EntreCard is Awesome

EntreCard has been really great for attracting new readers. After the initial setup of the service, you only need about 20 minutes a day to attract dozens of brand new readers every day. The best part is that if you want more and have the time, you can attract even more.

So what is EntreCard and how does it work? Well, it boils down to this. You try to earn credits so you can then spend those credits by buying advertising on other sites. When you first sign up you create a logo for you site. When you purchase an advertisement with your credits, your logo will show up on that site for exactly 24 hours. So, how do you earn credits? Well there are several ways.

The easiest way is to just put the EntreCard widget on your site. When people who also have the widget see your widget they can click the "drop" button. This gives you one "credit". This is one reason why you want to have the widget at the top of your site.

Another way to earn credits is by allowing others to advertise on your blog. After logging into the entrecard website you will be taken to your "dashboard" which will have a list of sites that would like to advertise on your site. If you approve the ad, the ad will enter a waiting list until it's turn and will display that logo on your site. How much do you earn from selling advertising? Well, you will earn however much people are willing to pay to advertise on your site. Obviously, if you have a well trafficked blog, people will pay lots( sometimes over a thousand credits). If you have a small blog they may only be willing to pay 8 credits. The longer the waiting list to advertise on your blog, the more people will have to pay to advertise on your site. Note that no matter how many people are awaiting approval, your cost won't rise, only when you approve an ad will the cost to advertise on your site go up. This gives you an incentive to approve ads ASAP.

Dropping
The final way to earn credits is the most intensive, but is also the primary earning for a blog with little traffic. You can go to other sites that have EntreCard and "drop" on them. Not only will that site earn a credit, you will too. As a bonus, many sites will often do "dropbacks" meaning they will drop on your site if you drop on theirs. If you find people that do that each drop doubles in value. My suggestion for doing drops is to bookmark a few blogs everyday that have the following characteristic:
1. Have an EntreCard
2. Are of a related subject
3. Have the EntreCard widget towards the top of their site.
Then put all of those bookmarks in the same folder(I use the firefox "Delicious" add-on and give all the sites the same tag). Everyday, go to that folder and choose the "open all sites in this folder" option. Then, go to the bathroom or make breakfast. By the time they are done loading you can click-close-click-close each and every site. Once they are all loaded you should be able to do about 50 or more drops in 5 minutes. Also, monitor your "dropbacks" and see who returns your drops. Delete the sites that do not and replace them with sites that do.

Once you've earned a couple hundred credits(probably 2 to 3 days - possibly more when first starting) you're ready to do some major advertising. You can either buy lots of cheap advertising or build up your credits and only buy a few expensive ones. In my experience saving up to advertise on a well trafficked site is worth the wait.

The ads are the primary way to attract new readers. I can always see my traffic do a mini spike when I buy an ad on an expensive site (usually 256+ credits). There are residual ways to get new readers. When you buy advertising or do drops, sometimes those authors may check out your site and like what they find. Also, some sites to encourage droppers will permanently display their top droppers. That's free advertising for you!

So, to sum up my tips on getting the most from Entrecard.
1. Drop on sites with similar content
2. Advertise on sites with similar content
3. Save up and buy the more expensive ads.
4. Put your widget at top of your site to encourage droppers and advertisers.
5. Try to identify sites that do "drop backs"
6. Use bookmarks so that you can do dozens of drops in a day in only a few minutes.

Have fun and enjoy the new readers.