The consensus that I am receiving is that members weren't quite ready for the sudden change and are expecting "something" in return for displaying paid ads on their site. If you were expecting direct payment like AdSense or any other network, you couldn't be further from wrong. Credits are the backing of the system and that won't change. Read the forums, read the blog posts, and you'll find that they are planning (and this has been in the works since the initial plans) and it will explain that they need funding, they need to reduce the number of credits in the system.
Don't assume that just because you can't see any improvements that they aren't being made. As I previously stated, it costs a ton of money to operate the site and without that, it wouldn't exist. How many other online services do you know that remained in operating for more than a year with no premium/paid/sponsored service (although Entrecard did initially have some rounds of funding)? Not many that I can think of. Entrecard could have turned into a spam site if it had been purchased for ~$100,000 earlier and you wouldn't be receiving a single valid click through to your site and everyone that you met through the site would no longer be available for instant, easy contact.
Just because it says that you are a "beta tester" doesn't mean that tests haven't already been done. Think about the new changes as a way to balance the "world economy." It'll take a lot of work and testing to see what needs to be done and tweaked to get everything right. It'll take some expenses form the members and advertisers before you see any return. If you kept tabs on updates from the lead developer and administration, you would have noticed that updates were posted concerning bug fixes throughout the day and last week when the first rounds of updates/introductions were made.
Don't get ahead of yourself and assume that this model won't work. Yes, some of the numbers concerning cash out rates and amount needed for advertising and such might not have had the most testing involved when coming up with an exact figure, but you aren't the one in charge of the site, making the tough decisions.
How long did it take you to make your first thousand dollars with your blog when you added advertisement options? You could equate this to the amount required for Entrecard, but much, much higher. Assuming there have already been about fifteen advertisers site-wide, that means that roughly $150 has been spent. At the current rates, that'll barely purchase a few members' credits. They need to accumulate much more than that (at least a week's worth of earnings) before they can even start to consider the cash out rates (which I see as being at least half of what they were being sold directly through the site).
Remember this key fact - your blog is not a permanent part of the Entrecard network. Although you probably can't deal with the fact that these changes are happening, there is always the option of canceling your account or immediately removing the widget. I'm not saying that you should do this, but some members tend to think that their blog was started as a result of Entrecard, instead of their natural love for writing, sharing thoughts with other bloggers, and maintaining a part of them, online. Secondly, you are still in control of paid advertisements. You are under "no obligation" to approve or conversely, deny all paid ads that come through your account. This has been a commitment by the staff at Entrecard and with this change, that philosophy and motto has not changed.
Conclusion
Some of the facts may be harsh for you to deal with, but they are there. Please leave your feedback about the new system. I will be expanding the homepage of this blog to accommodate the large influx of new posts published here today and will be answering questions to the best of my ability as I can see the concerns that some are having.
Do you think these changes will help in the long-term or simply add to the number of "spam" blogs that have been entering the system?
7 comments:
I think this is a positive move for Entrecard. There has been a huge amount of negative criticism from the more vocal of the community though I can only hope time will show these critics to have overreacted. It is a free service that has benefited a great many people... only in a perfect world could such a service continue without any form of money. At least Entrecard has not proven to sell its soul by being more than generous to it's member community with credit buying/selling.
I have adopted a wait and see attitude. So far, I am very disappointed. I do not care about the cash payouts or how that works. EC has been very helpful for me, and I am glad they have figured out a way to make a few dollars. What I am not happy about is the 40 or so paid ads that I have gotten in the last 24 hours. I wonder how this will affect everything else. So far, 2 of the regular blogs I read have dropped the service, and others are complaining.
It appears that a major shift will be taking place, and why spend hours dropping and reading when the same effect can come about by buying some ads?
It will eliminate much of the traffic that developed, then.
We shall see.
I'm with Da Old Man here. I'm just gonna wait and see what happens... though my initial thoughts on the subject so far are only with regards to the number of non paying ads coming to my site. Since the paying ad system has gone through, I've had not ONE regular ad looking to be added to my page. There are TONNES of paying ads, but none of the regular ones. It looks like I'll be getting credits through clicking only from here on out. Let's hope I'm wrong!
Da Old Man is smart as hell; and we kinda wonder when he's gonna see that rise in Bounce Rate that we talked about on our blog recently.
is it worth it to see alot of traffic that means nothing to your blog, turning it in essence into a splog ?
well I guess you can say we just ain't feelin it.
please take a moment and take our poll and tell us what you think about this whole BS (BigShift).
the poll has an entertaining video, catchy lyrical content and also Graphics to entertain you as you make your choice.
Please Stop By and Tell Us What You Think At EntrePod. we'll be broadcasting it this weekend.
Thank you for the comments.
I'd like to know how much they are really getting from the advertisers, especially how the long-term will be (40 ads at $10+/each for the first day is pretty good). The members who think that they have no control couldn't be further from wrong.
Yes, there are bugs, but this is what CONTROL looks like - if you run AdSense on your blog, a similar thing would happen if you had control, with the number of advertisers. This might be a poor example, but similar in some ways.
Those who want to continue dropping and advertising with credits can do so - not much will change there. More people will be advertising with cash right now while Entrecard is enticing previous members with low rates. If the system works, I am sure that they will continue to do so until more long-term advertisers get on board that weren't previously a part of the system.
Seeing this situation nearly 48 hours from launch, it looks promising, but it isn't without its faults. I'd suggest that they completely "remove" paid ads from those who do not want to deal with them or place them in a separate area or some other form of management.
Somehow I could almost believe YOU WORK FOR Entrecard. are you a moderator or support tech ?
your views are just to defensive for the point of entrecard, and you are leaving out the fact that this bloated ad system, just brought down the entire entrecard system for several hours earlier tonite.
as well, the rotation of paid v. ec paid blogs is not equal when you have 10 paid ads v. 1 ec paid ad - which means your ec paid ads will get no where the exposure you paid for which is 100%. even 50% is debatable, because you can sit and click the widget to see who the paid ads play one behind the other one before your ec paid ad shows.
I've done it tonite, and yesterday - just to see if the formula they said they were using was in fact true.
I can tell you it is not.
My Ad is on your widget today and as a test I used your widget in my test -
you are holding alot of PAID ADS,so I'm getting hardly any play at all on your widget, even though I paid to be on it ALL DAY.
THANKS FRIEND, REALLY THANKS ALOT
go do your own test, and then you defend them.
until then - You Are Suspect, and probably working for the Enemy.
I gotcha Snipsy Frienemy,,
make sure you Listen to this episode of EntrePod cause You Will BE Mentioned.
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You Said :
Those who want to continue dropping and advertising with credits can do so - not much will change there. More people will be advertising with cash right now while Entrecard is enticing previous members with low rates. If the system works, I am sure that they will continue to do so until more long-term advertisers get on board that weren't previously a part of the system.
Seeing this situation nearly 48 hours from launch, it looks promising, but it isn't without its faults. I'd suggest that they completely "remove" paid ads from those who do not want to deal with them or place them in a separate area or some other form of management.
@Entrepod - I am in no way connected to Entrecard, never have been and will likely never be, I am just a member that wants to share tips and resources for other members, which is an area that Entrecard has really not been able to do.
To prove this further, I have changed my thoughts of the system (as reflected in an upcoming, planned post). The new system has greatly disappointed me, from the way it was released (perhaps not shown by these posts, as they were initial reactions), to the approval process and value for previous members.
Personally, I would first change the way support was handled at Entrecard instead of ignoring complains found on the web - visit each of those blogs and ask them what they didn't like, gathering feedback this way.
Trust me, I try to keep an unbiased, bordering on "positive" as this blog was not meant to point out all the errors and problems in Entrecard. We are all given the opportunity to post our negative feedback, of which I will be doing.
I hope this clarifies that I am not connected with Entrecard and side with the thoughts of a majority of Entrecard users, even though I might not always publish all the negative complaints here.
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