Cross-posted on Inspire Emotion..
I am currently NOT accepting paid ads on this site, so EC members will still receive 100% of impressions.
Entrecard has implemented a new system for paid ads, and in my opinion, the implementation of the ads program really leaves much to be desired.
While they don’t “force” you to accept ads, they have put in to place a couple of things which accomplish exactly the same end.
1.If you do not accept any ads, they will place your e-card at the very end of your category in campaign. This means that you will potentially get many fewer blogs to spend EC to appear on your widget.
2. If people do not agree to and accept ads, eventually, they will actually more or less force you to do so, as Phirate notes below:
“the "Community Support Rating", a collection of variables formed into a score which will selectively enable or disable particular features across Entrecard based on your involvement with the community (NOT just whether you accept paid ads).”
Please note that Phirate does not state what exactly the punishment would be, just that your refusal to accept ads, among other things, would result in “something”, presumably meant as a punishment.
Another issue was brought up in the forum by an EC member who stated the following:
“Lets say that two blogs A and B are in the same category, have the same popularity score and both sell for the same EC price.
Blogger A never accepts paid ads, so anyone buying a spot on their widget beginning today, gets full exposure. If this is a true economic market their EC buy rate will always be higher than
Blogger B, who accepts all paid ads, and anyone who purchases space on their widget only gets 50% exposure.
So blogger B, the good camper, earns less for each ad purchased on their blog.”
To which Phirate responded as follows:
“That said, it would be disingenuous to say it couldn't happen, so it's possible that EC advertisers who bought your spot in good faith will have their impressions cut in half. ”
So in other words, if you play along, and attempt to help EC earn some $ through the ads (which is fine, and I was willing to do this until I found out that my regular EC advertisers would now only receive 50% of the impressions that they expected and paid for), both you and your regular advertisers will be harmed. You will find your ad price falling, as well as receiving fewer clicks for the ads you place. Your advertisers (not the paid ads) will receive fewer clicks/less traffic from the ads they place with you.
I rarely whine without offering a solution of sorts, and thus I suggest that Entrecard consider offering their users a choice.
- Allow users to choose whether to run the ads or pay a monthly fee to use EC.
- Allow the ads to run on a separate widget, or alternatively, side by side in one widget so that ad impressions for EC blogs are not cut in half.
And finally, from my friend RE’s blog, Recycled Frockery, a related article, YO Ho Ho, It’s Entrecard and They’re Takin Your Booty Mates ! Be sure to read the article, enjoy the music vid, and take the poll re the Entrecard paid ads program!
UPDATE: I just finished checking my ad log on Entrecard, and apparently the stats prior to March are GONE. I don’t know if they did this so that we could not compare too far back, but I would guess that they did.
Today I have an ad running on Politicus, who is also running paid ads. The ad is almost finished, and thus far, I have received 8 clicks only. When I ran an ad on his site in early March, I received 86 clicks, which was more in keeping with what I had received all of the other times I ran ads on that site.
I am liking this less and less. I am going to try to advertise only on sites where they are not accepting paid ads from Entrecard.
