This article isn’t for those new to entrecard.  See my previous article Top 5 Entrecard Tips and Tricks for basic tips that everyone should be aware of.  This article is for those who want to get the most out of their clicking experience in the shortest amount of time.  Spare me any asinine “Do you even stop to read the articles?” comments.  This article is about efficiency.  When people ask me how to fix their computer, I don’t ask them if they would write better if I made Microsoft Office 2007 load slower.  For those determined to click 300 cards a day, would you rather click 4 cards a minute or 20 cards a minute?  I can then spend the extra hour or two saved to go back and read the sites I bookmarked for future exploring. 

The bottom line is that I tried several methods of improving my clicking strategy.  Two of the 3 methods failed in one way or another.

• Method 1.  I tried going to the campaign screen, pick a category, right click and open 8 cards at once in new tabs, then going to all 8 pages.  This method is still how I find new sites.  Click rate: 4 cards dropped per minute.  Downside:  Slow and requires 2 clicks just to get to the page.
• Method 2.  I thought I might create a webpage featuring links to all the best entrecard sites.  It was actually slower than the first method, not to mention the hassle of updating the html code.  There are also issues of creating what appears to be a linkfarm.
• Method 3. Create bookmarks for the best sites, open them all at once in new tabs, then close each tab after you drop your card.  Rate: 20 cards per minute

Obviously, method 3 was the way to go, and I have maximized and improved the method over the last couple of days.  Read on for step by step instructions.

1. Prepare your browser.

• : I use IE 7 for browsing, but for card dropping, Firefox with plugins works better.  The Google toolbar I use to see pageranks of sites I visit.  You can skip the Google toolbar because it doesn’t provide any link love like the next 2 addons.
• Install Sparky, the Alexa Toolbar for Firefox and the Stumbleupon Toolbar. Both these toolbars allow you to benefit the sites you are visiting.  Alexa boosts their alexa rank, and Stumbleupon allows you to give a site the “thumbs up”, which can bring considerable traffic to a small blog.  Just one stumble brought me 100 visitors.
• Finally, install an addon called Bookmark Duplicate Detector.  This addon helps you by letting you know if you already bookmarked a site previously. 

2. Create organized folders for your bookmarks.

Make a new bookmark folder called “entrecard”.  Inside that folder create several subfolders.  I name them numerically as in 1, 2, 3, 4, but you might want to label them based upon where the entrecard is located.  For example “right top”, “left sidebar”, “header”.  The idea is that we are going to bookmark 300 sites eventually, and we can’t use only one folder because that would open all 300 at once. 

3. Add quality bookmarks

Log into entrecard as usual.  Start with the first category in the campaign drop down list and visit every site.  Bookmark only the sites that display the entrecard above the fold.  That means the “Drop Yours” gold bar is visible on the page without having to scroll down.  As one person put it “We are not here to play ‘Where’s Waldo’.”  Continue on until you go through every category.  You do not have to do this in one sitting.  Pace yourself, your entrecard drudgery is about to become 5 to 10 times faster.  I try to limit each bookmark folder to 60 links.

4. Next day

Right click on one of your bookmark folders in Firefox and choose “Open all links in new tabs”.  Give it a minute to load.  If firefox crashes, divide your folder into 2 folders so it loads fewer links.  Now drop your card and then close each tab.  Use your Stumbleupon toolbar to reward sites you liked.  If you stopped and read the article, be sure to comment.  Add them to your technorati favorites or subscribe to their RSS feeds to reward them further.  Blogs love feedback.

In the future, you only have to visit the “Most Recent” section under campaigns to find new sites to bookmark.  The more cards you drop, the more people visit your site.  The more visits, the higher your ad rate.  The higher your ad rate, the higher you rate in your category.  The higher you rate in your category, the more likely people will click on your ad looking for sites to drop cards on.  I know, a vicious circle, but somebodies got to do it.