If you are not familiar with the term, to eyeball something is to take a good look at it. Quite often, the inference is to take a very close look, and this is what I have attempted to do at [Entrecard].
Since this will undoubtedly be considered to be rather critical (to say the least) by many, I would like to first explain some things. For I was a very enthusiastic member of the Entrecard community, and I would still like to be if some changes were made.
Much of my prior enthusiasm was due to the amount of traffic I started getting here on this site after signing-up with Entrecard. For it was only averaging around 100 unique visitors a month beforehand, and in not really very long at all, over three times that many were coming by a day! If I remember right, around 450 was the highest total of drops in a day here, and around 10, 000 unique visitors were stopping by each and every month for well over a year and a half.
Oh yeah, I was starting to feel like I was really somebody, and when I saw my fish hawk perched on top of the Religion and Spirituality Category for the first time, I wanted to believe that Entrecard would be a vehicle to finally get what I had been given to say by our Heavenly Father out into this world. Alas, what a fool I can be.
No, this is not to say that it has not done any good. For I have met (so to speak) some very good people through Entrecard, but over 90% of the traffic through the service will invariably be on a drop-and-run mission, which rarely results in anything catching their eye but the Entrecard widget.
Okay, those who are also [Adgitizers] will be looking for that widget, as well, but that still doesn’t get them anymore interested in the content that has been posted. For there is usually just not enough hours in a day for most to get all of their drops in and pay any real attention to what the author of each particular site may have to say about something.
Yeah, I have been as hypocritical as anyone about this. For I would deny being a drop-and-runner while doing exactly that much of the time.
Ah, but I have gotten ahead of myself a little bit. For it has only been lately that I have become concerned about exorbitant [bounce rates].
In fact, I became an even more enthusiastic supporter of Entrecard when the announcement was made about plans for a revenue-sharing program back in March of 2009—especially when it was speculated that a 1,000 credits would be worth $15.00. For I immediately got out my trusty old solar-powered Casio calculator, and it soon became clear that I could start making some money for a change!
Well, so much for that. For that $15.00 per thousand turned out to be a dollar a thousand, and by the time it was all over, I had pocketed a whole $10.00.
Ah, but I still have hope for something like that to be successful. For unlike most other advertising opportunities, Entrecard can guarantee that an ad placed with them will get noticed. For their members will be looking right at it when they go to make a drop, and wouldn’t you be intrigued by an ad that said something about Coca-Cola coupons or Dell Computer discounts?
So, why didn’t it work before? Well, that’s a good question, and I think I have found an answer or two, with plain old-fashioned stupidity being at the top of the list.
No, I do not believe that is being too harsh. For they have had nothing to gain, and everything to lose, by the way Entecard has been run over the past year and a half or so.
If you wouldn’t mind, please go back and look at the image at the beginning of this presentation. Do you see where it says, FREE traffic on over 40,000 websites, in the green part? (Click-on the image, if you don't have super-human sight). Well, there are actually 49,286 sites on Entrecard if you add-up how many are listed in the various categories, but in reality, there are actually only 11,182.
If you don’t already know, you can see this page for yourself by clicking on the Campaign button in the middle up at the top of the opening page if you are a member and signed-in. If you are not a member, just click on the Browse button in the same place.
CATEGORY LISTED ACTUAL N/A
Art 2370 335 +3
Automotive 454 103 N/C
Blogging Resources 2412 346 +2
Books 400 78 +1
Business 1747 508 +1
Career Jobs 384 68 N/C
Celebrity 500 82 N/C
Computers and Internet 2924 491 N/C
Cooking and Dining 759 239 +3
Education 856 185 N/C
Entertainment 2188 442 +1
EntreKids 214 46 N/C
Environment 311 70 N/C
Expat 115 34 N/C
Fashion 928 279 +4
Finance and Investing 1217 294 +1
Gaming 1115 202 +1
Graphic Design 337 41 N/C
Health and Medicine 1592 529 +2
History 123 19 N/C
Hobbies 894 220 +3
Home and Garden 528 345 +1
Humor 913 153 +5
Internet Marketing 1235 147 N/C
Law and Legal 104 25 N/C
Lifestyle 1325 318 N/C
Make Money Online 2255 341 +1
Marketing 373 38 +1
Men’s Interests 213 40 N/C
Mixed Bag 2446 767 +6
Movies 364 78 N/C
Music 869 128 N/C
News and Media 713 156 +2
Parenting and Family 1982 605 +4
Personal Diary 3713 1025 +2
Pets 468 124 +1
Philosophy 159 30 N/C
Photography 638 171 +1
Politics 502 106 +2
Real Estate 315 61 N/C
Religion and Spirituality 585 114 +2
Romance 307 54 +1
Science 202 33 +1
Self Improvement 722 124 +3
Sports 786 154 +1
Technology 1888 435 +1
Travel 1282 430 +1
Trends 166 36 N/C
Web Comics 115 28 N/C
Web Development 624 71 N/C
Women’s Interests 866 284 N/C
Writing and Literature 788 150 +2
Totals 49,286 11,182 +62
If you would like to do some checking on your own, just click on the title of a category. A page with 15 sites will then come up, and if you would like to see just how many sites are really in that category, keep clicking next and keep track of how many times you will do so until you get to the end. Since Home and Garden is the first one listed in the image I have included of the Categories Page, I will use it as an example of what I am trying to convey. For it says that there are 526 sites in this category, but 24 x 15, plus 6, only adds up to 366!
Ironically, the Home and Garden category is one of the closest to having an honest count. If you would like to check out a real shocker, go take a gander at the Art category. For according to my calculations, 21 x 15, + 15, adds up to 326—not 2,367.
Okay, you might not experience the same reaction, but it really did come as quite a shock to me to find only four sites on the second page of the History category when there was supposed to be another full page of fifteen, along with enough to total 123. Hey, I even went looking for the possibility of there being a lot of hidden sites somewhere else, and I thought I may have found them when it was pointed out to me that only the sites that were accepting advertising were being shown at the settings I was using. So, I checked the box to show even the sites that did not accept advertising., and this did make a difference, which is what the N/A column is all about. No, it was not a big difference, as you can plainly see.
Yes, the numbers I compiled in October are different than the ones I am giving you now, which were compiled around 18 hours before this piece was actually published. They change a lot, and they will probably be even more different when you get around to checking things out for yourself.
No, I do not see where there is anything to gain by misrepresenting the true amount of sites. For anyone doing their due diligence could plainly see that their ad is not going to get nearly as much exposure as they are being told that it would.
It gets worse. For out of the 11,182 site that were actually on Entrecard and accepting advertising in October, at least 5,382 sites were in a state of non-compliance with the official [Blog Quality Standards], and I wasn’t even getting real picky about it!
Inaccessible 223
No Widget 394
Non-English 28
No Content 4
Pop-Up Ad 29
Porn 2
Redirect 14
Virus 30
Past 90 Days 1339
Way Past 90 Days 684
Way Way Past 90 Days 2
Not Above The Fold 2633
No, I cannot say that I really did visit each and every one of the 11,182 sites. For the way I went about it was to click on each icon as they were listed in the various categories, and they moved around somewhat. Therefore, I am quite sure that I did miss some, which means that the non-compliance total may be even worse. For I only listed what I actually found.
Just in case you may not be quite sure what I have listed, Inaccessible covers the sites that had suspended accounts, lost domains and could not be found. The rest are pretty straight-forward, except for maybe Way Past 90 Days and Way Way Past 90 Days. For Way Past 90 Days covered the sites that had not been posted to since January 1, 2010, and Way Way Past 90 Days was reserved for one site that had not been posted to since 2005 and another since 2001.
No, none of this may mean a thing to you, but I am quite sure that it does to prospective advertisers, which is where the money for a revenue-sharing program would come from. For who is going to see an ad on a site that no longer exists or has other problems that discourages people from wanting to visit it?
Besides, a lot of quality sites have dropped out of Entrecard because of much of the “stuff” going on there, and this should be of at least some concern to you. That is, unless you do not mind hanging out with a bunch of morons like I used to be.
Okay, it is hard to argue with the fact that I am still pretty much a moron. For even after all of my efforts to get in touch with the Support Department to report my findings have been ignored, I still hold onto some hope that the powers that be over at Entrecard will sober up enough to get their act together.
Yes, I am going to start holding my breath now. So, if it takes me a while to reply to your comments, it probably means that my hopes are being dashed (again).
Please Also Visit: [FishHawk Droppings]
