Quality of Advertisers
Written on August 1st, 2008 by Graham
Our recent price reduction for advertising on Entrecard has me incredibly excited. Aside from being a complete success, and signing up over 20 advertisers, I’m excited for another reason entirely.
Nearly All of our advertisers are bloggers, and are advertising their blog! Now I know what you’re thinking, “What’s so special about that?” -and I’ll tell you. No where on the internet will you find so many bloggers advertising their blog. After all, look at who advertises on the big name blogs:
John Chow: Bidvertiser, Mediatxt, clickbooth, Reverse Funnel scheme, crazyegg, performancing ads, and revresponse. No blogs, all monetization networks, ad networks, affiliate networks, and schemes.
DoshDosh: MarketLeverage, “Traffic Secrets”, Reverse Funnel scheme, Marketers group.
ProBlogger: Text Link Ads, Compete.com, WidgetBucks, Linkworth, and a make money scheme “90,000 per month from Adsense” dealy.
These three are just an example, but you see the same wherever you go. You hardly ever see blogs advertising on other blogs. It is a rarity -and a gem. How interesting are ads for make money schemes and the same old ad networks? Not interesting at all. But does this effect the quality of the blog? My answer is yes.
The sad truth is, the quality of the advertiser raises or lower the quality of the blog.
A lot of people asked me why I cut the price of the ads on Entrecard, when I could easily call any affiliate network or ad network, provide them with our traffic stats, and sign them up for the ad spot for a few hundred dollars. Or why I didn’t just put in some affiliate links, and earn revenue that way. After all, upstart bloggers are one of the most sought after, and elusive niches on the internet.
The answer is because I wanted you, our wonderful bloggers, to be able to advertise on the site. And by doing something revolutionary, something none of the top blogs have ever thought to do, simply charging less money, I have signed up more bloggers advertising on this blog than any other blog on the internet. I may not go down in history as an authority on how to make money online, but I like to think I build a pretty damn good community.
So please, visit our sponsors with confidence, knowing that you will not be visiting another money making scheme, or an affiliate network, but a blog, a quality blog, a home-grown Entrecarder.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:31 am
Yeah… I’m glad to be a part of the success that is entrecard. Going to pay each sponsor a visit to lend some support now!!!
August 1st, 2008 at 11:47 am
That is pretty nifty. I never really noticed that about the major blogs you mentioned.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:49 am
You have built a good community, which makes me surprised you won’t fix the forums.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:50 am
BTW, Where’s my top commentator for July credits?
August 1st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
@StanHayes I love the forums. Nothing wrong with them.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I’ve never given that much thought. But then I’m only blogging for pleasure, not to make any money. But the price you set for this month is definitely a good value for those taking advantage of it.
August 1st, 2008 at 12:57 pm
I’m a new entrecard member its cool how it works.
August 1st, 2008 at 4:51 pm
As I read this, I am still amazed that John Chow decided to advertise on my entrecard widget.
Thank you for bridging a gap I thought impossible
BTW, in the ‘Advert approval stats’ area, under ‘%age of Adverts declined’, the wording is missing an ‘if’.
“…applicants should check their advert is likely to fit with the blog topic and format”
And how do I add an icon to the SezWho rating bar like the EC one? it is Super-Snazzy!
Entrecard rocks!
August 1st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I think that lowering the rates and getting rid of worthless ads was excellent.
I have a question though. I thought the ad spaces were site-wide, but I see some ads on the blog that are not on the forums. Are they rotated daily?
August 1st, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Should I even bother looking who were the advertisers 1 month ago or two months ago? I seem to recall a certain scammer complaining he had been scammed by an even bigger scammer who was advertising on EC via Project Wonderful.
August 1st, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Agreed!! Besides which I can’t stand seeing so many ads on any given blog or website. Definitely ‘yay’ for lowering the price. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get one next month (after I get paid and all that jazz).
Off topic: Get in line Stan, I haven’t even gotten my credits for the secret Sezwho contest yet!
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:43 am
That is really nice to know! Keep it up!
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:12 am
Build a community?
Damn straight you know how to. Thanks Graham!
Do you want a Sake?
August 2nd, 2008 at 8:48 am
Quality is indeed needed. Imagine if I get porn ads on my blog. nahhh..
Ads should be related and at the same time I should earn something.
August 2nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
I forgot to ask. Where was last weeks comment rush??? Don’t tell me you didn’t find a single blog worth that.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I agree about the ads on your site giving it a tone for your readers. I don’t read the so called big name blogs cause the ads make them look trashy/ spammy. Besides, I don’t think they really know anything I don’t already know. I’m not that interested in running ads and that really seems to be all they are about.
I do like EC because it is still what I think a blogging network should be, about blogs. Including personal, hobby and other topical blogs which are not about seo, money making and etc.
The ad price for the EC site is still over my head but I’m only pimping my blog as a hobby.
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Oh, that’s so nice of you for running those ads for less, just for us.
Thank you.
August 2nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Having affordable ads certainly does make advertising on a site that is as popular as Entrecard more appealing. Screening for quality blogs is a good way to ensure that your advertising doesn’t change the quality of your blog, but it should be content that decides that and not your advertisers.
August 2nd, 2008 at 4:44 pm
>> I don’t read the so called big name blogs cause the ads make them look trashy/ spammy.
Have you looked at any blogs listed on EC? Not the big names, the little guys. For a great many of them it is impossible to get another ad on the page. They are full of trashy 125×125s, AdSense, Affiliate links, and sponsored posts. Complete crap.
I’d like to calculate the ratio of make money bloggers to real bloggers that care about their craft and site, listed on EC. It’s probably 7 to 1.
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:01 am
I would have to say that I am surprised by the number of ads I see on the “pro blogger” sites, but it only makes sense that other bloggers trying to make money will do the same thing.
Blogger’s have the right to monetize however they see fit, but those that focus on providing quality first will be the ones that succeed.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:12 am
newbie here, attracted by quite some top alexa ranking bloggers, something must be right I guess…
August 3rd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Exactly, on the same line of thinking:
I have been lobbying on the fact that small bloggers should also get chance to be featured on “expensive” blogs.
For example, you can have a maximum bar on the price. (say 2K) After that price has been reached, everyone should be given a random chance to appear randomly. (Just like the advertisers cycle in your 125 ads. block in this blog. They are having chance by paying 50 Dollar.)
Any comments?
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
@ Rahsheen >>…but those that focus on providing quality first will be the ones that succeed.
It’s a shame few people seem to know that. The only reason their blogs receive traffic is because of EC, there are no other reasons to view them. If bloggers spent more time on content and less time on EC they might see real growth and eventually profits.
August 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 pm
@Steve- Yes, I read or at least go to a lot of blogs through EC. I don’t go back to the splogs and spam blogs and those with almost no content versus ads. I know there are a lot of them. I was specifically talking about the big name blogs which so many of those other blogs try to emulate.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:33 am
The more sales the advertiser gives the more the qualitative.
August 5th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
John Chow sux
His site is nothing more than an affiliate landing page, and he doesn’t use many of the services he promotes.
Do you notice any BidVertizer ads on his site? Nope!
August 6th, 2008 at 10:12 am
By lowering your ad prices you may end up having a greater number of relevant advertisers which should result in more clickthroughs in turn earning you more money.
August 7th, 2008 at 7:55 am
+100. Respect.
August 9th, 2008 at 12:22 am
This is a great service and I look forward to being a part of its growth.