I haven't been using EntreCard much lately. I believe its glory days are over. I thought it was a great idea in the beginning. There was once a time when I met a lot of new people and got some decent traffic from EntreCard. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long. Now, EntreCard seems filled with spammy sites and people trying to abuse the system. It is too hard to weed through the junk to find anything of value or worth reading. In an effort to correct this, it appears that EntreCard has changed the rules (again) - which I thought they should have done a long time ago. Now, I fear it is too little too late.

The Decline of EntreCard

In the beginning, EntreCard was a good service. I thought the concept was great on a small scale, but questioned its viability as a long term, scalable model. Six months ago, I wrote a post explaining why I thought EntreCard was doomed. I thought that there were simply TOO MANY EntreCard credits getting created, which threatened the value of a single credit. Graham Langdon, EntreCard's founder, responded to my post explaining why their model will work for the long run. A few months later, they changed the rules to make blog advertising prices increase by a power of 2 for each person waiting to advertise on a site. Now, a few months later, they are changing the rules again. Clearly something is not working, and to anyone who has been using the service for a while, this has been quite obvious.

The New Rules

So here are the new rules, as delivered to the inbox of all EntreCard users a few minutes ago.

1. Buy credits for less: Entrecard is now selling 1,000 credits for $6.00. You can buy them here: http://entrecard.com/r/buy_credits
   
2. More pricing increments: Instead of prices doubling every time, there are now a few more steps. The new price points can be found on the Advertising page in the wiki, here: http://entrecard.com/docs/doku.php?id=advertising
   
3. Members are not allowed to sell credits: This goes for ebay sales, posts in the Marketing forum, and posts on other forums. If you have references on your site to the sale of credits, please remove them immediately, as it is now against our terms.
   
4. Credit transfer limits: Members are allowed to make a maximum of 14 credit transfers a week, up to a maximum of 1,000 credits, whichever comes first. This means you can still run contests where you give credits away for free, and under 1k per week. Note: This does not affect linked blogs, you can transfer unlimited credits between linked blogs.
   
5. Transfer tax: From now on, all transfers, including transfers made with our new payments API, will be taxed at a rate of 12.5%. The taxed credits will be sold to members (see #1).
   
6. Blogs cannot be unlinked: Once you link a blog, it's there for good unless you ask us to delete the blog from your account. This prevents linking/unlinking to get around the credit transfer limits, and it also stops you losing access to a blog if you unlink it in error, which happens a lot.
   
7. No more coupons: You are no longer allowed to send coupons.
   
8. Shop closed: Except for Entrecard upgrades (Featured Status, Fast Pass) the Entrecard Shop is now offline until further notice. Please do not request a seller token until the shop returns. When it comes back, it will be bigger and better. We'll communicate more details nearer the time.

According to EntreCard, the above changes are being made due to their declining financial situation. Their email continues to say:

We hope that, by taking the steps we have, we will be able to reach a good balance between maximizing the overall benefits for our users and getting the revenue we need to pay the bills and expand the service.

The Only True Fix

These changes are clearly trying to make the value of an EntreCard credit more valuable. Why? So they can be sold to make the company money. As I mentioned earlier, I think these changes are too little too late. However, there is one thing that I think can save the declining service. Instead of using rules to affect the value of a credit, let the users decide how valuable a credit should be on a given site.  EntreCard should take a note from Digg and other successful social media sites that use community voting to decide on the popularity of blog. If EntreCard allowed the users to "vote" on the value of a blog, which in turn determined the price to advertise on that blog - irregardless of the number of "drops" that blog gets - I believe a lot of spammy, junky, blogs that are clogging up the service will be pushed to the backseat. Perhaps drops from blog owners with a High Rating become more valuable than from crappy blogs that are just trying to game the system. EntreCard needs to decouple the quality of the site with the act of "dropping cards". It is the only way to ensure that high quality content is being judged for that reason and that reason alone.

I am not trying to suggest a new business model for EntreCard. All I know is that, in my opinion, the biggest problem with EntreCard is the number of worthless, annoying sites that have flooded its system. If the service implemented some type of community approval and ratings system for the quality of the content, I believe the service would do much, much better.

What do you guys think? How many of you out there still like EntreCard the way it is? Would you enjoy it more if you able to intereact with higher quality blogs with better content?

Jeff

ps - EntreCard, feel free to send me a check for my consulting services.

My journey toward self employment is well on its way. As I mentioned in my last post, I am ditching the 9-5 job and starting my own company. I will work as a software development consultant a few days a week and devote the remainder of the week to writing, blogging, and working on my own projects. Eventually, my plan is to spend less time consulting and focus more on my own brand of products (blogs, software tools, etc.). With your help, I am sure I can make that happen.

While all the paper work is going through, there is plenty of "prep work" that needs to be done. At the top of that list is networking and building contacts. I am a firm believer that behind every successful entrepreneur is a huge network of contacts and people who can be a great help. Building a strong network of contacts is a great way to earn potential clients, future business partners, and most importantly - good friends.

I have always enjoyed helping people here at BuzzMyBlog. As I prepare to take embark on this (somewhat scary) journey of self employment, I will continue to help out however I can. So keep sending me questions, comments, ideas, & requests. Feel free to hit me up on Google Talk (username: jeffbuzz13). If I can help with anything, I'd be happy to so. Even if you just want to chat, that's cool too. I know a lot about computers, software, the Internet, and technology in general. Think of me as your online concierge.

But I also want to get know many more of you. If you know anyone that needs some help with their blog, has questions about computers, or even needs some custom software, send them my way. I'll be happy to return the favor however I can.

Networking is a powerful tool. I am looking forward to getting know you all a little better, and some of your contacts as well.

Jeff

• Minutes 59 - 50: Check your email. Go straight to your comments and approve the legit ones. Write back to the ones that deserve it. Always pay attention to the people who take interest in your blog.
  
• Minutes 49 - 40: Create two new posts. Don't fill in anything but the title. Take the ten minutes to brainstorm on future post ideas.
  
• Minutes 39 - 30: Hit your RSS Reader (I have grown to love my Google Reader). Be very careful here. It is easy to get side tracked and let minutes slip away. Just flag the interesting ones for when you have more time. The important thing is to keep tabs on what your niche is up to.
  
• Minutes 29 - 20: Comment on at least three blogs in your niche. You have to keep your name in front of the people are interested in what you are writing about.
  
• Minutes 19 -10: Visit 3 or 4 blogs that you've never seen before. The reason I made my BlogCatalog widget so big is so I can randomly click on a previous visitor and check out their blog. Also, check out your incoming links. If someone wrote about you, give them a little love. Comment on their post to thank them and Stumble or Digg the post. It will be a win win for you both.
• Minutes 9 - 0: Spend some EntreCard credits on a little advertising. Don't waist your time on anything that has less than 128 credits. If there is a line of people waiting to show their ad, then it will be worth the price. It also gives you a few days to schedule a post for the new traffic to see. If there is any time left over, hit that Stumble button. Be sure to build up your history so when you need to Stumble a friend's blog, it will carry some weight.
  

An hour sure goes by quick, doesn't it?

What else do you do when you only have a little time to blog? 

Jeff

Part of getting through to your audience is knowing not just how to reach them, but when to reach them. There is no doubt that blogging activity, for the most part, cuts back on the weekend. Heck, even the example on the login screen of Google Analytics shows huge dips on the weekends. But I thought it would be interesting to find out just how much attention people pay to blogging when they aren't stuck at work and the wild weekend rolls around. Having more insight into this would not only give you a better idea of what your peers are doing, but hopefully give you a better idea of what to expect from your readers as well.

So please, take a second and mark off the option that most accurately describes your blogging activity on the weekend. When you are finished, please pass this on to every blogger you know. Help spread the word so we can get as detailed of a survey as possible. 

Thanks everyone! I hope you are having a great weekend!

Jeff

First rule of Buzz Pirates is you do talk about Buzz Pirates.

Second rule of Buzz Pirates is you DO talk about Buzz Pirates!

Third rule of Buzz Pirates is anyone or anything is fair game - if there is media "buzz" about something, we will be making fun of it.

Fourth rule of Buzz Pirates is anyone who takes anything seriously on Buzz Pirates is a total idiot.

By day, I am The Narrator of Fight Club. I work hard at an insurance company making sure people are safe in their automobiles (ie - BuzzMyBlog.com). By night, I create havoc and mayhem by destroying institutions and tearing apart what the rest of the world is taking way too seriously. Buzz Pirates is my Tyler Durden.

For those who have never seen Fight Club, you probably think I have gone crazy by now. If you have seen it, then you have a pretty good idea of what my new blog, BuzzPirates.com is all about. No...its not about fighting or showing off my Brad Pitt abs. It is a humor and satire blog that takes a different look at the latest media buzz and gives it a hilarious twist. Buzz Pirates hijacks the latest media buzz and shows the world that 90% of what they think is important is nothing more than fodder for my own twisted sense of humor.

Oh who am I kidding...I started Buzz Pirates because I wanted to have a little fun! I like to write and I like to be funny. BuzzMyBlog.com is my passion, but Buzz Pirates is my outlet to say whatever the hell I want and hopefully make a few people laugh. Sometimes the posts are short and sweet and make no sense whatsoever. Other times, they are a detailed diatribe to the absurd. Every once in a while, I cut through the B.S. and attempt to enlighten those who are otherwise oblivious. Buzz Pirates is all about pillaging the latest "buzz" for nothing more than my own amusement.

I hope you will continue to read BuzzMyBlog.com for tips and advice on how to improve your blog. But if you want a good chuckle, check out BuzzPirates.com. Add it to your feed readers and follow along. Got something funny to say? Add your wit by posting a comment on the latest post. Say whatever you want, I don't care. That's what I do. Buzz Pirates is the perfect blog to read for a quick laugh on your lunch break. And its a lot safer than throwing yourself through you're boss's glass coffee table.

Welcome to Buzz Pirates everyone.

*****
I want to give a special thanks to my friend Forest Parks for his AWESOME work on the Buzz Pirates graphics. If you need any custom graphic design drop him a line. His quality is amazing and he doesn't rest until you are happy. I couldn't be more delighted with his work. 
*****

If I were a full time blogger....

...I would be able to try out every new social media web service gimmick without being distracted from my blog

...I would have a fat desk with many monitors

...I would make my dog very happy because he could lay by my feet all day instead of an hour or two in the evenings

...I would have a very happy wife because I would no longer blog during our "together time"

...I would make a lot more money from my blog...because I would starve otherwise!

...I could stop pretending to do "real work" while I secretly work on my blog all day

...I would have a trillion more write-offs during tax season 

...I would be able to wake up each day and say hello to the world on Twitter...and have the world actually respond

...I would not despise getting out of bed each day

...I would be able to work in my underwear all day 

...I would visit fancy restaurants and post pictures of my food. Why the hell would I do that? 

Ok folks, here is where this post gets really interesting. I hinted yesterday that I would be making a special announcement in an upcoming post. Well here it is. Next week's Weekly Buzz will give away 500 Unique Visitors! But wait there's more! I want you to keep this post going in the comments. Add your own "If I were a full time blogger..." comments. If I get 50 or more comments, I will pick a random entry and give that person 5 extra chances of winning the Weekly Buzz prize. So Digg, Stumble, or do whatever else you can do to help spread the word. As yesterday's Weekly Buzz has shown, those extra chances help!

Good luck!

* Image courtesy of Jonus Cronfeld

I admit...the idea of pulling a light hearted April Fool's Day prank crossed my mind. Realizing that countless other bloggers might do the same caused me to quickly dismiss the idea. Turns out that I made the right call. So instead of humoring you with my own prank, here is a rundown of some that I noticed today. Most of them were very light hearted and amusing. Well....all of them but John Chow's that is. Is it me, or is this not surprising?

• Google can always be counted on every year to offer a good April Fool's Day joke. This year two that caught my eye were the Google Wake Up Kit and the Google Custom Time. I am in agreement with TechCrunch on this one - not that funny. Come on Google...we expect better from you.
  
• Darren pulled a nice one over at ProBlogger. He announced a new Pay Per Tweet service that that would pay users to Tweet about products and services. With hundreds of comments on his blog and countless links from other blogs, I think its fair to say that he got the best of everyone on this one. I still have my money on someone actually attempting this as a real venture.
  
• Zac Johnson announced his own affiliate program that paid users $0.75 for each referral to his website. Is that all we are worth to you Zack? A mere 75 cents? Oh wait...that's per click. What a deal!
  
• I guess his John Chow Cola post wasn't funny enough, because John then decided to dupe everyone into some Free PPC Secrets from UberAffiliate. Don't fall for this one folks unless you think destructive Rick Rolling is entertaining. Seriously, you'll have to kill your browser. What a dick.

Next year I will be prepared. Tomorrow I am going to start thinking of the April Fool's Day Hoax to top all April Fool's Day Hoaxes. Just as soon as I come up with that hilarious Halloween costume, finish my Christmas shopping early, pay may taxes ahead of time, and everything else I said I was going to do next year.

What about you guys? See anything else funny worth mentioning? 

Happy April Fool's Day
Jeff

John Cow had a post yesterday claiming that nice bloggers have fewer readers. While I agree that a little controversy could be a great way to generate some buzz about your post, I don't believe that rule is a hard fact truth. Instead, I think blogs that have nothing to offer their readers are the ones that get fewer visitors. Blogs that are controversial in nature offer their readers a form of entertainment. Similarly, other blogs might offer their readers valuable advice, a good laugh, or a momentary escape from reality. The point is, if you want your readers to keep coming back, you need to make sure your blog is offering something of value to them.

What does your blog offer readers? This is an important thing to keep in mind when writing blog posts. My goal for this blog is to offer assistance. My Weekly Buzz feature gives bloggers a weekly reward to help promote their blog. I try to keep my articles informative and helpful (without being too boring....I hope). I am also very accessible to my readers. I don't mind lending a helping hand whenever I can. Whether its answering some questions in an email or helping to spread a little "buzz", my actions are consistent with the goals of my blog. I am not claiming to always know the answer, but if I can help, I will.

To demonstrate this, I thought a few recent questions from some readers would be a good topic for this weeks Community Buzz. Hopefully some others will find my responses helpful. In addition, hopefully the BuzzMyBlog Community can expand on my answers and provide some further thoughts.

Bryan from GrandMasterB.com wrote me and asked: 

What's your opinion of letting people advertise on EntreCard that do not have the widget on their site? I'm inclined to not let the guy advertise, but it is worth 58ec?

Here was my response:

I don't think it would bother me. I barely spend any time at all reviewing the people who want to advertise on my EC widget. I usually just click "Approve" whenever there is an ad pending. Like you said, its credits in your pocket. Who cares if their blog sucks, they are paying you. I spend much more time worrying about where I want to put MY ad. I search around and find good looking blogs that get lots of visitors and have the EntreCard widget in a good location. I try to pick blogs to advertise on that will get the most click-throughs to my blog. Its all about getting the most out of the credits you spend.    

Alex from The Commentator 3.0 asked:

My question is simple but yet could never get an answer from it: I've tried everything on my blog to try and get traffic up to decent levels 100+ (I arbitrarily selected this number) for a couple of years. I've managed only modest returns (45 per day) and a sack full of moral victories in terms of compliments. It's left me perplexed. I never set out to "make money" from it and I doubt I ever will but I feel my blog is unique. It's an eclectic blog but there is consistency there in terms of original and well written content. I love to write. I love to explore ideas and to transmit. In this way, more traffic would be welcomed. I recognize my blog isn't "specialized" but I prefer the opinion angle. What am I doing wrong? Or do I just have to be realistic and say this is what it is for what I offer?

I responded with:

I'd be glad to offer a few suggestions. The whole point of my blog is to help other bloggers, so I am happy to help.

There are actually a lot of things you can do to increase your traffic. I am not claiming to know all of them, or even a large percentage of them. However, here is a quick list of the things that have helped me so far. I will rank them in the order I think help the most.

1. Guest Post - this is probably the best way to earn new traffic. If you can come up with a really great post that is funny, interesting, or thought provoking, plenty of high profile blogs out there will be happy to post it as a guest post. This gives you exposure to thousands of new people. I had a guest post on JohnCow.com and it caused my traffic to jump from under 50 per day to over 300 a day. The important thing is to make sure you follow the guest post up with great content on your own site. The guest post will bring you a lot of new traffic, but then its up to you to hook them and keep them returning as regular readers.

2. Network with other bloggers - Some will argue that this is the most important activity for your blog. It won't give you immediate results, but the long term results probably outweigh anything else you can do. It is important to get your name out there so people know who you are and how to find you. Comment on as many blogs as you can (make them sincere, not just something like "nice post"). This will create more links to your site. The more you participate in other blogs, the more other bloggers will get to know you. Write about other blogs on your blog. Once other bloggers get to know you because you have left some good comments, and wrote about their blog, they will usually return the favor and write about you. This can drive a good deal of traffic. Plus, you'll probably make some good friends. Blog allies are a good thing to have.

3. Utilize StumbleUpon and Digg - These two have the potential to really keep you jazzed about blogging. When you have a great post and you know you really just "nailed it", Digg and StumbleUpon have the potential to make it go "viral". Using your allies from #2, you can ask for a Digg or a Stumble. All you need is one to set it off. If your post is that good, thousands and thousands of bloggers will see it. The more that like it, the more will see it. Exposure can then occur exponentially. It is really exciting to see huge spikes in your traffic stats when a good post goes viral.

4. Join Entrecard - This service is great for bloggers who are just starting out. If gives you a way to get in front of many other bloggers. Plus it provides a way to advertise without spending money (if you want to spend money...there are tons of way to get traffic!). EntreCard does require a little time to get the most out of it. The more cards you drop, the more people will drop on your site. Some will argue about the quality of the traffic that comes from EntreCard. Many of the visitors just drop their card and go. However, some of my regular readers have found me through EntreCard.

One last thing....when you say your blog is "an eclectic blog but there is consistency there in terms of original and well written content. I love to write. I love to explore ideas and to transmit". That is probably the BEST thing any blog could possibly have. Stick with it. If you follow some of the tips I mentioned, I am sure you'll get many more followers if your content is good.

The Friday "Community Buzz" posts are meant to encourage everyone to participate and comment with their thoughts. Do you have any more advice for Bryan or Alex? Do you have any questions yourself? Are you making sure that your blog is offering something of value to your readers?

Have a great weekend.

Jeff

Ok! Its Friday and I've done my serious post already. Time for something FUN!

First of all, I need everyone to do me a huge favor. Please vote for BuzzMyBlog.com in BloggerNoob's Domain Tournament. This is not just another lame contest. This is just pure fun. Thanks. 

I want to get to know everyone a little better and I think this will be a fun way to do so. The local radio station here in Baltimore does this thing in the morning called "What's Your Point". Everyone calls into the radio station and is allowed to say one sentence. It can only be one sentence but can be anything they want (within FCC regulations, of course). Some of the things people say are really dumb, but others can be quite funny. It is amazing what you can learn in one sentence if that is all people get to use.

So for this Friday's Community Buzz feature, I am asking everyone to comment on this post. It can be about anything you want, but you only get ONE sentence. Anything more than that will be deleted. Make it funny, creative, thought provoking, whatever. I will throw 300 EntreCard credits at the best one by the end of the weekend.

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

Jeff

Introducing the BuzzMyBlog.com FREE Contest Winner Picker!

If you've been reading my blog, you know that I don't particularly like contests. I would rather give stuff away for free. In keeping with my philosophy of giving back to the blogosphere, I am happy to introduce the BuzzMyBlog.com FREE Contest Winner Picker. Just because I don't like contests, doesn't mean they don't serve a good purpose. And if you run a contest on your blog, I am sure you will find this VERY useful.

It is very simple to use. The Contest Winner Picker (if you have a better idea for the name, please let me know!), allows you to provide a list of contest entires and their chances of winning. The tool will then tally up each entry according to their number of chances and then pick a random entry as the selected winner. Since most contests offer participants 10 chances for this or 20 entries that, the Contest Winner Picker takes all the hard work out of calculating everyone's odds. All you have to do is provide your list of entries as a comma separated text file, and the tool will spit back your winner, along with the odds they were faced with.

The list of entries is very straight forward. The tool expects a comma separated text file that has one participant per line. The first value must be a number value that represents the number of chances of winning. Then a comma. After the comma, you can include an email address, a website url, an entry ID, or anything else you need. The tool will just return this entire line so it can be anything you want. All I care about is the first number. You can create your text file in your favorite text editor like Notepad or Textpad. Or you could list all your entires in Excel and save as a CSV file. Just make sure the chances of winning is the first item on the line. Below is a sample of what the entry file should look like.

2, joe@joe.com, http://www.joe.com, Joe's Blog
5, tom@tom.com, http://www.tom.com, Tom's Blog
10, bill@bill.com, http://www.bill.com, Bill's Blog

This file assumes that Joe has 2 in 17 chances, Tom has 5 in 17, and Bill has 10 in 17. It will then pick a random winner between 1 and 17, and return the one line from the file associated with that winner. Once you have your file put together, simply select it using the form below and click "Get Winner". The tool will instantly return your winner. Simple, right?

There is no catch. As you know, the purpose of my blog is to help out other bloggers. This is just another example. All that I ask is when you announce your winner, please give me a little shout-out and a link back to this post. I would also appreciate a comment on this post so I can check out your contest. That's it. Oh...and don't worry. I am not saving the information or using it for any other purpose. The file gets read from the http request on the fly and once the results are shown, I no longer have the data.

I hope you find this helpful. Let me know if you have any problems or additional suggestions. Without further ado, I present to you the BuzzMyBlog.com Free Contest Winner Picker....