Sunday, January 4, 2009

A Blogger on Blogging

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of my goals for this year is to make money with this blog. This brought the question from from one of my readers, "How do you make money with a blog?" I think that's an excellent question, and to be honest, one that I'm still exploring myself! I was already considering sharing my journey with you guys, and this question has made my decision for me! So, as I work on bringing traffic into my blog, and earning money from it, I will be sharing with you what I learn! And, when possible, I'll be giving the credit to those that I've learned from, because I'm certainly not doing this entirely on my own!

One of the first things I'm doing to build traffic to my blog is signing up for Entrecard. Entrecard is a social networking site designed to take the old concept of passing out business cards, and bringing it into the internet world. Now don't get me wrong, I still consider business cards valuable, I just consider this a valuable option as well

Entrecard enables your blog to be found by a world of other blogs, and it also allows you to advertise your blog through a system of "points." These points are not something you have to pay for, it's something you earn as you "drop" by other blogs and as other blogs advertise on your blog! That's right folks, free advertising. How great is that?

I've been using entrecard on my other blog for some time, and I just finally got a chance to sign up for it on this blog! As I've used it through my jewelry blog I've met quite a few new people, new friends, and I've learned a lot through the blogs I've visited! I'm hoping to continue that process through this blog. Be on the look out for the avatar on the left if your interested in advertising on this blog through EC!

The biggest disadvantage I see for Entrecard (EC) is that it can be time consuming if you don't have a really good internet connection. When I first started using EC it took me a lot less time to go through visiting all the blogs I wanted to visit each day. Of course, I also had a much faster internet connection at the time! Now, with a slower internet connection, it takes some dedication to get a large number of drops. It's something I'm committed to, but I have the time right now too.

Entrecard has a limit of 300 "drops" (and therefore credits) you can make a day, I usually reach 200 on my Jewelry blog and my current goal is 50 drops for this blog. Don't be intimidated though, it took me a long time to reach the 200 drops on my Jewelry blog and, in reality, the number of drops isn't really the most important thing. Consistancy is the key. Try to visit the same blogs (especially the one's who drop in on you) on a daily basis. Comment when you can and build relationships.

When using Entrecard I recommend browsing the blogs through Firefox. It is much more secure from viruses than Internet Explorer, but don't count on that alone to protect you. Having a good virus protection system on your computer is still important because any time your spending that much time browsing the computer you can be opening yourself up to viruses!

Another advantage that Firefox has over other internet browsers is that it allows you to utilize the Entrecard toolbar. This enables you to easily mark your favorite blogs, see how many credits you have, and "buy" advertising on other blogs. I know using this tool has greatly assisted my success in using Entrecard!

Good luck :)


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

em to br vvery orgsnised and may the Force be with you. Money yo will make, fear you must not lol. I just signed up with adgitize and it's free like entrecard and they actually convert your credits to cash every month via paypal. I have only been with them a few days and already I am earning money just for my blog page views too! If you want to advertise, which I will do next month it's dirt cheap for what yo get. Check it out on my money making blog. I have three blogs with entrecard and that's a lot of dropping lol.I really like your blog and will come often. By the way I want to see your other blog too later.

Anonymous said...

sorry about the typos, the keys got stuck.I meant to say you seem to be very organized.

MagdaleneJewels said...

Oh, if only we could look back on Dec 31 at our goals from Jan 1, the beginning of the year. You sound like you are headed in the right direction. In January, I always have the best of intentions, but seem to slow down with each month. Good luck on your ventures for 2009, May the Force be with you!

TiLT said...

woot! more fun research :P
looking forward to hearing what you find
And thanks for the reminder on the favorite option for entrecard - forgot all about it.

BeadedTail said...

I'm looking forward to following you on your journey to make money on your blog! Great start and good tips for EC dropping!

Izzy Daniels said...

Very solid review. Nicly done :)

Izzy Daniels said...

Making money is one of my plans too :) I like the layout you have, and the lightsaber is pretty sweet. I'll be reading up on your blog.

Michelle said...

Thanks for all the great information. I try to make a little money of my blog too. Thanks for stopping by.

Bryan Karl said...

Entrecard is okay the first few months. Now, I'm laying low on EC because it is time consuming and I'm busy at school. I'm thankful of Entrecard though.