Most Bloggers would be familiar with the two recent services to hit the Blogosphere: BlogRush and Entrecard (those who are not familiar can find the widgets for both these services on the sidebar).
BlogRush started with a bang, but has now died down to a whimper. Entrecard started slow, but is now becoming popular among bloggers, and most bloggers seem to be satisfied with the service (are you?).
Both the services are almost alike in what they offer as service, but one failed and the other succeeded. Why?
I think the reason is : While BlogRush tried to provide exposure to a Blog without leaving any room for the blogger to take steps that would improve his chances of getting traffic, Entrecard left scope for the blogger to work towards getting traffic for his Blog. In principle BlogRush assumed that bloggers are interested in reading other blogs, while Entrecard assumed that bloggers will be active participants on the site, and in the hope of getting traffic to their own Blogs, they will click on the widgets on the other Blogs.
It is obvious now that the latter assumption worked, while the former did not. This also brings into focus another important fact: A Blog will be truly successful (that is have a readership that actually reads, and not just flies by) when some of the readers are non- bloggers, or are, at least, readers first and Bloggers second.
Do you agree, or do you think there are other reasons for the failure of BlogRush… and the success of Entrecard?
I tried Blogrush for a couple of weeks and stopped. I am now trying EC, and am delighted so far.
I did not like 2 things about Blogrush: the tone of the many emails from their CEO, and also the fact that I had no control at all on the ads that would display on my blog. Last Blogrush did not increase my traffic at all.
I like 2 things about EC:
– It increases my traffic
– It connects me to other bloggers, and there is a lot of great content out there.
My 2 cents
–
I think that the success of Entrecard is that it is engaging. The widget says DROP, which prompts people to do so. There is the prompt to GET ONE if you are not logged in to Entrecard. Then there is that big E to push to find information on the displaying blog.
People tend to put the EC widget on top of the fold, where Blog Rush was usually posted down on the sidebar. The process of finding advertisers or checking out renters is one of discovery.
Beyond that, Entrecard seemed to capture everyone’s interest and to spark creativity.
Wow, sorry I rambled on.
I think it’s the addictive quality of Entrecard that has set it apart. The more you drop your card, the more connections you make with other bloggers and the more others click on your widget which increases your ability to buy adverts on other sites. The other big advantage for me is the networking component and the connections you can make with other people with similar aspirations and interests.
I joined Blogrush for about 5 months and I think their service is very raw as compared to Entrecard.
I removed the widget just last week coz I discovered that they are not helping me even when I haven’t joined Entrecard.
Another problem is that Blogrush lacks motivation to users.
By the way, you got good posts. Thanks!
I never even tried Blogrush. I looked at it and knew I’d get next to no traffic from it. I can’t see any reason why I would ever click on the widget. So, I doubted anybody else would either. Besides, I stink at coming up with compelling titles for my blog posts.
Well I have tried both. BR didn’t bring me any traffic and EC is sustaining my new blog so nicely. When I started it I didn’t have any traffic, EC gave me a lot of junk traffic (people to just drop the card), but I do have people who read my articles and come back. I was able to also find some excellent blogs that make me comment and come back. So, it was a good experience and I am not willing to end it 😉
Blogrush, since I installed it over a fortnight ago, has sent me 3 clicks. Entrecard has sent me, consistently, over 100 per day.
Entrecard is fantastic, very addictive, very helpful.
I don’t think we can quite class it as a success yet though, it has a long way to go, and a lot still to grow.
The number one primary reason I removed Blogrush from my sidebar was load time and I think that is a major reason why Entrecard is having more success. It loads quickly. Blogrush seemed to snag my pages midload and it drove me nuts so I ditched it. The bounce rate wasn’t quite so bad but when even the site owner is aggrevated by the load time then there is a serious problem.
I have only joined Entrecard very recently. That was after being disappointed in Blogrush. I don’t believe it’s hit counts after doing some research of my own. The only reason I haven’t drop it yet is becuase I do have 2 affiliate accounts that joined through mine and I am waiting to see if their traffic holds true or not. As for Entrecard, so far it has been consistent, and I don’t mind working a little bit to get some hits.
I never tried blogrush, when I started blogging I immediately discovered entrecard and have been using it ever since.I believe Entrecard is so successful because of the interaction it offers among bloggers. What started out as a traffic generating site which evolved into a community of active and non active bloggers in Entrecard. The interaction of the owners like Graham and Phirate with their members in providing a better service also helped a lot.
I agree with your theory as to why BlogRush has failed, but I must also say that people don’t go out of their way to click a widget if it doesn’t benefit them any.
Also, there’s no way BlogRush could keep it up because it is a pyramid scheme.
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I don’t like blogrush because there is nothing I get for visiting the sites in the widget. With Entrecard, if I visit a site and drop on it, then I get a credit. Which gives me something in return for visiting someone else site. Yeah I do read a lot of the blogs I drop on too… but that credit is like a coin in my bank. And yeah, maybe, I’m just selfish. 🙂
Plus Entrecard has increased my traffic a lot. Blogrush has not. Whenever I visited my stats, I got no hits from them. So it did me no good.
I agree with your post.
However, it is not as clear now. Entrecard recently took the ability to increase the ad value of a blog out of the hands of the blog owner and turned it into a popularity contest.
It is also hard to rate the value of a blog when trying to figure out who to advertise to.
The reason is, for determining ad cost, they switched from a complex algorithm that included how much traffic a blog generated (thus how useful it would be to advertise on) to a much simpler algorithm that just looks at how many ads are currently queued up for the blog. This means that a blog that has a lot of ads on it is more expensive. However, that’s all the cost tells you. A really useful blog might not have ads on it at the moment and be dirt cheap or a useless blog might have a bunch of ads just because it’s new and people are checking it out.
I still have Blogrush on my blog, but I think it’s kind of a joke. It doesn’t cause any kind of “RUSH” to a blog. You know?
I like entrecard, but I’m confused by them. I signed up about a week ago. Then yesterday out of nowhere they deleted my account. They say my email doesn’t even exist in their system. So I had to start a new account. I didn’t do any of their illegal practices. I wouldn’t even know how to do them, I’m not a tech geek at all. I’m very much a novice and know enough to run my blog and that’s about it. So I like the traffic from entrecard, but I wish they’d warn you before they delete you so you can plead your case. Because I didn’t do anything wrong and got deleted. 🙁
I dumped the BlogRush widget and kept the EntreCard one, moving it up in fact, for those very reasons.
I like the feel of this blog. I’m gonna favorite you, I think.
I think it’s still a bit early to say that Entrecard is a success. I think ultimately, it will die out as well. Any type of traffic exchange program will eventually fail and I don’t think entrecard will be any exception, it’s the same as all the other traffic exchange programs, just packaged differently.
I haven’t tried EC, so have no comment there. For BlogRush, though, I have been using it for some time, and have found it to be a fairly successful thing for me. At least, that is true for my main blog, though not for my travel blog. I think it has to do with the category my blogs are in. The books and writing blog (my main blog) mainly appears on sites that are targeted at readers and writers, and so it generates traffic. Not a “rush” necessarily, but some traffic. More importantly, it generates not just “foot traffic,” but real readers. I have several new blogging “friends” I’ve met via BlogRush that have turned out to be repeat visitors at my blog, and I at theirs. That to me is more important than simply getting hits on the blog. BlogRush develops readers, not just people who stop by… if it develops anything at all.
My travel blog, though, has only gotten very little traffic from BlogRush. It is in a different category, and perhaps those bloggers are less avid readers than those whose site will have my other blog’s titles appear.
By the way, I forgot to add that I came to this blog via BlogRush.
🙂
My personal thought is that Entrecard seems to have momentum on it’s side because people want to feel like they can alter or improve their chances at a better spot in the bread line rather than just passively wait and hope. We’re wired that way.