If you haven’t noticed, I’m in a bad mood today. Tired, feeling dizzy, and aggravated from navigating Entrecard’s horrible forum system, I came across the following thread titled “Above the Fold“. Written by a clown who already has 5 blogs on Entrecard, he’s written another turd. But that’s not what annoyed me. I’ve already removed his blogs from my bookmarks, and certainly won’t be adding or linking to his latest flop.
What annoyed me was his constant berating of people who bid on the ads of new users to the Entrecard system. Here are some of his quotes:
People who hover over the New Users page are the lowest form of life.”
Advertising is currently disabled to stop the hawks who hover over the New Users page.”
Why are the criminally stupid still crowing over someone else bidding on ads before they get the chance? If Graham wanted bidding on ads to start at 20 cr instead of 2 cr, he would flip a switch and it would be done. Don’t put someone down because they have more common sense than you. Of course the newest ads for 2 cr give the best return. 2 clicks on it and you break even. Saphrym’s site would take 450 clicks to break even.
I would be happy if an active community member bid on my ad. If Saphrym or Woobie placed a bid on my site, I would thank them, compliment their site, and ask for any Entrecard advice. Entrecard is about networking. Not being penny wise and pound foolish. Let’s explain in detail why Mr. Donuts is such a bag of crap.
His implied advice is that it is better to cancel all ads until your ad is worth more credits. This is to prevent the “vultures” from bidding on it. It scares me that some new people might actually fall for this logic. Let’s do the math. Instead of earning 1 credit in 2 days from advertising, (4*.25=1), you could earn 10cr! (40*.25=10). Nice job! You’ve saved a new person 8 credits. They should kiss your feet.
The down side?
- You’ve just sentenced an unsuspecting person to Entrecard Hell. It’s that middle ground between where you’ve come off the “Most Recent” list and not yet established yourself in the community. The absolute worst place to be, it’s a quick road to the “shortest wait” page.
- You’ve just insulted and annoyed the more active members of the Entrecard community. Might as well post in the forums about how you “taught those vulture bullies a lesson” so people really want to go visit your site.
- You can earn 8 credits in 30 seconds of clicking.
It it worth it? I guess so, considering the guy giving the advice has 6 worthless blogs on Entrecard. That makes him an expert. Too bad he has to resort to spamming to sell his credits. Just make sure the person giving the advice is clicking on your ad 6 times once you take his advice.
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31 users commented in " Criminally Stupid Entrecarders "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackback **********I’ve never really understood why some people cancel initial ads to try and get their prices up. Afterall, the only way to earn any real credits with Entrecard is by dropping cards. Its not by the credits you get from advertisements.
I know Bruce. Some people even carry that mentality over to Project Wonderful, not understanding how either system works. They panic when they see a .00 bid, not realizing the system has to process the campaign bids first. Once the .01 bids are processed, then come the automated .02, .03, .04. Before you know it, your site has .20 bids in less than 24 hours. But not for the stupid people. They cancel the .00 ads. then they remove their widget and pan the system. Same with entrecard. Once they fall off the “most recent” they have to try to make up for lost opportunities.
Will start using your post as a warning to every new EntreCard users.
The absolute worst place to be, it’s a quick road to the “shortest wait” page.
Aww I’m always on that list
Anyway, I’m with you. My thought is that everyone wins with clicking on the newest members. More established members get cheap advertising and the newbies get a crash course on entrecard. I really don’t see the issue myself.
I don’t even mind the rejections, especially the personal ones. But to attack people in the forums over doing what they are supposed to be doing is ludicrous. It’s also not the first time this guy has chimed in with his comments. In his world everyone should ignore the “most recent” list. Remove the page and let people discover their sites accidently while web surfing. Because if I’m not looking at the most recent for advertising, I’m not looking at all. You can’t have it both ways.
Good article Turnip. People pounced on my blog when I first joined entrecard, and I used them advertising on my site and it didn’t bother me at all. In fact, it was a practical example of how the whole entrecard system worked.
And like you said, why go and annoy the people who’s sites you’ll be advertising on later?
This reminded me, I haven’t hovered today!
I agree! Stop worrying about what your ads “sell” for on Entrecard. The real power is the networking, not accumulating credits.
BTW, I sphunn your article — really liked it.
Thanks! I Sphunn it to for good measure. Hmm, maybe I should go into the “controversy” niche! Angry blogging sure pays.
I can see both sides of this, although I am moving more towards your way of thinking.
Some newcomers have said that they didn’t like being inundated with ads as soon as they arrived. But if a new user accepts ads from some of the bigger blogs, the owners of those blogs may end up reading that person’s blog. They may advertise again in the future when the ad price has gone up. Sounds like a win-win to me!
At least small blogs have a way for the bigger blogs to find them…
Also Ben, If the little guy sees my ad and visits my site, he might get a few tips about Entrecard, add his site to my bookmarks list, and see who comments on my posts. Then he can bookmark every commentor’s site. So now he’s got a list of people who comment, 300 + bookmarks to click, plus he’s now got his site on that list too. He can also read a few articles from a successful entrecarder on what works. The alternative? I never learn about the new guy’s site, and he never learns about mine. Why?, because I only advertise on new sites.
[...] 30, 2008 · No Comments Wow, Turnip gives J-Donuts both barrels in his article Criminally Stupid Entrecarders. People should learn to shut their donut hole and not cross the Turnip! Imagine, calling one of [...]
ROFL, you tell him Turnip. I was stumbled upon that crappy new blog with the one sentence post and was shocked. I guess when you have 4 blogs to update, you have to microblog. Heh.
I think another important point is that when you get flooded with ads when you sign up it is a great way to “prove yourself” if you already have traffic. When I try out a new site and it gives me clicks throughs right away it is instantly favorited and I renew my ad. There are half a dozen blogs on my favorite list that I found this way and their ad rates are much higher now but they still have a good cost/click ratio.
“I was stumbled” hehe .. I sound like a LOLcat.. “I can has splog?”
You thinking of LOL Cats or Culture Club’s
“I’ll Stumble 4 Ya”?
Unfortunately the donut factory has overlooked the primary benefit of a social site like Entrecard - networking. I certainly won’t be having anything more to do with it. Not wanting to drop on new sites is a personal decision, but to insult those that take advantage of this is absolute stupidity.
Turnip, you are right on the money. When I first joined, I was very new and had to learn the ropes. I accepted all ads just to get folks to start looking at my blog. That seemed to help although I hope I am at least entertaining to some. I don’t really worry about my ratings because I have met some real nice folks here. I try to repay the best I can by showing a little entrecard spirit. If a newbie has a good blog then I try to advertise on their site.
Hmm. I think it is up to a person to choose where to advertise on other’s sites. Calling a lowest form of life to another person? Well what make he think he is better than anyone else. If I have enough credit to advertise on the new EC member , that is my decision. If he want to give me his EC credit to advertise on higher credits slots, I’ll take it
Nothing wrong with advertising on a newbie’s site, after all, we were all newbies once (in relative terms, I still am!). I don’t know how some people can be so critical of others when the idea is to network, attract new readership, and participate in a growing community of bloggers. Catch more flies with honey!
Gotta say that I loved the post! When I first joined I had tons of people asking to advertise and I took each and every one of them. This way when my credits go up, maybe they will come back!!
When I signed up, I had 2-3 ads sitting in my inbox waiting to be approved within minutes. I had zero idea what to do, so I canceled them and told the user to please reapply as I was brand new and no idea what was going on. Looking back, it hurt me right off the bat as my reject percentage was like 40% for the first two weeks or so. It’s taken me a while to get that down. Don’t overlook that either Donuts! Who wants to advertise later on a site with a higher reject ratio?
I gotta say when i joined - I was thrilled anyone wanted to have their ad on my site. I was close to one of the first 100 memebers to join - so when I joined there also were not as many members.
I agree that if graham wanted things to start at 20 he would have done it.
Someone got creative today not accepting my ad. They wrote “Clashes with my site” on the rejection. I went to the site, and reported them for a TOS. It was French. Bye-Bye.
“Maybe” you should go into the controversy niche? You’re already in it, brother… I can’t wait til you break your cherry on some douchebag that goes postal because she spends most of your life surrounded by emasculated men - and all her little sissy maids play pile-on as your most loyal fans just sit idly by.
Just be forewarned… like any new venture, the first fun and exciting stretch is only the honeymoon. Afterwards, the demon-slaying becomes work.
But I encourage you - you just might have a talent for it.
Sam
ps. By the way, you picked an easy one, this time.
Absolutely correct Sam, I’ve had this target in my scope for some time. Don’t ever tell a person who’s taught for over 20 years at every level of education that you are going to “teach me some English”. I don’t call out the grammar police, I wait for the headshot.
PS. Not everyone sits idly by. The smart ones stay out of the crossfire until they see who’s firing the shots.
@Turnip
Hey Hey!!!
If you ever go into the controversy thingie, I have thought up a nice dot com name for you. and it’s available as a dot com too! I’ll message you through your mail.
He has 6 blogs? he is so multi-niched then.
Turnip, I totally agree here. Yes, I was inundated with ads when I first started, but I assumed that THOSE people knew what they were doing and that I’d figure it out on the way. Maybe I’m TOO simple, but I just thought that having ads on my widget was better than having my own card there. And I was dropping like crazy, so I didn’t really care about the 0.25 credit… I was excited to see those advert requests. Heck, I’m still excited when I get advert requests!!!
I just created my ringtone blog 2 days ago, and thanks to some Entrecarders that stumbled me I have had almost 500 hits, and some Adsense income. Thanks to Entrecard I could have a blog that will provide me real income. I got the idea for this blog hopping around the Entrecard network. My advice is to forget about rankings and just enjoy the Entercard community. The rankings will come naturally.
I have a 63% rejection rate because if its not relevant I wont advertise it. Its simple its my site I decide who gets to advertise. Even with my high rejection rate I still have advertisers that want to be on a quality site.
The thing is getting pissed at someone for not accepting your advert is pathetic and whiny. The TOS allow people to reject adverts, Why else would there be a reject button. If I wanted to advertise adword bait sites, I would just put the adwords on my own blog no?
I hate adword bait sites as well. But once you move beyond them, I still think it hurts you in the long run and the short run to have a high rejection rate.
The guy who recommended rejecting advertising wasn’t even rejecting based upon spam or unrelated content. He was trying to game an extra 8 credits out of the system by raining his ad cost.
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