high availability of credits for sale - over 300,000 on the "Buy Credits" page - wouldn't this create higher inflation - something that everyone wanted to prevent before?

You can check out the full details of the money-saving offer or go directly to the OIO Publisher website (Entrecard affiliate link).

Note: Spend a few moments to vote on the Entrecard blog about the recent changes in the sidebar - length before a blog is removed with no updates, daily number of drops, etc.

Major Changes at Entrecard

In this blog post, there were a number of changes addressed, which should be shared with others who use the system.

Quote:
In order to continue operating in the long-term, Entrecard needs to make some significant changes. The changes are summarized below:

• Buy credits for less: Entrecard is now selling 1,000 credits for $6.00.
• More pricing increments: Instead of prices doubling every time, there are now a few more steps. The new price points can be found on the Advertising page in the wiki.
• Members are not allowed to sell credits: This goes for ebay sales, posts in the Marketing forum, and posts on other forums. If you have references on your site to the sale of credits, please remove them immediately, as it is now against our terms.
• Credit transfer limits: Members are allowed to make a maximum of 14 credit transfers a week, up to a maximum of 1,000 credits, whichever comes first. This means you can still run contests where you give credits away for free, and under 1k per week. Note: This does not affect linked blogs, you can transfer unlimited credits between linked blogs.
• Transfer tax: From now on, all transfers, including transfers made with our new payments API, will be taxed at a rate of 12.5%. The taxed credits will be sold to members (see #1).
• Blogs cannot be unlinked: Once you link a blog, it’s there for good unless you ask us to delete the blog from your account. This prevents linking/unlinking to get around the credit transfer limits, and it also stops you losing access to a blog if you unlink it in error, which happens a lot.
• No more coupons: You are no longer allowed to send coupons.
• Shop closed: Except for Entrecard upgrades (Featured Status, Fast Pass) the Entrecard Shop is now offline until further notice. Please do not request a seller token until the shop returns. When it comes back, it will be bigger and better. We’ll communicate more details nearer the time.

We really do believe that an economy with plenty of 3rd parties involved is a stronger economy overall, unfortunately just right now we’re unable to support that given the need to keep everything running. We hope that, by taking the steps we have, we will be able to reach a good balance between maximizing the overall benefits for our users and getting the revenue we need to pay the bills and expand the service.

Hopefully, in the future, we’ll be in a stronger position with a more diverse income and we’ll be able to reintroduce independent credit sales.

We appreciate all the feedback we’ve had over the past few days on this topic, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

---

My Thoughts
Many of these steps were in the right direction.  There will be a sharp decline in the people who simply went to the system to make a quick buck, trying to sell the credits through third party methods, like eBay.  Eventually, a new system will be put into place (likely including the 12% tax), allowing bloggers to sell their credits to other members.

As stated in the enormous list of comments, privacy should be added when linking blogs, as it is the main reason I have not linked my blogs together.  Until this happens, I have to manage multiple accounts.

A manual review process of new members, in which blogs that have been "approved" will not have to go through the review process, and their blogs will be automatically added - similar to other sites and advertising programs.

On Entrecard (Advertising) Prices: The new intervals will likely help, but a combination of true daily page views and visits should be factored in, or at least displayed, to help (encourage) members to advertise on other blogs.  Currently, the prices are based primarily on the number of clicks and popularity (ultimately pricing) of the site.

The main goal of these changes, in my opinion, is to find the balance between profit and quality - in multiple ways.  First of all, if the price of credits is dropped, say to 200, it will prevent credit farmers from using the system, once again, from reaping a profit, but at the same time, it will limit the number of blogs you can visit to earn credits.  In the end, it will create more return visits (readers) for blogs, rather than "quick droppers," while ensuring that there are never too many "artificially" created credits.

Once these measures are put into place, the price of credits will slowly rise, to the point they once were headed — allowing the team behind Entrecard to grow, with more features, support, and financial backing (without the need of VCs).

Finally, sites that do not have a lot of content, or content that is created with little purpose, should be warned when they infringe on the terms of the site, then deleted if no response is given within a period of time, such as a month.  This allows bloggers that may not have updated their blog in three months to "reactivate" their account, while presenting warning, through email and on the site, that they need to do something or their site/account will be banned/deleted.  However, this will likely be one of the hardest decisions, as some bloggers neglect their blog for four months only to begin posting again later.

Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below, sharing what you think of the new changes, as well as what should be done.

Or, you can view the full blog post and comments on the Official Entrecard Blog .

[Update] Entrecard Owner Reassures Members

In a recent post, Graham has reassured members that the site will get back on track, with no buyout, new owner, or partnership.

This means that he will try to roll out the features that he has promised, and "monetize" the site, in order to keep his goals alive.

As a result of the "sell," including the listing on SitePoint, he realized that he doesn't want to lose the business that he has helped create, the community that has followed the growth of the site - to someone that only wants to bring the site further down.

The feedback over the past two days have helped define what needs to be done to get the system returning to its original strength.

Hopefully the entire group of Entrecard members will be able to stick with the service and witness further growth.

Quote from the post:

The whole experience has been amazing, humbling, and a reality check. Entrecard is a monster. It’s a runaway train. Everyone wants a piece of it. People are lined up right now for a piece of it, including a handful of people backed by big investors who made offers to buy it outright -and that’s precisely why I’m giving a piece of it to no one.

This is my company, I created it, it is my fate to see it through. The more offers I got, the more I realized I could not let it go. I guess you could say I’ve had a religious experience, and in the past 48 hours as my international network of people willing to help me has ballooned many times over. One thing is for sure, listing the site was the best move I ever made from a business development and networking standpoint. But it’s given me a second wind, a slap in the face. I started this thing and damnit, I’m going to make it work.

Is Entrecard Still for Sale? Most Likely, Not

Through a comment at Blogging Tips by Kevin Muldoon and at the SitePoint auction , due to end in just over three hours here, it appears as through the "trial" to see how much Entrecard could sell for (ending just  three to four days after first listing) is now over.

I'd like to hear additional thoughts from you on this - just leave a comment below.

Entrecard Up for Sale - What's Next for the System?

Yesterday, Graham put his site up for sale, with a starting price of $100,000 and a "buy" price upwards of that, into the $xxx,xxx amount.

Initially, my reaction was that he was deserting the community that he had tried to build up over the past year or so, and that the system would go down the drain with prices that either skyrocket or alternatively, are worth nothing, meaning the entire service is worth nothing.

The two main ways to save/buy the system that have been proposed: a new owner or company buys the site and all of its features, taking full control of the system, or Graham stays in charge, but receives financial backing and employees, through capital and funding.

Each option will potentially be catastrophic to the system if not carried through correctly.  In its current state, the credit system is stable, only backed by the current prices of sites and the return that members are getting for dropping on other sites, advertising, and building a community throughout the site.

However, I also believe that if the conditions permit, the sell may be worth it if the owner cannot continue to provide the same level of support and regular features that members have expected since the site was launched.

History
The service was launched in the October/November period of 2007, growing to its current state, with more than 20,000 blogs in the network, 80 million impressions, with more than 40-80,000 new blogs looking to sign up for the service over the next year.

Simply in this, the site would appear profitable, earning a few thousand dollars as it stands.  For the new owner, he/she or the company will need to be able to institute a way for the site to monetize, or provide an asset to an additional service the person/company already offers.

From the Sitepoint Page 

I launched Entrecard ad network 11 months ago, and in that time is has spread to 20,000 blogs delivering 80 million impressions per month. We're growing fast, and in the next year alone we're on track to sign up between 40,000 to 80,000 more blogs.

The reason so many bloggers love Entrecard is that it brings them traffic! Through our toolbar, the ads they buy on each others blogs, and the thriving community, any blogger joining Entrecard instantly gets a stream of traffic, comments, subscribers that only increases the more they participate! It is a proven system that works, and our growth attests to it.

At the heart of our ad network is a virtual currency that bloggers use to buy ads on each others blogs. The currency is also used to buy all types of products and services in our marketplace. The potential to grow the marketplace is absolutely enormous. Members earn our virtual currency by "dropping their card" on other sites with the widget, commenting on blogs, publishing posts on their blogs, entering and winning contets by other bloggers, or buying them on ebay.

Several propositions that were imposed within the auction page include a credit transfer tax, monetizing the ad network by selling advertising directly on the widget, implementing a credit exchange, and listing fees in the marketplace.

If you are looking to purchase the site, the current owner will provide support and consultation for about one year.

The truth in all of this, even if you don't like the way it is run, managed, and used, is that the system does work.  To date, I have received, whether indirect, or directly, thousands of page views and new visitors to my properties.  For example, yesterday, as a result of an Entrecard visitor "Stumbling" one of my posts, more than 1,200 page views more than normal.  So, whether you feel that the system takes too long to create the traffic stream, it is not true unless you have a huge/any budget, and spend the money to connect with others through blog conventions and networking with others for hours everyday with others.

You can find the official blog post here .

Tips from Entrecard User

A guest [Richard Catto of Cape Town News ] published a post titled, How to Use Entrecard Effectively - The Ten Rules of Entrecard Dropping , which covers some of the biggest points about using the Entrecard system, including how to ensure that people return your drop by visiting their blog, using advertising and more.

While this resource is intended for beginners, you can also use the post as an advanced user to refresh the main points of using Entrecard to its full potential.

Entrecard Humor

Enter to Win More than 70,000 Entrecards at Freebie Reporter

There is a new contest running over at the Freebie Reporter.  It is fairly simple to win, and the prizes are huge!  Many blogs have joined in on the competition, raising the amount of credits you can earn to over 70,000 with the top prize being 30,000 Entrecards.

The contest runs until October 10th, so you have just over half a month to enter.

While I doubt that I'll win the contest, I would like to win first prize.  However, there are still great odds that I'll be able to win one of other other smaller prizes.

How to enter:

• Write about the contest, mention the prize you want to win,s then leave a comment on their blog post with the link back to the blog - 5 entries.
• Write about the contest, mention the prize you want to win, then copy all the sponsors, finally, leave a comment on their blog post - 10 entries.
• Subscribe to their blog via email.  Then leave a comment on their blog post - 2 entries.

The prizes:

1st Prize:
30,000EC from Freebie Reporter
125×125 ad for a month from The Asian Economist
125×125 ad for a month from Free Famous Quotes
1 VIP membership to CreateBanner.com
1 Entrecard banner design from A Phone Sex Life

2nd Prize:
20,000EC from Freebie Reporter
1 VIP membership to CreateBanner.com
125×125 banner ad for a month from Journal Of Journey
125×125 banner ad for a month from Charcotrip.com
1 month blogroll link from A Phone Sex Life

3rd Prize
2000EC from SimpleBrowser
2000EC from Debit vs Credit
1500EC from Positive Thinking
2000EC from Realm of Prosperity
1500EC from NickThrolson
1000EC from Fantasy Baseball
125×125 ad for 3 months from Cash Advance Blog
1 VIP membership to CreateBanner.com

Other Prizes:
EC Credits:
11 Lucky winners will get 1000 credits from one of our fabulous sponsors:
1000EC from Michael Aulia
1000EC from Øblog
1000EC from Better Inspirational Communication
1000EC from Random Detox
1000EC from Multiply Themes
1000EC from Momawannabe
1000EC from Singaporean In London
1000EC from Abhishek
1000EC from SEMscoop.com
1000EC from A Second Cup
1000EC from Kutsara at Tinidor
1000EC from Ohio Real Estate
1000EC fro MonkeyChapps
1000EC from Today’s Games

Advertising:
4 Lucky winners will get premium advertising spots from the following bloggers:
125×125 ad for a month from Positive Thinking
125×125 ad for a month from Gift Reviews
1 month blogroll link from Freebie Reporter
125×125 ad for a month from Freebie Reporter

That’s a total of 17 prizes that will be distributed between the people who participate in the contest.All the winners will be picked by using the random list generator at random.org.

This is a great contest to enter.  Check it out and don't be late to enter!

Additional Entrecard News for September 19, 2008

This week, there were some useful posts published on the Entrecard blog.  In addition, here are some resources that have been published throughout the Internet.

• Is Your Blog Web 2.0 Compliant? [Entrecard Blog] - Post on how social media and other related tools can affect the mindset of bloggers looking to get traffic from these sources vs. "natural" sources.
• Transactions Page (may have been) Updated - I notices that the "transactions" page now allows you to exclude '1 credit transactions', making it easier to find who sent you credits, you sent credits, etc.
• Impact of US Economy on Blogosphere [Entrecard Blog] - Thoughts from Entrecard's owner on the looming downfall of the economy and how the blogosphere may be spared or at a minimum from the worst.
• How to Increase Price of Entrecard Credits [Entrecard Forums]

Please leave your thoughts on these issues discussed and any additional links you want to share.

Blog Quality Standards Updated

Good news for people that were becoming tired of seeing an influx of spam and "useless" blogs on Entrecard - more strict and pronounced standards have been created, making it less possible to use the system for promoting spam sites.

Blog Quality Standards | Post

These standards listed below are copied from the Quality Standards page, for reference (use link above to travel directly to page).

While some criticism has arisen from members, I believe that it is in the best intentions of all members that these standards are enforced and carried out - by reporting sites and making sure that all your blogs are high in quality.

Rules

1. 
   
   
   No nudity: Entrecard, and its members blogs, are generally family friendly. Blogs with images containing nudity are not permitted. This includes nudity in advertisements.
2. 
   
   
   English only: Until we develop the infrastructure necessary to facilitate non-English language blogs, English is the only language allowed in Entrecard.
3. 
   
   
   Minimum 5 posts: Blogs with no posts, or less than 5 posts, will be removed.
4. 
   
   
   Content must be original: Unoriginal content provides no value to the reader. A site that consists only of posts from “free article” sites, copies of articles from news sites, stolen or scraped content is not allowed.
5. 
   
   
   No full-screen ads: Blogs that include a “Skip This Ad” popup or other full-screen ads will be removed.
6. 
   
   
   No illegal file downloads: Blogs that link to illegally shared files, such as music, movies or software, will be removed. By “illegal” we mean content that you do not have the right to distribute. Linking to free, legal music and software is permitted.
7. 
   
   
   Entrecard widget must be present: Including the widget on your site is a requirement if you wish to participate in Entrecard. Note: Please see Note 1 regarding WordPress.com.
8. 
   
   
   No redirects: Sites that use a redirect (such as tinyurl links) as the URL on their account will be deleted.
9. 
   
   
   No duplicate accounts: If you have more than one account for the same blog, the duplicate account will be deleted.
10. 
    
    
    URLs must be valid: Sites with URLs that do not work or are wrongly typed will be deleted.
11. 
    
    
    No autoplaying audio: This includes music that plays automatically when you visit the page, or short audio ads that come up unannounced.
12. 
    
    
    Content must be recent: Sites that have not been updated in six months will be removed.

Notes

1. Sites on WordPress.com cannot place the Entrecard widget, as JavaScript is not permitted. Please use this form to ask WordPress.com to allow the Entrecard widget. The more people who do it, the more likely it is to happen. Until they allow the widget, existing sites on WordPress.com will not normally be deleted for not having the widget, however please do not register any new Entrecard accounts for blogs situated on WordPress.com. Also, if you have an account for a WordPress.com blog, please do not drop cards until the situation is resolved. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Additional Rules

Sites that violate the above guidelines are fairly easy to spot. There are some additional requirements, many of which are subjective.

A1. Sites that are not blogs, e.g. indexes, directories, forums, or stores. Note: In some cases a site may be allowed if it is not a blog. The site must have a blog attached to it that meets the rest of our Blog Quality Standards, and the Entrecard account must link to the blog rather than the site itself.

A2. Sites that only consist of paid posts, product review, affiliate links, or general spam. Basically, sites that only exist to make money without providing any useful content. Note: This does not mean that Make Money Online blogs are not allowed. It just means that the blog must have some valuable content and not be entirely made up of paid posts.

What to do if your site is deleted

You will receive an email confirming the deletion along with a reason. If you can update your site so it meets our quality standards, please contact support at entrecard dot com. We will not reopen accounts until they meet all of the above quality standards.

Entrecard Contest at Mattheosis

You can still enter the contest at Mattheosis, titled Entrecard Advert Olympics, with everyone being a winner, as well as gold, silver, and bronze prizes.

• 1st Place (Gold) - 1,000 Entrecard Credits; 31 days of front-page ad space in October; permanent winner's ad space listed by Entrecard category.
• 2nd Place (Silver) - 500 Entrecard Credits; 15 days of front-page ad space in October; permanent winner's post ad space listed by Entrecard category.
• 3rd Place (Bronze) - 250 Entrecard Credits; 7 days of front-page ad space in October; permanent winner's post ad space listed by Entrecard category.
• All Qualifying Contestants - Permanent winner's post ad space listed by Entrecard category.

You have until the end of September to enter the contest.  Please read the instructions on the post on how to enter and win the contest.  It is quite easy with great rewards!

Harsh Criticism from Previous Entrecard User

Kevin Muldoon of Blogging Tips published a post today (re)introducing several topics that have been discussed among Entrecard members, both new and dedicated.  The post was intended to stir debate among users and build some link backs (as I have done so).

The main sources of concern include too many spammers, credit system is seriously flawed, traffic is not always targeted, adds clutter to your blog's design, and poor return.

I want to bring some of the topics forward and present my views of them, although I may be semi-biased, having results that have far exceeded all of my expectations.  These are my personal views and not those of others, so I want to open this post up for discussion of the state of Entrecard, and some of your results to date.

My general view of Entrecard is that it has proven that it can deliver traffic, whether not in the same level that everyone wants it to be, but has brought together bloggers who share similar interests, and has a unique "community" feel to it that MyBlogLog, Blog Catalog, and others have tried to create, but have failed to do so.  Rarely do I see visitors from these sources, despite traffic levels that ate similar (although Entrecard's has been much more rapid).

These services are simply tools in an arsenal that bloggers are given, many free of charge, to use either to their advantage or to pass along to someone else that is willing to take the "risk" of using it - these are the people who are able to benefit the most.

1. Yes, there are a lot of [spammers] in the network.  Perhaps a review of what was enabled when the multiple emails were received should be clarified in the post.  After all, settings are available in the Dashboard that take less than ten seconds to disable - "Send an email when:" an advert is waiting for your approval, an advert you purchased is denied, someone posts a recommendation for you, and when someone sends you a message.  Beyond these settings, messages will only be displayed within the Entrecard Messagebox, either to be read, deleted, or marked as spam.
   What needs to be seriously addressed and now are sites that have been created and neglected.  In other words, if a site only has one post (and isn't a quick drop page), then the account should be notified as a possible spam/non-blog site, and proceed on with deleting the account if the owner doesn't confirm that it is still active.  If you take a look at a majority of blogs (with lower-cost ads, this is even more true).
2. The credit system is flawed, but not seriously.  If you have a semi-popular blog, the price of your advertisement will reflect this, as more people in the system will already be subscribed to your blog.  It does have loopholes, and does involve being more actively participating in the system than other services, but generally reflects the number of visitors that the service will drive to your site in the cost of each ad.
3. Traffic will not be targeted, because there are bloggers advertising on your site and vise versa, often from different niches. It may appear as "random," but it is similar to clicking on stories on a news site, and only be interested in a few, quickly leaving those that you do not want to continue reading.  A similar principle applies to the blogs on Entrecard - if the content doesn't interest you/others, then the reader won't stay - your main post/blog is what gets people to stay and continue reading/subscribing to your blog.  Should your blog not have this, the system obviously won't work for you.
4. Clutter.  Taking a look at most of the blogs on the Internet, most are filled with links to sites that have no direct relation to the blog in mention.  Many sites have more than 40% of their content space filled with advertisements - banners, text links, pop-ups, etc. — a personal choice that people make when building their blog.  While many of the bloggers using Entrecard haven't positioned or removed clutter from their blogs, a ~125x125 widget is small in relative to the ~1024x768 page.
5. Poor return will only occur if you don't use Entrecard for what is was originally meant for - giving back to the community and helping bloggers create a successful blog.  Despite the fact that I joined Entrecard rather late, to date I have had positive returns, helping build the branding of my sites, no matter how small or large.  It does take some work - more work than I feel is beneficial to a large blogger, but little enough that smaller blogs can get a huge boost in traffic.

Overall, the Entrecard system, despite criticism that has been occurring recently, has benefited bloggers that know how to use the system, use the features that it has, and build a community around the site and other blogs on the network.  Although some look at it more as a banner exchange, it does bring traffic to your blog, even in small amounts, it is better than other services that may drive a single daily visitor.

There is much more to Entrecard than simply browsing other blogs and "dropping your card."

Best Browsers for Entrecard Users

Although Entrecard users want to save time dropping, it comes with a cost when it comes to the main purpose of the system — to garner new visitors, readers, and ultimately comments and a more successful blog in the end.

All browsers are not created equal.  You need to be aware that there are other alternatives than Internet Explorer and Firefox, which can save you time when it comes to dropping, especially when time is the most valuable object.

This is a short overview of browser alternatives, in respect to the features that matter for bloggers and Entrecard droppers alike.  Main areas that will be addressed include speed (opening multiple tabs simultaneously), reliability (how often does it crash), flexibility (plugins, extensions, compatibility), and user interface (how it looks, navigation, and shortcuts).

While each of these browsers may not have been used for a long enough period of time (due to lack of features/compatibility/etc.).  Again, I want to reiterate that this isn't an official guide, as you may have your own personal opinion of each. In a few of these, I had mixed opinions of, as no one browser suits all.
A few of these I feel should be placed in similar categories, so this should be looked at more of as a collection, rather than ranking.

September 2-8, 2008 Browser Stats
Total Visitors: 789
Firefox - 658; 83.40%
Internet Explorer - 79; 10.01%
Chrome - 17; 2.15%
Safari - 17; 2.15%
Opera - 16; 2.03%
Mozilla - 2; 0.25%

From these stats, you can obviously see that Firefox (all variations) is the clear winner in respect to other browsers.

1. Flock - Includes all features of Firefox 3, with social media/bookmarking, and other built-in extensions.

This browser is receiving my top pick due to the fact that it was built for bloggers and people who have created an "online life." However, you must be aware that all extensions are not available on this version. A second reason that I like it is for the fact that it is just as fast as the regular version of Firefox, plus there are no annoying popups saying that the page cannot load, instead it uses a "404-type" page, displayed within the browser.

2. Firefox 3 and Shiretoko (Firefox 3.1 Beta) - Because you can use the Entrecard toolbar (not with Firefox 3.1 that I am aware of), this is still a high rated browser despite the fact that it has dozens of annoyances.


Firefox 3 is rather fast and is good with tabs (new tabs open after last tab, which isn't ideal for dropping cards, however). It is fairly secure and is stable, plus has the ability to add thousands of extensions and plugins.

3. Safari - The clean-appearing and fast browser designed for the ideal web browsing experience.


Safari isn't the best browser when dealing with opening dozens of tabs, although it does tend to render pages faster than many other browsers currently on the market. It also loads JavaScript/Flash faster than other browsers.

4. Opera - Opera has proven to be a fast and powerful browser employed on mobile devices and personal computers alike.


The Opera browser is a proven client for browsing Entrecards, although shortcuts are different from other browsers, resulting in closed tabs when trying to become used to the switch. It does open tabs rather fast, includes Speed Dial tabs for browsing recently opened and popular pages. In my use of this browser, it is the most reliable, only crashing on a few occasions.

5. Google Chrome - The new browser on the block, there are still some major hurdles that it has to get over before it can "challenge" Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.


Google Chrome has tabbed browsing, a minimalist look, and some flexibility when it comes to the color scheme that some were opposed to when the browser first launched on September 2nd. One of the major problems that I have had so far is the fact that if a plugin (QuickTime, Shockwave Flash, etc.) initializes, it slows everything down to a crawl and makes the browser inoperable. In addition, scrolling is absolutely horrible, so once this browser comes closer to version 1.0 (currently in 0.2), it may be used for everyday use (such as browsing multiple tabs at once). However, it is off to a strong start.

6. Browser Avant - A variation of IE, this browser has several advanced features that no other browsers have, including mouse gestures, pop-up blocking, and privacy protection.


Like Opera, it doesn't have the simple tab control, but is fairly stable and fast. It has won several awards although it isn't taken as seriously in the "browser war" as it should be.

7. SeaMonkey Project - The continuation of the Netscape family, it is a full package, with email and news client, plus an HTML editor.


It has some of the features of the Netscape browser, plus several new features, although it doesn't have the features that more recent additions include.

Why Internet Explorer isn't included: My view of Internet Explorer isn't positive, as it is a pathetic attempt at a browser and has had little innovation compared to other browsers over the years, failing to conform to web standards on nearly every level.

The reason that Firefox and Safari, along with IE, have rose to popularity is simply because large corporations were able to promote them by setting them as the default browser, allowing them to be installed on more computers. However, the options that many people are "forced" to use are not the best.

What browser do you prefer to use, and why — specifically pertaining to Entrecard card dropping?

Top Droppers and Referrals Past 30 Days (August)

I'd like to set this post aside to reward the top Entrecard droppers, referring sites (blogs only), top 10 posts, as well as recent advertisers.  Without these people running these blogs, this site would not be possible.

Rewarding top droppers in a similar fashion to this will help you maintain those people who drop on frequently as well as allow people who see these lists to see the benefits that dropping can provide.

Update: You can see a list (RSS feed) of my top droppers here, however the "top" droppers may be different since this post was written.

Top 20 Entrecard Droppers
These are a few of the top droppers in the past month.

1. What About Blog - Make Money Online
2. Templates Treasure
3. CDub Marketing
4. Online Biz - My Version
5. The Success
6. Bizphere
7. Cyber Camote
8. JDBelle's Insights
9. Belleverlasting
10. The Techsta Blog
11. Make Money Online with Rhyan
12. JDMaBelleverlasting's HopeFaithnLove
13. ThemeLib
14. WebFrap WordPress Themes Gallery
15. About Offshoring
16. Strategic Market Segmentation
17. Tricks of Blogging
18. Gmastasquirrel
19. TLC's Haven
20. AdSense Addict

Recent Advertisers
Advertisers help provide additional credits to the blog owner that he or she decides to advertise on; providing an additional stream of credit "revenue" simply by being a member of the Entrecard system.
Running and future advertisers.

1. The Ad Master
2. Authority Directory Blog
3. Delicious CSS
4. Identity Crisis Girl
5. MamaFlo's Place
6. Sonnie's Porch
7. Gadgets Directory
8. AdSense Addict
9. Belleverlasting

Top 10 Referring Sites
Large sites, including SezWho, Google, and Entrecard have been left out—this post is focused on providing a thank you to the people who have linked to this blog.

1. Work At Home Online
2. Work at Home Wealth
3. Roieltest.blogspot.com (Readers-only)
4. Pinoy Business
5. Host Your Link
6. Jasmin's Heart
7. Blogging for Noobs
8. Wolverine Hacks
9. Suplado
10. Suplado Online

Top 10 Posts (During August)

1. Startup Experiment Using Entrecard
2. Entrecard Toolbar Now Available
3. Adding the Yahoo Buzz Widget to Any Blog
4. August 3rd Entrecard Links
5. How to Increase the Cost of Your Ad
6. Entrecard Teams Up with SezWho
7. Look at the Growth and Future of Entrecard
8. Stats for Beginners
9. Advertise in Most Clicked-on Location (Entrecard Blog)
10. Largest Entrecard Contest Ever

To get on one of these lists in the beginning of October (or the next time that it is posted), simply link to this blog, advertise, or become a frequent dropper.