If you follow my blog since a bit longer, you will have noticed some changes. Together with the layout change (only one sidebar now, to make more space for content) I took also the Entrecard and Adgitize widgets down. Don’t get me wrong, Entrecard and Adgitize are not per se bad for a blog, but they were both bad for this blog. Why?
Time versus Benefit in blogging and blog promotion
How much time does it cost you to drop your Entrecards every day and to click your Adgitize ads? And what do you get in exchange? Even if you are fast and don’t spend any time actually reading the blogs you visit (Yikes!) it will take you an hour a day, minimum. And what do you get in exchange? Yelps, visitors that do the same what you just did. Hit and miss traffic. Bounce rate in Google Analytics steep up and search engine traffic on an all time low. And your Google authority? Uhhh, what do you think how much authority google gives to a blog that gets under average search traffic and were the visitors leave as soon as they come, or even sooner? So why DID I use Entrecard at all? Am I stupid? I don’t think so.
Entrecard is great for the first 3 months of the life of a blog.
By using Entrecard as a glorified ring surf tool, I learned to know a lot of other bloggers that I wouldn’t have come across otherwise. Giving up Entrecard, doesn’t mean to give up on these blogs. I will still visit them and comment on them, but my blog has grown up now and doesn’t need anymore walking aids, in fact it can run now faster without the burden of a high bounce rate. So, if you want to use Entrecard, do it wisely, learn to know other blogs and bloggers, inside and outside of your niche, take time to comment on blogs you like and to subscribe to them if you like them lots. And after a time, leave the walking aid behind, your blog has grown up and can run!
Some words about Adgitize, to finish this off.
Adgitize must be most likely the worst advertiser program out there. People actually pay for getting a lot of useless to harmful traffic. As for earning with it, my average earning was >0.05$/ day, hardly attractive. I am sure if you update your blog daily, drop 300 Entrecards and click your 100 Adgitize ads than you can make between 30-50$/ month. But if you calculate this into an hourly wage… ‘Nough said, spend your time with content creating and honest link building and when your site is it worth it, you will easily find somebody to pay this amount of money for a banner on your blog, something that will cost you perhaps 5min to set up…
And yes, I am a bit grumpy today, that damm’ cat is bothering me with his new Expat Cat Blog, time to get him Entrecard to play with…
wow, it took me 10 minutes to find you..))
Why not keeping the Widgets and be non active?
That’s the art, control your self..)
some days I click only on friendly blog, people who exchange views etc. that are prop 25 people on entrecard
some days more
and still a lot of people find internations through google etc.)
ITS ALL ABOUT K?LLER CONTENT…thats all.))
? am an idiot regarding techniques, but a master regarding communication technigues..))
kindest
@Hans
Then we will see.
Lol, what about feed readers, email subscriptions etc? There are a lot of other methods to keep up with a blog then Entrecard. Or you could simply update your blogroll, it still shows me with my old today.com blog
Self control, me? Eh, bad thing, never works really. Oscar is now getting my entrecard credits for the next 3 months until his blog is running
Btw, another reason, not mentioned above, is that the dear widgets slow down the loading tima of a blog. Entrecard is not too bad, but adgitize and twitter widgets are really slowing things down. But that are my reasons, that don’t have to be the reasons of others
Hmm….I don’t see an EC widget on Oscar’s blog..)!
@Hand
SY
He is still awaiting approval
I’m still using EC and Adgitize.
Adgitize usually gets about 50 hits per day when I run an ad–1 cent per click isn’t bad in my opinion. But I see your points.
I’m starting to get tired of EC and I may phase it out on some of my blogs. I agree with you–it is a good service to get things started, but I’m not sure it is beneficial once you get a decent stream of traffic to your blog.
@Strength and Fitness Blog
But how long do your visitors from EC and Adgitize stay on your site?
ooh, only .05 per day on Adgitize? I think I have made like three dollars on Google adwords, so I agree with the fact of making great content for your blog to attract better advertisements.
@Chuggin
$3 a day is not a bad start for a niche site, SY
I agree with Hans: “Why not keeping the Widgets and be non active?” But anyway, dealing with the time probably accepted reason. Indeed, nice to be here
@Coffee
Because widgets slow a site down and take up valuable space that could be used other wise. Not to mention the low bounce rate. SY
SY, what slow down a site is all the flash, illegal software, etc.
Not that EC widget..))!
What does the low bounce rate to do…?
Internations has PG4 sometimes 5…and still 35% of the newcomers comes from Google, Yahoo and other search engines..
Kindest
hans
@Hans
Thanks, that’s an idea for a blog post “Why a low bounce rate is good for you!” Watch this space as they say… SY
Hello,
I have been weighing the continued invert of EC for my blog, especially with my own free traffic sharing system, Along for the Ride! doing very well for the short time its been in operation.
I never did care for Adgitize or the whole EC blow-up…
@Mar Matthias Darin
Thanks for dropping in, I used AFTR shortly and quite liked it. Perhaps you should add more design choices, something less busy and “loud”, SY
Hi,
That is already in the works. The animated effects were designed to help the AFTR widget stand out in a ocean of widgets…
For quieter pages thought, hopefully I will have quieter backgrounds soon.
@Mar Matthias Darin
Great! I will definitively try out a quieter widget here on my blog. SY
Interesting. I was just about to sign up for entrecard and adgitize but your article may have swayed me. My blog is new so maybe it may be good for a few months?
@W Leung
) Sure, both might be a good method to get initially the word out, but bear in mind the time it takes. Perhaps the same time is more effectively used with commenting on other blogs in your niche and writing content? SY
What is the goal for your blog? (Sorry about the pun
I write a lot of content. The blog is updated daily but it is only two months old.
W Leung´s last blog ..Favre is back again
@W Leung
I guess you don’t like to hear this, but you need to have more patience! Continue to add good, fresh and original content and concentrate on building relationships with others in your nice. Content+Links=online success
SY
Hi,
The “less busy” AFTR widget boxes are done and ready for use. Please take a look. The instructions are on the AFTR members’ page.
Thanks.
Mar Matthias Darin´s last blog ..Why I oppose ObamaCare
@Mar Matthias Darin
That’s great, I will have a look! SY
I don’t have those in my blog but I got to agree with you. I’ve been reading about the same thing Entrecard and maybe its not worth to spend time to it.
MichaelR´s last blog ..How to Improve VoIP Call Quality
@MichaelR
Yes, they are a big waste of time, taking up a lot of space / resource for next to nothing return. SY
I read this article last night and wanted to take some time to think about it before I commented. You’ve definitely given me something to think about (thank you!).
I have a blog that is about 2 months old and 90+% of the traffic comes from Entrecard. I’ve already started to see limits to the traffic I can get using this method.
@C Me
If >90% of your traffic comes from Entrecard, then I assume that your bounce rate is also somewhere in the 90% range? I don’t know what your blog is all about, but this kind of traffic is pretty close to useless, sorry, don’t shoot the messenger, the amount of traffic is far less important then the quality of the traffic. You can have thousands of visitors coming via Entrecard and the like and earn nothing, or you can have dozens of visitors via search engines and earn $$$. SY
I agree 100%! My blog is making nothing because almost all of my traffic is hitting my front page, dropping, and then leaving. Only my total number of hits to my front page is growing and it has reached a plateau.
Would you like to continue this conversation via email?
@C Me
If you prefer, my contact info can be found here: http://hospitalera.com/contact-networks/ SY
[...] your site. The idea to this post is based one a comment Hans from Internation Musings left on my Entrecard and Adgitze post. He asked: “What does the low bounce rate [...]
[...] BTW, if you want more information on what brought me to this decision, check out http://hospitalera.com/why-entrecard-and-adgitize-had-to-go/ [...]