Even though EntreCard hasn’t benefited me greatly, I like the idea. I really do. I’m just constantly disappointed by the overall quality of the blogs which are listed. Perhaps that is an indication that most people who use the service view it as a “get hits quick” scheme and are less “legitimate” than bloggers who do not need to rely on a service such as EntreCard.

Either way, I noticed some blogs which used similar services, such ad Adgitize and I thought I’d check it out. Mostly, I’m looking for a way to connect with other bloggers on a more solid, personal level and not necessarily a way to make money (although, I wouldn’t turn it down). I definitely am not going to spend money on advertising for a hobby site like Reviews by Cole. Sorry, ol’ gal.

When you sign up as a publisher on Adhitize, you must choose a type of ad space to display on your site. I chose the 125 x 125 px ad and inserted it into my sidebar. An ad displayed, although I’m not sure why or how it was chosen. There is a little badge beneath the ad which links to Adgitize but nothing to clearly indicate to my visitors what the point is (it might be different if more people had heart of Adgitize but an “advertise here” link would be more useful than just the service name). Not a good sign.

What really gets me, though, is the completely unuseable site that Adgitize has. I mean, come on. It’s 2010. How can your site suck so badly? There are a million–okay 18–links above and below the header. It was easy enough to read about the options as an advertiser or blogger (although; my questions weren’t really answered) and sign up but then you’re lost.

Here’s a few major complaints:

• The login link is in the middle of a list of links, not emphasized by itself
• Looking for an “acocunt” or “control panel” area? Adgitize uses the ridiculous uncommon terminology “member’s lounge” for this area.
• The site gives the impress that you sign up for one type of account (advertise, affiliate or blogger) but you have access to all types (access is good, confusing set up is not).
• No blog list. There is a preferred publishers list but I’m not entirely sure why they are preferred. Maybe it’s something you buy? I do like EntreCard’s “campaign” which lists and allowed you to search blogs, categories and other information.
• Community link. Because that doesn’t sound like the exact same thing as “Member’s Lounge.” Apparently it’s a sort of updates blog but it’s not the blog; that’s something else.
• And what the hell is the leaderboard? Apparently you earn points (again, no idea how) and you get listed there.
• There is a Help page and a FAQ which could and should be combined into one page–they’re both in Q&A format.

In short, the Adgitize website has too much going on and most of that is promotional material which does not aid the user. I would suggest a complete overhaul of the website, condensation of content, removal of unnecessary links and “widget” update. That is, if the service even wants to be seen as a legitimate advertising solution. Right now, it looks like a joke.

Today I’d like to talk to you about using text and banner ads services like those provided by Adsense, Bidvertiser and Adbrite. Of course, even if you never think twice about this type of advertising, you’ve heard of Google’s Adsense service and maybe of Adbrite, too. All of these networks allow publishers and advertisers to easily find one another. Generally, as a publisher (blog owner), you don’t do much besides submit your site and let the advertisers come to you. You can manually approve individual ads if you choose but I always set to automatically approve ads and, if I really find an ad offensive, can ban it from the site. That hasn’t been an issue, yet.

These ad networks typically have more than one form of ads. For example, Adbrite has full page ads, inline ads (as I’ve previously discussed) and the focus of this post, banner and text ads. You can see an example of both of these on my site, currently. In the sidebar is a block of text ads and between the posts, on the main page, are 468 x 60 standard sized banners. Of course, these are only two styles of many which are available from the different ad networks. The size and style of ads can be changed to best suit your site’s layout and content. The ads featured in these blocks generally change when your content does but sometimes the relevance is dubious.

Here’s a quick rundown of my experience with these services.

Adsense is, unarguably, the largest ad marketplace probably due to the force behind it (Google). This makes it a great option for both advertisers and publishers. It has a clean control panel which is similar to that of other Google services and allows you to easily edit account information, your ad zones, see your profits, et cetera. Good ads tend to look the best, in my opinion, with the little “Ads by Google” border around many of them. It’s also very customizable. Adsense widgets are also available through Blogger and perhaps even WordPress.

In terms of relevance, Adsense was pretty good. I remember posting a cat litter review and, for the next week or so, most of my ads focused on cat and pet products. Of course, some content just doesn’t seem to have as many relevant ads and sometimes I would see ads about things that I only touched on very briefly (like weight loss). Ultimately, I was pretty happy with the type of ads showing up.

The one big downside to Google’s Adsense is that they have such a high payout $100 (there are several payment options but check seems to be the best). This may not be detrimental if you run a large, well known site but smaller site owners and bloggers such as myself may find this to be more of a road block. I was nearly at the payout line, after almost a year, when Adsense suddenly terminated my account because they no longer want my site in the network. Unfortunately, all ad networks really get choose whether or not your site is acceptable but I am unhappy with Adsense nonetheless. All of the funds I had earned – and I was only a few dollars away from payout – were returned to the advertisers. Essentially, they got free ads. I can never join it again, no matter if I want to try to use the network on another site and they didn’t give me a specific reason.

Adbrite is the site I have had the most success with. It’s less known but still fairly popular when it comes to banner and text ads. It’s interface is a little more sloppy or, perhaps, web 1.0 compared to Adsense but it’s functional and easy enough to edit account information or your ad zones, including blocking specific ads as I mentioned before. The ads, in general, don’t seem to be quite on par with the quality of ads from Adsense but the payout is much less: only $10 in one month, I believe. Although I am not making as much as I was with Adsense, overall, I’ve already been sent two checks from Adbrite and one will be processed at the beginning of next month. Adbrite has been fairly consistent for me and it is currently the only ad network I use for anything. Unfortunately, check is the only option for payment and some people might prefer Paypal.

The relevance of my ads through Adbrite is rather hit or miss. Currently, I have many ads for making money online as well as some for a specific Facebook game. They don’t really relate to my comment; although, I suppose they will after I post this entry. ;)

Bidvertiser may be the least well known of all three of these networks. Like Adbrite, you can choose inline ads or a variety of text and banner ad sizes. I used to post text ads from them on the lower left sidebar of my blog. I found that Bidvertiser offered fewer links, probably because it is a smaller marketplace. However, the clicks were all worth more, individually, than clicks at either Adsense or Adbrite. Because of this, I think it would have taken me longer to reach payout – a minimum of $10 for Paypal. The option to use Paypal also boosts the credibility of the network, in my opinion. Bidvertiser’s site was a bit more confusing than the other one, but not so much that it was impossible. It’s also rather attractive. The ads themselves fall in between Adbrite and Adsense in terms of attractiveness.

Because the Bidvertiser network seemed so small, the ads were probably not as relevant or varied as I would have liked.

While there are more ad networks that are similar to these, Adsense and Adbrite likely make up the majority of ads you see on the internet and it’s little wonder why. For publishers or advertisers who have had issues with Adsense, I would recommend trying Adbrite or Bidvertiser, but not to expect as much possible revenue as Adsense might offer. While I am unhappy with how things turned out with Adsense, I do think it had the most potential of all the ad networks I’ve used whether it was text and banner or other ads. Given the reality, I am happy that Adbrite has been consistent and also has a lower payout than other sites.

For starters, the PayU2blog website isn’t very nice. There’s potential navigation links that have not been updated for months. In my opinion, these links needs to actually link to someplace or simply be removed. It’s also as if their parent company, Triangle Media, took a page straight out of the web 1.0 book. While I am not the biggest fan of the Web 2.0 movement, I applaud the advances it’s brought to site navigation and organization. Payu2Blog doesn’t take any good sense from those trends, however.

Still, I was ambitious and I’d just opened a brand new site (this one!) and wanted to dip my toes in the wide open waters known at blog marketing. Unfortunately, because my blog was brand new and little known, a lot of blog advertising sites wouldn’t have me. PayU2blog was the only one that would so I went along.

After being approved, I was sent a few e-mails with a generated password and general guidelines. My first issue with PayU2Blog would occur a bit down the road. I wasn’t sure about the policy regarding outside links in sponsored posts; as it turns out, their forum has a more detailed set of rules but few people can ever access it because all accounts are banned indefinitely upon registration. apparently accounts need to be manually approved but I’ve registered 2 accounts to no avail to good luck to you.

Although not pretty, the site is basically functional. I say basically because, of course, those navigational links that have never quite been updated so they actually link to things and some basic functions like changing your PayPal address cannot be done automatically but must be done through the internal messaging system.

However, besides those few hiccups, the site works relatively well (a word that I will leave open to interpretation). You sign in and are brought to a dashboard which doesn’t flow at all with the rest of the site but displays your inbox and available opportunities.

Now, if you were paying attention, you might wonder why I was able to join this site when all the others said “No.” I cannot tell you exactly but it seems like PayU2Blog has a catch and this is it: you have to do every opportunity that comes your way. Regardless of appearance or relevance to your blog. This definitely can stretch your imagination and writing abilities as well as look tacky on your blog, especially if you’re trying to make the sponsored links blend in as much as possible.

Still, if you’re looking for money, PayU2Blog is your service. With most opportunities simply requiring 150 words and 1 link for $5, a fair price for this type of work, it’s not too bad even if you do have to write about Depends. I was making a steady about the month or so I was an active member.

So what happened? Life.

More precisely, I moved and my password was saved on my computer (as well as the e-mail containing it) and there wasn’t any automated function to retrieve it on the log in page. Despite e-mailing countless times to several different e-mail addresses and having a friend mention my problem on the forums (which I still cannot access), I never heard a peep from the folks over at PayU2Blog.

From all this, it really seems like they don’t care much about their publishers and, if I were an advertiser, this would also make me wary. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like anyone is holding PayU2Blog to any sort of standards and it appears to be one of the less reputable blog marketing sites. From the quality of the links, I was sometimes dubious as to whether it was worth making a shiny penny or two for my posts.

Because of these reasons, I cannot recommend PayU2Blog. Although you might get paid, if something goes wrong, you cannot contact anyone to remedy the situation which does not make it seems as though this company actually cares very much about those who do its bidding.

I would love to be able to add to this review that my solution found a happy ending in the near future but who knows if I will be able to do so.

Snapbomb itself is a very clean, good looking website. Although it’s function is pretty basic, it still looks good and it’s easy to navigate the site where other would leave you confused. Your dashboard shows your blog(s) listed, and links to find opportunities and update your account are prominent. Compared to some sites I’ve seen, this is definitely a step up.

If you’re interested in the world of sponsored blog spots, Snapbomb might just be for you.

Of course, none of this is completely ground breaking so far. What sets EntreCard apart is its “drop” system. When you come across a participating blog, you can “drop” your card – a 125 x125px image – to let the owner know you were there. When someone does this, it appears in your “drop inbox” via EntreCard‘s dashboard.

This also is nothing new. It’s also nothing new that EntreCard displays the most recently updated member blogs (via RSS) on the main page or that you can add your favourite blogs.

What is new, however, is this: you earn points (1 per drop) for dropping your cards on others’ blogs or having cards dropped on yours. In turn, these points can be used to purchase things from the shop, buy advertising from other blogs, trade or gift to others.

Now this doesn’t seem like much, dropping alone is not the easiest or least time consuming method to earn EntreCard credits. However, rest assured that even the tiniest blog will have those vying for advertising space – their card is displayed in your widget during advertising – and this will earn EntreCard credits.

In the beginning when I accidentally – oops – mistyped my blog’s URL, I had people opting in to advertise on, what must have appeared to them, a nonexistant site. Not bad, eh? The amount of credits earned for advertises is exponentially more than that earned for dropping alone. The formula for calculating advertising price is automatically determined by the EntreCard system based on how many advertisements are waiting to be shown on your blog (each ad runs for 1 day and only 1 ad can run at a time). Thus, the more advertisers applying, the more your blog will be worth.

The one down side is that users do not see every credit earned; EntreCard members only see 25% of the price for advertising on their blog. The rest is swallowed up by the system to deter inflation.

Furthermore, members can earn credits by blogging. Members can earn 25 credits each time they blog, once every 3 days.

Since EntreCard credits are transferrable, there are many, many contests popping up around the blogosphere with credits as the prize.

If none of these methods sate your need for EntreCard credits, you can always sell items in the shop like blog reviews, links or graphic designs. Of course, if you’re really hard up, you can always buy credits with actual money.

Besides the dropping, credit earning, and advertising, EntreCard offers a fledgling community to bloggers.

The “Campaign” section lets you browse members’ blogs by category, account age, price or search term. You can even view random blogs. The results will let you view either the EntreCard profile – like mine – which provide extra information about the blog or go directly to the blog.

Profiles are pretty straight forward, informing you of blog name, category, tagline, URL, location, drop rank (a description of how often a blogger drops) and how many drops the blogger has on your widget. Profiles also show recent posts (via RSS) with a short post snippet and allow you add you to message the user, add to your favourites, gives credits, write a recommendation or report a site. Lastly, profiles show advertising statistics like how long it typically takes for an ad to be approved and the percentage of declined advertisements.

Favourites show up under the “Friends Feed” tab of the dashboard and show recent posts from all your favourites similar to a feed reader or Technorati. Writing a recommendation sends a message to all your friends (who have this feature turned on) with your recommendation for why a site is awesome.

The shop lets you browse or sell products and services in a variety of categories like advertising, domains and hosting, graphics design, upgrades, music and writing services.

The EntreCard blog is frequently updates about service changes and news. The names behind EntreCard are very involved with the community and take a very casual approach to their interactions.

Post about a number of topics with other EC users and even staff on the forums. Topics range from support to suggestions to promotions to EC economy even to “Hostile, aggressive, uncivil posts.”

Lastly, check out your statistics in a unique 3D bar graph style. This expands on the “Quickstats” shown in the dashboard and also has suggestions to increase your success.

So now that you have a run down of the features, do they work?

I would definitely say my blog is seeing new traffic through EntreCard, which I can tell from the number of drops I get. It would seem that the days I am most active are the days which I see more traffic so EntreCard is not a service that will work if you just sit back. However, for those who like to view other blogs and have the time to surf the web, this won’t seem like a lot of work. If you don’t have the time or motivation, EntreCard probably won’t do much for you unless your blog is already on the A-list.

On the other hand, the new traffic probably isn’t repeat traffic and I haven’t seen much in the way of comments. The latter is, generally, what I use to determine the success of my blogs and if EntreCard isn’t helping it, then I’m not getting as much out of this service as I would like.

EntreCard has definitely helped me discover new, interesting sites and also ones that are good for advertising. Nevertheless, many of the sites in the EntreCard network are simply crap. Many are riddled with advertisements to the point that content is unrecognizable and exist solely for the purpose of revenue. Most are poorly designed. A shocking number are in Engrish and are painful to read!

Few actually have content I like and are what I would deem acceptable when it comes to having ads placed on my site. If you’re a discerning blogger, you may find that those applying for advertising on your site obviously haven’t looked at it, have completely irrelevant content or fall into any of the piss poor categories I outlined in the previous paragraph.

To be a discerning blogger, unless your site is already well known and successful, means that you’ll have few legitimate advertisement options thus you won’t be an EntreCard millionaire any time soon. Unfortunately, I suspect many otherwise picky users have reduced themselves to accepting all advertisements in the name of making a buck – or credit – or two.

And for what, having credits used for advertising via a system full of mediocre, ad-riddled blogs in poor English?

At this point, I think EntreCard is a good idea and has obvious perks; it could become a strong tool for blog networking. Still, there’s a lot of kinks to work out to bring up the overall quality of blogs in the system (I would say most reputable blogs have either skipped over EntreCard or have not yet heard of it because it’s rampant in the slums of the blogosphere only) which would actually make it worth the effort small bloggers like myself have to put in to see a result.

Keep trying EntreCard and so will I.

Furthermore, I’ve been rearranging and changing the types of advertisements used on the type so they can be more fully saturated while remaining noninvasive. I hope you all agree.

Lastly, I’ve made some changes in hopes to improve functionality. There is now a search field in the left column and I’ve enabled Intense Debate for comments which will allow inline comments and for visitors to make threads, follow comments, link to profiles and use avatars. I’ve also replaced the old links for social bookmarking into a new, more dynamic menu by AddThis.

I hope you enjoy these improvements! I do and certainly feel that Reviews by Cole is coming together.