To Dump or Not To Dump?
Posted on April 28th, 2008 by GrandmasterB under Internet Marketing
If a picture truly speaks a thousand words, then this picture hits the nail on the proverbial head regarding my feelings towards most (not all) of the traffic generated by EntreCard. In the past week or so I have pretty much started ignoring EntreCard dropping altogether. At first I didn’t do it on purpose; life was just busy and I had pressing matters at hand. I started thinking about it though and to me it seems to take up more time than it’s really worth and in my opinion time is money. I am under the impression that most EC droppers are just in it to see how many they can drop in fifteen minutes and don’t really care about the content on the blogs they are dropping on. I understand that many of the blogs don’t appeal to everyone and that’s why I rarely seek out EntreCarders to drop on unless they have dropped their cards to me.
I know that a lot of you are going to read this and tell me that EntreCard is great and that it helps out your blog’s traffic numbers and it gets your new blog off the ground. I cannot argue with that; EntreCard does bring in traffic and in most cases a lot of traffic. I would not agree though that it is “quality” traffic. The reality is that most EntreCard traffic is s**t (I said most, not all). There are a select few that will stop by, drop their card, peruse for a bit and maybe even leave a comment. Those select few visitors make up for probably 1% of your traffic on a daily basis and are generally repeat visitors. The other 99% of your visitors are generally on your site a grand total of 2 seconds and then they’re gone.
So why should I care? Traffic is traffic right?
You should care, because they are jacking up your stats and highjacking your bandwidth. In the past few days I have carefully watched the numbers on my site improve in regards to Bounce Rate and Time on Site. While those numbers improved my daily visits and unique visitors dropped significantly. This accidental experiment started on Wednesday, April 23rd here are some interesting numbers:
- Wednesday, April 23 (ECs Dropped: 8 ) -> 70 Dropped on 4/21
- Unique Visitors: 133
- Visits: 149
- Bounce Rate: 90.60%
- Time on Site: 00:01:02
- Sunday, April 27 (ECs Dropped: 0)
- Unique Visitors: 23
- Visits: 36
- Bounce Rate: 66.67%
- Time on Site: 00:02:19
As I stated above I tapered down my drops on April 21st (70 Drops). This wasn’t on purpose, but more or less a lack of time to spend dropping. While my visits dropped significantly the visitors I did receive spent more time onsite and most of them left comments on the site. Seven comments from new visitors that I had left comments for on their blogs earlier in the week.
So should you dump Entrecard or keep it?
It’s entirely up to you. Some people enjoy dropping cards and some are addicted to it. Personally, I might pick back up when things aren’t as crazy at work and home. For now I’ll drop on my regularly visited sites and comment on my favorites. I am still finding decent stuff on EntreCard…and when I do I comment. My wish is that other bloggers would stop and take a moment to see what the blog their dropping on has to offer. I know right…that’s like wishing for Whirled Peas.
~ GrandmasterB
April 28th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
sing it GMB. I think it is a personal thing but you are right, so few actually stop to read.
it is a drive by shooting.
I have been thinking of taking it down all together but I have found some really good blogs through it, including this one.
so there is some value there.
good post.
cuzzys last blog post..Trouble in Blog-adise: WordPress 2.5.1
April 28th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Funny you should mention this… I quizzed Entrecard founder Graham Langdon about the concept of card dropping, along with a few other pointed questions. The interview is on my site if you haven’t already seen it. I haven’t been dropping cards recently, but I will continue to use Entrecard to find new sites - once it is easier to do so. In the meantime, I don’t plan to move on, but changes are definitely needed.
Ben Bardens last blog post..Where is Entrecard headed? - Interview with Graham Langdon
April 28th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Yes, I will agree that the quality of traffic you receive from people dropping is going to be equivalent to traffic you get from stumble or digg. Bounce will be high, time on site will be lower. But the traffic you receive when you buy advertising will be equivalent to the traffic you receive when you spend a whole lot of cash to advertise a 125×125 on various blogs.
Entrecard isn’t supposed to be a time consuming endeavor. It’s supposed to be a leisurely and fun way to promote yourself in the blogosphere, discover some new blogs, and get noticed.
As a completely free service, we’re happy to help out bloggers as much as we can, and of course everyone is entitled to their own opinions and methods for achieving their goals.
April 28th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
I was actually planning on writing a very similar article to this one. The current system is ridiculous, and encourages people to bounce from site to site and drop cards.
Its a great idea thats been horribly implemented, I think they need to really work at a good way to positively affect sites instead of just encourage the “drop & bounce”
Mr Pappagiorgios last blog post..7 Minute Gametrailer Video Review for GTA IV
April 29th, 2008 at 1:17 am
I agree that there are a lot of people using EC who are just there to drop cards, but I’ve found that the EC community has the most to offer out of all the social networking sites out there. I’m a newbie, so I have a lot of questions which I post to the EC forums, and I almost always get a lot of help from other members.
In short, I use EC for traffic as well as advice, and networking with some really great people. It’s meant to be a community of bloggers, not just a traffic source. I wish more people used EC this way…
mikey777s last blog post..Where Ya Goin’ With My Wallet, Doc?
April 29th, 2008 at 9:15 am
@ cuzzy - I too have found some great blogs with EC and visit them regularly. I guess that’s one of the great things that EC does is bring together bloggers as a community.
@ Ben - Thanks for the comment and the link to your recent post. I’ll definitely motor over to your site and give it a read.
@ Graham - Thank you very much for stopping by and commenting. I agree with you regarding digg and StumbleUpon; however, the good thing that EC holds over the two is it’s a little easier to generate visits. Getting a story dugg is almost impossible these days. I do like the community that EC is creating and it really is a powerful tool. My big complaint is that people don’t realize that it’s about promoting your site and not spamming people with 300+ cards a day to build their EC credits up.
@ Mr. P - Being that your blog is barely off the ground I highly recommend you use EC to find your target audience. It will help you in the beginning. The system isn’t broken with EntreCard though; it’s the users abusing the system.
@ Mikey777 - Thank you for visiting and commenting Mikey. The EntreCard forums and blog are fantastic for networking and getting assistance. I’ve found myself floating around the forums a lot recently. If you want to get some buzz on a topic check out the daily stumble posts under the marketing section. GOOD STUFF!
April 29th, 2008 at 10:44 am
The drop in those numbers just WOW’d me. I haven’t really experimented much on how it would affect me, but I didn’t think it would drop that much.
-Mike
Mike Huangs last blog post..Goodbye To Entrecard
April 29th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
@ Mike - Thanks for the comment. I was dumbfounded when i saw those low numbers. They’ll come back up I’m sure.
April 29th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I think with any social or advertising network, EC has its ups and downs. It’s not worth totally dumping but it’s also not worth spending endless hours a day achieving the number one spot unless it’s your only outlet and goal in life.
Use this site and tool to boost whatever it will boost. Don’t just use EC though. Spread the love all over the net. There are too many sites that will benefit your blog other than EC.
EC can be addictive more like a game and as long as you check that at the door and limit yourself, you’ll eventually see results. I’ve purchased items from members and have networked with a lot of people from Entrecard. It’s worth that alone.
The Realtors last blog post..What Is FHA?
April 30th, 2008 at 7:01 am
[...] you goes out to Bryan from GrandmasterB. I met Bryan through blogging and to be more exact through dropping Entrecards to his [...]
April 30th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I got fed up with dropping too many EntreCards on a daily basics.
So now I reciprocate drops instead.
Drop cards casually, don’t feel pressured to drop.
Use it as a social networking tool instead.
Deimos Tel`Arins last blog post..Tutorial - How to get traffic with Site Hoppin Beer Stocks
April 30th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
I know what you mean. i have met some great bloggers and found some great sites through entrecard but not sure of the other benefits.
heidis last blog post..Tea, Tea Your The One For Me! Health Benefits of Tea!
May 1st, 2008 at 8:58 am
@ The Realtor - I agree with your comment about using the social networking sites to build traffic. It’s like the old adage says “You can’t keep all your eggs in one basket.”
@ Deimos - I feel that the reciprocal drop is much easier and less time consuming. To me dropping that way is more casual and it helps to build returning visitors.
@ Heidi - That’s my favorite part about EC. You can find a lot of good blogs and build relationships with their owners. I for one have had numerous chats with Cuzoogle and Jeff (buzzmyblog) about getting my blog rolling.
Thank you all for commenting on this post. You’ve restored some of my faith in the EntreCard community.
May 1st, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I agree with what you wrote, and most of the times I am guilty of dropping without even reading the blog. However, I do have some rules. When I am doing my dropping, most of the blogs I am dropping on are simply irritable. They are poorly designed, and are filled with ads and flashing things. In those case, I simply drop my card and run. They are other blogs which I stumbled on that are okay design-wise, but are blogs writing specific topic that I am not interested. In those cases, I do the same, drop it and move on. However, in few occasions I found a quality blog, well designed and it writes stuff I am interested in, then I will drop my card, peruse a bit and sometimes even leave a comment. So, as long as the blog is design well, then I believe it would at least make me to poke around a bit more.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:06 pm
@ AsceticMonk - So can I assume from your comment that I fall into the latter category? Thanks for the comment.
May 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 am
Ha-ha! You sure do have a lot of comments from the “dump and jump’ crowd! I would say EC is worth it at double the price. Listen, you get out of EC what you put in my opinion - I’m not a stuanch defender or anything - but a lot of blogs benefit from no work at all. I’m reciprocal only (for the most part) and the great friends and blogs I’ve met as a direct result of EC means it will be on my blog for a while.
Anyway, I would argue that the comments section of the post serves to somewhat take away from your argument. Sure, there are a lot of ‘dumpers’ out there but I find it too boring … anyway, of course you raise a valid argument. I’m out — cheers!
Canuckleheads last blog post..The Canadian Code
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
@ Canucklehead - Thanks for the comment man. You’re right! All of the comments on this post does prove that SOME EntreCarders do leave comments on blogs that they drop on. I don’t think that the comments take much of the strength away from my argument…it does say that there are good folks out there that actually read some of the content that is presented. BTW…love the name. HILARIOUS!