Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Dropping Entrecards

I signed up for Entrecard a little while ago, and I've been meaning to say something about it. I started noticing it on some of the blogs I was visiting, so I just had to check it out. I love the way it works. Once you sign up and create your Entrecard, you can start visiting other blogs in the network and 'dropping' your card to let them know you've been there - even if you don't comment. Other people see your Entrecard on the site and visit to drop their card. I have definitely seen some increased traffic since I signed up.

Have you noticed the daily blog ad there on the left? I hope you're clicking, because it's a good way to find new blogs to visit. That's another great thing about Entrecard. Every time you drop a card or have someone drop a card on you, you get a credit. Every blog in the system has a value, based on card drops each day, and you can use those credits to purchase a 24 hour ad spot on any blog you choose, pending the blog owner's approval. Advertising on the right blog can bring extra traffic, too. Besides, it's kind of fun to see your card on someone else's blog! For me, anyway.

I like to return the drops I get - visit the blogs of everyone who visited me and dropped their card, but so far I haven't quite accomplished it. It seems to take more steps than it should - visiting a profile to get to a blog to drop a card, and then returning to Entrecard to do the same thing with the next card. Of course, while I'm visiting and dropping, I'm busy reading, commenting, entering giveaways, etc. It takes a while!

I recently ran across this script on oblife.com that gives you the list of the latest bloggers who dropped their Entrecards on you. The script reads your Entrecard XML feed, reads all the listed profiles, and gets the real blog URLs of those users. Just click the blog url on the page, and it opens in a new tab so you can visit and drop your card, then close that tab and return to the list. I think it will make it easier to return card drops - instead of going through the inbox at Entrecard, visiting each Entrecard profile page, and then clicking the link to visit the blog. Of course, it can't help speed up the reading, but that's OK. I have found some really interesting blogs through Entrecard - like I didn't already have plenty to read.

If you haven't already signed up for Entrecard, do give it a look.