Yet another Entrecard dropping strategy.  Why is this one any different?   To start, Entrecard recently made several changes that make your job on choosing who to drop on much easier.  Second, I maintained a constant 600+ec average under the old system.  Seems silly to take advice from people that had a 300ec average.  Third, Entrecard is my niche, which I routinely examine for more efficient methods of success.  Sure there are other methods, some of which I have published already that might be adapted once the chaos around the latest changes wears off, like Entrecard Top Advertiser Strategy.  Boohoo to the people that rose to the top dropping 900 cards a day, buying 5000 credits at a time from spammers, and blowing it advertising on the most expensive sites.  The cost of credits will be going up and there is now a 600 drop limit per IP address.  Ad Prices have skyrocketed.  Luckily, today’s strategy works just as well for the casual dropper as it does the powerdropper.

Nature of the problem:  If people prefer to drop on those who drop on them, how do you get over 600ec cost?  Obviously it requires more than 300 people visiting and dropping on your site.  Most serious droppers only drop on my site 15 times a month even though I drop on them 30 times a month.  People are questioning why they should drop at all.  You have to give them a reason.

What not to do: I don’t suggest using the inbox as your dropping list.  Even with the changes to only display cards you haven’t dropped on, what will you do once you have more than 300 cards in there?  You also are not rewarding loyalty.  Somebody drops on your site 29 out of 30 days, and your not going to drop on them because they missed a day?  That strategy ends up rewarding the casual dropper and not the serious droppers.

The Goal: The goal of the strategy is to cultivate as many loyal droppers on your site as possible.

The basics: The first thing you have to do is create a folder for bookmarks in your browser.  Inside that folder you are going to create a number of subfolders based upon the number of open tabs your browser can handle.  Obviously I prefer firefox. 

Next create at least 3 folders. In my case, I use the terms “Top blogs”, Serious blogs” and “Casual blogs”.   Currently I have 3 casual folders, 5 serious folders, and one top folder.  Top Blogs is for people that drop on me every day.  I reward these people by dropping extra cards on them using 2 casual blogs I maintain.  That way loyal droppers receive 90 cards a month from me.  SeriousDroppers are for people that have an Entrecard Ranking of Serious.  These are the people that I want to visit most.  I drop on them 30 times a month.  Finally there are the Casual Blogs.  These are the blogs I drop on last.  I divide them into two folders, Mon-Wed-Fri-Sun and Tues-Thurs-Sat.  That way if my bookmarks exceed 300 blogs, I alternate days dropping on these people.  If you have more than 300 serious droppers, divide them into days of the week as well.

Now, when you go to your Entrecard inbox, begin opening the people who drop on you in tabs, and click the “E” to see their profile.  Look at how many times they dropped on you in the last 30 days and what their powerdropper status is.  Then bookmark them into the proper category.  Tomorrow you can start dropping with your bookmarks, and then repeat this procedure with the inbox.  Eventually you will know who to drop on first.  After a month, click the “E” again to check their profiles and weed out those who haven’t dropped on you in 30 days.  Upgrade the status of those who show loyalty.

After a few months you could end up with a list of 500 blogs.  To make things easier, you might just bookmark the serious droppers, and then use the inbox to fill your quota for the day.  I find with proper weeding out, I maintain about a 300 blog count average.

• Furthermore: 
• Participate in the community so people get to know your personality, post on the Entrecard blog, take part in developer chats, send feedback and suggestions.  Now that you know who your loyal droppers are, spend more time reading their blogs, commenting, and participating in any contests they may be running.  Get to know them.
• Forum participation leads to many clicks.  When one of your loyal droppers post in the forums, say hello and add something meaningful to their threads.  Please do not post asinine one liners in an attempt to get noticed.  Try to be helpful and give thought out opinions.   However, for the time being the Entrecard forums are filled with Chicken Little’s and their “Sky is Falling!” posts, so you won’t be seeing me post there any time soon.  Those who need help are welcome to send me a message for support.
• Think of a way to reward those who drop on your site every day.  Blogroll backlinks, top dropper widget, sending them credits, entering them in a contest, dropping on them using other blogs, or simply a thank you note might work. 
• Drop enough cards that you are no longer listed as “Casual and Relaxed”.
• There are certain important milestones to reach if getting on the “Most Popular” is your goal.  Being in the top 3 in your category is most important. 
• Don’t worry about the highest priced ads.  2cr ads from the ”newest” category bring the most clicks for your investment.  After that, any 2cr or 4cr ad is good.
• Dropping just after midnight EST is the best time because those dropping off the inbox list will see your card there.
• Adding your name to powerdropping lists can’t hurt, but don’t rely on the lists as your drop list.  Same goes for the “You drop, I follow” list.  Guess what, many of them don’t.
• Avoid contests that offer Entrecredits.  The outside world doesn’t care, and the Entrecard world is bored beyond belief with them.
• Finally, post at least 3 decent articles a week.  Quality content is good under any circumstances.