Because of my marketing background, I love to experiment with opportunities online for promotion and branding - just curiosity to see what works. There are a couple of blog posts with such experiments on my marketing blog for artsist and crafters, IndieCEO.
I have been utilizing Entrecard for promotional opportunities for over a year now and have found that I like the experience.
Entrecard is a way to advertise your blog to gain readers and boost traffic by adding an Entrecard box to your own blog. This MarketYourWorld blog does not yet have enough posts to apply (but will!) - your blog will need 30 quality posts to be approved.
As an example, you can see IndieCEO's Entrecard box in the right column. That is where people will "drop" their cards or have their requested/approved advertising show. It is funny....I liken this to the old victorian "calling card" that one would stick in the door when a visit found no one home. We are basically handing out business cards, but with the added feature of gaining traffic to our blog!
Entrecard has its own internal economy system. No cash payments are needed so you can get started only with a little or as much time as you want to invest. The more time, the more benefit to you.
You earn credits by dropping your card on other blogs and can purchase advertising with those credits by selecting the Entrecard participant blogs where you want your ad to show. I was able to earn enough credits when I first signed up to actually advertise on others' blogs right then and there.
There is a system to receive advertising on your blog's Entrecard box, whereby others "purchase" advertising space.. You can approve each one or choose to have an automatic approval. I prefer to approve each one because the content and look of ads on my blogs are very important to my brand.
After a year, here are the Pros and Cons of Entrecard that I have found:
Pro
- Free advertising that costs no money - just time and thought.
- Fun and networking - there are a variety of categories for anyone to surf through - I have found very interesting blogs and begun to see favorites and tend to comment there and receive comments back
- A way to gain blog readers
- A way to boost blog traffic
- A way to gain followers to your blog
- A way to have your blog promos seen, like your service/product link, twitter link, Facebook, or Linkedin - anything you are sharing on your blog
- When unable to keep up with posting on my blogs, Entrecard loyal friends click and keep traffic going
- Most traffic is just that - traffic - and not specifically readers
- Many will "hit and run" by going to your blog, dropping a card to get credits, and zoom out of the blog
- It takes time - whether little or a lot is up to you
- You must participate consistently to gain benefit
In future posts, I will discuss some strategies that I found useful with Entrecard. If you want to try it, click here for Entrecard!
