How to Get onto the Popular Page

Written on March 10th, 2008 by Grey

I wrestled with whether or not to share these secrets, because, frankly, it will probably do me more harm than good for everyone to know. It’s the golden goose. Bilbao’s magic ring. The secret. But then I think about how great it’s been to be on the Most Popular page and I couldn’t help but share. I’ve forged friendships (Cecilia, Deimos, Bendz), had an Entrecard member help me switch from Blogspot to a self-hosted site (Turnip) and dozens of other perks too numerous to mention.

Since I joined Entrecard on 12/26, I’ve spent a majority of my time on the popular page. Does this make me an expert? Yup. Is there any set course to get onto the popular page? Nope. However, the following five directives will do the trick in a mere two weeks.

1. “What do I do with my 300 drops?” Good question, that’s a great place to start. Drop two hundred cards as soon as you can in your day. But not 200 random sites. The worst mistake you can make it “card surfing.” This is haphazard and won’t get you anywhere. When you “card surf” you’re not dropping on necessarily people who reciprocate, you’re simply dropping on some people who have advertised. Also, by dropping on the same exact sites, there’s a good chance you will get backlinks when their “Top Dropper” lists come out at the beginning of every month. Go to the Most Popular Page and drop on every site there, then move to the category page and hit every “Top Three” site that you’ve missed. If you need whys, I’ll explain. The Popular Page and the top three in each category are the best collection of sites that are active on Entrecard. These are people that will, more than likely, reciprocate your drops. This is the key. Every directive will be making sure you get drops back. Your drops are only used to get drops back or to reciprocate. If you wanna tip someone, just send them some credits. They’re about a cent a piece. You do the math. Are you following? Great. Now at the latest possible moment in your day (before Entrecard ends its day at 12am EST), drop on everyone that has dropped on you that you haven’t already dropped on. At first this might not be that many, so you should have cards leftover. With the leftover cards, go into some of the categories you’re interested in and drop on the first three sites after the top three. Then take twenty cards and drop on the last few people to post in a forum thread. Take another twenty cards and blanket your category. Once you start moving up your category, you’ll need more of your cards to reciprocate, but by that time you should have a pretty good handle on who reciprocates, so only drop on those. Do not drop on Most Recent sites. Nine times out of ten they don’t understand what a their inbox is or how to drop a card. By the time they figure it out, you’ll be on the Most Popular page and they’ll be dropping on you. (Tip: Many people on Entrecard are also on BlogCatalog using the same 125×125 image. So when you come to a site that shows the last five or so people from BlogCatalog, check to see how long ago they were they were dropping. If it was recently, go to their site and drop on them. They are probably doing the rounds, as well. Caveat: Don’t join any bookmarking cliques/lists. If you do this organically, you’ll be better off. Full disclosure: I recently joined a drop 50/day list and I regret it. Probably by the time this is posted, I’ll be out of that. Why I regret it will be for another day.)

2. “Dropping and running? That’s lame. I wanna help the community.” Well, aren’t you the giver? Okay, next step: sincerely comment on some blogs. If you have nothing to say, that’s a shame and you probably shouldn’t be writing a blog. Some sites will be completely out of your comfort zone. Here’s an idea, don’t comment on those blogs. i.e. Sometimes I see a site where they’re talking about computer “stuff” and I haven’t the foggiest idea what’s being discussed. You know what I do there? Don’t comment. Seriously, don’t pester people with lame comments. Sincere comments on blogs; that’s it. How many comments a day? There’s no set limit, whatever you feel comfortable doing. You should be able to muster fifteen comments a day. (Tip: Spread your comments around. There’s no reason you can’t comment again and again on the same blogs, but you should try and spread your net wider. Caveat: Don’t comment and run. Follow-up on old comments to show your gratitude that the blogger commented back to you. You’re building your Entre-foundation. Please try and walk before you run.)

3. “This all seems pretty doable.” Well, it is, but we’re not done yet. Next step, pick a side in an Entrecard forum debate and argue it. That’s not to say, belittle other members and threaten to Google bomb them. Agree or disagree, and state your opinion. If you’re wrong, concede to the other side. After you’ve participated in a few threads, start a sticky thread of your own. Make sure it’s in the right forum. (Entrecard Forum or Community Forum only. Promotions Forum is a mess and don’t bother at all with the Introductions Forum, it’s a waste of space.) Your forum thread should never be about your posts or your blog. People can find your blog if they want. If you think you can grab people’s attention with your blog, then starting a forum thread shouldn’t be that hard. A good first thread usually is, “Is my Entrecard image good? Do you think it can be better?” People will gladly chime in and they will also be seeing your card and thinking about it. This is very good. Also, if your card’s lame, there’s some great Entrecard members that can help you with it and this will help you forge a possible friendship. (Tip: Another thread that works well is one along these lines, “Reciprocating Drops…. Why is it that I drop on so many people and they never drop on me back?” This says two things, “You drop a lot of cards and if someone drops on you, you know what’s up and you will reciprocate a drop.” Caveat: You absolutely must reciprocate drops after saying something like this. This will annoy people if you’ve said something like that and don’t actually reciprocate.)

4. “Am I going to advertise anywhere?” Actually, you’re going to advertise everywhere. Take $20 and buy yourself 2000 credits. With those two thousand credits, advertise on the Popular and “Top Three” sites you’ve been hitting every day. Put an ad on every site that is available. If you’ve struck up a friendship of some sort in one of the forums, advertise on their site. If you want, advertise on some Most Recent sites. Go into your category and advertise with some sites that are now below you. Advertise with sites that are right in front of you. Advertise absolutely everywhere. Take another $5 and advertise on Project Wonderful Entrecard sites. (When looking for sites in Project Wonderful, search the tag, “Entrecard.”) Blanket Entrecard with your image. Make it impossible for people to be unaware of you. (Tip: Advertise on other people you notice moving up the ranks. They’re trying to do the same thing as you so their price is going to go up. Get it while it’s low. Secondly, they’re dropping a lot if they’re moving up, so your card will be seen by more people because of their activity. Caveat: Don’t be annoyed when someone rejects you. Turn into a positive. Message them and say it’s no big deal that they rejected you. Their site is probably out of your niche anyway. If you don’t want to message them, at least drop a card on them. Life’s too short to hold grudges.)

5. “I’m almost to the Popular Page and for the first time in my life I feel alive!” That’s great, but you’re not there yet. You’re about to put everything you learned to the test. When you first reach the top of your category and feel like you’re about to swell over into the Most Popular page, stop dropping 200 cards in the morning. Simply open your Drop Inbox and hit everyone that has dropped on you so far in the day, that should take you to about 50 to 75 cards already. Now check your Inbox once every hour or two and hit the sites that are dropping on you. This shows them that you are on top of reciprocating. Now around the half way point of the day, start dropping cards on sites that you know usually drop on you, but haven’t yet. This will stimulate activity to your site. Finally, the Promotions Forum. Go in and start a thread that says, “Ten Credits to drop on me.” This usually gets people dropping on you just to drop and they say keep the credits. If they want the credits, send them along. Finally, towards the end of the day and you’re just about to reach the Most Popular page, start a forum thread in the Community Forum with the title, “I Can’t Believe I’m on the Most Popular Page…” Then inside the thread, you thank me.

First, you’re welcome. Now that you’re at the Most Popular page, immediately you ask yourself, “Do I really wanna stay here if it’s going to involve so much work?” This reminds me of my uncle who is on dialysis. He says everything can go to turd as long as he maintains the torso. Once you are on the Most Popular Page, all you have to do is “maintain the torso.” You advertise here and there and reciprocate every drop. As long as you reciprocate every drop, you should “maintain the torso” of your advertising price. You no longer have to seek people out, because now they seek you out. Stop making friends? Not unless you’re a xenophobe. When someone new comes along, welcome them. If they want to drop on you – great. Just make sure to drop on them, because you know firsthand the work they’re putting in. Before you know it, they’ll be sitting between you and Joan Joyce on the Most Popular page.

See you on the Most Popular page,

StanHayes

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