Every Wednesday i publish now posts which i found worth reading and of interest for everyone.This week i will begin with EntreCard and their on-going developments which shall make them a member-rich and profitable company.
As a round-up of the events last week within EntreCard the following developments have been published in the blog
- on 17th September -> EntreCard launched a referral program
- on 22nd September -> EntreCard announced 15% sponsored ads throughout its network (starting from 28th September on)
It can be abused, too, as it's not clearly written how active a new member should be (1 click daily or 1 click within the 14 day period) and when you don't link your own blogs together but make separate accounts for it under your referral link (and many more ways)!
If EntreCard wants active members they should charge us monthly a membership fee with 10 ECs/day (would be deducted at the end of the month) and new members get 300 ECs as a incentive in the beginning.
In this case every member should drop 300 cards throughout the month (10 cards daily). At the moment there are too many blogs in EntreCard registered as "Just here for the view".
This week's choice for EntreCard's Referral Program!
An interesting article to this topic can be found on the blog of Entrepod.
It's called Hey Carders, let's play Tricknology and definitely worth reading for every EntreCard member.
The second big topic in the last week was mentioned by Laane and then Queen Katherine.
It's about the issue that Virus and Trojans are spreading from several EntreCard Blogs. Me, myself got two times a message to download a "fake" Adobe Flash player update in the previous week.
I recommend everyone NOT to install or download any program which is NOT from the official Website and just POP-UPs while visiting a blog + install a actual virus, malware and spyware scanner!
In a response to this article again have a look at the second article of Entrepod
Isn’t it time We Started Dropping Smarter instead of being Baited Harder
In this article you can find useful information how to get rid of these virus and trojans which might already take control of your computer.
Now to the third topic which will cause again new confusion and dispute in the EntreCard world as it's now a forced paid ad campaign which will be running in 15% of our daily ad campaigns (and bring EntreCards some $$ so that it can stay FREE FOR ALL OF US).
This new SPONSORED Ad program will start from 28th September on and you will have a choice to reject some of the offered sponsored ads.
Cindy Ung announced that "the ads will be ALL Family-oriented and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal."
For this Sponsored Ad topic i found two actual posts:
One is again from Entrepod
Junk Mail PSA: How to Milk The EntreCOW
and the other article is from Reality Talk which is called
Why Entrecard
(an excellent summary of the events that happened since the Paid ads started in April 2009 until now and a future outlook!)
If you care about the EntreCard community i would like you to visit these links as they provide you very good information about the stuff that's going on within EntreCard and on our blogs!
What do you think about the on-going changes in EntreCard? Will we get more quality members or will you quit sooner or later?
"Me, myself got two times a message to download a "fake" Adobe Flash player update in the previous week."
ReplyDeleteI got attacked twice this week from the same site. I hope EC management will do something to stop this.
Well, we were attacked and I am fairly certain it came from EC. It's sad, really, because I have met some wonderful bloggers through that venue. I agree with you and Entrepod that things must change. If not, I may consider leaving reluctantly. It is costing me more in repairs for my computer than I can afford. Let's hope they are listening.
ReplyDeleteEntrecard is NOT Listening Cher, or Anne.
ReplyDeletethat's why Cornyman put this link here to make sure you participate in the "Got Milk" campaign.
one way or another one Cornyman we are going to get them (entrecard) to Get With the Program and Fix Entrecard.
Thanks for the Linky love.you are now officially off the clickfarmers list.
Most informative Martin. I don't understand it all, but enjoy visiting EntreCard members. There have been some odd things lately - sites that I've never heard of, loading from the EntreCard toolbar; sites turning up with no widget; virus alerts which are apparently fake. It's all very strange.
ReplyDeleteYes I've had a few of these messages pop up. One says that it will remove a virus if you click continue, but it's a very hard pop up to get off the screen. I still find it so strange that the EC blogs are either first rate with wonderful ethical owners, or absolute junk filled with ads and now viruses. I guess I don't understand why the criteria to become a member is stricter. It would benefit us all.
ReplyDeleteA++ post, Martin. First of all, thank you so much for the link love. You're a doll for including me. (And to think we began on Twitter, when I was harassing you about those points. lol)
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you brought this up - I'm hoping that the more ECers find out about the goings on, the more members will make some noise - and we'll get some change. I'm proud of you for bringing this up - and I appreciate your willingness to take the time to address this situation. You totally rock!! xx
I am glad you dropped by and left a comment. I wanted you to know that I did publish it and the link is there for any and all to see and come visit.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very informative article. But, this is my view of things.
First, I have been with Entrecard almost from day one. I am simply tired and worn out of everything.
They have proven to me time and time again that they simply cannot be trusted to pick a business plan and stick with it.
I also don't have the time or feel it my responsibility to go into the forums and tell them what needs to be changed.
They know what needs to be changed. They just don't care and they never have. Also, it is true that we will have an option to opt out on any ads we don't want on their blogs.
But, it's also true that they will not have this option ready when they first initiate the forced ads. That is exactly what the post on the blog says.
Now as they have changed their minds so many times. I simply don't trust them to keep their word where this is concerned.
Unless a miracle happens then I am out as soon as possible. I am simply tired of their merry go round.
I do wish you all the best of luck! and I hope you never get to the point with EC where they have pushed me too.
But, I am tired of drops and I too am one of the lucky ones that did pick up a virus a few months ago and it cost us almost $500 in repairs. I was doing drops when it happened.
I really do wish you all the best in the world. Keep up the good fight. I am just simply too busy trying to run my own blog to help run EC too!!
Peace,
Jackie
There's no doubt that there's a greater number of dubious blogs, both in terms of content and viruses, than there used to be on the Entrecard network.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, this new "paid ads" fiasco may be the last straw. For now, I've moved the Entrecard widget to the bottom of my blog. I may remove it completely - the only reason I'm holding back is that I still have many blogging friends on Entrecard and it would be a wrench to leave.
Wow the milk the entrecow really explain why other carders kept saying that they can drop 300 credits in half hour. I was trying to analyze how they do it and the video explain it sooo clearly. I may even try it myself...:<
ReplyDeleteJust saw that "How to Milk an Entrecow" post. I have been a member of Entrecard for a very long time now and never did it cross my mind that some members (don't know who) can cheat their way to get tons of EC credits. Back in those days when I was really active, I spent hours doing my drops due to very slow internet connection. haha I should have found that video earlier. lol I'm kidding!
ReplyDeleteHey martin, thanks for an interesting post. I checked out the links u mentioned. ;)
ReplyDeleteI have been in Entrecard a very long time - through its ups and its downs and now is about as low as it has ever been. Any company does not have the legal right to impart any advert they choose on a third party.
ReplyDeleteI have lived through all of the cheats whereby bloggers from the Entrecard community have paid out money to jump in under the previous paid ads scheme. Although I chose not to have these ads on my blog - I found many of the blogs that I dropped onto and usually clicked through were proudly displaying them day-after-day. Not only that but it meant that the whole network appeared to be clogged up with just one or two adverts at a time - so no matter which blog you went on the same advert was there and IT BECAME JOLLY BORING!!! The EC credit system should be just a means of purchasing adverts and not run as a monetary option. If people wish to purchase goods and things then they should do so with money but a blogging community is for peole who love BLOGGING. If the EC credits were separated from monetary gain there would be no problem.
Money could be raised by various means the options are endless but to acquire money people have to work - it cannot be gained by sitting back and twiddling fingers and waiting for a Eureka moment. That only happens in commic books!!!
There are several simple things that could be brought in to raise funds for the upkeep of Entrecard. One is a separate advert system whereby bloggers could choose, if they so wished, to add a new and separate widget. To make this acceptable it would have to be done like any other professional system be it Google - type Adsense or similar. The blogger would have to reap some of the monetary reward and Entrecard could have the control.
Another way would be to use the Front Page and allow a select number of adverts to appear there.
An Entrecard online newspaper could be a further option. There are enough good writers within the community to be able to power this type of venture exceedingly well. Newspapers attract advertisers. The world, to the best of my knowledge doesn't yet have a Bloggers Newspaper and yet there are now millions and millions of bloggers .... there is money to be made with a little effort.
There is also an option to begin an Entrecard official Etsy for those who rely on sales of produce, etc ... There could be a slash/sidebar on the right-hand side of the screen that could be an extra long scrolling facility for such use.
I could go on because lets face it the list of things to make money is there by the quarryload!
I hope that something positive will be announced before long before Entrecard lose all of its members. I truly have been shocked by how many have already announced that they have just had enough and won't wait to find out whether or not the last announcement on paid adverts (15% of the time) will be rescinded.
I just canceled all of my ads and it is definite that I am leaving. Tomorrow night at Midnight I will remove my widget for the last time.
ReplyDeleteAt this point it would take a miracle for me to ever go back. I am really tired,tired,tired!!
But, on the up side I did just adgetize you and I have joined that program. I found it exceedingly simple to get signed up, I only need do a 60 to 100 drops a day to earn my money back and almost everyone from EC is now there.
I still wish you all the best. But, for me this was finally the straw that broke the camel's back.
Happy weekend!!
Jackie:-)
I believe having a referral program is not appropriate, when the price per drop is reduced to just 1 Ec then why are we giving away 300 free EC credits for new referrals. It is not a good idea.
ReplyDelete