Goodbye, Paid Ads
Written on July 22nd, 2009 by Cindy
Dear Entrecard Members,
My name is Cindy and I am the new Director of Business Development for Entrecard. I will be representing the Entrecard team in future posts and will be relaying information about new Entrecard changes and updates to users. I am excited to be working for Entrecard and look forward to reading your opinions and comments about Entrecard services.
We are making great progress with the transition and have come up with several ways to refine needed Entrecard services. I would like to inform you about two important changes.
Effective immediately, we will no longer accept applications for “paid ads” on your widget space. Based on user comments and blog posts, users have not been happy with the “paid ads” that was implemented a few months ago. Although a good portion of the revenue (75%) is given back to the users through the “credit cashout program,” we have found that most users would prefer not to have “paid ads” on their widgets at all. As a result, we have decided to eliminate “paid ads” on your widget. We are no longer accepting new “paid ads” and any ads currently in the system will continue to run until they are completed.
Second, we have received many user requests to redeem credits for cash through the “credit cashout program.” Some users have been paid while many users have not. Since we are ending the “paid ads” program, we are also eliminating the “credit cashout program.” As promised, we will continue to pay as many users as we can with the remaining funds from the “paid ads” system. Within the next 3 days, we will distribute the remaining funds from the “paid ads” to users on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once these funds run out, we will reissue credits back to those users who applied for the cashout program but did not receive money. An email notification will be sent out to our users.
We understand that eliminating the “credit cashout program” may upset some users. However, Entrecard is actively developing ways for Entrecard users to use, sell and trade their credits. This is on the top of our priority list.
Once again, we feel that ending the “paid ads” and “cashout” program will benefit Entrecard and its users in the long run. We understand what your concerns are and we intend to address them. Thank you for being a valued member. Stay tuned for updates.
Cindy Ung
Director of Business Development
Entrecard
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:50 am
This is a wonderful decision. Thank you.
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July 22nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
Well, better late than never, I guess.
It’s rather refreshing to see the new management appearing to take seriously things that EC members have been saying for months (but which Graham et al completely ignored). I hope you will continue to be responsive to the desires of the user community. This is certainly a good and necessary first step in that direction.
Karen
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:00 am
Finally!
I hope it’s not too late for this move.
~nor
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:04 am
Hey there. I’m a little disappointed that the cashout program is being eliminated, but to be honest, it simply wasn’t working. I’d rather have a fully functional system than some half assed method that would make many members unhappy.
July 22nd, 2009 at 11:12 am
Smart move. Thanks.
July 22nd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
YIPPEE! Doing a happy dance, it’s been nothing short of a nightmare. Somedays it worked, others it didn’t. People who weren’t approving them were getting them anyway. Many of us purchased with ec’s ad space to have our ads not visible, an it’s place a paid ad.
This is the first step in the right direction we’ve seen in EC in months!
Welcome aboard and thanks for your efforts on our behalf.
Sandy
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Excellent! A very good move.
Welcome aboard Cindy. I’m looking forward to hearing more from you.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
This is indeed a very good move and thanks for listening to the feedback from the Entrecard community.
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Good move, a lot of people were unsatisfied with the paid ads system. But, what will you guys do to help raise funds to keep Entrecard going? Surely, the sidebar ads don’t cover nearly enough. Also, will the ability to sell Entrecard credits ever come back?
July 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Once again, I welcome ZipRunner, Inc. and now to the Director of Business Management(Cindy Ung)! Thank you for hearing the cry for some of the members especially to those backed-out already. I hope they will come again in here. I will then blog this to let them know(if encase they don’t subscribe this on their blog) that you have came up with this idea for the benefit of the two sides–the entrecard and the members. Thanks again. I hope for a successful team-up or the business with you. Kudos!
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:12 pm
fantastic news – thanks a lot and a warm welcome!
July 22nd, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I will be so happy once the last of those paid ads is OUT of the system. I’ve had my own EC credit purchased ads totally “overshadowed” by “unapproved” paid ads on blogs that didn’t expect them…to me it meant absolutely NO clicks through those EC purchased ads (probably because they are unseen unless one refreshes the pages several times.) In other words, a total waste of EC credits…
July 22nd, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Very glad to hear it!
July 22nd, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Hello Cindy…thank you for making a such a clear, decisive statement about EC. I try to stay way under the radar, but, I agree, that it is refreshing to sense EC getting back on track….all the best..
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 pm
This is good news for everyone. A good move for a better entrecard community.
I hope I received my cashout email soon, I have pending cashout (approx a month old).
Thank you.
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:51 pm
sounds good to me. It is nice to see that you are really listening to the community.
July 22nd, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Welcome aboard Cindy,
I happy with both of the new changes…
This should add value back to the credits…
Looking forwards towards the future of Entrecard.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:17 pm
This is great news! Thanks for listening to the EC community. ^_^
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:19 pm
I for one am glad to see that go.I would also like to see an updated entre card tool bar that is compatable with the new firefox 3.5.
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:49 pm
That is a good news for all Entrecard members. Feels like EC back to its real position now. I hope soon you will enable the sell EC. I just noticed in the thread that someone tries to sell EC but it is against Entrecard TOS. Hope you can do something about this too.
The beta version toolbar is something very useful. I hope you will intro this into main version and support for new Firefox.
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:46 am
Excellent move and frankly I hate paid ads running on the widget as it disturb my visitors too. I love to see new model the new owner will implement on Entrecard.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:15 am
Great move! But I hope to hear from you guys soon, I lost my EC account (cannot logged on anymore, says my email is not in the dbase), filed a ticket already but no reply :/
Been a member of Entrecard for years now :/
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:07 am
oh my…
i hope i still can receive my dollar that i hv request cindy,..
i think if you close this item [credit cashout program], out there, will back to the old tradition… blogger sell EC credit to others..
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 am
About time the paid adds went, there is nothing worse than EC members who work hard dropping to get credits and then get their add split between someone with a paid add and those that have worked hard to get credits!
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 am
Hi Cindy,
Welcome to Entrecard. Thanks for getting rid of the paid ads, a very welcome move.
Is their any chance the forums can be reopened to us all? Quite a few of us were banned for voicing a negative opinion of paid ads.
Thanks,
John
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:07 am
Glad to hear that someone’s listening to users complaints and cries. Hope that things will be smoother now and that Entrecard stays on the right path.
I tried to cashout my credits a few weeks ago and nothing happened after more than a month. I eventually just transfered them back to my account and trying to use them.
One question:
What is going to happen with the market? Do you people have plans for that section? I ask as the market use to be a place whereby we could spend our credits. Now, I hardly visit there. It’s not the same.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:19 am
Another suggestion please.
Relaunch and/or revitalise the Forums. They used to be very useful, then management paranoia introduced selectivity and censorship to try and stifle all criticism. All they did was kill the Forums.
But a healthy blogging community needs healthy Forums.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:34 am
I agree with Amy Lilly – This is good news about a good decision, but the best part is the clear communication. I feel that I know what to expect here, and that is great!
Also, it sounds like job #2 will be getting the Marketplace to work, and I also support that.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:27 am
I am glad to hear that. It’s a brave step from a new owner, but I hope you will not replace with any program which same type and way with the paid “elimination” ads. I do support your decision.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:37 am
This is a good move. Now, how about some more incentives for EC users to hit 300 drops, like some extra credits for hitting each 100 sites, etc… things like that.
Keep up the good work.
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 am
Excellent move and welcome aboard.
That clicking on widgets for some spare money was horrible.
Looking forward to more wise decisions.
Kindest
Hans
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 am
Amen about the forums suggestion by Caledonian Jim. I haven’t been here that long, but the forums have been a frustrating mystery to me.
Recently, I could see forums that supposedly had hundreds of posts (including the Introduction forum) but when I opened it, it said there were no posts and no topics.
Today, I see I can get into many of forums and that Shaunalynn is encouraging participation with a post in the General Discussions, which I take to be a good sign.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
I never had a big problem with paid ads but it’s great that you’ve taken this step (listened closely to your members). So far, the acquisition of Entrecard looks like it’s been a very positive thing!
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Thank you Cindy and welcome. It’s good to have the communication flowing in both directions and know that it’s being received.
My add-in would be that the forums definitely need a bit of pruning and users who were, “Banned” for whatever reason given a clean slate and opportunity to participate in them again. If a ban is warranted for an individual, this will come to light soon enough. My opinion is that this gets critical members (and we all should be) of the community back into it, active and supportive without needing to fear reprisal for a polite (if loudly phrased) comment.
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Nice move by new management team,
I was never against the paid adds they are still running on my widgets of EC.
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Would have been more happy if credit cashout have been continued.
My cashout is still pending since a month
July 23rd, 2009 at 7:50 pm
Hi Cindy!
Great to see such wonderful decisions taken immediately.
Goodbye paid ads!!
July 24th, 2009 at 3:51 am
Awww…. I’m quite disappointed that the cashout program is gone but I can say it’s a good move to remove paid ads though.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
Thanks! I wasn’t necessarily opposed to the concept but the way they worked was terrible and I ended up not accepting any because I found them so frustrating on blogs throughout the system.
Hoping for great things ahead!
myqualityday.blogspot.com
July 24th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
I hope can hear my cash out status confirmation.
meanwhile…
Exchange my 10000K EC for Domain
July 24th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Getting Rid of Paid ads should be good. I had noted that they were displayed even though I did not approve it.
Kudos!
July 24th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Hello Cindy! I support this decision. The elimination of the cashout system will be a disappointment to some, but it was clear that the system could not support it anyway. I am glad to see paid ads over and done with, as they were a total fiasco.
July 24th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Hi,
Maybe you should reopen the forums to all again. There are some people who may have felt alienated by the previous administration and would consider coming back.
July 25th, 2009 at 5:28 am
Am I the only one here who is sad because I can’t cash out my credits anymore? Huhu…
July 25th, 2009 at 5:36 am
Just applied for my last cashout for 3k credits. I am hoping that it will be approved.
July 25th, 2009 at 5:38 am
I disagree that a lot of people were opposed to the idea of the paid ads- most people were supportive of it enabling EC to stay alive.
It was the execution that was horrible. Paid ads would run more than half the time and even after getting rejected.
Definitely glad to see it go away and looking forward to a better system with less down times and slow times.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:16 am
A nice way to sell and trade ECs would be most welcome.
July 25th, 2009 at 9:48 am
i hope this improvement will make entrecard better in the long run as the director said before..so i hope dont have anybody will upset about this decision because entrecard not only for some people..but for all people who love this service..thanks
July 25th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Well this move will give encouragement to EC market place and it will flourish because where would they spend that much of EC’s after dropping.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Yeah,I am excited to see the new changes…I like entrecard
July 26th, 2009 at 12:31 am
I got $2 in this early month. But anyway, thanks for your info.
cheers,
suroso
July 26th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Aww.. too bad I haven’t cashed out my creds. I should have done it long time ago…
July 26th, 2009 at 4:22 am
Hi!
This is a great news to every entrecard member. I hope you will keep listening from us; your member.
Entrecard also giving a high bounce because many member just dropping their card and leave to drop to other blog. A high bounce don’t give you any good in blogging right? I myself have a bounce around 95% from entrecard and entrecard is the second source of traffic after google for me. In the past, there is a plan to make sure this will not happen. I wish this plan will be started soon or I need to leave entrecard for good.
Wish you will be reading this. See ya.
July 26th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
I’m so glad to hear you are getting rid of paid ads. I like the other way best.
July 27th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Thanks for the info about the future changes in Entrecard!
July 27th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Wow! I’m glad I read this. Now I don’t have to put a banner indicating that I don’t accept EC paid ads. More power!
July 28th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Thanks! I wasn’t necessarily opposed to the concept but the way they worked was terrible and I ended up not accepting any because I found them so frustrating on blogs throughout the system
July 28th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Thank you so very very much for making this wonderful decision!! I felt from the start that it was not the way to go. But, after returning from a summer break I did try running some and I truly don’t like it.
Oh I am so excited and really looking forward to the future. I only have one request. Please, please consider so many of us around the world who are dependent upon satellite for our internet connection.
If I drop 300 cards a day it takes me approximately 8 to 10 hours or more. Then to top it off I also go over my time share allotment according to the fair use policy and lose all speed. I have been shut down completely before just trying to keep up with 300 drops a day.
Congratulations and once again, I await in anticipation to see what changes are coming!
July 29th, 2009 at 1:02 am
[...] reason it can happen is that many bloggers starts to accept Entrecard back. I would say, “Goodbye to Paid Ads” from new administration have given great impact on Entrecard. It really helps to gain some [...]
July 29th, 2009 at 4:56 am
@lunaticg – why does the bounce rate matter? Isn’t it worth having the 5% visitors who don’t bounce, who might not visit your blog otherwise?
July 29th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
This is a wonderful decision. Thank you.
July 29th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
I’m glad that this change in no more paid ads is being implemented, even though it means that the Cash-Out system will soon be gone. When will the Cash-Out system be gotten rid of entirely, though? I do have some credits in there that I’ve had in there for awhile, and I was just wondering when the Cash-Out system would be done away with.
If I get cash for them, great, if not, I can use them in the Marketplace!
July 29th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
Is there any other news? What is going on in the marketplace? what other things do you have in store? Just curious
July 29th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
great news indeed! But thanks for the $18 i earned thru my credits.
July 29th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
it is okey to eliminate the paid ads but to include the cash out is not good maybe. lot of efforts in dropping to earned credits points and hoping the cash should be in equal parts to recieved.
I’m happy now that the new support team let me get access to my account ..THANK YOU VERY MUCH AGAIN.
August 4th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
This is such a great move! I have been contemplating on leaving EntreCard but decisions like this made me think twice.
BTW, I used to send a message before to the EC admin asking for the reinstatement of my deleted blog: http://www.kuerdas.com but I never heard anything from them. Not a word. No nothing.
Can someone please look into this matter?
THank you!
August 5th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Hi,Thanks for sharing this nice info.I’ve heard of Go Daddy, but are there other companies that will pay to place their ad onto your podcast?have you succession of my problem ……
August 6th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
Hello,
My opposition with the paid ads wasn’t about having them. It was about having them override the EC ads. I was and am still in favor of a side be side method where the EC ads AND the paid ad are shown at the same time. There should be a choice of either vertical or horizontal display.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:38 am
The good news , it should have been done long ago.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Well done Cindy I’m sure you’ll continue the great work done here at Entrecard.com
August 15th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
THANK U HELPED A LOT
GREAT ISLAMIC SITE
August 16th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Good Move Cindy!
I abandoned EntreCard after introduction of paid adverts. I took all my 12 blogs along…. but with this move, I am more than happy to give entrecard one more try… let’s see how you guys treat us…
hopes are high,
R. MAK.
Professional Blogger
http://www.pipstory.com/
August 17th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
I’m just popping in to wish all of you back there behind the scenes a great week!!
Jackie:-)
August 18th, 2009 at 3:58 am
You are on the right track. Its a good news.
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Good news, the changes must have been done for some time now.
August 23rd, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Sorry to see that paid ads were re-introduced again. They dilute our widget ads and reduce traffic to our blogs!!!!