I’m thinking of changing this blog’s tagline to “All things about Entrecard…” Just joking, but Entrecard has captured my immediate blogging life. The more I get involved with their community the more I appreciate their service, and my fellow bloggers. I guess thats why when an Entrecard member rejects my ad I feel so much pain. Not pain actually, what I feel is a touch of anger. Seems I’m not alone, Sam from The Internet Marketing Controversy Blog published this post in the forums today. I had this post queued up for next week, but now is the time to post since he’s brought the issue into the forefront.
I look at purchasing an Entrecard ad as part game/part business opportunity. I really don’t care what sites I advertise on. My strategy is to advertise on as many blogs as I can for 10 cr or less. So when I see a 2 cr ad in the “Most Recent” category, I jump at the chance. Regardless of the blog’s quality, I can be pretty sure within a few days it will cost 20 cr to advertise there. Every rejection I get is actually a letter telling me I lost out on a great opportunity. If I was the high bidder on Ebay, I’d be equally annoyed if the seller backed out of the deal.
When buying ads on sites new to the program, it comes with the territory that there will be certain issues. Missing widgets, widgets hidden in the page footer, widgets hidden in a sea of ads, and that’s on the good blogs. Unfortunately, another issue is rejection, which is partly entrecard’s fault. They include the following phrase regarding rejection rates which I disagree with.
Higher percentages suggest a more discerning site owner, applicants should check their advert is likely to fit with the blog topic and format”.
Many of the blogs I visit have very few readers. Most of the traffic they will receive will be from card droppers, not interested people clicking on their ad. Probably a 100 to 1 ratio, and even that number includes chain droppers who click an ad just to get to another site with a card. Of course, if your site has many non-entrecard droppers as readers, then I do see reputation as being very important.
Back to the above quote. I understand why entrecard added it. They want to suggest that YOU take the responsibility of what runs on your site, not them. They will only step in and police blogs if they are blatant spam, porn, or a foreign language. But unless your blog has many actual readers, the only thing you do by rejecting ads is offend fellow card droppers, who are going to be you major source of traffic for the immediate future. When I get an ad rejected, I usually think it’s someone new who doesn’t understand how the system works yet. Of the numerous rejection notices I’ve received, half were for “not relevant”. Being the “discerning site owner” that they are, their adsense filled affiliate marketing blog can’t afford to lose a month’s income from having a single 125×125 ad that doesn’t have to do with John Chow or Shoemoney. (note: I have an affiliate marketing site not on Entrecard, so I don’t condemn people for running ads, just their attitudes) The other half rejected me with the “Not accepting new adverts at this time” excuse. This crowd is made up by slow readers and people installing their first WordPress widget. Three clowns even responded with “Not appropriate”, like I had a penis on my ad instead of a turnip. Oh boy…
When you sign up you are opening your door for business. So please don’t tell your customers to go away and come back after the sale is over.
Not everyone agreed with me. As Sam said “fine argument in a court of law where valid arguments get a lot of sunlight but, I honestly believe, in reality, the majority of people do not pay attention to that info. It does suggest an opportunity to play “advanced chess” with advertising selections but, eventually, one realizes those results can’t be relied upon. Besides, most choices are based on emotion, not logic.”
Point well taken. Others made the equally valid point that we are all here for different reasons. Not everyone is concerned about getting a maximum number of visitors. Some consider their blog a work of art. As such, they pick ads that complement their theme. Others look for content to match their content. If that’s your goal, keep following your dream.
Thank God I found your post. I have just got my first rejection. I’m devastated. I’m also a little upset because it seems someone hacked my site last night and took down my blog.
Well, putting you entrecard at the top of your site will bring in many more visitors than the ad ever would, trust me on that. Rejections are an annoying slap in the face, but don’t take them personally, even if they are done for personal reasons. Think of entrecard as a social bookmarking game, not as a review on the quality or popularity of your blog.
As for someone hacking your blog, sorry to here about that. Step #1 would be to contact your ISP and see if they can restore it. Change your passwords and never use a public computer to log into your account. There is a plug-in called badbehavior (http://www.bad-behavior.ioerror.us/) that helps against certain bad forms of traffic.
Oh no, did I reject you? My site is a travel blog. I feel bad now. I am new to entrecard.
It is a bummer when you get rejected. I get ‘not appropriate’ a lot, probably because I’m an NEOE blog (No Easily Offended Eyeballs). My blog is a personal one, and it ISN’T appropriate for some blogs and I do try to look before I ask for an ad, as being rejected is stinky. However, I’ve noticed that Entrecard says I’ve rejected ads and believe me, as far as I can remember I’ve never rejected a single one. I dunno. I’ve never canceled one either, and it says I do that too. Creepy.
My profile shows I’ve got a 5.8 % of approved requests rejected which is odd as I’ve never canceled an ad once I’ve approved it. I wonder if that is really what it is tracking?
I consider myself relatively discerning about what I approve but I’ve actually got a pretty low rejection rate. I assume my site isn’t the most desirable but the slots fill quickly so not really concerned.
I’m not sure why people take offense at being rejected – it’s happened to me and I just look for another site that fits my criteria and buy there.
Brilliant blog name by the way!!
SB
Rejection is part of the game. I have had about 5 so far. I have been spending all my credits every day to see what effect that has. The effect, more credits the next day without dropping any extra cards. I really like Entrecard.
And the approved requests rejected stat is off since I have not approved and then rejected a blog but it says I have.
Is it possible multiple people try to advertise on a site at once, and some get automatically rejected by the system? Interesting theory.
What blogs you choose to advertise on greatly affects your rate of rejection. I apply to every new card dropper’s site I can. I’ve gotten about 40-50 rejections so far. On the other hand, the people who have established themselves in the community usually don’t reject my site. In fact, they have become advertisers. Not because I get 1000′s of visitors, but they know advertising on a site is a form of a favor, and favors get returned. Sometimes in ways you never expected. If you find yourself with no ads. Do the following. Drop about 250 cards, then go to the entrecard forums. Look who the frequent posters are, and visit their sites. Drop a card, leave an interesting comment like you did here today, not just “I agree”. You will find most, but not all, will at least be curious and return the favor.
Good article… not because you link me (thanks) but because you made an effort to really think about it. People might not say anything each time but they appreciate it. I’m sphinning this. Cheers.
@Traveller, If you did reject me there are no hard feelings. I just get my hopes up seeing a 2cr site available for advertising. Like being the first guy to see a hot new girl at a party, and then find out she’s taken.
@ Sam, Thanks
Sphinn to win, ye sphinnmaster.
I’ve seen very few mine rejected. Except for when I accidently submitted ad requests 2x in a row.
Hi turnip, not sure if I’ve rejected you. If so, it would most likely have been because I got slammed for several days when I first got here.
I’ve instituted a policy of only approving ads about 4 days into the future. If I get a full que, I select what I can. I base it on what I think my readers might be interested in (other than my own stuff).
After that, I tend to give the spot to someone who “needs” the traffic the most.
I don’t hold grudges for being rejected. I save the emails for statistical reasons. Others are very funny, particularly the “your blog isn’t a blog” letters. Once your site costs between 30-60cr, you tend to get few advertisers. The cheap ones and the expensive ones always have ads. I wouldn’t worry about a full ad queue, but I can see some small advantage to it. If you hold off accepting ads, you can intitally start with a higher ad rate by dropping cards and getting dropped on. Problem is once you go off the “most recent” page, nobody will find you.
As a newbie I’m glad I had help when signing up with Entrecard. I accepted every ad after I looked at the site and was flattered that others had dropped their card, even though it was mostly because of my 2 credit “fee”. I too also had my ad rejected due to “not relevant”. Oh well, I’m having fun.
This is a wonderful, well written article. I think you are being a little too harsh on the rejection issue. I have been rejected a number of times from blogs that didn’t think my website or ad was relevant. That is fine. Just say, “next.”
It sounds like you are most disappointed from missing out on a bargain. I have rejected ads because I didn’t think the website that wanted to advertise with me was relevant. Why not have advertisers that enhance my customer’s experience instead of turning off customers that might take offense to some of those ads.
With that being said, if you look at my website you will see many irrelevant ads, so I guess I really don’t have a leg to stand on in this argument.
LOL.
You are correct kexbrown. I’ve stated in the comments here that I have no lasting anger or grudge against new rejectors. It’s just my immediate reaction to losing a chance at a cheap ad.
BTW, Your site is 3 years old and probably has a loyal following. I fully understand not subjecting your current readers with an out of place ad. I don’t see that many established sites as yours. For those blogs, they have no readers to anger, only other droppers.
[...] like what I had to say, he should have just rejected right then. A post written by Turnip of Power, made me feel better about it. Personally, I still think that the person who rejected my ad had agreement problems, just because [...]