John Cow has an article on why he’s dropping out of Entrecard. In short, he argues that people are gaming the system by spending lots of time dropping cards on sights, encouraging people to drop on them, and sites are seeing their Entrecard prices artificially inflated.

First, I realize that the traffic from Entrecard is likely to be of pretty low quality. I might expect to get one reader from a few hundred who visit this way. I do think, however, that Entrecard can still be a good way to attract traffic.

• I think that those gaming the system are probably looking for a quick boost in traffic and/or quick money. Over time, they’ll get tired of it and move on to the latest big thing.
• Problogger’s article on Entrecard probably is doing a lot to drive users to Entrecard. I expect many of these users will stick around a little while and then dwindle away.
• If you’re buying ads on Entrecard, then check the quality of the site before you put out a lot of credits for a 24 hours spot. At least check the page rank and the Alexa rank before going ahead.
• Don’t trade recommendations, and don’t respond to people who ask that you do so. It’s against Entrecard’s policy, and the value of a recommendation system lies in honest recommendations, not traded ones.
• Don’t spend hours dropping cards on every site available. Yes, you’ll earn credits, but you could be doing something much more beneficial to your blogging (and money-making) than that.

I’m still taking a wait and see approach to Entrecard. My traffic is up from it, but I have no idea yet how that will translate to readers and RSS subscribers. I’ll keep you up to date.

Entrecard is a relatively new way to advertise your blog. Here is a quick rundown of how it works, and how you can use it effectively.

How does Entrecard work?

1. You sign up for Entrecard and place their widget on your blog. You’ll see mine in the sidebar.
2. Almost immediately, I started to receive ad requests for the blog. Review them, and approve any that you want to allow to run. Personally, I try to keep the ads relevant to the blog content.
3. You get paid by your advertisers in Entrecard credits. Use those credits to buy your own ad campaigns on other blogs.
4. Visit blogs and drop your entrecard there to earn credits.
5. You also earn credits for each card someone drops on your site. The number of cards dropped also determines your advertising price.

Tips for getting the most from Entrecard

1. Check out advertisers who will run ads on your site before approving the ads (just in case there’s something you find offensive or inappropriate).
2. Check your Entrecard dashboard daily to respond to ad requests, check your messages, etc. I’ve had an ad requested for three days now from a blogger with no response. Do you you think I’ll ever work with her again? Probably not.
3. Use the statistics page to gauge the success of your ad campaigns and re-use blogs that did well for you. Also, experiment with your entrecard icon and text to see what works and what doesn’t.
4. Set aside time each day to visit blogs and drop your entrecard. An easy way to do this is set up a separate folder for entrecard blogs in your RSS feed. Subscribe to the feeds, and then visit the blogs from your RSS reader and drop your card daily. I’ve found this to be quicker than visiting Entrecard directly for each blog.

I’m not sure that the quality of traffic coming from Entrecard is particularly good. I’m sure that a lot of users are simply dropping cards without taking a second look at the blog content (or subscribing, etc.) However, it has raised my overall traffic, so that’s one positive.

Also, I’m hoping that by targeting blogs in my niche for advertising, I can attract readers who may be interested in my blog’s content. I see a lot of ad requests coming in for blogs completely unrelated to what Corner Scribe covers, and I just don’t see much point in running those. As I continue to try it out, I’ll let you know how it works for me.

If you’re an entrecard user, post your URL below and I’ll add you to my RSS feed.

See Problogger’s Article for more info.

Paperback Writer has a great post about Scribd. In short, it’s a site where you can post your writing and have others find it and read it. The advantage of posting it there instead of on your own site is the availability. Of course, if you’re getting tons of traffic anyway, it might not be as useful.

One thing to keep in mind… if you double-post material to scribd and your site, you’ll get a search engine penalty for duplicate content. My guess is that it’s worth the exposure you’d get, but if you’re really focusing on your search engine optimization, it’s something to keep in mind.

Daily Blog Tips has a post on using your blog to get paid writing jobs. If your blog isn’t generating the kind of money you’d like to be making from it, maybe you can use it to make a little cash elsewhere.

The Writer’s Manifesto Blog has a post listing places to freelance. I’ve used Elance in the past, with some limited success. If you’re planning on using one of these types of sites, you’ll need a portfolio of examples of your work. Elance (and others probably as well) provides a way to upload reviews from prior clients so you have a rating for prospective clients.

EMoms at Home lists a variety of ways to promote your blog.

Steve Pavlina has a great site. This recent post of his talks about Working for Free and why it can be good for your career.

I completely agree, and here’s why.

Provide Value, Make Money

Steve Pavlina talks about how your first step in making money should be to provide value. If you provide value to people, then making money should come relatively easily and naturally. (I’m paraphrasing quite a bit, check out his site for details)

If you think about it, it makes sense. If you have a product or a service that is useful in some way, then people will be willing to pay for it. How many times have you seen someone start off in the opposite direction? That is, they start trying to make some money without demonstrating that they have anything of real value. I see this a lot online. I’ll find an interesting “article” on a search engine only to find out that it’s a sales pitch. That’s fine, except that I’d like to know more about what the person has to offer before parting with some cash. Often the person doesn’t have any example content, blog, site, etc. to reference, so customers are being asked to buy site-unseen.

Making money online

There are several ways you can turn your “free” work online into a way to make money.

• Provide free content and monetize your traffic via ads (like adsense, chitika, or text link ads)
• Write paid reviews for someone like Blogitive or ReviewMe
• Use affiliate links, like Amazon’s
• You might sell a product or products off your site. CafePress and sites like it can allow you to create custom products.
• You might write an e-book and sell it as a download from your site. Lulu and other print on demand publishers provide these services.

Whichever route you choose, providing free content provides your readers with something of value, which will keep them coming back AND attract new readers. Many of your money-making opportunities depend on traffic, so that’s a positive move. In addition, if you’re providing good content, then your readers will be more likely to buy items you have for sale because they’re already familiar with the quality of your work.

My freelancing experience

Free work can also enhance your ability to make money from more traditional freelancing.

I’ve done some freelancing on E-lance, and the same thing applies. Very few people are willing to take a shot on you unless you have some previous customers and positive ratings. In essence, you have to have already proven your ability to provide value before you can ask for pay.

Online writing can provide a portfolio you can show off to potential customers. If you guest blog for others, then they can provide positive reviews for your work that can help you turn free freelancing into paid freelancing. Offer to do some free work for sites you frequent or for bloggers that you know online. Offer to do a little work for free in return for a review in your portfolio. A handful of positive reviews later, and you’ll be ready to search out paid work.