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Recently, there have been a number of concerns floating around the blogosphere relating to Entrecard. I took a moment to ask the man behind Entrecard - Graham Langdon - a few questions.
1. You're currently looking for investors for Entrecard. How is this going? What can users expect to see if you get the money you're hoping for?
The search for a VC is going well. Two firms from Silicon Valley have now contacted me as being interested, and I'm pitching one of them on Wednesday. If I secure the investment, a number of things will change, and most importantly a proper development team will be hired. Bug fixes and new features will be rolled out much more quickly.
2. The recent pricing changes seem to be a step in the right direction, but a lot of sites seem to end up costing between 128 credits and 1024 credits to advertise on. Furthermore, this range only includes four different ad values - 128, 256, 512, 1024. Are there any plans to provide a few steps in between these advertising values to give buyers more options?
There are plans to add more increments along the way. For example, if we switch to a 1.5 multiple instead of a 2x multiple once a price hits 128 credits, we get the following steps: 128, 192, 288, 432, 648, 972, 1458. We've also been talking about a 1.8 multiple, which would give us 128, 230, 414, 746, 1343. But yes, once we make a firm decision on a more gradual multiplier it will be implemented. Tweaking the economy has widescale implications and we want it to be thought out from all angles to provide the best possible solution to the problem such that it won't require further tweaking for a long time.
3. Some bloggers have experienced "burnout" with dropping cards. If dropping is like giving someone your business card, why is it being done over and over again on the same sites? Do you plan to show that there's more to Entrecard than dropping your card?
Back in November, before we launched, I envisioned the drop to be like handing off a business card. The logic was a bit faulty. If you got a dollar for everyone you gave your business card to, a lot of people would walk up and down the main road in their town dropping their business card off every day. And so the only way the drop could really mimic the business card drop was if it did not earn them any credits. However, this would dismantle the entire system. So, to come full circle, the analogy is flawed and moving forward we won't be using it any more.
Currently the only method to generate credits in the system is to drop. This leads to burnout for people who want lots of credits. Once we open the credit exchange, and people can easily purchase credits instead of having to drop them, I believe this option will stop people from reaching burnout. When I initially thought up the idea for Entrecard, I thought that people would mostly drop cards on the blogs they read every day. For some reason, I didn't realize people would go on dropping sprees, or feel pressured to drop, such that if they couldn't find the time to drop 300 per day they would quit the service. I really don't understand this. The whole thing was meant to be a little more casual. You know, build up credits for a few days, place an ad here or there, find some good blogs, etc. Some people really apply a "do or die" or a "give it your all" attitude, and I think that's the wrong attitude to approach Entrecard with. But I do think the Credit exchange will provide a solution to those people who NEED credits, and don't have the time to drop like mad.
4. With over 7,000 blogs using Entrecard, it's becoming harder to find new sites that interest us. The category browser helps, but it would be great if we could have more ways to find new blogs. Is this something that you plan to do?
Discovery is a very important part of our mission at Entrecard, and if I were to secure an investment, the new development team would get working on a Firefox toolbar immediately. A la StumbleUpon, you could rate blogs and randomly hit blogs that others have rated. Blogs that got rated well would receive more traffic in this manner, and blogs that got rated poorly would receive less. It bothers me that this late in the game we don't have a toolbar yet, but then again there have been so many things along the way that needed doing.
Final thoughts:
The take home message is that Entrecard is going to keep growing. It's going to keep becoming more useful and more valuable to the blogger. I do not think that finding an investor is a matter of if, but more a matter of when. The concept has been proven in the marketplace, and thousands of bloggers are buying thousands of advertisements every day in a completely new fashion. Think about it. How many advertisements has the average Entrecarder purchased before our service? In many cases, probably none at all. So I like to think that we're introducing something completely new to the marketplace. An ad network - powered by a virtual currency you can earn for free - that allows you to purchase ads on the sites you like. We still stand alone in this space, and things are just going to keep getting more interesting.
Thanks Graham for your replies - it sounds like Entrecard has plenty to offer users in the future.
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Tags: entrecard, graham langdon, interview, investors, pricing, burnout, dropping cards, finding new sites
Posted by Ben on April 28, 2008 12:27 / Edited: April 29, 2008 16:11
Comments
Great Interview and very interesting to read Graham's responses. I love the way Entrecard is evolving and the way that Graham is listening to those using the system.
People are so quick to make rash judgements. I think Entrecard is like a fine wine. It is improving with age - both the age of Entrecard itself and age in terms of how long I've been a member (ie - I think my traffic value from Entrecard has improved over time).
I do like the idea of tweaking the ad price a little so it doesn't skyrocket quite so rapidly at those higher figures.
It'll be interesting to see how it evolves in the near future.
Thanks, Turnip and Lightening. I'd like to see what happens too. Fingers crossed for the investors, eh?
People are often too hasty. But they eventually settle down (sometimes). At least I hope that's the case here.
I, too, like watching Entrecard evolve. I've only been with EC for some months now, and it's changed in significant yet subtle ways---and for the better.
It's a new space. What comes will doubtless be interesting.
Thanks for the comment AJ. Entrecard has only been around since November (I joined in December) so I guess we're all early adopters. Even though there have been changes, some people are writing it off before it's even had a chance to get started. Rome wasn't built in a day. :)
Ben great interview...and thanks to Graham for his responses. I like the newer advertising model than the previous, because you can now afford to show up on some of the "A-List" blogs that have had such high prices in the past. Overall, I think that EntreCard is a good idea, but the focus has been lost by it's users.
Hopefully, with interviews like this people will begin to see the light.
Like all things these days, the Entrecard system is "gamed" by people who are obsessive about earning a buck. Now, I will say that I LOVE the traffic EC brings me, and I drop as much as I can for two of my blogs, because I cannot afford to buy credits. But I have no interest in gaming the system. The dropping aspect of EC allows the "poorer" bloggers to earn traffic by continuing to expose both their cards and the beauty of the Entrecard system. I believe this is brilliant, because it is so perfectly symbiotic. I have more time than money, so I put forth a lot of time dropping cards, whereas it's different for the guy who has less time and more money. The benefits are earning credits, clout, and getting to meet more blogs and bloggers. Love it.
I have really loved discovering new blogs, and have made many new friends. More than anything, I think this is what has made EC successful. It's a community and a way to broaden one's scope. Again, brilliant.
I fear that too much emphasis on the making of money and/or credits will kill EC. Most bloggers enjoy making money if they can, but most bloggers will write-off a system that detracts from the social aspect.
P.S. And it's about time that Stumble Upon had some competition.
[A la StumbleUpon, you could rate blogs and randomly hit blogs that others have rated. Blogs that got rated well would receive more traffic in this manner, and blogs that got rated poorly would receive less.]
Rate?
Rate good = more traffic, rate bad = less traffic?
Can be easily abused.
How would they fix that?
Bryan - thanks for the comment, I think with a couple of new things (especially a toolbar) Entrecard could really take things to the next level.
Mrs Mecomber - welcome. :) I like that people have found my site through Entrecard too. A toolbar would really, really help with finding new sites. Hope it comes along soon.
Deimos - the way I understand it, rating sites would mostly affect the people who use the toolbar - so if you rate a site as "good" you'd see more like it, and "bad" would mean "don't show me more like this". There could also be a site ranking based on voting via the toolbar but I'm not sure how it would fit in with the existing figures, e.g. the site popularity value. Either way, abuse could be tracked/reported and dealt with - I don't think the possibility of abuse should stop a toolbar from happening. :)
Loved this interview. Thanks so much for sharing Ben! (Sorry about the lame comment... I have to ease back into this... lol)
fragileheart - no worries, praise is good! Thanks for the comment. :)
Hm, very interesting...
Seems like it'll grow further in no time
thanks for the comment sJDan, I hope it'll grow! :)
Good interview. It's interesting to see how Entrecard evolves.