Image representing Entrecard as depicted in Cr...
Image via CrunchBase

I have been reading about all the changes over at Entrecard. People are in a tizzy about the paid ads and the management of the changeover and a whole bunch of other issues that I had no idea about. Yesterday, when I stopped by Crotchedy Old Man’s site, I learned that there was a boycott of dropping going on that day. When I found out I immediately stopped my dropping.

It was wonderful. No guilt. I turned off my computer and found something else to do. Granted it was only watching Live Free or Die Hard but I painted my nails while watching instead of surf the Internet to some sites that I love and a whole bunch I could care less about.

I have been considering dropping (no pun) Entrecard for a while now. Not because of the changes but because the weather is getting warmer and the day is longer and I can’t see being cooped up in the office when it is so nice outside. My ass is also twice the size it was when I started using Entrecard and if that isn’t a good enough reason to stop I don’t know what is.

I started using Entrecard to get more people to my blog. I want to earn money off this blog and the only way to do that is to have more visitors. Regardless of what all those SEO sites tell you, and with their broken English it isn’t easy to figure out what they are trying to tell anyone, the only way to get more people clicking on your ads, aside from telling them to which you are not allowed to do, is by getting more and more people to your site. It’s really a numbers game. That said, I found some wonderful new blogs. Using Entrecard opened up the blogoshphere for me. I had been visiting the same old blogs each day and Entrecard expanded that world immensely. Entrecard has been a great tool to get to the sites I love everyday. Of course there are feeds for that. I just haven’t gotten in the habit of looking at my reader each day. Something I plan on changing.

I’m not saying I will no longer use Entrecard, I have five blogs and most of them are unknown so I might still use it for those blogs. In the five hours I gain each day by not dropping I can actually concentrate on my writing and editing which are two things that have sucked lately. There simply hasn’t been time to write quality content when I have hours and hours of dropping to get caught up on.

My count will suffer for this. I’m sure it will be hit hard. However, my bounce rate will benefit as hopefully the people who visit will actually read what I have to say rather than spend a split second looking for my widget and then leaving. I don’t need that kind of traffic even though I feel loved when I look at the number visitors climb higher. I’ll have to get over it.

While Entrecard broadened my horizons I’m still stuck in the same neighborhood of other Entrecard users. It’s a considerably larger neighborhood but I rarely venture out of it and I can’t grow my blog if I don’t reach beyond it. So I plan on going to my favorites still, blogs like Sanity on Edge, Crotchety Old Man Yells at Cars, I Do Things So You Don’t Have To, Unfinished Rambler, Amy Oops, Soggy Doggy Bloggy, The Humor Smith Chronicle, Humor Bloggers, The Maaaa of Pricilla, Of Cabbages and Kings, Frogs in My Formula, and these are just a few. There are so many more blogs that I could list and I will in the coming days. But I also plan on visiting sites outside of this little part of the web. I’m going to stalk the commenters on these blogs who I have never heard of before. Then I am going to read their blogs, comment on them if I have something to say and hopefully lure them back to this blog. I plan on using the hours that I would waste dropping expanding my horizons even more.

I’m going to list five blogs that are not in the Entrecard community. I encourage you to visit these sites and get to know them and their readers. If you like this idea please list five of your own favorites outside the network. Feel free to credit me with the idea.

Life on Planet Bill
Cranial Hyperossification
Nanny Goats in Panties
Bad Parking

Ok, so I am only gonna list four, see, this is how bad it has gotten. If you have any recommendations for blogs that are interesting and that are not in the EC community please leave the URL in the comment. This is pathetic, I should know of more blogs than this that are outside the EC community.

Enhanced by Zemanta