Perspective Shift

I was recently trying to help a friend get their blog off the ground, just basically get it up and running. I suggested that they use Entrecard for networking, and building some traffic early on. A system that I felt was fairly self explanatory, and if not, didn't require too much investigating to figure out how to work it. Little did I realize, Entrecard may be easy for a lot of us using it NOW, but for someone who has no idea what an Entrecard is? Well, things can get slightly complex. As if the initial idea weren't hard enough to get across, actually using it effectively was much harder to explain. So I felt the need to write this post up for the complete beginner, or for anyone who doesn't fully understand Entrecard, or how to use it to their advantage. My original and far less in depth post on Entrecard can be found Here.

To start with, what exactly IS Entrecard? Entrecard is a web based community filled with bloggers for networking and advertising purposes. The actual card is seen as being an electronic business card that you pass around (advertise) to other blogs. Both the website and advertising are completely free. So how does all of this exactly work?

Let's Get Started

After joining the website most people are sitting there wondering what in the world to do next. The first step is to create your own 125 by 125 image for your website. Honestly, I wouldn't advise you using what the website offers. A random thrown together string of text is not very attractive regardless of what you write on there. If you do decide to use that at first, make sure you create another image later if you are expecting any serious clicks from visitors.

After you have whatever image you plan on using for the time being for your Entrecard, you'll want to install the widget in a visible location on your blog. The easier it is for other Entrecarders to find the better off you'll be.

Earning Entre Credits

1. Dropping

If you plan on earning a lot of Entre Credits you're going to be doing a lot of "dropping." Dropping is when you go to another blog that has an Entrecard Widget and you click (while logged into Entrecard) the button under the advertisement that says "drop." This earns you 1 Entre Credit that you can see and keep track of in your dashboard, as well as at the top of the website to the right of your e-mail address. You earn one credit per drop, meaning drops on your blog as well as drops you do on other blogs. You can only drop on a particular website one time in a 24 hour period. This means that if you find the people who seem to be active droppers, then you can expect around 2 credits for each individual blog you drop on. Just that alone can get you potentially 600 credits daily.

2. Become A Skilled Dropper

DROP, and DROP A LOT!!

Now, dropping is one thing, but dropping effectively is something completely different. If you want to promote your blog the right way on Entrecard and get some readers while doing it you're going to need to know how to drop the right way. First, ensure that your blog is listed under the correct category. This is important because, if like me, your blog is under the "Religion and Spirituality" category, you'll want like minded individuals visiting your site. It's more likely that you will network with someone or gain potential readers like this, as opposed to me going to the "Make Money Online" category and dropping 300 times on those blogs. Yes, it is important to drop on more blogs than just in your category, but it depends on your goals. Do you want to grow your blog, and it's readers, or get drops? Personally, I'd rather get both.

Secondly, you're going to want to first drop on the more popular blogs. Often times these blogs will be active and more often than not reciprocate the drop. When I was first really getting into Entrecard I dropped on the first page of popular blogs within each category. I did get a lot of drops back but it wasn't until I focused more attention to my general categories (religion and spirituality/personal development) that I really began to get more consistent traffic of readers, not just droppers.

This very tip will help you succeed in getting more traffic to your blog and if you're lucky, some committed readers. It doesn't end there, however.

3. Advertising Efficiently

When I first began, I did what many other people have and continue to do. That being to advertise on the cheapest widgets I could find. It's really exciting to see your ad show up on other websites fresh out of the gates, but I've learned that this is probably the worst way to promote your blog. More often than not the "cheap" blogs are either from not active members, or the blogs themselves don't gain enough traffic or visitors to even get you any clicks from curious readers. This is not the way to go. I personally went through well over a 100 ad purchases with 0 clicks to my website before I got the hint.

If you want to advertise correctly using Entrecard you're going to need to advertise first and foremost on blogs within your category. Most of the time people will hop around different sites within their category to drop, and if they see a blog they are interested in being promoted, will click forward to check it out. This is what you want, because not only is someone genuinely interested in your blog, but they might drop on your widget as well as potentially become a regular or subscribed reader.

4. Join Drop Lists

Joining a drop list, or creating one of your own is a great way to not only increase the interest of your site to other droppers, but it allows you to keep a regular group of people in tact whose blogs you are interested in. There are other things floating around out there that you will run across, such as the "Free Traffic Generator" button I have on this site at the time of writing this post. That's just something I use when I feel the urge to increase my drops for the day if I haven't already reached my 300 mark. It just gives you a list of peoples blogs to drop on who are also using it. I'd recommend something like that for someone just eager to get their first 300 drops, but not really for anyone truly interested in promoting their blog.

5. Always Reciprocate

ALWAYS, and I repeat, ALWAYS reciprocate your drops. If someone drops you and you didn't drop them prior to that, do them the courtesy of dropping on their widget. You can keep track of all of the people who drop on your blog by viewing the most recent droppers at the top of your dashboard, or more effectively clicking on the RSS button to the far right of the thumbnails. I'd suggest the latter because sometimes more people drop on your widget than can be displayed with thumbnails.

This is just common courtesy and it won't go unnoticed. Eventually people will drop on you more and more, and in doing so the price to advertise on your blog will increase. Which is another way to earn credits you can use later.

Tip: If you drop up to the 300 mark that day, and notice that people are dropping on your widget that you didn't already drop on that day. Ensure that those are the first people you drop on after your drop limit is reset 24 hours later.

6. Write Recommendations

I don't mean to just go out there and write up a recommendation to every blog you see. If you do that, chances are it will go noticed by the blog owners and your recommendation will be denied. Take the time out to look around another blog, leave a comment or two and actually get a feel for it. if you do like it, write that blog a recommendation. In doing so it will help that bloggers Entrecard success, as well as increase their interest to your site. I've yet to write a recommendation to a blog that hasn't been reciprocated back. It increases your sites visibility within the community as well.

7. Become An Active Community Member

The Entrecard website has a forum on it. If you are interested in networking first hand, joining this forum and leaving meaningful comments or asking questions is another great way to get noticed by fellow bloggers. If, like me, this doesn't interest you as much then you can always send messages to blog owners that interest you. Or leave comments on blogs and start a level of communication between you and other bloggers. If there's one thing Entrecard and it's members supply, that's support.

8. Did I Mention ALWAYS RECIPROCATE?

Yes, I believe I did mention this already, although it can't be stressed enough. Not only do I mean reciprocate drops, reciprocate comments. I noticed that my comments slowly increased once I added the "U comment I follow" badge under my Entrecard Widget. Where you can also see my "U Drop I Follow" badge so nicely placed. Getting these badges allow your fellow Entrecarders or anyone who runs a blog know that you are serious about it. Don't get it and then not live up to it, as it will just give you a bad name in the long run. You can pick up one of these badges a a lot of different websites right now. I'd list some but there are so many, all you really need to do is a small Google search on "U Comment I Follow Badges" or "U Drop I Follow." If you're too lazy to copy and paste. Here:

U Comment I Follow - You will also find information for bloggers to turn off the inbuilt "nofollow" code that's naturally installed into many of the templates offered. This is a good idea overall because it makes your blog more friendly to fellow bloggers by sharing the link love. We all know how important link love can be.

U Drop I Follow

Conclusion

I can guarantee that if you follow just the tips listed here, you will see your Entrecard success increase. Entrecard is an amazing site overall, and one of the most discussed things to hit the Blogosphere lately. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in their blog or it's success. Especially those just starting out. There are many other tools out there to help you as well. I recently ran across a post from a blog I can't find at the moment, that gave the great idea of listing your Entrecard widget URL to an older blogpost that may have been forgotten and you want people to see. There are so many resources and tips out there to help you succeed that success with Entrecard shouldn't even be a question.

If you have your own tips I failed to mention feel free and leave them in a comment. Or if anyone knows the blog I ran across with that last tip, please let me know so that I can post a link back to them. Good luck, and Happy Blogging!