Come Monday...Eyeballin' Entrecard

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

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).

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