Entrecard is both GOOD and BAD. It gives you the opportunity to quickly promote your blog to thousands of potential readers, whom are also bloggers themselves. I have successfully used entrecard in the past for traffic and backlinks, however my blog did not benefit much from those traffic, in fact, it was one of the reasons why BlogFixes failed on its first year.
The Bad Side:
The problem is not Entrecard, the problem is the COMMUNITY. Entrecard was able to successfully create a community of bloggers, whom had nothing on there mind but to drop cards and never really bothered to read the articles of the blog they were just into. Each user can drop cards into a maximum of 300 blogs a day, which would take an average user at least an hour to do, assuming that it takes 10 seconds to drop a card. It is a very tedious job to do, which is also very stupid.
Users know this fact. No matter how stupid it may be, it has some benefits, which is TRAFFIC – and BACKLINKS, which is also the reason why they continue to drop and go…
Effects of Entrecard Traffic:
You will get a lot of traffic from entrecard! In fact your alexa ranking can boost up to 40,000, which is enough alexa ranking for a Guru Blogger. Lets take a closer look on some of the top blogs in entrecard.
Statistics - Top 5 Popular Blogs in Entrecard
| Blog Name | Alexa Rank | Views/User | Bounce % | Time (min) | Search % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ad Master | 49,291 | 1.3 | 78.2% | 1.1 | 0% |
| Cromely | 62,837 | 1 | 88.2% | 0.6 | 0% |
| Margie and Edna | 63,177 | 1 | 86.4% | 0.7 | 0% |
| Esoterically | 56,856 | 1.07 | 85% | 0.6 | 0% |
| Seek no More | 71,401 | 1 | 85.6% | 0.4 | 0% |
The table shows it all. The statistics, which is provided by alexa, clearly shows high bounce rates, low page views, and almost zero search engine traffic! The list can go on but the trend will still be the same, which is zero minimum quality traffic. Entrecard traffic has diluted the results.
There are two possibilities why search engines, particularly Google, tend to kick out entrecard blogs from the search.
- Bounce Rate – There have been discussions around the web about bounce rate affecting search rankings. The theory is not yet confirmed however it is still possible.
- Traffic Exchange – Google hates traffic exchange. Now the question is, does Entrecard fall into the category of a traffic exchange program? Basing from the statistics above, I would say yes.
Where is The Good Side?
If entrecard provides a solution to this “drop and go” trend, then there might me a chance for a Good side. However, as of present, there are none. I know, it is a strong statement but think about this:
- Google may be penalizing your site for engaging in traffic exchange programs, are you willing to risk your site being banned from google?
- Low bounce rate means quality droppers. Let me know if you have a list, ok?
- Dropping entrecards every day takes time. Why do you spend so much time to get low quality traffic? Why don’t you write another good post instead?
Disclaimer:
- This post is written purely within my opinion.
- This post does judge or talk about the quality of the blogs mentioned.
- Entrecard traffic has diluted the results. The statistics are true, however, it does not show the real quality of the blog.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I won’t argue with the high bounce rate with EC , that much is certainly true. You don’t mention, however, that our Google Page Rank is 4. And we do indeed get search engine traffic, every day, from all the major search engines: Google, Yahoo, and bing, as well as some lesser-known ones that we’ve never even heard of. Go do a search for our blog on any of the search engines, and you’ll see that we’re not “banned” from any of them.
EC does have its problems, and I will concur that the quality of the traffic could be better. But your statement of “zero quality traffic at all” is just wrong. We have gained many regular readers and commenters through EC, most of whom now access us directly rather than through EC. The bulk of the EC traffic may be visiting us because of the “drop and go” phenomenon, but our regular readers keep coming back because of the quality of the articles, and we do stand by that traffic 100%.
Greetings Beth (Margie and Edna’s Basement)!
I agree with you. You’re blog is great, which has quite a few followers behind it, which clearly shows that readers like it.
Bounce rate:
Your Normal Traffic/Entreacard traffic ratio is slow. In other words, there are too many entrecard users that drop and go compared to users who actually read your posts, which negatively affected the alexa results.
Search Percentage:
Search Enginge visits to Actual visits ratio – If you remove all low quality entrecard traffic, then this ratio would be much higher.
There is just too much low quality traffic from entrecard that it diluted the Alexa results.
regards,
Nik
I agree with you 100%.
Source Blogger makes a point of visiting blogs within our niche/category daily – and occasionally accesses blogs via Entrecard.
Source Blogger has the Entrecard widget attached to an article entitled “The Type of Traffic Your Blog Needs” – http://www.source-blogger.com/2009/08/type-of-traffic-your-blog-needs.html
I wanted to use this as a test to determine if the article would create any feedback from droppers – since the article heavily encourages Entrecard bloggers to not relinquish their SEO efforts.
But, as you mentioned, in a dropper’s haste to be the “Top, Super, Fantastic, Awesome, Mega Dropper of the Millenium,” they fail to read it – or comment on it.
I recently sent a message to Entrecard because I felt that there were a great number of abandoned blogs in the community. All you have to do is flood some of the lower-credit blogs with ad requests – and see your request sit unfilled for a few days – without a response from the blog’s owner.
I also noticed that some blogs were receiving credits and did not even have an Entrecard widget!
Enforcing the quality standards of Entrecard blogs in their network is their job, not ours.
Source Blogger
I found your site through EC…I enjoy your blog…I like EC because it is easier to access other blogs and comment on the than any other directory…
Found many interesting articles..from a noveice at this game thanks..
I’m confused. You still have entrecard on this site.
I think that Entrecard has a responsibility to clean up it’s community directory
by removing those blogs which are clearly not flying widgets.
they have yet to do it, even though we’ve received a blog saying they have.
many things that are said by so called present entrecard management seem to be based on the same logic as said previous entrecard management; leading me to
believe that there was never a change, which is why there has been no real change
except a lowering of values to the members.
many bloggers come to entrecard as a first step to boost their blogs in the search engine traffic stats; but stay because they find companionship in bloggers who,
like themselves really enjoy blogging and commenting.
entrecard’s traffic is exactly the test to see if you ARE a Blogger or just a clickfarmer. unfortunantly clickfarmers seem to thrive in this environment and entrecard has yet to put any measures into effect to deny them their benefit.
Found you blog through entrecard. I took time to read your blog and like it. Hope you take time to look at mine.
I have to agree with you, entrecard traffic is only slighlty better than nothing and those that are dropping 300 a day are crazy.
I have to agree with your analysis. 10 days ago, I had a bounce rate of 91%, today my bounce rate is 60% and I am doing better in my advertising prices. EntreCard may work for some, but it didn’t for me.