It's been a long time since I removed Entrecard from my widgets here in this site, but I doubt their system changed significantly. Don't consider this post as biting the hand that fed me. Let's look at it from a past user's first hand perspective. Here we go:
It's not about driving traffic to your site, it's about letting people see your logo/brand over and over again
If you've been at Entrecard, then you should be familiar with their "card" and "drop a card" features. Basically what you do is create your website logo/brand, look for other blogs that are in your niche, buy ad time from that blog using Entrecard credits, and wait for your "card" to show up in that blog.
See, that's the problem. Most of the time Entrecard "cards" are just full of pretty looking pictures with titles. Okay we get the point: Your logo looks great. But will it generate any clicks? Mehhhybe. Most of the time not. People just don't know what your blog/website is about with a pretty picture alone. And even with a solid title in the "card", they just don't know what your current post is about. People will just look at your ad and think of "Ooohh a pretty picture" then scroll down the rest of the page. See that smile on your face? You do it don't you?
It's too time consuming
If you've been at Entrecard, you might have found that searching page after page for suitable blogs of your niche while balancing the low EC (Entrecard credits) rate & high traffic of website to be too laborious and time consuming.
Okay, here's how it works for those who don't know: 1) You search for suitable blogs that have low EC rates and good traffic and content; 2) You buy ad space for that blog, sometimes when there're lots of people in queue you'll wait for days for your ad to show up on their blog; 3) Repeat steps 1 & 2.
See? And you have to do this day after day after day when your ads expire on those blogs. And that's with no guarantee that those ads will generate visits to your website. If you have lots of ECs to spend, 1 hour isn't enough for you to search for suitable blogs and repeat the process again. Some people just tire out doing this each and every day. Take me for example: When I search for ad spaces I just jump to my niche and buy ad spaces worth a whole page from blogs that have the cheapest EC requirement. If you have the strength of Chuck Norris then maybe you won't.
It's expensive
If you've just started your blog using Entrecard as a means of traffic generation, you'll find out that you can only afford to advertise on blogs with the same situation as you. Startup blogs sell Entrecard ad spaces starting from 2 EC to 8EC. And the catch is, the more the people that buy ad space on your blog, the higher your EC requirement becomes. In turn, you'll gain EC. For example, I buy an ad space from you, that's 2 EC. Then another person buys an ad from you - he'll pay 4 EC. The next customer will pay you 8 EC, the next 16 EC, the next 32 EC and so on. You'll receive EC for every person that buys ad spaces from you. You also get EC for each new post on your blog or website.
The problem is, you're just a new blog with no star power. Why would people that want to generate serious traffic buy ad space from you when you're just a startup blog with only 2 EC an ad space? Your blog would get ignored more often than not, and soon you'll find out that you've ran out of EC while trying to sell your blog to people - unless you buy EC with real money.
The top players in Entrecard - people that have good blogs with good traffic - require thousands of EC for an ad space. These are the real gainers. But even if you buy a space from them, don't expect a click or two. It's safe to say that in the long run you'll be paying more for ECs than the traffic you'll receive.
You're better off using other services
But before that, I just want you to know that you can buy cheaper ECs at eBay or somewhere reputable. Your $100.00 will get you 10,000 ECs. That same amount could fetch you twice the credits or more if you find someone selling theirs.
Anyway, if you're really going to invest on your site with major cash, I suggest you try Google Adwords instead. You can create your ad there for a price and Google itself would automatically assign your ad to your niche. No more of that laborious blog searching. You could even hire an SEO "expert" to optimize your blog for more traffic. Or, you could always opt for click exchange sites like EasyHits4U that will send you 1,000 unique visitors for $5.95 (or 100,000 uniques for $449.95).
The problem with click exchange sites is that people go only for the click, most of the time not even paying attention to the website they're visiting. You'll not gain loyal visitors this way, no matter how good your website content. I don't encourage you to do click exchange sites but I don't discourage you either. But hey, at least you'll gain sure clicks - and at a lower cost too - in comparison to Entrecard's EC.
Entrecard is difficult to continue on the long run. You could use it for a few months, maybe even two years or so, but the fun wears off once your blog settles. Sooner or later you'll realize that all the time, cash, and effort you've spent there earned you only little results. You'll then look for other alternatives such as Google Adwords or SEO experts as mentioned above.
I'm not saying that Entrecard is totally useless though. I urge you to try it. It's one of the initiations a starting blogger has to go through and experience. It will be fun. Who knows, you might even hit it big time - greater than John Chow even - at Entrecard.
In the end, it all boils down on the love you've put in your blog.
'Till my next installment.
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