» December 5, 2007 in
Entrecard is the new traffic swapping thing that many people are talking about and using. Why should you care about entrecard?Because it has a dumb name? I think of the main course at dinner when I think of entrecard, or maybe a dinner discount card, not a traffic exchange program. Nope.
Because they advertise for themselves on your site almost the same they advertise for others? Nope.
Seriously, could their ad get any bigger on YOUR blog? (screenshot from problogger.net)
You should care because their idea is original? The banner exhange/traffic exchange idea is almost as old as the internet is. Nope.
Because the traffic is free? LOL, the traffic ain't free. I'm not sure why people are promoting this as free traffic. You are sending away your visitors and giving up your ad space in exchange for some traffic you "hope" is the same quality you're sending away. Nope.
If none of these are the reasons you should care about entrecard, why should you care about entrecard?
Because the entrecard idea is spreading
"ideas that spread win" - seth godinWhether you think entrecard is goofy of a gift from heaven one thing that can't be denied is the idea is spreading, the idea is WINNING!
Why do you care? Because we are in the game of creating ideas that win! At least I am. Pay attention to entrecard.
Why do people use entrecard on their site?
What's in it for them?
How are they marketing entrecard?
Are they rewarding people to use entrecard?
Where have you seen entrecard?
Is their anything they are doing to make the entrecard spread by itself (hint, that big ol' "get your own entrecard" is viral marketing at it's best. To quote seth again - "the magic of viral marketing is the medium carries the message")
How can you leverage the success of entrecard (or any meme) to your own advantage
If I was the the king of spreading ideas I'd be writing this from a beach instead of Kentucky so your guess is as good as mine. However I'll offer a few of my thoughts and feel free to offer yours in the comments.
People who are using entrecard are an extremely important demographic for ideas I'm interested in spreading also.
1. Entrecard users have blogs
2. Entrecard users know how to modify their templates
3. Entrecard users are ok with adding widgets to their sites
4. Entrecard users don't mind advertising for you, for FREE, if they like your service.
WOW that is some fertile ground for spreading ideas. Now for a couple ideas of how to leverage the entrecard meme.
Bloggers Looking For REAL traffic and LINKS might try this
People using entrecard are bloggers and interested in getting free or easy traffic.
Go build some great piece of linkbait or resource article on "free traffic" or "101 free traffic sites" or 'free traffic resources" or "how to get traffic without paying for it" etc and make an AWESOME page about it.
Next, go to every person using entrecard and pitch the idea to them. They should be interested more than your mom or friend and if you spent enough time on the linkbait step you should get noticed.
Locate New Audiences Outside Of Your Niche
This is geared towards the blogging/make money online crowd as it relates to entrecard but should be noted for any meme.When an idea spreads you should go follow it to see if it's attracting an audience/eyeballs/bloggers that you aren't aware of.
Is the idea spreading to places you haven't been before? Did the idea break out of the usual echo chamber?
Can you follow into this new area with your ideas and attract those new audiences?
How to follow the spread of an idea
Both of those ideas require finding who is using or spreading the idea. Once upon a time a mention a video that shows you how to find out who's talking about you. The same works for finding out who is talking about any idea:
(view the video on youtube)
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steve says on December 5, 2007
the Entre- stands for Entrepreneur, not Dinner Entre. hence the business card 2.0. oh and the widget that has their logo on it is just one of the widget choices, the smallest one is only a fraction bigger than 125x125
I think people should care about it because I got 400 unique hits in 20 days of using it
45n5 () says on December 5, 2007:
@steve - you missed the point of the post. Replace "entrecard" with "blogrush" or any successful idea spreading the same way and learn from them.
the real winners aren't people getting "400 unique hits in 20 days" but people that can duplicate the success that entrecard is achieving.
iantrepreneur says on December 5, 2007
damn mark - your always there before me - I started using it last night I think it was poorly done and it doesn't seem to amuse me that much - post coming soon about my frustration with it
Rhys says on December 5, 2007
I love entrecard, though I'm surprised I'm not listed as one of the top bloggers....yet!
Are you going to stick the widget up, and practice what you preach?
45n5 () says on December 5, 2007:
@rhys - "Are you going to stick the widget up, and practice what you preach?"1. I'm not preaching.
2. I won't be using entrecard. it has a goofy name and looks even goofier as I stated in the post.
@ian - look forward to the post
Jim Kukral says on December 5, 2007
BlogBucks.com is way better.
Joshua says on December 5, 2007
It's not such a goofy name where I come from! :)
*cough*linkbait*cough*
One Eyed View says on December 6, 2007
This is my first time at your site, and I just wanted to say thanks for the handy tips. I think I'll give entrecard a try even though I usually try to stay away from cluttering my sidebars too much. However, lately they seem to be filling up again, so I'll give entrecard a try before I clean house;)
The Monetizer says on December 6, 2007
Excellent post, gave me some great ideas and definitely made me hungry..If you were selling the plate of pasta up there you'd have made a sale!
But as for Entrecard, I agree it's spreading. I started there in the Make Money category with just 20 other blogs, it has now grown exponentially to 80 some! It was a very smart idea by Graham Langdom and just about all of us are blogging about it!
Phi says on December 7, 2007
@iantreprenuer heya, do you realise that (for me at least, firefox 2.0.11/linux) there's an enormous video thing over the top half of your blog page that just won't go away? I can't find a close button or anything! I can't read your site :/
Shawn says on December 7, 2007
I've been doing the slightly the same thing for Graphic Deisgners to direct traffic to their portfolios. Just upload a free brush and you get some serious traffic! Just an example that the idea "Free" stuff can translate across all different niches.
Sam Freedoms Internet Marketing Controversy Blog says on December 19, 2007
I realize this post was about 2 weeks ago but it still deserves a thumbs up. There's no way to pound this into the heads of those who just don't yet get it.
But, as of late, I have been ministering to the crowd that is fascinated with it... and they're learning and enjoying it.
If nothing else, it's been a great opportunity for building new relationships with like-minded people... and there's no way to put an accurate price on that because of all the potential new synergies.
As far as this matter goes, you are spot on... its spreading.
Here's a few Entrecard articles I wrote. I think you'll find a couple of them very funny and the rest very useful for some of the users.
Thumbs up..!
Sam
husky says on April 5, 2008
here you can download free Entrecard cards
http://www.gizmohunt.com/index.php/2008/03/28/entrecards/
this is not spam :)
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