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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Today I was perusing a certain store and I found an item that caught my attention. The store was the Entrecard shop and the product was a custom logo design. This logo design cost me 500 Entrecard Credits, an amount which I found considerable.

The logo will be done in the next few days, and I hope that the end result is successful. I want a brand / header image that really captures the essence of this site and the environment that it fosters. My plan for this site is to share with you everything that I know and everything that I learn about making money online through blogging or affiliate marketing. I am certain that this aspect is quite nebulous and I hope that the designer that works on my logo will be able to understand what I mean.

500ec, although a big part of my Entrecard bank account, is quite a deal for a custom designed logo. Services on Digital Point range from $20 and up, so I was thrilled to know I could get the same service for Entrecard Credits. I think that a new logo will help me to spruce up my branding now that I have the owl at my side. The owl, along with some catchy typeography could help make my site more memorable. I think the owl is doing a good job; since adding him to my site I’ve seen my RSS readership and daily visits go up. That may also have something to do with my guests posts at other blogs, but for now let’s just assume it was the owl.

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. As a blogger, I can relate to that point. When coming up with a post, often times I find that my post would be enhanced and taken to another level if I could only find the right image to add to my article. Sometimes a visual can really carry a point across to the audience in order to help them really understand what is being said. Other times, a picture can help readers quickly grasp your main concept without actually reading every single word of an article.When it comes to writing for a certain audience, especially when it comes to getting new users to like your site and stay a while, a image is crucial. Coppyblogger suggests that a blogger should

“Start with a striking visual cue: A picture is worth a thousand words, and Stumblers really take that to heart. Nothing grabs their attention more than a striking image. StumbleUpon users seem more likely to be drawn in by the smart use of images, and there’s no better placement for a great image than at the top of your article.”

Although the Coppyblogger article is written specifically for grabbing the attention of StumbleUpon users, I think that guests coming your site from other blogs are likely to treat your blog the same way as a SU user. That is, within 2-3 seconds they will judge your site on looks and aesthetic appeal. If that fails, they will move on. However, if your site grabs their attention with an image or its design, they will stick around and listen to what you have to say.

Daily Blog Tips states that

“yes, you can overcome a bad first impression with great content, but why not take advantage of the first impression? An attractive, professional-looking blog design will give you the look of a blog that’s on its way to success, and visitors are more likely to want to be a part of that. “

While they are not necessarily talking about only a catchy image, what they say rings true. If you want your users to associate your blog with being “good”, you may as well make it look like it belongs with the likes of the pros, right?

Most blogs that I see fall in to one of two categories: Those that will be here in 2 years and those that won’t be here in 2 years. I think that it’s easy to categorize a blog after reading it and looking at the blog for a few days. Right now, blogging about making money online is the “in” thing to do. Most bloggers want to get lucky and be the next John Chow. I’m sure that the 80/20 rule will apply to this niche as well; 80% of those bloggers won’t be around in 2 years.

If you are a blogger that wants to be around in 2 years, make sure to grab new readers any way you can! Add a good pictures to your post from places like stock.xchng, the Creative Commons image search, or the FreePhotoBank. These sites are free and offer you images that you can legally use on your blog without restrictions.

It’s not easy to compete in this flooded market of “make money online” blogs. Give yourself any advantage you can find and a good place to start is by commanding your reader’s attention with a high quality contextual image. The closer your blog appears to success, the more likely you’ll work hard to make your blog succeed!

Website reviews are great for many reasons. Aside from the publicity and the link love that is passed down to you, website reviews help to expose your site to many other users that may not otherwise have heard about your site. The problem with these reviews is that free ones are impossible to find and non-free ones are often expensive! With reviews costing up to $450 these days, it’s no wonder many bloggers are raking in the dough.

If you’ve ever wanted a website review but couldn’t afford one, here’s your chance. I’m am giving away 2 FREE website reviews to random RSS by email subscribers! Sign up to my RSS feed using the signup form on the top of the website and be automagically entered to win a FREE website review!

The contest starts today and winners will be drawn when I hit 100 RSS subscribers. By waiting until I hit 100 RSS subscribers, your site will benefit from an influx of loyal readers as the review will be seen by not only my readers but those surfers who find my site by other means.

Want a free high quality website review like this one? Sign up for this giveaway today!

Want an extra entry? Make a post on your blog linking back to this blog post with either the word “Webtrepreneur” or “RSS contest” as the link text!

Today I have a new guest post over at Tyler Cruz’s website. My post, entitled “Squeeze More Money From Your Blog” is about helping you to add another income stream to your site by monetizing your RSS feeds.

This is my second post for Tyler and the positive comments have been great so far. I hope to continue working with Tyler as I develop my marketing prowess and know that we can benefit one another.

For my loyal readers, check out my new post and leave a comment telling me your opinions on the post. I think you’ll like it!