Interpreting Entrecard Statistics – August 2008
Posted by Linda in Marketing Research, tags: Entrecard, return on investmentI’ve experimented with Entrecard during August to determine my return on investment for the time I spent doing Entrecard.
I first varied the number of cards that I dropped and then dropped consistently more than I did in July. The top graph shows my August results. The graph beneath it shows my July results. I explained how I did the graphs in July.
At first glance you may not notice the difference. But if you look at the numbers on the left side of the graphs, you’ll see that the August graph goes to 350, while the July graph just goes to 100. The one thing that is consistent between the two graphs is the colors:
Blue = Cards dropped on me
Red = Cards that I dropped
Yellow = Ad clicks
Green = Organic clicks.
August Entrecard Graph
July Entrecard Graph
Return On Investment From
Entrecard Organic Clicks
Both graphs illustrate that the number of drops I received remained substantially lower than the number that I dropped. In fact the organic clicks remained quite consistent throughout August. The low was 14 and the high was 53, for a range of 39 drops. The average was 34.5.
Yet my drops varied considerably. The low was 0, and the high was 300, for a range of 300. I averaged dropping on 111.3 blogs per day. So the average that I dropped was more than three times the average of organic clicks that I received.
Top Ten Entrecard Droppers
I am grateful to my top ten droppers, who dropped considerably more than my top ten for July.
People You Need to Know 29
HRM Business Practices and Notes 23
Turnip of Power 23
Software Outsourcing to China 23
The Success 23
Cheap Keywords 21
CDubMarketing 20
Bizphere 20
Gain, Make, Earn Money Online 19
Search Engine Panel 19
Return On Investment From Entrecard
Drops With Ad Clicks
Ad clicks did improve the total drops slightly. With them, the low was 20 and the high was 109 for a range of 89. The average increased to 53.3. The total drops reached 1,652. Even with the ad clicks, I dropped an average of more than twice the drops that I received.
Top Ten Entrecard Blogs For Clicks
Listed below are the ten blogs providing the most clicks and the best return on investments by credits for clicks:
Return On Investment
From Entrecard Time Invested
One statistic that I kept for August that I didn’t keep for July was the amount of time that I spent on Entrecard. I did forget to record my time on three days. Still I logged 1,759 minutes or almost 30 hours dropping cards. So each drop that I got on my blog cost me more than a minute of my time.
Return On Investment
From Entrecard Comments
I also left 32 comments on Entrecard blogs during the month. I received only 7 comments from Entrecard blogs, and two of them were from the same blog. So I left an average of 4.6 comments for everyone that I got back.
My blog provides dofollow for comments. In case you don’t know, that means that if you make a relevant comment on one of my blog posts, you will get a linkback.
Return On Investment
From Entrecard: Analysis
With these statistics, I have to seriously doubt the effectiveness of the time that I’m spending on Entrecard. If you haven’t kept similar statistics for what you are giving to other Entrecard blogs in return for what you are receiving, you may want to consider doing so.
After all Entrecard is marketing for your site. As business people, we should always calculate the return on investment for marketing activities.
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Posted 9-2-08:
Interpreting Entrecard Statistics
August 2008
Entries (RSS)
cool. 1 spot for me next month
Acakaduts last blog post..hurrican gustav
Thanks Acakadut,
I’ll be looking for your regular drops this month so I can add you as a top dropper for September.
Warmly,
Linda
Interesting statistics. I’ve been wondering about the time I spend dropping and the return I am getting. I now get about 130 cards dropped back on me, but it is only after steady days of 300 drops per day.
Friends FurEvers last blog post..Toes And Tummy Tuesday – Cousin Ty
Hi Friends FurEver,
Feel free to use my techniques to evaluate your entrecard drops and time.
Warmly,
Linda
Thanks for this ‘eye-opener’ post Linda. I really haven’t made a serious thought about this.
Bloggers from the EC community kept on asking me how I manage to keep my site on the top 15, I could not give a definitive answer except that I make 300 drops daily (religiously)and purchase ads whenever I have accumulated enough credits to do so.
Again, many thanks. I’ll try to monitor my stats this September and let’s see.
nor | http://www.hrmbusiness.coms last blog post..Implications and Effects of Globalization On Our Economy and our Workforce
Hi hrmbusiness,
I’m glad you found this post insightful.
Perhaps the only way to do well with entrecard is to drop 300 daily. But I’m already spending an hour a day. I don’t think spending more time on entrecard would be a good investment of my time, especially when most droppers don’t read or comment.
Please let me know your stats after a month.
Warmly,
Linda
Right now, I’m in the exploratory stage, so in about a month, I’ll decide if it’s worth my time. Most of the time, I don’t consider it work since I’m still new at it. But I must say that I’ve just started GETTING anywhere from the 290’s to 300 drops per day, but I also try to drop 300 per day. So….we’ll see. Thanks for the publicity!
Hi Linda! Not sure what Entrecard or a drop is so I decided to read your article. Still not sure but if I know you, you’ll explain: ) Deb
Hi Jacqueline,
Dropping 300 cards a day may make the difference in your Entrecard traffic. I just couldn’t see devoting more than an hour a day to it, and you see my results.
But even if you get as many drops as you leave, I question the quality of the traffic. Most just drop and don’t stay long enough to read your content.
However, I have met some good people through Entrecard. People whom I will continue to monitor their blogs and stay in touch.
Still in my recent redesign, I decided to not reinstall my Entrecard widgit.
Warmly,
Linda
Hi Deb,
Yes I’ll be glad to explain. Entrecard is a community of bloggers. Each designs a 125×125 pixel card and displays it on the blog. Then others visit that blog, click on “drop” on the card, which records their cards. It’s like leaving a business card.
You can return just the people who visit and drop their card, you can drop on every blog publishing in a specific area through campaigns, or you can install the Entrecard toolbar, record all your favorite blogs and just drop on them each day. I used a combination of these methods.
If you want to try it, go to Entrecard.com and sign up. It doesn’t cost you anything, but as a reward for dropping and getting drops, you get points that you can use to advertise on other Entrecard blogs. I believe you do need a blog though.
Warmly,
Linda
Thanks for sharing these statistics with us.
In the end is: how many more leads did you get from using this system in relation to the time, effort and money you have invested.
too bad, I can’t do the dropping anymore. ec deleted my account
Acakaduts last blog post..register to vote california
For some similar reasons and few others I have decided to remove Entrecard from my blog. I can use the 125×125 spot from some other useful purpose. The fact is that if you have a new blog then entrecard might be a nice place for you to hang out and spend some time in advertising and dropping. But for other people that do not have that much time to spend in something that will not offer a great deal in return, I am afraid Entrecard is a waste of time.
Engagao Team, Acakadut, and Kashif,
Thank you for your interest in this post and for your comments.
Whether or not to participate in Entrecard is a personal decision, but I believe in gathering as much information as possible before making a decision that influences my business.
My statistics indicated to me that the return wasn’t worth the time investment. But that’s because I want real readers rather than just traffic. For some people just having the traffic is enough, particularly for those who want to sell a blog in the near future.
Each of you have to make your own decision. I hope that this post will give you some ideas of how to get the information you need to make a good decision.
Warmly,
Linda