The other day I was curious about something. I took about 3 days off from dropping cards just as an experiment to see what happened. And guess what? I fell waaaay off the board. I used to be in the top 3 to 5 on the most popular list for a long time. After just a few days of non-dropping, I fell way down. Currently I am on the fourth row. So here is the next part of the experiment. I am going to start dropping again to see if I can climb back to the top.

So what did I learn from this? A big percentage of droppers are reciprocal droppers. I have gained some valuable RSS subs and blog regulars from EC but this increase in readership was not proportionate to my increased traffic. The last thing I learned is that EC is not a passive traffic getting site. You MUST participate to get the maximum benefit. Admittedly, there are about 10-15 new blogs that I read everyday now because of EC. The rest I am guilty of the "drop and go." AND for those of you dropping 250-300 times a day, you are going to have a hard time convincing me that you read everyone of those blogs. What does the rest of the forum think?

Another note just as I thought of it. I am looking at my numbers and I really haven't dropped off that much. The others have just really grown. Where they were once getting 250 Ecreds, they are now getting over 300 Ecreds to advertise on their widget.

In a nutshell "Effort=Reward" I'm away for a few days from tomorrow and expect to disappear from the 'favourites' page in that time.

i read from other threads that people drop first at the sites that appear on their inbox (recent droppers) .... I tried that and it's a nice way to go about it.

I am guilty of not browsing sites that seem like copy cats of some other site. I read sites that are unique. BUT i comment only on those whose tone seem friendly. There are good but aloof bloggers out there, and their tone and topics (and "i dont follow comments" declarations) do not encourage me to comment even if I want to. Then, they declare "you just came here to drop your card"... Not really. I just didn't feel like commenting.

:D

But big pappa blog is really friendly. It's just that there's so many big people there all the time outcommenting each other and I'm kinda shy.

I agree, you must participate. I drop 250 - 300 cards a day as well. I can honestly say that I do not read every blog either. However, I do check the titles and scan the pages while looking for the widget and if something interests me, I read the article and try to leave a comment.

I have some new blogs that I now read daily as well. I have also met a lot of great people and created a few joint ventures that are working well.

Entrecard for me is more about networking and branding. I thought it was going to be a great way to advertise, but most of the traffic does not convert. However, I have picked up a few new subscribers.

I really like Entrecard, but it seems like they are having some growing pains. Understandably though, with what they have accomplished in such a short period.

I've been doing some similar tests and have similar results. You must drop or you fall in price. I've been playing around with different levels of dropping and I think I have the optimum time for my blog on time spent dropping that is proportionate to keep my ad price consistent. I think I have my number worked out, but I'm still testing so I won't release those results until I feel a little better about them.

Dropping is a significant factor yet, I've seen that when and where you place your ads plays an almost 50% role in the amount of drops you get back.

You can drop till you drop, but you won't hit the most popular page unless you place ads.

Where do you place ads? You place ads on active users that are out there placing a lot of ads themselves.

For anyone interested, here's a link to show you my current stats. (I haven't dropped yet today.)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/saphrym/2185717389/

Maybe the stat hounds can get some use out of them. ;)

I'm still very new to entrecard (been here a couple of days) but I think it's how it SHOULD be. That active users are the ones rewarded. I also have some concerns about those who drop large numbers of cards per day - the drop and run scenario. I do wonder if over time that could devalue entrecard for all of us. After all, we're not really after just traffic are we? At least, I'm not. What I'm really after is finding new regular readers. If entrecard doesn't end up providing me with that then it's not really worth my investment of time. So far I've been happy but it'll be interesting to see how things continue to progress.

I used to have 2 regular visitors. 2. My wife and my mother-in-law. After Entrecard, I have plenty of regular visitors who actually read and comment. (Although I think the commenters took a day off today, other than Alfred and Woobie. Thanks guys. ;) )

I know I have 70 to 100 regular droppers, after that I must drop to get the rest.

I think that's a benefit of EC actually. Though it sucks when you're sick, take a day off, and come back to find yourself in the middle of the page (Personal Diaries is HUGE). Lots more work. Still, I'm thankful for everyone that stops by for whatever reason.

I'd like to thank the person that suggested subscribing to the inbox feed, too. I forget who said it initially, but that was the best advice I've gotten for dropping so far. It's so much easier to drop from there first and then widget surf after they've been taken care of. I wish I'd implemented that strategy sooner.

I noticed something similar, however, I didn't notice a reduction in my overall traffic. Only my page value.

That lead me to question what the value is in having a high page value?

If you need to drop a card to get people to return, then they aren't really serious readers. Spending an hour a day to get 50 readers really seems like a lot of work for the effort.

You could spend $2.50 on StumbleUpon to get the same amount of traffic, ALL of which are new viewers, as opposed to the Entrecard traffic which is mostly recycled viewers.

I'm not dumping EntreCard, but I have cut down my card dropping significantly. I just don't have time.

I used to be up on the top page too, but I just don't see the value it in anymore....and I know there are sites below me in value that get more traffic.

One suggestion if you need to take a couple days off. Make sure you have extra ads lined up for those days so that no one misses you. lol.

No, really? You didn't drop and you expected to go up? What other possible result was there?

No, exactly the opposite. I didn't drop and wanted to see how far down I would go. I didn't expect to go up at all.

Oh and uhhh, I absolutely hate the annoying ad. "Congratulations, you have been selected to receive 2 free iPod Nanos."

During my first few days I dropped like crazy and advertised a lot. Never made it to 300 drops. I maxed out at 220+ on two occasions I figured I was spending too much time promoting this one site when I have other sites and stuff to work on.

On regular days I'd drop around 80-100 by starting with the ones in my inbox then with the blogs I actually read, then some occasional drop-n-go' widget hopping.

I also found out and am thankful for the 50-80 regular droppers which keeps my rating just right for now, not too high and not too low either.

Personally, my approach is to sift through all the Entrecard members, then add the ones I like or will revisit to my Entrecard bookmark folder. That way it doesn't feel like I'm being pressured into dropping just to keep my numbers up. :-)