Tuesday

Entrecard Paid Ads Again?

It looks like Entrecard is starting to take paid ads again and calling them Sponsors. Didn't most of the Entrecard community reject this earlier this year? I know I chose to not accept paid ads at that time, as did a lot of other Entrecard bloggers.

It appears that the Sponsors could be from the world at large, not just Entrecard bloggers/members.

This is a copy of the email I received today from Entrecard:

We are pleased that many members are taking advantage of Entrecard services and that Entrecard is able to help users increase traffic to their blog. However in order to continue providing this free service, we will be taking 15% of our entire ad network inventory for sponsors as of Sept. 28, 09. This is a standard business model used by free advertising networks. The revenues generated by our sponsors will help cover overhead expenses and keep our service free to all our members for years to come. To keep things simple and fair, all ads will be distributed evenly in our network. We are currently working on a feature that will allow users to disable sponsor ads that may conflict with their blog. This will be available in a few weeks.

Please be assured that we will screen all sponsor ads to ensure that they meet our guidelines. All sponsor ads WILL be family oriented, and will not promote nudity, violence or anything illegal.


We thank you for your support and understanding. We will continue to make improvements to our network. Our goal is to deliver more traffic to your blog, increase your readers and comments, and let you network with other bloggers. We will focus on fine tuning every aspect of our business to ensure that our users are happy in the years ahead.

Cindy U.
Entrecard.com

Would love to hear from other Entrecard members concerning this change and further information you may have regarding this change.

I have really enjoyed being a member and visiting all the wonderful blogs and dropping and having them drop on my Entrecard and visit my blog but I am not sure if I am going to like this new direction Entrecard needs to go.

Let me know what you think, just leave a comment.

9 comments:

Caledonian Comment said...

The bottom line is that I'm not going to run any advert on my blog unless and until I've approved it. The latest Entrecard move is "Paid Ads" by the back door.

John | English Wilderness said...

There are two ways this will affect me.

1) I'll pay less for ads. If I only get 85% of the views, the amount I'm willing to pay will go down 15% (plus another 50% because we no longer receive credits for being dropped on).

2) If I start seeing ads I don't like (scams, atheism) I'll switch all ads off. If that doesn't work I'll just remove the widget.

Betty said...

I also will switch off ads if scams or atheism show up and if that is not available then I will have to remove the widget.

Thanks Caledonian and John for your responses.

Storm, The Psychotic Housewife said...

I'm not thrilled, either.

I have to be very careful with what shows on my EC widget because I do have readers that get offended and email me. A lot of my readers are not very internet savvy and don't understand what EC is. Most of the ads were junk when they tried it the first time, and supposedly it was screened and family friendly too. Yeah, right!

I hate to just remove the widget because I know I do get some new readers because of it, but I don't want ads I haven't approved on my blog!

Anonymous said...

I am new to Entrecard and have not received this email. Thanks for letting me know about this. I find it a pain to have to make sure the adverts are real bloggers and not ads in disguise.

I had the displeasure of my first approval being a junk site.

Mike Golch said...

they want it both ways,"no paid ads" that Entre card members may or not be paid for.But they want the paid ads from "sponcors" WTF.Did Entre Card not get the message the first time??? That is why I have decided not to accept any ads as a form of protest.Maybe that is what the whole Entre Card members must do to get the attention of the "powers that be"

Mar Matthias Darin said...

Hi,

When EntreCard started with the PaidAds routine, I refused them... With EC now running a referral program as well, its just become another junk exchange.

I held off leaving in hopes that the new owners would bring life back into EC. I should have stuck to my instincts.

My traffic sharing program, "Along for the Ride!" has done remarkably better then EC for quality traffic in its short life thanks to the many good members like this blog. I'll just have more time to work on it soon.

Reflections Magazine editor said...

I enjoyed EC in its original form. After the changes, I began dropping less. If EC reverts back to paid ads, I will probably participate even less and eventually move the widget to the bottom of the page as some have done and drop no more. If I keep the widget it will be so that I can solely keep track of those blogs I AM INTERESTED IN. If those blogs add the "followers" feature I may drop EC completely. Too much time dedicated for little results...

Sinclair said...

Based on the wording, it looks like we will not be able to say no to all paid ads. It says "will be distributed evenly across the network" and "allow users to disable sponsor ads THAT MAY CONVFLICT WITH THEIR BLOG." That does not sound like being able to disable ALL ads...waiting to see.

Also, what happened to earning credits for each blog post I put on my own blog?