Written on June 30th, 2009 by Graham
Greetings Entrecarders,
For a long time, there have been people who argued the pros and cons of participating in Entrecard. Those familiar with Entrecard are no doubt familiar with all the arguements. The pros are that it brings you traffic, you find good blogs, you gain quality, returning readers, you make friends, you create a support network, and you can advertise on tens of thousands of blogs for free.
The cons, more or less, have all centered around our bounce rate. While a good deal of participants in Entrecard drop with the intent of exposing themselves to good content, and actively engage in the blog, it’s no secret that a large number of Entrecards also “drop and run”.
Up until now, we’ve always allowed the “drop and run” phenomenon to take place. We figured if someone was interesting to the visitor, they’d stop and read, and it was best to let everyone go at their own pace. But now we are taking a slightly different approach, in an ongoing effort to increase the quality of Entrecard traffic across the board.
Starting soon, “dropping and running” will no longer give you credit. We are developing a proprietary algorithm to determine whether or not you engaged in the blog you visitied in some way. If you did not engage in the blog, you will not get credit. We won’t be disclosing exactly the algorithm we use, so that people can’t game it easily.
The point of Entrecard
The point of participating in Entrecard is to find new blogs you enjoy, and to interact with each other. Dropping and running, midlessly, in an effort to gain credits is the exact opposite of what Entrecard is truly about, and after a lot of deliberation over the last year and a half, we’ve finally decided to take a stand against it. It does not benefit anyone in the network, and we’d rather provide a third of the traffic to our members, but have that third be quality traffic, then to provide the amount of traffic we do now whilst only a portion of it is quality traffic.
We’re still in the process of developing this, so input is welcome. However, we are well aware that the community will be divided by this. On one hand, people who are unhappy about the quality of traffic, and people who engage in the blogs as they drop will be happy with this change. The power droppers, or the “drop and run” crowd, who this directly affects, will no doubt be up in arms because they cannot earn credits so easily and so automatically. But the traffic this group is providing to the network is of little quality, and I think we’re ready to move on.
Written on June 26th, 2009 by Graham
That’s right guys and gals, we’re preparing to take Entrecard to the next level, and for phase II we are considering a number of things that we want your input on.
General Accounts
One of the big features we want to launch soon is a “General Account.” This would differ significantly from the blogger/publisher account that you all currently have. It would basically be a stripped down account that is open to everyone. You wouldn’t be able to buy ads with it, and when someone with one of these accounts “drops a card”it wouldn’t go into your inbox for re-dropping, because this person is not a blogger or a publisher and thus doesn’t have a widget. It’s intended for a blog enthusiast/reader who wants to earn credits by visiting and reading blogs, and then spend those credits in the market place.
Sound off: How do you feel about us rolling out an account that is open to everyone, does not require a widget, and lets you earn credits, give them away, or spend them in the shop? Let us know!
Gearing up the incentivization engine
So far, our results with incentivized offers have been excellent, and it’s opening up a whole set of new doors. We’re thinking about all sorts of different things we can auto-incentivize with credits, similar to our offer engine. For those unfamiliar, on your dashboard you now have a tab to “earn EC” where you can earn credits by completing certain offers, like a free trial of netflix. The credits are put to your account immediately upon offer completion.
So, we have a number of things that we want to incentivize. We don’t want to give away too much, but we want to know if overall you’d like to see more options and greater opportunities to earn credits automatically by completing certain actions/tasks, which could range from installing a widget on your blog to installing a facebook application.
So, please give us your feedback on those two elements of Entrecard Phase II, and we anxiously await some spirited discussion!
Written on June 21st, 2009 by Graham
Greetings Entrecarders!
It is with great pleasure that I announce our latest initiative in monetizing Entrecard, the implementation of an offer-incentive system Gambit. No doubt many of you are already aware that we recently began testing the Gambit system, which lets Entrecarders participate in various offers and receive credits instantly upon completion of offers.
So, Entrecard members are signing up for free trials of Netflix, taking surveys, and more, and earning cold hard Entrecard credits.
We made this move for a number of reasons. The obvious answer is that we make money when you complete these surveys, and we are continually looking for value-added ways to generate revenue. The value was clear: Entrecarder’s have always asked for more ways to earn credits. So we considered the following:
a.) it doesn’t change the current system at all
b.) it’s completely optional. those who want to participate can, while those who don’t never have to see it
c.) it’s a free way for Bloggers to earn credits. No longer do you have to spend a hundred dollars to get a lot of credits real quick.
…and the decision was clear. We’re quiet excited about this program, and other similar ones we will be implementing soon, because they hold the promise to monetize virtual currencies, and are doing so very successfully with a handful of online games. . So look for the “Earn EC” tab on your dashboard if you’re curious and want to earn some extra credits.
Cashout Update
We’ve now paid out thousands of dollars to members via the cashout system. Thanks everyone for being patient while we got it off the ground. Hope your spending your earnings wisely! Also, a number of people are wondering if Paypal will be the only accepted form for distributing payouts, and we are aware that you are requesting alternative forms of payouts. We’ll try to get that in as soon as feasibly possible.
We’re listening to you, and growing (again)
Very recently, you might remember us launching a paid ad system which let outside advertisers advertise across Entrecard widgets. Across the board, everyone was very clear and vocal that you didn’t like it one bit. So, after trying it out for a while and listening carefully to your feedback, we disabled the advertising system for all outside advertisers (though Entrecard members can still buy exposure for their “Entrecard” across the network).
It was pretty interesting to observe the communities reaction. At first when we announced the system, a number of people started leaving Entrecard. And it wasn’t really until we made the change, and disallowed all outside advertisers, that our growth numbers swung back to positive. And then it was like flipping a switch.
Overall, the experience was very humbling: for the first month ever, more people left Entrecard than joined. So, you can imagine how quickly I realized that we had made a mistake by letting outside advetisers in, and that the special, close-knit community we have here at Entrecard doesn’t want to let your run of the mill internet advertiser into the building.
But now we’re back on track to add a few thousand bloggers this month, and continue growing, and with the new revenue that the Gambit system is generating, we’re cooking up some great stuff.
That’s all for now. I just want to thanks everyone for being the awesome bloggers that they are.
Cheers,
Graham
Written on June 1st, 2009 by Graham
Greetings Entrecarders!
Three big announcements today.
Cashout Apps Approved!
First and most importantly, all the cashout applications have now been dealt with and either approved or denied. Thank you for being patient with us while we tested in the Beta Phase, worked out the kinds, and got the whole thing spinning.Hopefully you can start earning some money! and to help you get started…
Drops will count for 2 credits today!
That’s right, for today only, drops will earn you TWO credits, and the receiving blog will get 0 credits. So, if there was ever a day to drop some cards, find some blogs you love, or even read some old favorites, here’s a great excuse to do it!
Big Change to the Ad Network: Only Entrecard Blogs
Moving forward, we’re making a big chance to the Ad Network. From here on out, only Active Entrecard Members can advertise via our ad network. We listened carefully to all your feedback during the trial phases of our ad network, and one thing that kept recurring is that you only wanted bloggers and other Entrecarders advertising on your widget. So, we’re going ahead and making that change. From now on, the only advertisers approved into the Entrecard Ad Network will be advertising an Entrecard blog with an Entrecard Widget, just the way you like it!
Please help share this news with any blogger friends or communities you think may be interested to hear all the news.
Written on May 1st, 2009 by Graham
Just a quick update to let you all know that the Cashout System is doing great!
We received such a huge volume of cashout applications, we had to tether it a bit. So if your application hasn’t been approved or denied yet, we are working through them in the order in which they are received. Also, if your application didn’t include a Tax ID number and you are in the US, the application will be rejected. Other than that, it should be approved without a problem. In the event that your application is rejected, you can always re-apply and include the necessary info.
So far we’ve paid out quite a bit at $1 per thousand credits, and we’re looking to move the price up soon. Congrats to everyone who has participated profitably in our beta run of the new cashout system!
Written on April 8th, 2009 by Graham
With the credit cashout service planned to come online this Saturday, one burning question is storming through the Entrecard community: Who is going to get priority to the cashout? Certainly we won’t have enough money from the paid ads to cash out everyone’s credits all at once, so we have to give priority to someone. But who should get it?
Some members said that those who approved the most paid ads should get priority in the cashout service.
Some members said it is the serious droppers, who drop hundreds of cards per day, who should get priority.
And still others have said it is the people who hold the huge contests and credit giveaways who should get to cash out their credits first.
The underlying common thread between all these arguments is that there are groups of people in Entrecard, each who support the service in their own way, either by being dedicated droppers, dedicated ad approvers, or huge contest holders. It immediately became clear that we’re going to need to reconcile a few valid arguments into a system that makes sense for giving priority in the credit cashout system.
Announcing our community-support algorithm
Our new community support algorithm is going to determine the priority with which you can cash out your credits. It is also going to eventually help determine your rank in our member directory. The main factors it will take into consideration are:
- How many cards you drop / how frequently
- % of paid ads you approve
- % of Entrecard ads you approve
- Listings you create / completed sales in the market
- How many credits you transfer to others (indicative of contests, tips, and generosity)
- % of credits you spend on Entrecard ads
So what we basically do is take all this data in, compute it, and determine a “community support” algorithm, because all these actions are ways to support Entrecard, and they are all very important. Critically important in fact. So now, we’re rewarding everyone who does these things by giving them priority in the cashout.
Thanks for everyone’s continued support!
Written on April 8th, 2009 by Graham
Entrecarders rock!!
When we announced that our paid ad platform was coming online, there was a lot of skepticism, hesitation, and questions. There was also a lot of support from people who love Entrecard, and want to see us survive in the economic recession.
A few things happened immediately upon turning on the new platform. Some members decided to reject all paid ads until the “dust settled”. Some members approved only those ads that fit with their theme. Some members approved every ad that came their way, supporting us any way they could.
I just want to say, that however you chose to vet the paid ads coming through, thank you! You are the best, and your efforts to make this work, even if you are rejecting every ad, is appreciated more than I can express. Helping us make this work is what makes the community so special, and I am not only flattered but also humbled by the overwhelming support in the community for our bold new initiative to take the economy to the next level.
So I just wanted to give you all a big thanks and a ::hug:: for helping us get this off the ground, and helping us see Entrecard through as per my larger vision for what this can be.
I also wanted to take a moment to talk about a few important issues that have popped up.
Dropping
A lot of people have complained that their dropping habits have been impacted by the introduction of paid ads into the system.
Dropping, as you know, is the method of earning credits by visiting Entrecard members and clicking the “drop” button on their widget. Some members like to drop by clicking through the ads in the widget, dropping on each blog they pass by. With 50% of the ads now paid, this becomes a problem because there isn’t always an Entrecard widget on the other end of the ad. Thankfully, a high portion of our paid ads are from Entrecard members with widgets, but many are not.
Try the toolbar!
This is the perfect time to try out our Toolbar for Firefox if you aren’t already using it. It offers the following benefits:
- It will take you to an Entrecard blog every time, with a widget you can drop on.
- It can open multiple sites at a time
- It lets you visit your entire inbox, and drop on them all
- It lets you drop by category, by price, by popularity, as well as a number of other filters
- It lets you advertise on any site you come across with a single click
So if you used to widget surf while dropping, and finding it more difficult now, I would suggest you try out the toolbar. We’ve worked hard on it and I think you’ll be pleasantly surprsied. Try it out here. You will need to have firefox to use it.
It’s taking too long to approve ads
If you trust us in making sound judgement calls on the types of ads we let into Entrecard (and we do hold out advertisers to the highest standards), we have created a checkbox button to “automatically accept all paid ads”. Now, we don’t want to pressure anyone into doing this. We realize that everyone has their own ideals of what types of advertising to allow. But, if you are the type of person who is accepting every ad (and there are plenty of you out there), checking this box will save you from every having to click the “approve” button again.
Where are the advert settings?
To find this option, along with lots of other advertisement settings, please see the “Advert Settings” on your dashboard, right under your “Quick Stats”. If you haven’t visited these settings yet, you should, because they help you tailor the ads that will come your way.
We’ve also been taking measures to throttle the amount of paid ads we send through, approving only a few at a time to lighten the load on everyone.
That’s it for now. Thank you all for making this such a wonderful place!
Written on April 7th, 2009 by Graham
I’ve gotten a lot of questions over the past few days, specifically with regards to the new paid ads system and the member payout of 75%. I’m going to take the time to answer all the questions I’ve gotten, and if you have more questions, ask them here in the comments and I’ll do a round 2. Without further ado:
How much will EC credits be worth? Can it be as much as $5 per 1000 EC??
If we deflate the economy back to levels seen in early 2008, credits should be worth approximately $15 per thousand. Whether we will get there succesfully remains to be seen, and whether this will be the retail price sold from EC, or the cashout price also remains to be seen.
I’m also wondering what the payment amount will be, this will be very interesting indeed.
The payment amount is going to fluxuate on a daily basis. We’re first going to try to clear all the credits from the system that people are willing to sell at very low rates. We have an internal supply and demand curve that will constantly adjust, so even though prices to sell credits will start out low, they will go up over time as more credits are removed from the system. But we will be starting at the bottom.
Do you have an estimated date or month for Entrecard to be launching the credit cashout service?
This saturday.
I have a ton of paid spots waiting, and I cannot help but wonder what that will do for my EC credit purchased ads.
The ads purchased with EC will display 50% of the time, for as long as you have paid ads running through your blog. Nothing has changed for credit-bought ads and the credit-ad system, except that they will only display half the time if enough paid ads are running through the blog.
Another issue is members resent the paid adverts immediately jumping ahead of the queue of those bought from credits which have taken people hours of dropping on blogs to earn.
Paid ads do not jump the Que… they rotate evenly in their own Que. Let me try to explain. Ads bought with credits via the regular system still show one day at a time for a full 24 hours. But, 50% of the time, instead of the Entrecard ad on your widget, we now rotate through and any all paid ads you have approved that have running campaigns. So paid ads rotate through their own que that is displaying 50% of the time on your widget, and Entrecard ads are still in the same daily Que they always were. Hope this makes sense.
I think the system will only really benefit those who have been hoarding ec credits. I for one always used them to advertise with so I don’t have a large bank waiting to cash in when the system goes live.
This is not true. The people hoarding credits will earn the most cash, initially, that is true. But over time, you will see many more people selling tons of new products and services in the market -which you will be able to buy for credits. Tying credits to cash will create all sorts of interesting opportunities and growth prospects not just with Entrecard and its community, but with what your credits can buy, and how they can be earned.
1] When paid ads are approved…. do they take over those ads that are bought using EC points? If yes when will the EC points purchased ads have a chance to be displayed?
Paid ads now display as much as 50% of the time. So Entrecard ads bought with EC points will display the other 50% of the time, or more if there are no paid ads running through a particular blog.
2] When approving of paid ads… does the system instantly add credit to our account?
No, you do not receive credits for running paid ads. That would inflate the economy further, and we’re doing this specifically to deflate the economy.
3] How long does the paid ads run for in our blog?
It will rotate through with all the other paid ads, 50% of the time, for as long as the campaign is running by the advertiser.
4] Are these paid ads shown in a rotating format?
Yes, all the paid ads you’ve approved rotate through your widget evenly during the 50% of widget impressions allocated for paid ads via the Entrecard system.
5] Will the new credit cash out contain a limit per user?
Not sure yet. Across the system, the only limit will be the amount of money brought in from the sale of ads. But on a per-member level, not sure yet.
6] Do you guys screen paid ads to ensure quality?
Yes, we screen every single paid ad to insure quality, approving each by hand and making sure they adhere to our Advertiser Guidelines.
What direct benefit will i get by advertising these paid ads on my blog ?
The short answer is that you a.) get to make money by cashing out your credits and b.) you get to continue using Entrecard as a free service that can continue to operate. The longer answer is that by approving these paid ads, the system becomes stable, the economy grows, advertising becomes cheaper, you’ll be able to find a greater variety of products and services in the shop.
Can someone PLEASE explain me in short and brief about what is written above?
Short and brief description. We are selling advertising across the network to anyone who wants to buy, permitted they adhere to these guidelines. With that money, 25% goes to us to help keep us online and developing new features. The other 75% will go to Entrecard members who want to turn their credits into cash. This will deflate the economy, make credits more valuable, and lead to lots of exciting new products and services in the market. By approving paid ads, you are investing in the Entrecard economy.
Do we still get EC’s credited for taking a paid add? Will it be for the same amount as the old style adds?
No, you do not get EC’s for accepting paid ads. The whole point of this initiative is to clear ECs from the system, which is why we’re taking almost all the money it generates and buying your credits back from you.
Can we have a second box on our widget to show paid ads on?
Soon we will release a grid that will show multiple ads at a time, but it will always likely be half Entrecard ads and half paid ads.
When I saw they were PAID ADS I assumed I would get a chunk out of these… maybe only 50%. But I get nothing at all?
Actually, members are getting 75% of the money we take in from paid ads, but its being taken network-wide and distributed network-wide via the credit cashout. You will see benefits to the entire Entrecard service whether or not you actually cash out your credits.
Written on April 7th, 2009 by Graham
One misconception going around out there is that the members aren’t seeing any of the money that comes in from the paid ads we’re running. The fact of the matter is that 75% of all the revenue we’re generating from the paid ads is going to the members.
I need to explain how this works though, because we’re not issuing payouts in the normal, traditional, inside-the-box way that other ad networks pay you out. Entrecard is too out-of-the-box and too unique to do that. Our payout method is much more controversial, but one that we see far superior for a number of reasons that I’ll explain.
Although we are not paying you based on clicks and impressions generated from your ad spot, we are nonetheless giving you, the members, a 75% cut of all the revenue generated from all the ads. We’ve simply chosen to do this by allowing you to cash your credits in for dollars. So, to clarify, we are taking 75% of the money we’re earning by selling your advertising and using it to pay you for your credits. Either way 75% of the money we’re making is ending up back in the hands of the users… but how much of it will end up in your hands is determined by how you participate in our economy. What we’re dealing with is a system that values selling products and services more than the clicks and impressions an ad on your site generates.
Now in order to fully understand and appreciate why we have made the more controversial choice of offering a credit cashout service with this money, instead of paying you for clicks or impressions (which we could do just as easily, and at the same cost to us), we must explore the concept of an economy, and develop a healthy respect and appreciation for it.
When you participate in Entrecard, you are participating in a virtual economy. As you know, we have our virtual currency, entrecard credits. And as participants in the economy, we all contribute one chief product: 125×125 advertising. But you can also go a step further and sell products and services in our market. You can earn credits by dropping and publishing on your blog, which is quick and easy and over time can build you some serious credits.
So there are a variety of jobs you can do and small businesses you can start on entrecard. And there is a variety of things you can spend your money on, from advertising to graphic design, to wordpress plugins and elvis stamps.
The problem is, the entrecard economy, as a rich and vibrant place to earn and spend, isn’t reaching it’s potential yet. Far from it, in fact. For example, a lot of people have held off selling quality products and services in the market because there is no way to get actual money from their sales. This makes us sad because we’d like to see lots of people offer continually impressive and surprising products and services in the shop. But this won’t happen until merchants in the market earning entrecard credits can convert the credits they earn from their sales into cash. By providing a credit cashout, we remove the main barrier to all sorts of products and services floding into the market.
A healthy economy
An expanding catalog of products and services available in the market is not the only benefit that Entrecarders will realize by making the collective decision to make credits liquid (aka letting us sell ad space on your widget). You will also see advertising prices go down, which will get you more bang for your entrecard credits.
And even still, there is a much bigger, better reason why investing your money into the credit market is the best choice in terms of payments to you, the members. In the year and seven months since we’ve been operating, our economy has experienced runaway inflation. We started with no credits in the economy, and ballooned to the tens of millions of credits which are currently in the economy.
Now what we’re going to do with credits we cash out is to actually delete them from the system. So for example, if we buy back a million credits a day (just throwing that out there -there is nothing to suggest that’s how many credits we’ll actually buy on a given day) over the course of one month, there will be 30 million less credits in the economy.
So, while you can think of this whole new initiative in many ways including a 75% revenue share with members, a method to decrease ad prices, a way to bolster offerings in the market, a way to monetize your entrecard traffic, a way to prevent inflation and actually spur deflation, etc. you only really need to think of it in one way:
You are investing in the Entrecard economy.
By approving these ads, and participating in a system that takes the revenue generated and strengthens the system as a whole, you are casting your economy vote and say yes, I want the Entrecard economy as a whole to grow and strengthen. There is no single more powerful way to strengthen the entrecard economy than to make credits exchangeable for real dollars, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to be moving in this direction.
By pooling all the ad revenue together to do something bigger like providing a cashout exchange that all members can use, I promise you that you will start to see terrific things happen with the Entrecard economy. Amazing things, groundbreaking things being done no where else on the internet. But first we need to provide the liquidity… First we need to incentivize the earning of credits properly.
We thank you for trying your best to understand and support our mission to create a healthy virtual economy for bloggers.
Written on April 4th, 2009 by Graham
Greetings Cardsters!
Our much anticipated Ad Network is now online and fully operational! As a blogger, from your dashboard, you can toggle your “advert settings” for control over what ads can even apply to advertise on your blog, and each paid ad that wants to advertise on your blog will show up in a new column on your dashboard labeled “paid ads” just under the normal blog ads. From here, you can reject any paid ad you like, freely and quickly. Revenue generated from these paid ads will go to fund our future operations, feature development, more servers, and all that good stuff, as well as a war chest to cash out all your credits with (or all the credits of those who wish to cash them out!). So please approve paid ads proudly knowing you’re supporting Entrecard and the only true virtual economy in the blogosphere!
Advertisers
If you’re interested in advertising across the entire Entrecard network, or by category, you can signup here to beta test our ad network. It is stable, and runs and operates smoothly, but we’ll be adding some bells and whistles over the coming days/weeks/months.
Rates
For now, you can purchase network-wide advertising for just $.02 (two cents) Cost-Per-Click or $.30 (thirty cents) CPM. Targetted by category, the prices double to $.04 CPC and $.60 CPM. We offer you a real-time statistics broken down by clicks received, impressions, cost per click, CPM, and CTR.
Ongoing Discussions
For any and all quetsions, please join the discussion in the Entrecard forums.
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