Entrecard Puts Adsense “In It’s Place”
Although I have not really been a fan of the spazz Entrecard droppers, nor have a I been a fan of blogs that seem to have a post about Entrecard for what seems like every single post. I decided to have a day where I would act like the Entrecard hoppers, or chain droppers, or whatever they are called and drop as many cards as I could to see what kind of an impact it would have on my blog.
So, I nuked up 8 Pogos, loaded up SiteHoppin which is site that allows you to bounce seamlessly from Entrecard site to Entrecard site and drop cards. My goal was to drop as many cards as possible and while enjoying the delicious processed “cardboardy” taste of corndogs. I managed to drop 102 cards before getting bored. It turned me into a zombie, I would have rather let my television turn my brain to mush. I don’t know how people can manage to drop 300 cards in one day. How can you spare so much time to be dropping cards? It took me just a little over an hour to drop the 102 cards, so my assumption is that it would take just over 3 hours to drop 300 cards. I really don’t have much to do in my day, but even so to spend 3 hours seems ludicrous to me.
I don’t even know how many cards you can drop in one day, but 300 seems to be the magic number that people seem to aim for.
I made a discovery while I was hopping from site to site. I found that the vast majority of blogs that use Adsense as a monetization strategy all place their Adsense ads in the same place. They use the 336×280 square and place it just below the post title for every post. Although the super successful Adsense bloggers recommend this position I would think that this placement has gone stale. I have tried to use that same strategy, with not so stellar results. When I began blogging I used that same Adsense placement strategy on all of my blogs and have found that I get a 0.1% CTR on average for that size and placement. 0.1% is just no good, which is why I do not use this placement strategy anymore. I am trying to come up with new placements strategies that I will continually test in order to achieve a more substantial CTR. My goal is for at least 3%.
This is where the EntreHopping comes in. As I bounced from site to site, I spent a bit of time analyzing the blog. I had a look at layout, monetization strategies, and of course Adsense positioning. I imagine this is why I am having troubles trying to drop 300 cards in one day (aside from the fact that the spazz droppers drive me crazy, and I do not want to become one). During my journey as an EnreHopper I noticed that most of the blogger were in fact suing the standard ‘just below the title with a 336×280 square’ Adsense strategy, but a select few were getting creative. I was surprise at the ingenuity and creativity of some blogger’s approach to Adsense placement.
Seeing these creative Adsense placements has really inspired me to rethink my whole placement strategy for my Adsense blogs. If you are using Adsense and have the old school placement strategy in place and are not happy with the results, I would recommend that you head to SiteHoppin and hop from blog to blog looking for Adsense code to get some inspiration for Adsense positioning on your blog. Then make a few changes to your blog and test out some of these new strategies that you have “borrowed” from other bloggers.
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An easier way to Entrehop is here: http://www.tysblog.com/2008/03/01/entrecard_dropping/
I’m curious to know if it got you more visitors … well, I’m here.
Looking around your blog I don’t see Adsense anywhere … am I missing something?
Good luck with your $1200 goal.
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I completely see your point. But hopefully, you’ll meet one or two fellow entre droppers who will be a regular reader of your blog, who knows?
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perhaps entredropping is a temporary thing. for me, anyway. but i wouldn’t definitely spend 3 hours - absolutely ludicrous indeed.
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THREE HOURS? It takes me around 30 minutes to drop 300 cards.
I always end up reading the posts and dropping cards takes me forever too but I have discovered some great blogs that way. I try to drop in on people who have visited but I don’t even attempt 300 drops in a day. I’ll be back to see where you end up putting adsense.
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@Tom: The link you sent doesn’t work? Maybe it’s just me, or maybe it will be back up later…
As for the Adsense, I have removed the adsense from this site as NONE of my visitors click on the ads, which ruins my CTR. Think of “Living on Adsense” as a metaphor for earing a living from blogging.
@@Blogoloco: I do get the most interesting comments when I drop cards. The ‘Entre Community’ are kind of wacky, perhaps even…wait for it…wait…loco.
@C-Squared: What can I say? I am pokey, I get distracted. I have never hit the 300 mark because I end up getting distracted and read most of the blogs I drop on. What is your secret to 300 in 30 mins????
@CindyS: That’s me too. I have learned from a ton of different blogs just from dropping cards. I spend a lot of time at each blog I visit. AS for the Adsense, I used to have it on this site, but I am keeping it on my other blogs. But have on worries I will share my results… when I have some!
@C-Squared - its not about dropping the cards…the idea is to actually read the blogs.
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The link Tom sent is okay now, although I don’t recommend you get THAT list. I mean, everybody must be using that list so you should get a personal one…
And things are starting to get better here, you should get some adsense back. Even if it’s small stuff.
Ren B’s last blog post..Bookshelf-Staircase
chris.whiteley: There are a few things I use to make dropping much faster:
1) Firefox with the Adblock with Adblock Plus extension installed. Also, the recent 3.03beta is much faster than the 2.XX series- it’s sped up dropping by at least 10 minutes.
2) A folder of around 200 people I drop on a daily basis whom I know will drop back. There are 9 folders in this, each with 25 blogs bookmarked in them. I open up 25 pages, drop on them, then close out in a few seconds. If I see something interesting I will keep it for later.
3) I turn off images by going to Tools >> Options >> Content.
4) I have good hand-eye coordination and use my right hand to click while scrolling with Page up and Page down.
It also helps to clear out your cookies, as sometimes EC will be a little weird about dropping on the same cards two days in a row.
Ha, ha! I also tried this dropping experiment. I got bored at about 20-25 drops, so I decided it’s definitely not for me.
That big square strategy for AdSense gave the best results for almost all my blogs. I’ve tested it against other sizes and positionings, and the conclusion was the same: this had the highest CTR, which on some blogs is a two figure number. But I agree with you, it’s becoming a kind of uniform, and this makes it boring.
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I ONLY drop on blogs that I like & read. Speeddropping is just another variant of the old boring traffic exchanges where people were clicking from site to site just to have other people on their site for 10-20 seconds…
This kind of stuff is nice as an incentive and business-card exchange. But for traffic (=READERS, or even traffic that converts to sales and/or Adsense clicks) it is useless. Mostly you get just other bloggers spying on your traffic sources and blogging habits…
Same as with StumbleUpon - great to get backlinks and to get you started, but crappy conversion rates. Only good for pay-per-view video ads.
All that stuff is just a tool to build “juice”, PR, backlinks, etc. and strengthen your position to get organic, targeted traffic from the search engines and from other websites. And I mean websites with real visitors and not just another incestuious webmasters meeting place…
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Hi Chris,
Nice blog you have here. I’ll bookmark it and check it out from time to time for sure.
As for the list (yes, it’s my list, I came here as I noticed traffic from this site and I didn’t recognize it), it’s mostly just random blogs with their entrecard above the fold that load fast. And to answer Ren, the list is actually only a few days old and is a good list to use - why would you recommend not using it? There are a few people on it that I’ve added as anyone who wants to be added and will give me a reciprocal ink on their blog is welcome (provided their card is above the fold and their site loads within 1.5 seconds). Thats fair, right?
So far it works out really well for all involved. Also, when you drop on a lot of the people on the list, they reciprocate and drop back. Since the list is actually a bookmark file I’ve put together and it’s broken up into 30 folders with ten sites in each it really does make dropping your card fast and easy. Plus, since it is a bookmark file you just download it, import it into your browser and you’re good to go.
And if you open them in tabs, drop your card, “ctrl tab” to go to the next tab, you really can drop your card 300 times in like 10 minutes (+ turning of the images helps too as c-squared mentioned)). It may not be good for “real” traffic, but it will help your alexa and earn you credit to advertise on entrecard. Plus if you want me to add you to it, and I’m happy to do that, it helps you receive drops on your card too = more credit for you.
Anyways, keep up the good work Chris! I LOVE that 300 graphic (very witty, and too funny)!
Good luck to all!
Ty
3 hours for 300 drops is really tiring. but for power droppers it will take 30 mins to 1 hour to finish 300 drops. you must know the different strategies to drop cards. what I do is finish my 300 card dropping and then read some blogs that I’ve dropped a card.
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Hey Ty, I don’t know if you felt offended, but that wasn’t my point at any moment. I just mentioned that, with a list like that available, many people can take it and drop cards on the same sites you do… isn’t that going to make it harder? (I don’t have a entrecard account) Wouldn’t it be better to compile a new list? (or expand yours with other sites?)
I’m just adding to the conversation, I want to help you guys out too.
Ren B’s last blog post..Bookshelf-Staircase
Hey Ren, no offense taken at all - no worries. Using the list only makes it easier, it doesn’t matter who you drop your entrecard on, only that you’re dropping… If fact, most of the blogs on it are small and unknown and they could use the extra hits…
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Ty: You list is definitely efficient, and if your main purpose is to drop cards in order attain EC to advertise your blog, then your method is awesome!
I just can’t see the benefit of dropping on the same blogs every day. Why not drop your cards on different blogs every day so that you can expose more people to your blog. If you drop to the same people everyday you will not acquire new readers.
Chris, the way I see it; trying to gain new readers by dropping your card via the entrecard site is like going door-to-door telling people about your product, it’s very time consuming with little chance they’ll buy your pitch (it would take hours to drop 300 cards that way). My strategy is to just drop as many cards as I can, and get dropped on as much as I can. Then use the credits to either place a review contest (1000 credit prize, This contest will be posted to my blog soon), and/or advertise on sites like JohnChow.com (it only costs 219 credits a day to advertise on his site + with that I’ll be reaching users outside of the entrecard network!) Also, once that list propagates on the the net anyone who’s on it could get several hundred or even thousand drops a day on their card. And as Tom 1st suggested you use the list, so will the other people I’ve added. It’s a snowball/viral effect. And I admit, it wight not be as viral for the people who aren’t on the list, but it still makes dropping your card a helluv a lot faster.
And man, I have to say I chuckle every time I see that 300 graphic above…
Ty Hurd’s last blog post..Bloggers Unite! Do your part to make a difference…
you have a nice blog and articles, i don’t forget to drop on fellow bloggers who drops card on my blog and click on some of the ads they have. Then i read on there post which are interesting. I found Entrecard is a grate tool to find new blogs, as you say we can learn form there blogs, what are they doing. but i don’t found any ads on your blog. yes your Entrecard card is intresting i like it. happy blogging…………
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I’m with you… I take forever to drop, because I’m actually looking and reading the blogs I drop on. Sometimes I even give someone a break and click on their adsense. I figure that’s what I want people to do when they come to my blog!
@Ty: I just think that it is redundant to drop your card on the same blogs every day. I understand the benefits that you mentioned, and it is completely valid to want to rack up EC in order to advertise.
My goal is to find a combination of the two methods. Drop 300 cards so that you can advertise, while at the same time dropping cards on new sites in order to attract new visitors. Despite your door to door analogy, I have found that quite few people whom I have randomly dropped cards on have become regular readers and contributors to my blog.
If there was a way to combine the speed of your method with the randomness of dropping cards I would be all over that like a [insert simile here].
Plus I enjoy the added benefit of finding new and interesting blogs fro the random daily dropping.
I wouldn’t spend 3 hours dropping cards. Maybe 45 mins to an hour. I use the firefox extension Permatabs, go to my inbox on Entrecard then launch 15-20 tabs at a time then scan through them clicking as I go. Then I might go through my Favourites list, and then I have a couple of other sites that have lists of EC blogs. I sometimes use PowerDropping and Site Hoppin’. The thing I don’t like about the reciprocal type lists is seeing the same sites every day. I like to do at least some random dropping, eg using the Unseen category, or just clicking from one ad to the next and so on.
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using sitehopping takes to long to drop.
i did 300 bokmarks separated by 10 directorys with 30 sites each. loaded each directory into my browser one by one, and i managed to drop 300 each day for 3 days in about an hour… but even with that i got bored… i can’t understand how can one do this everyday!!!
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