A friendly reminder

This is just a friendly reminder to all of us using Entrecard: not every site, especially those without proper widgets, is a good one. What I mean is that, you might find a site offering downloads and other free stuff. And because it’s in the Entrecard network, you’d think it’s legitimate. Don’t! It can be a site that will give you a big headache. Think of malware. You don’t want that in your computer, trust me.

You also don’t want to be dropping on sites that offers hacking advices. It could be the site that will hack your own site. I’ve encountered that and it gave me so much headache I swore off dropping for a while.

If you see any suspicious loading scripts from a site you are dropping on, better alert the owner of the blog right away and click on the X button as fast as you can. I got a hacking script from a popular blog I dropped on a couple of months ago. It hacked almost all my blogs I opened and I ended up creating new databases for each of my blogs that got hacked.

I am not saying that each and every site without proper widget images or the ones that seem to be aggregators only are illegal sites or something like that. All I am saying is be careful in dropping. That’s it.

Entrecard participation

I am not active with Entrecard anymore. Not by choice. I am having problems with my laptop and desktop, plus I had issues with Google’s Chrome. I got a virus from one of the sites I was regularly dropping on and it messed up with my computer. Right now, I can’t log into any Google-related site – Gmail, Blogger, Youtube. I can view Blogspot blogs and Youtube videos. But logging in, I really can’t. I also can’t do any Google searches because I can’t access Google.com itself. So much mess from a single drop. Hay.

As you might have noticed, I haven’t been dropping for over a month now, I believe. I miss dropping. But I can’t risk giving any of you the virus my pc had. I already installed a licensed McAfee AV. I am still monitoring it. I hope that this will solve my problem regarding the virus. With regards to logging into any Google-related site, I still don’t know how. Any ideas?

Nuffnang and Adbrite Ads

I used to have this vertical banner ad spot for Adbrite on my sidebar. I removed it because there’s a flashing ad showing a woman in a red bikini and it’s about something. I forgot. When I saw it, it’s like you came upon an adult blog. Instantly, I removed the ad spot. I am keeping the one below my posts, though.

Don’t get me wrong. I like Adbrite. But I don’t like ads showing women in various states of undress, just to lure people to look at their product. It’s okay for some people, that’s marketing strategy. But I don’t like it. I am not being prudish, as what a friend said to me. I just don’t like the fact that women are being used in such a disrespectful way. There are other ways to advertise your product. I can understand if you are peddling undies or lingerie. But if you are actually marketing WordPress themes or a lifestyle web site… come on! Use another strategy!

On that note, those widgets in Entrecard showing scantily clad women in provocative poses, or those using suggestive images, please don’t bother dropping on my widget. I won’t be returning the favor. I also won’t be approving your ads, thank you.

Nuffnang, on the other hand, is giving us purely family-friendly ads. I love the fact that the products are actually something that will interest readers of various ages. The only thing I don’t get is how come I am not earning as much as others. I get fairly decent traffic for my blog. But I get stuck with earning cents off my ads. Because this blog is the only one actually earning off Nuffnang ads, I am removing all the other ad spots in my other blogs. I’ll just concentrate in this blog for everything Nuffnang.

I hope that I will earn more from Nuffnang. I love the program and I am hoping to stay with them for a long time.

Two things…

• For the past two days now, I’ve been fixing bugs left by a hacking virus that I got from a friend’s blog. If you are seeing this message on a blog you are visiting, exit right away! It’s a virus that will infect not only your computer but your cpanel as well!

Warning: Unexpected character in input: ”’ (ASCII=39) state=1 in /home/****/public_html/****/index.php on line 23 Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘.’ in /home/****/public_html/****/index.php on line 23

Someone should kill those .ru sites!!! Those are the sites that are messing the codes in my index.php files making it inaccessible. And it keeps changing. I am asking for professional help to kill these pests!

• So Entrecard just announced that they are “Reserving 15% Network Inventory for Sponsors”. Read the email already? I got the tweet and minutes later, I got an email announcing this. Does it mean that they will get 15% of our EC credits? Is that it?

Here’s the email from Cindy U.

We are pleased that many members are taking advantage of Entrecard services and that Entrecard is able to help users increase traffic to their blog. However in order to continue providing this free service, we will be taking 15% of our entire ad network inventory for sponsors as of Sept. 28, 09. This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network. We are currently working on a feature that will allow users to disable sponsor ads that may conflict with their blog. This will be available in a few weeks.

Please be assured that we will screen all sponsor ads to ensure that they meet our guidelines. All sponsor ads WILL be family oriented, and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal.

We thank you for your support and understanding. We will continue to make improvements to our network. Our goal is to deliver more traffic to your blog, increase your readers and comments, and let you network with other bloggers. We will focus on fine tuning every aspect of our business to ensure that our users are happy in the years ahead.

So what do you think, huh?

What do you think?

I have not been able to drop ECs for the past days. I apologize for that. I am sick and have been staying online to do work and then would log off right away to sleep my cough and cold off. To my droppers, I am returning drops as I write this entry.

I was just wondering, while dropping, if Entrecard is still any good in your opinion. Frequent downtime, declining advert clicks, bounce rate. In my case, I still get comments from first-time visitors or those who are not regular readers. Not much but I am already happy with what I get. Sadly, the advert clicks declined, as well as the organic clicks.

So what do you think, is EC still as good for you?

EC dropping habit

I have been neglecting my EC dropping for a number of days already. It is addictive and when I start, I completely forget the other things I’m supposed to do. You know why? Because I don’t drop and run. I scan the blogs I drop my EC card on. I might not leave a comment but I read recent posts, especially from blogs I bookmark. So instead of doing some pending tasks while dropping, what I do is drop and read at length.

Anyway, later, I will be back to dropping. And reading. I just might leave a number of comments on your most recent posts as well.

Bringing in traffic with the use of suggestive images

I don’t know with you but I get turned off by racy ads, or those suggestive images. I’m not being a prude or anything but I think there are other ways to entice a customer. I also think that more and more kids using the internet should not be exposed to these ads. They are impressionable and let’s face it, not everyone has an adult with them to guide them and teach them right and wrong.

In Entrecard, you will see widgets of women in sexy poses or costumes. I normally don’t approve ads with these images. Why? Because the little girl at home would often look over my shoulder and ask what the image she sees on the computer. This is also the reason why I stopped dropping on blogs with racy or suggestive content. I’ve run into a lot of these blogs.

I know some people use sexy women or suggestive images to entice curiosity, bring in traffic. When I was still a member of Spott, I noticed that this is what they do. Use sexy women in their ads. I stopped being a member and deleted the widget when friends started asking if I was already featuring a porn ad in my blog!

There are so many ways to entice a customer or a reader to go visit your blog/site. I believe we need not use sexy women or suggestive/porn-like images to achieve this goal.

Entrecard has new management

Anna of A Commuter’s Life voiced the question that entered my mind when I read Graham Langdon’s email: What lies ahead for Entrecard and its users?

For those of you who don’t know it yet, Entrecard has been acquired by another company, Los Angeles based ZipRunner Inc. You can read the email in its entirety after the jump.

Entrecard has been good to my blog’s Alexa rating. I was also able to lure some members into becoming regular readers and even subscribers to most of my blogs. I have met great bloggers and have found great blogs through the system. In short, I have benefited from the system a lot. It is only natural that when I read the email, questions popped in my mind. I began to worry that the change in management will surely affect the current system. Of course, funds changed hands and I wonder how the new owner would get back their money through the program. Perhaps, we can expect to be asked for membership fees. Or get bombarded by advertisements we wouldn’t want to put in our widgets. And there are many possibilities if you think about it. Sure, the system might improve now that the new owner has more resources than Graham. But will we really benefit from the improvements? Do we really want those possible changes?

Everything remains to be seen. I am just hoping that this change will make the program better and will truly benefit the members in the long run.

Read the email from Graham below… (more…)

EC's new algorithm

When I joined Entrecard, I didn’t expect people would drop and comment. I don’t do that when I drop as well. If I don’t feel like leaving a comment, then I don’t. There are topics that I cannot relate to. There are blog posts that seem already complete to me that I feel like leaving a comment will ruin it somehow. There are entries that move me but not enough for me to comment on it. Or there are days when I only have enough time to drop and do nothing else because I have more important things to do online. I am sure other bloggers feel the same way, have the same reasons for not leaving comments.

So it is really surprising to find out about EC’s new algorithm that they will be implementing soon. Why force me (and you) to comment or do something else within another’s blog just to earn a credit? I do believe that it is the blogger’s responsibility to entice another’s curiosity or earn their interest enough for them to become regular readers. If you do not want a high bounce rate (which I assume is the issue being addressed by EC’s Graham), then stop joining EC! The program is actually designed for a “drop and run” style. And now to remedy that, we are being forced to comment and participate in another’s blog just to earn a credit.

Read this article from Mike’s Blog Marketing Tips. More eloquent than my entry.

What do you think about this new development from Entrecard?

No paid EC ads in this blog

And by that I mean Entrecard ads that are paid with other than EC credits.

When Entrecard announced they will be accepting paid ads, I kept quiet about it. I wanted to make sure I know how the system works before I say anything. I approved the first three ads. But then I noticed how the paid advertisements were given priority over the EC credit paid ads.

I just knew then that I won’t be approving any of those ads for this blog anymore. EC members are working hard to earn enough credits to advertise and it’s just not right to cut their advertising time to half.

Entrecard's Paid Ads

I don’t know if other Entrecard members are experiencing this. A paid ad I didn’t approve or is even on my dashboard waiting for approval appears on my widget! How come?

I sent an email to Entrecard asking why that is happening. If you head on over to My Own Utopia right now, the widget shows the ad for “Get 20,000 Followers for Free”. I didn’t approve this ad nor is it on my dashboard. The same thing is happening to this blog of mine. And the same ad shows up!

Check out the screenshots I took below:

Just click on both images to enlarge it.

I set my Advert settings to:

• Allow paid ads only if the ad is for a blog
• Allow paid ads only if the ad is directed at your category
• Allow paid ads only if explicitly approved by you

So it really puzzles me why all of a sudden a paid ad I didn’t approve and is not even on my dashboard waiting for approval or rejection shows up on my widget. Hmm…

Have you been experiencing the same thing?