Entrecard is a very popular bog indexing and blog marketing site. I like Entrecard and have found some very good blogs via my participation there. Something that has bothered me since I began participating there though is the value and ethics of the raised traffic (including some traffic from alleged child abusers). There is no doubt that Entrecard is a traffic builder…but if I want just traffic then I would build a dodgy site that focuses on making money from hits.
Imaginif Child Protection became Serious Business is about consciousness raising and making a difference, celebrating the child protection that most parents already do and helping those who are not sure what to do. Traffic is nice, certainly helps in keeping me high on the elite top 50 lists, but not mandatory: my means must justify my ends. I like comments because I value conversation, change and transparency.
Entrecard is attempting to encourage comments and ethical drops – droppers that do more than click for credit and leave. Entrecard has started a “Comment Rush” where they choose a post to become the recipient of one hundred dropper comments. I love it. That is smart marketing and very nice flipping of a product that was becoming unruly and undisciplined. The first chosen post is Irish Ken Armstrong’s Music and Driving. Have you commented yet?
The blogosphere is abuzz with speculation over Entrecard and Alexa. It seems that those who have been promoting Entrecard fast drops are to have their accounts suspended, and that, Alexa is going to ignore traffic obtained via entrecard. Ummm, obviously I am not the only one to question the ethics of a blog marketing network that has turned into a drop and run scheme.
In the event that Alexa does fail to count entrecard traffic, I have started a contingency: an entrecard blogroll of those blogs that I do read prior to dropping my entrecard (it is a work in progress as I visit sites). I will enter those blogs from my blog roll rather than from the entrecard site. This then allows my traffic to those sites to be counted by alexa. I do not want the blogs, I like, to be penalised because of how I entered them.
To those entrecard users who have commented on my posts and added me to their blog rolls, thanks. I really appreciate your help in preventing child abuse and you can be assured that I will continue to both entrecard drop and advertise on your sites. Comments breed blog karma and help keep kids safe.
The social and non government sectors have long been known for not readily sharing helpful information with each other. Competitive funding rounds frequently create competition, secrecy and suspicion among agencies and workers. We are all just so precious at times. Licensing, accreditation, low wages and high case loads, lead to high staff turnover, burn out and in house bickering. Is it any wonder I now work in the private sector!
