Want to advertise on the John Chow dot Com Entrecard widget but don’t quite have the 259 credits it takes to buy a spot? Well, you’re in lucky! It just so happens I have nearly 7,000 Entrecard credits sitting in my account. Instead of using the credits to buy advertising on other Entrecard sites, I figure I’ll give them away to readers.
Get 200 Entrecard Credits
Entrecard allows me to send any credit amount I want to another Entrecard user. So, the first 35 Entrecard users who writes a recommendation for me will each get 200 credit add to his account. That’s still not enough to buy a spot on this blog but it’ll get you a lot closer. You don’t have to use the credit to advertise on my blog – feel free to use it to buy space on any of the 2,500 blogs in the Entrecard system. In order to write a recommendation and get the 200 credits, you need to be an Entrecard member.
Some New Entrecard Features
There are a number of new features being rolled out for Entrecard. They include news feed for your favorites, seeing which Entrecard members are in your geographical area, seeing other members’ favorites, and an improved shop. I’m actually thinking of offering a John Chow review for 10,000 Entrecard credits. Would anyone buy it?
Entrecard founder Graham Langdon sent me some interesting Entrecard traffic stat: 13,000,000 widget impressions per month, 450,000 daily impressions, and 26,000 clicks sent daily from Entrecard to members’ blogs, and 17,000 clicks send daily from Entrecard widget network to members’ blogs. Ads purchased through the Entrecard network have a 3.6% clickthrough rate. The growth of Entrecard has been quite amazing.
Misleading Credit Pricing
Something that Entrecard needs to work on is its pricing system. For the longest time, I was the most expensive blog in the network. Now I’m not even on page one. This is because of members mass dropping cards in order to inflate their price and build up their credits. The current number one site cost 466 credits per day but has only 72 RSS readers (he wisely removed the FeedBurner count from his blog).
This gaming of the system is making it hard to tell which sites will deliver traffic and which sites won’t send anything. I wouldn’t spend 466 credit to advertise on a blog with only 72 RSS readers but all his spots are sold. People think high price equal quality but for many Entrecard member sites, that is not the case.
Until Entrecard figures out a way to prevent gaming of their system, you should check out the site more to prevent having your hard earned credits wasted.
*Update – That was fast! All 7,000 credits has been given out and members are still writing recommendations. Unfortunately, the credits only went to the first 35 Entrecard users. Anyone making a recommendation after the 35, thanks but I have no credits to give you. 
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{ 81 comments }
Recommendation submitted John, nice of you to give away your credits.
Hey guys!
Here is some more Entrecard Credits giveaway.
Win a share in 5000 Entrecard Credits
http://myblogcontest.com/win-a-share-in-5000-entrecard-credits/
There will be 5 winners each get 1000 EC credits.
500 Entrecard Credits to 40 Bloggers today!
http://myblogcontest.com/500-entrecard-credits-to-40-bloggers-today/
I received 500 from them already. Don’t know how many left.
Make Money and Get Free Stuff from blog contest. Visit MyBlogContest.com for more information
I’m also holding a contest to win some Entrecard credits in addition with your 200 credits you are getting from John!
http://www.thatblogsite.com/win-300-entrecard-credits/
John, how are we supposed to advertise on your site when the spots are always full?!
Even with hundreds of credits we still would need to wait forever for spots to open.
Ya, that is a problem. Once spots opens, I’m flooded with orders. If you don’t get in within an hour, you’re out of luck.
Ill start saving the 10k now for a review
Might take me a while though, lol
Mee too, am dying to see John Wrting review about my site. I will bring that day very soon. and will die after that.
Hey! I gave you some of those credits by clicking on your “drop yours”! making me write about you to get them back. phhhhtttt!
Stinkin bird droppings….
Evil, you sent me DROPPINGS!
Thanks for the 200 credits John, much appreciated.
Hello john did a Recommendation on your blog again, your blog is the best ever.
sean
Hey John, Just wrote a recommendation for you. Here’s my details page: http://entrecard.com/details/11085
Thanks for the credits!
Hi John, Just wrote a recommendation
Recommendation is written. Thank you!
I just did a recommendation, I’d love the 200 credits here’s my account page http://entrecard.com/user/905/
thanks
“This gaming of the system is making it hard to tell which sites will deliver traffic and which sites won’t send anything. ”
And you need to find out which deliver quality traffic and which deliver nothing but hits.
I’ve advertised on your blog, problogger, john cow and a number of a-list bloggers and – truth be told – I got nothing out of it except for an extra 100 hits. However, if you advertise on some blogs that are a little weaker, then you’re more likely to get more hits over a longer period of time (I advertised on one entrecard, and in return I got another reader, who contributes to the blog, and has bought advertising off me). There are some REAL diamond blogs out there – bloggers who after advertising will go out of their way to make you feel special (subscribe to your RSS/comment/link to you etc) – my advice would be to advertise on blogs with 30-40 credits rather than the numbers in the hundreds, they give you far more respected and relevant traffic than the A-listers.
Ironically I wrote a post about it today:
http://www.gospelrhys.co.uk/2008/01/three-ways-to-get-the-most-out-of-entrecard.html
Oh, and I’ve already wrote you a recommendation
Interesting idea. I can see why it would work though. Big fish in a small pond vs. average fish in a big pond.
Agreed. This is something I have talked about before when John Cow brought it up.
Also, no matter what, generally whoever clicks on your Entrecard are part of the Entrecard program, meaning they are going there #1 to drop the card.
And I have to say that when I advertised here, I got 130 hits. Receiving 0 comments, 0 new subscribers. When I advertised on Saphrym’s I received 216 hits, 10 comments, and a few subscribers.
It is much easier for a guy who hasn’t quite made it to John Chow’s status to advertise on an “average” or “below average” blog and receive comments/RSS subscribers than it is to advertise on a blog like Chow’s or Probloggers and receive comments/RSS subscribers.
Chow, sorry to say it but you are comparing Apples to Oranges. Like others have said, RSS subscribers only tell half the story.
Saphrym has been dogged enough already. Can we stop it with he doesn’t get enough traffic so he must not be worth that much? He actively participates in the community and engages his readers/advertisers vs passively putting the widget on his blog and doing nothing.
Can we also put a stop to making advertisers feel like idiots that they don’t know what they are doing advertising for Saphrym?
The economy will naturally correct itself. It’s not like new Entrecard members can instantly get 400 credits to spend on his blog. Therefore, he must get repeat advertisers who think he’s worth it.
It’s second time I write a recommendation for JohnChow on Entrecard.
BTW, I already have enough credits to buy ad spot on your widget but it’s already full and never see it is available again
For whatever reason I just haven’t ever gotten into the whole Entrecard thing. Is it really worth the trouble?
no
In my personal opinion Entrecard is great, some think it is not, some think it is.
You should try it, it is a great source of traffic and fun collecting credits.
Dropping cards here and there is a complete waste of time, invest thesame time on stumbleupon and you’ll have it back a thousands fold
Giving out extra credits to get tons of great recommendations? My my John Chow, you are evil
=).
http://entrecard.com/user/905/
Yeah indeed he is really evil and does know how to run contests and benefit out of it (got to learn more evil behaviors from this guy).
Thanks for the mention John!
I’d just like to point out that we are in the process of re-working the pricing algorithm. The system in place was the original one that we started with, and we were hoping that the most popular blogs would naturally receive the most cards each day. Well, we were wrong, so now we are going to incorporate data from Technorati, and even a little from Alexa, along with our own data, to get the rankings and the price right.
The one thing that the current pricing does get right is that for every two credits you pay, your guaranteed at least one visitor clicking around your ad.
But, like any form of advertising, you do want to check out the site to make sure you are getting a good deal for your money… er… credits.
Very interesting Graham, i look forward to seeing how this “Well, we were wrong, so now we are going to incorporate data from Technorati, and even a little from Alexa, along with our own data, to get the rankings and the price right.” affects the pricing … i personally think this will be a great benefit.
Remember that Alexa data is skewed toward certain niches and not toward others. For example, I have a niche blog (not in EntreCard) that receives 5 times as much traffic daily as my signature blog yet it has an Alexa of around 950,000 while the sig blog is around 151,000.
No offense, but isn’t trading credits for recommendations illegal? I heard about it in the forums.
It looks like Entrecard only lets you send out 10 credits payments per day. The first 10 has been sent out. I’ll send out another 10 tomorrow.
Awesome! Thanks for this.
Contests for reccomendations through your own blog is ok. Spamming other members using the message system and asking for recomendations is not. One helps us grow in a win-win style, the other just pisses everyone off.
http://entrecard.com/blog/?p=74
Seems to be a lot of blogs giving away entrecard credits these days
I agree with the part about misleading credit pricing, and as I’m sure you know John Cow wrote a great post on it.
Oh, by the way John, we lifted the 10 coupon per day limit for you.
Recommendation sent from www. HacknMod.com. I agree the price of advertising on some blogs is ridiculous. Be sure to check a site’s Alexa rank at least before you advertise.
I base a site’s popularity by its Alexa ranking. Anything under 200,000 is good in my books.
Received my credits John, thank you.
I will be posting my Entrecard contest tomorrow where you can win 300 credits and there are plenty of ways of entering.
It is done, Check your email from entrecard
Dale
http://dzrbenson.com/blog/
hey i’m in check your recommendations, here’s my entrecard user page http://entrecard.com/user/395/
thanks!
ayouthofvalour
http://ayouthofvalour.blogspot.com
John, wrote a recommendation for you!!! Love you blog.
http://entrecard.com/user/3912/
Done! Those credits will come in handy.
Wrote a recommendation for you, John.
I also agree with you that Entrecard needs to make some corrections to its system so it can’t be gamed as easily. The blogs that will truly deliver the traffic are priced much cheaper than those that won’t!
just submitted send me the 200 to please, here’s my entrecard account http://entrecard.com/user/395/
thanks!
whoops sry I didn’t mean to submit it twice ignore the second one lol
Thanks for ECs John!
Submitted mine a little early. Hopefully I was one of the lucky 35
Hey John, great contest and you deliver on your promises. I just wrote a nice recommendation and I already have my credits! Thanks for your generosity!
Entrecard should also take into account impressions/page views in their “pricing” structure. Sites with higher pageviews should “cost more”.
Hmm I keep on hearing about entrecards, but have never checked it out. I’m guessing it’s just another form of “credit” type deal?
John, I’ve left a recommendation at Entrecard. It was easy to find something positive to say about your blog – it’s become a daily read for me in my pursuit of becoming a part-time blogger.
recommendations done.. !:)
All 7,000 credits has been given out and members are still writing recommendations. Unfortunately, the credits only went to the first 35 Entrecard users. Anyone making a recommendation after the 35, thanks but I have no credits to give you.
One thing John, don’t show up your 15 K RSS readers bucket everywhere, If you are No. 1 at one place that dose not mean you will be No. 1 everywhere. Mind it Saphrym proved to be more beneficial then you, it sending 70 odd members to a advertising site in comparison to your 50 odd visitors. You are king in ranking everywhere but that guy (saphrym) working really hard to occupied the TOP SPOT at Entrecard.
Interesting times ahead, all those droppers will be upset when their value is essentially dropped and they no longer appear in the top 3 spots for their category, and I am sure Sam Freedom will write a novel length post about it.
Cant wait!…… not….
I know you have droped Entrecard from your site Paul, any idea of restart working with EC again.
John, can I send you 10,000 credits for a review?
I launch on the 1st of February, so I’d definitely be willing to spend EC’s for a nice start towards the ramp.
I haven’t decided if I wish to sell a review for EC credits yet. I’ve been told 10,000 credits is too low.
At least you didn’t outright remove your widget like some people have just because of the “unfair gaming” of credits. I still think if you are staying within your niche to advertise, the amount of credits doesn’t matter because you are already aiming for quality, relevant traffic.
Well John, you’re certainly no stranger to gaming a system, so why would it bother you that others might be gaming the system at Entrecard. As for “quality” … there are many smaller blogs that have high quality content and well deserve their top spots. Who cares what their readership is today? Everybody starts at the bottom … success and quality are actually two different things.
congrats to all those winners
I’m surprised to see somany blogs using EC.
Done, Thanks John
John, you are “gaming of their system” yourself by buying recommendations. Those people that are on the top worked really hard to get there! Give them some credit. You think it’s easy visiting 300 blogs a day?
Stop hating on the small-time-bloggers, we are the one that make your website runs!
A good way to attract more readers and is good for you to give out some entrecard credit for your readers.
Sir,
This is albert.
I am having lot of Entrecard credits. No one advertise in my site. So that I am going to sell Entrecard credits for $$.
Can I do this?
Is it legal or not?
Plz help me.
Regards, ALBERT
The Entrecard pricing system definitely needs to be revamped. I should know…my 3 week old blog is ahead of John’s on the Most Popular list. I’m guessing I have a Page Rank of Zero, Alexa number in the 1,000,000+ and Authority number in the single digits. I pay my 10 year old son to make card drops at a penny each and the biggest benefit I have found from the Entrecard system is that I am rubbing elbows with some really sharp bloggers. Gaming the system? I suppose…but I don’t really think that Entrecard favors the well-established blogger as much as it does the newer blogger. Now if only I had some interesting content!
Ah..i’m late again
If you have some credits left send it to me
fine and wonderful way to attract somebody to a site
I’ve got 10,000 cr to buy the review, and another 10,000 cr to sell to anyone else that needs them. Just hope I’m first in line when you sell it.
Hi John Chow I could see you doing the work of a domain angel , I recoomend you tremendous towards your concern to have been fithful to always deliver usefultips in my mail , i say thank you and i wouldleave togive testimony of you before your country President and who cares , when the time comes if you dont mind, I say John bravo to you out there , I love you sites graphic they are adoring to embrace and every pictures of every party you have among others are great , How I wish to be there among you with my red wines in my palm. thanks by we shall met face to face soon .
Yours faithful. One Love to you and others
DARN, i missed out on this
As for Entrecard’s credit system, I did a 2 part series on Graham’s MDW and Entrecard creation. A lot of people don’t want to believe that Entrecard might fall, but I totally believe that the system is rigged at this point. People still don’t realize that their BOUNCE RATES are increasing by the second…
Thank god I’m still around the 60% range, which is the same as when I started my blog
-Mike
Ok,
Since your out of credits (which is ok), I’d love to take a recommendation from the great John Chow (which is alot better).
heeh
Win 300 credits in addition to John giving away 200 credits at my contest.
http://www.thatblogsite.com/win-300-entrecard-credits/
Poor John blames gaming the system because he does not understand how the thing really works.
What is it with you “a-list” bloggers thinking I’m gaming the system? All I do is place advertisements. Dropping does not increase popularity. drops on your OWN site increase popularity. I advertise on enough sites to keep the drops coming. There’s no “gaming” the system involved. And for your information Mr. Chow, I NEVER had the Feedburner count on my site. Hard to remove it if you don’t have it there. If I was so worried about it, I’d change it to private so your graphic doesn’t work. Because when John Cow complained about it he used the same concept. Of course, back then I only had 21 subscribers. And I’ve never offered money for subscribers. I’ve also never offered money or EC for recommendations on Entrecard. I’ve never even asked for them.
Now thats what i call The kickAss Reply, DO you wanna say anything to this guy Mr. Chow?
I’m just going to say hello unknowningly for now. Your website i awesome, but can be so much more. I look forward to introducing you to new era of blogging……………………… Ononamos….
Why do people keep assuming that other bloggers are gaming the system because they are more successful?
Just for the record I have 14, count them, FOURTEEN subscribers according to Feedburner, I haven’t dropped a card in a whole week and I logged back onto Entrecard today to find that my ad price is 150 credits. So that just goes to show that there are a lot of bloggers dropping cards even if they haven’t been dropped first. I can see why a blogger like Saphrym is worth so much. He gets involved in the forums and other blogs regularly. I’ve noticed him and I’ve certainly visited his blog a lot more than this one. If anyone wants to have value on entrecard (without gaming the system) then I recommend they take a leaf out of Saphrym’s book and get involved in the community as opposed to sitting around complaining about it and sullying someone’s good name.
I blogged this in my post:
http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/01/friday-edition-of-contests-galore_25.html
Nice reaction… it’s viral… hope I’ll not get sick.