Month: July 2008

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What All Entrecard Users Have in Common?

In a previous article I mentioned some of the most popular niches among Entrecard users. However, this time I’d like to bring to your attention another aspect of the Entrecard community: something that all users have in common.

I know that trying to analyse thousands of people as a whole may be complicated. Anyone slightly familiar with Internet marketing concepts knows that we should preferably target niches. Still, I insist: despite the several divisions, niches and subniches that you can identify on the Entrecard directory, there is one way to address the entire community’s need at once.

All Entrecard users want traffic

Regardless of niche and personal preferences, what all Entrecarders want is traffic, above all else. It doesn’t matter what they want this traffic for. It may be for money making purposes, or for fame, or just to find more people to exchange views… Whatever they want, doesn’t change the fact that traffic is the way to achieve it.

Entrecard is such a successful site exactly because it meets its users’ expectations. Moreover, it’s reliable, unlike many other suspicious traffic generating offers that you may find all over the Internet.

What can you do about this simple lesson?

1. Use this as a model when you need to analyze large groups of consumers. See what needs they have in common. While smaller groups are easier to understand, it’s always possible to look at the big picture.

2. Leverage Entrecard’s userbase. One site that has been successfully doing it is BlogEngage. It would have taken me much longer to find this site if it wasn’t for all the Entrecard spots that it buys on several blogs. And note that BlogEngage is also another traffic generating site. It’s a perfect match for Entrecarders.

3. Create your own traffic generating service. There are thousands of webmasters and bloggers out there waiting for good promotional tools. Entrecard does have some competitors, but none of them has managed to become as popular. Can you take this challenge and create a better solution?

I have more Entrecard-related tips to share with you. Subscribe to The WebMaster Blog so you don’t miss any future post. And remember that by subscribing you’ll have the chance to win several prizes in our contest. Click here to learn more about it.

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A Little More Cash

The world economy is at a downfall, and while the prices of goods and services continue to rise, many people receive the same salary; or at the worst case lose their jobs. Many of us are desperate for more money, and as a result, turn to the Internet for revenue. Unfortunately, it is easy to fall victim to numerous online scams.

Enter the blog. Admittedly, making money online is getting more difficult because of the sheer volume of people who already do it. But it CAN be done. The blog is a great money-making tool. You can choose to start a blog for free, or, you may choose to spend a modest amount on hosting, design, etc. ( See our previous series on Free Hosting) Either way your are opening doors of opportunities that were not previously available to you. Blog monetization comes in several forms, from advertisements to sponsored posts to affiliate marketing. Problogger is a perfect example of a monetized blog.

One small thing for the upstart to avoid scams: you do not have to pay anything to make money! Find a suitable niche, start a blog, create great content, and optimize; pretty soon you’ll be earning money to augment your resources.

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Free Domain From GoDaddy!

Aww, it looks like the free domain offer is over. 🙁

You can never have too many domains, right? I know I have over 100, but I still couldn’t resist this offer. I don’t know how long this will last, but GoDaddy is offering a free domain if you opt in to the mailing list for indycarrewards.com.
Go to the Indycar.com site for full instructions on how to get your code for a free domain.
If you get a code and for some reason you don’t need it, please post it here for someone else!
If you want to say thanks for the great information, please stumble this post and subscribe to our feed!

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Our First Contest!

It is time for our first ever contest here at The WebMaster Blog. Our first two months have been great and we would like to thank everyone who reads the blog. The contest rules are simple:
1. Subscribe to the feed. This is required! Only subscribers will win prizes. 10 Points
Plus, read how you can receive a free e-book just for subscribing.
2. Comment on The WebMaster Blog. Any post. 1 point per comment. Limited to 5 per day.
3. Comment on a contest sponsor’s blog. 5 points per comment.
4. Blog about The WebMaster Blog. Include 2 links, one to the homepage and 1 to any post. 10 points.
5. Blog about the contest and include the list with links to the sponsors. 50 points!
Which prize do you hope to win?

Comment here to let us know what you did.

A secret bonus prize will be given for the best blog post about The WebMaster Blog.
Winner (s) will be chosen by our authors.

Here is the prize list. Be sure to visit our sponsors and comment on their blogs!

My CFO on the Go! 125X125 ad spot for 30 days. $5 PayPal cash.
Get Rich Geek 125X125 ad spot for 30 days. $5 PayPal Cash
Ninja Success 125X125 ad spot for 30 days. $5 PayPal Cash

Susanne at SquidooMagic Free set up of SEO optimized Squidoo lens.
Better Interpersonal Communication 125 X 125 ad spot
WebbieStuffs 1200 EC Credits, Permanent Link (Blog Roll), 2-month ad in side bar, 100 x 100.

Blog Improvement and Money Making Tips 1000 EC credits.
BestJoanne Is The One For Reviews 1000 EC credits.
Rumbling Lankin 1000 Entrecard Credits

TwinsHappiness 250 EntreCard credits.
The Spirit of Blogging 1000 Entrecard Credits and 125 ad space.
The Melvin Blog E-book worth $17, ad spot worth $10.

The University Kid will offer eBooks and 2, 1 hour consultations.
The Smile Guy will donate 500 Entrecard credits and an ad spot. Either 125X125 or 486X60 winners choice!
5 links Blog Promotion Site

Plus The WebMaster Blog is giving away:
5 prizes of 1,000 Entrecard Credits Each
2- 125X125 ad spots for 30 days
5- BlogRoll links for 30 days

More great prizes added!
Indian Devs is offering one non animated banner or logo design worth $30, and one adspot on technoworld worth 15$

With so many prizes you are almost guaranteed to win something!
Contest will end August 24, 2008.

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Need Comments On Your Blog? Get Entrecard Now!

entrecard and sezwho logos

What is it that most new bloggers want the most? Traffic. What comes second? Comments. Now, with the partnership between Entrecard and SezWho, bloggers can have both.

The WebMaster Blog has been using Entrecard since our beginning. It is a great way to bring traffic to a new blog, and to get yourself noticed. But traffic alone is not enough. Many Entrecard visitors stay at your site only as long as it takes to drop a card, and then they move on. Now this is perfectly fine with the WebMaster Blog. Maybe we haven’t posted something new, maybe you are trying to make your 300 drop day, it’s all good! But for a blog to really thrive you need visitors who will stop a moment to read your blog (and your ads!) and maybe even leave a comment. This is where SezWho comes in.

SezWho is a comment platform that will encourage readers to leave comments on your blog. By leaving comments, readers can earn Entrecard credits. How many credits depends on how well the comment is rated. This discourages spam comments, and commenting just for the sake of commenting! Comments are rated by both readers and blog owners. Comments with higher ratings earn more credits than comments with lower rating.

I have been pleased with the traffic that Entrecard has brought to the WebMaster Blog, and I am looking forward to the quality comments that SezWho will bring.

For more on the Partnership between Entrecard and SezWho read this post on the Entrecard Blog.

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Entrecard Festival at The WebMaster Blog

I originally planned to write a single article about Entrecard dropping patterns. However, as time went by, I had more and more ideas. The result? I decided to devote a whole month to Entrecard-related articles. After all, Entrecard is a very hot topic; one post about it wouldn’t have been enough.

What can you expect from the Entrecard Festival?

I plan to write about how to make the most out of Entrecard. I want to show you what is beyond dropping: networking possibilities, niche analysis, learning opportunities…

What can’t you expect from the Entrecard Festival?

Advice on how to break Entrecard rules. If that’s what you’re looking for, you won’t find it here. That would be a big no-no for me and for all honest users.

I’m open to post suggestions

Who said this Entrecard Festival should depend solely on my own ideas? Leave your comments on this post and tell me what aspect of the Entrecard universe you’d like to read about. I’ll do my best to write posts on the requested topics. However, you must keep in mind that I’m not a huge Entrecard specialist. I’m just a happy user who wants to share some tips and thoughts on the service. If you have any doubts concerning rules and technical stuff, go straight to the source: visit Entrecard’s official website.

Special reminder: Among the prizes offered to the winners of our first contest, there are lots of Entrecard credits. Click here to learn more.

And don’t forget to subscribe to our blog. This way you’ll make sure you won’t miss any part of the Entrecard Festival.

Karen Zara loves writing article series, as you must have realised if you’re a regular visitor here. You can find even more of her articles at Abaminds, a blog full of ideas for content producers.

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Free E-Book with Full Rights

I managed to get my hands on some very nice e books with full rights. You can do anything you want with them. Sell them, give them away, publish them on your website. Here is all you need to do to get your free e book.

1. Subscribe to our feed. Very, very important!
2. Comment on this post and tell me which e book you would like. I’ll send it to you by email.

You can choose from:
The Affiliate Marketers Handbook
Internet Entrepreneurial Success
Cashing In On eBay

Thanks for reading The WebMaster Blog!

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Web naming rules to be relaxed

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has recently relaxed web naming rules after an unanimous board voting.

ICANN is a non-profit organization established in 1998. The internet watchdog is responsible to regulate the internet, regulate its integrity and set the rules for domain names registration.

Previously, domain names and especially top level domains (TLD) are tightly regulated and guarded, no offensive or trademarked domain names are allowed and only TLDs (besides the traditional .com, .org and .net) which add value can be registered.

In the recent ICANN board meeting, several key issues regarding web naming conventions have finally been resolved. This could effectively spell a new direction in the development of the internet. The decisions taken during the meeting are:

  1. Domain names with combination of numbers, letters and non-Latin characters will be allowed.
  2. Extended top level domains (TLD) such as .kids, .toys, .news and .cars could be registered.

These decisions would be welcomed by web vendors, developers and users alike. Most good English domain names have been taken and due to the restrictions placed by ICANN, many companies have resorted to weird sounding domain names. Now it is possible for web developers to grab hold of suitable domain names in other languages and top level domains. However, the opportunity would not come cheap, ICANN has hinted at a possible starting price of $100,000 for the registration of extended domain names.

Apparently, this move does not only excite the money-minded opportunists, but also patriots like Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, who would like to see the use of languages other than English in the naming of web domains.

The year 2009 will be a year to watch out for, ICANN expects that companies and individuals will be able to register new domains under the new ruling in the first quarter of the year.

BobbyT is a 23-year-old blogger, freelance writer and internet marketeer wannabe. You can visit his blog at http://bobbytoat.blogspot.com

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What Are The Most Popular Niches Among Entrecard Users?

Apparently this question is very easy to answer. Anyone can go to Entrecard, click on “Browse” and verify the amount of blogs listed on each category. However, the definitive answer may be a bit less obvious than expected.

In absolute numbers, the “Personal Diary” category is the most popular one, containing more than a thousand listings. But if you do the math, you’ll notice that “Internet Marketing” has even more listings. It’s just that they are divided among other related categories, i. e., “Make Money Online,” “Blogging Resources,” “Marketing,” “Business” etc. Sum all their listings and you’ll get over 2,500 blogs as a result.

This was to be expected, after all. Internet marketers are ever looking for easier ways to play the traffic game. And we all agree that the Entrecard system is truly helpful when it comes to increasing pageviews (if said pageviews will lead to conversions or not, is another topic). So, if you’d like to network with other marketers, Entrecard could be a very good starting point.

Nonetheless, this article is mainly meant to draw your attention to the “hidden” niches inside Entrecard.

Let’s get back to the aforementioned personal diaries. Besides forming the largest list within the Entrecard directory, they are also present in many other categories — yes, including the marketing-related ones. For instance, take a look at the Lifestyle listings. Visit some blogs. Aren’t most of them personal diaries? Now repeat this little test with other categories, like “Pets,” “Art,” “Philosophy,” “Mixed Bag,” “Parenting & Family,” “Hobbies”… You’ll find many other personal blogs. Some of them are partially disguised as niche blogs, but several aren’t.

You may also notice that many of those personal blogs contain posts about pets and/or crafts. This only goes to show that such topics are much more popular among the Entrecard crowd than they appear to be at first sight. And to think that the Entrecard directory currently contains less than 200 entries in the Pets category… Talk about misleading data!

I would write about the conclusions that one could draw from the pieces of info above. But I’ll do something better: I’ll leave it to you. You tell me what you have concluded and how you could put your knowledge to good use. The comment form is open to you.

While I wait for your input on this subject, I’ll prepare more articles on Entrecard — and several of them will be directly or indirectly derived from what I’ve learned by studying the Entrecard directory. Click here to subscribe to our blog and you’ll be able to read the next posts as soon as they’re released.

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How Not To Lose (Too Many) Visitors When You Move Your Site – Part 3

In this final installment, let’s see a few more things that you can do in order to redirect your current audience to a new site address. All of them are related to your site strategy — you have one, right? If you don’t, it’s time to think about it.

Strategic decisions to prevent loss of visitors

1. Use a paid domain. Unlike webhosting, that would be a yearly expense. So, the impact on your budget would be minimal. Besides, many free webhosts allow the use of paid domains. Therefore, register one right from the start if you’re still going to build your website and you prefer to initially have it hosted for free. If your site is already up and running, buy a domain for it as soon as possible and then just announce the new official address. If you’re about to move your site but still haven’t bought a domain, see if you can delay the move for one or two months. Purchase the domain, announce it and give your visitors some time to bookmark it and get used to it while they gradually forget the old free address. Then you’ll be able to move safely.

In any case, keep in mind that you’ll never go wrong when you register your own domain. This is the very best thing you can do to make sure that you won’t lose any visitors, no matter how many times you move your site or blog.

2. Contact your most faithful visitors. If you’re the type who mostly ignores visitors’ emails and comments, I urge you to change your behaviour — unless you don’t want to succeed as a webmaster. Remember that word of muth still works. So, when you move your blog or site, take the time to contact your most loyal visitors, tell them about the new URL and politely ask them to help you spread the word about it. Don’t forget to offer to return the favour when they need; it’s only fair.

3. Don’t close the old site. I entered the meta-blogging universe via WordPress.com. So, yes, my blog was hosted for free — and still is. Although nowadays I use paid webhosting and domains, I’ve never closed that old blog. I rarely update it, but it’s still there, with all its content, subscribers and backlinks. I knew I could move its content to any of my privately hosted blogs, but I chose to continue from where I were at, instead of starting everything again. When I released my new blogging projects, I used that blog to promote them. And whenever I start a new web project, I do the same. Due to this positive experience, it’s obvious that I recommend you do it too.

Of course it won’t always be possible. If your free webhost closes its doors, or if it changes its rules and you can’t comply to the new policies, you won’t be able to follow my suggestion. But if that’s not the case, I advise you to leverage your current site instead of simply killing it in favour of a newer one.

A final piece of advice: don’t feel miserable if you lose part of your audience after switching to another host. Everyone is subject to it. Moreover, the time wasted in whining would be much better spent in promotion and rebuilding.

Now it’s your turn: tell us if you ever had to move a blog or site to a new webhost and what you’ve done to redirect your visitors to the new URL. The comment form is there for you.

You can also subscribe to our blog to make sure that you’ll never miss our future tip series.

Karen Zara has been involved in Internet-based projects since 2002. One of them is Abaminds, a blog for content producers that you can visit by clicking here.