Last week I made a post about people who use Entrecard precariously and place their widgets above the fold. I do not agree with this strategy and claimed that it takes up valuable space that could be used to monetize your website. Divablogger took the bait and issued a nicely written response to my argument. The following post is my retort.

Let’s start with the first comment that got my attention:

“placing it somewhere more accessible makes it convenient for people to drop their cards”

I agree completely with you. This statement is actually helping me to prove my point. You see, although I do like Entrecard for its potential to generate a fair amount of traffic to a website, the advertisements on the widgets are still free and cost $0 in real world money. So why would you sacrifice space on your website where you could be making real money in order to promote somebody else’s site who is just using you for your widget? Don’t you feel so….used? You are willingly giving up the potential to sell ad space on your site and make money online for a silly Entrecard point. I’m no economist but I would call this “negative equity”. You are not gaining anything valuable by giving away prime real estate on your blog nor are you being properly compensated for it. If ever in doubt, just repeat this mantra: “What Would John Chow Do?”.

You also stated the following:

“Being in directories (which are strongly promoted by the creators) is like being a part of the daily life of entrecarders who use these directories and are too lazy to create their own.”

I’m not entirely sure what you meant by that statement. Firstly, of course directories will be promoted by their creators! I promote all kinds of things that I make; this started in kindergarten when I made my first hand print on paint then had my parents hang it on their refrigerator. It’s just plain simple to understand. Secondly, although Entrecard is a fantastic avenue to reach a wide readership and gain an audience, I don’t necessarily want to be in a directory of lazy people. “Dress for success”, as they say. I would rather have proactive Entrecarders and Bloggers like my sponsor JasonBoom that participate and support my site. He is obviously working hard at promoting his brand and blog and is not a “lazy” blogger. If you take away all of the lazy bloggers, I believe that the web would be filled with content that is of much higher in quality than what is available today.

I guess we could go around and around in this argument. You believe that placing your Entrecard widget, which gives away a free link and takes away space for paid advertisers “above the fold” is the smarter and better thing to do. I believe that placing the free link widget that still brings me traffic “below the fold”, thus saving more prominent spaces for paid advertisers is the smarter thing to do. The point I was trying to make is a financial one, where as you were making a point about quantity of traffic. In the end it is just a question of “quality versus quantity”. I would much rather have 1000 daily visitors who found my site through other quality “non-lazy” blogger’s websites. These visitors would probably read multiple posts and pages per visit, leave comments, become advertisers, and even help me out by clicking and following my affiliate links. It seems to me that you, on the other hand, would be satisfied with 1000 daily visitors who get to your site, click the widget and leave. I’m in this for the quality, but if that’s the kind of visitor that you want going to your site, then I hope your strategy works out for you. To me, it’s a no-brainer.

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Dear Entrecard users,

I want to take this time to talk to you all about a little something I call “common sense”. This letter is not intended for EVERY Entrecard user, just the vast majority of them that make my life really easy.

In the last few days, I have been using Entrecard (henceforth known as ‘ec’) more and more in order to rack up credits so that I can spend them on certain things for this site. Recently I have traded 500 ec’s for a header design that is being worked on right now. With so many other interesting things in the ec marketplace, it makes good sense to rack up a ton of points and spend them on things that will help make your site better, more interesting, or more visible.

As you know, it is possible to get ec credits either by dropping your card at other websites or by ‘charging’ people to advertise on your site. The thing I love about advertising with ec, and no doubt one reason why so many people love it, is that in reality the advertisement is free. The point of ec is to get you to visit other websites and check out the work of other bloggers in your niche or in new niches all together. The truth of the fact is that most people (myself included) will sometimes just load up 20 pages at a time, drop their cards, and leave.

Not sure where I’m going with this yet? Hold on, it’s coming.

If you look at my site, or countless other successful blogs, you’ll see a sidebar with a few paid advertisements on them. I’m working on selling more ads on my site and the requests will come in soon, I’m sure. Those paid sponsors become acquaintances in the short term and possibly business partners and friends in the long run. They get to know the blogger and vice versa. So, here we go. Why on earth would you, as a blogger and web designer, place your Entrecard widget above the paid links and in a place that is really easy to find on your site?! You are basically giving away PRIME real estate on your site for people to quickly find the widget, click it, and leave your site. They basically “hit it and quit it”, if you know what I mean. They love you and leave you. They hunt you and dump you. Do you see where I’m going now?

Another reason why you should NOT place your ads front and center is that, in the long run, advertisers will get mad and leave you. Why should they pay a premium to advertise on your site if you are giving away free advertisement in a space that is even better than theirs?

USE YOUR HEAD, PEOPLE!!

I’m not mad at you. In fact, I love you because you make my life easier. I just wanted to tell you my thoughts on your decision. I probably don’t remember who you are, what your blog is, or what it’s about but I do thank you for the credit.