What Do You do While Dropping E-Cards?
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 12:00AM E-card for those of you who don’t know is a wonderful free traffic building service open to all bloggers. For new bloggers, it is a way to get your blog noticed and maybe even read by others of our ilk.
E-card is free (for now) but it does take time. You can get the details of getting started at Entrecard.com. Once set up, you visit other E-card members and “drop your card”. I am kinda compulsive so I drop the limit of 300 cards most days. It takes me about an hour and a half a day to complete 300 drops. Since this is my main means of consistent traffic to date, I see that as a reasonable investment of time. I could drop faster but there are blogs I read most days, comments to leave and there are always interesting blogs to discover.
I am curious what other e-carders do while they are dropping and hopefully commenting as we go our merry way. I was listening to TV shows I had TiVoed. Now I listen to St Augustine’s Confessions. This is a college level course available for The Teaching Company, (free advertising for a very useful product). My husband bought the CDs for to use while commuting. I’ve run through all the NCIS I had TiVoed. I have to admit listening to two college professors lecture on St Augustine makes me feel very intelligent as I stare at my computer and visit blogs, read and comment from time to time. If only I could find a way to exercise and drop at the same time! I need a Wii Fit that interfaces with E-card.
I am curious, what do you do as you make your e-card rounds?
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Reader Comments (23)
I actually look at the most recent post and if it is fresh I read it. If it is interesting I comment. I usually do it when nothing else is going on to distract me. If everyone did that entrecard would be even better than it is even if you got fewer entrecard hits in a day.
I tend to listen to TV or the radio while I read posts if they're fresh. I also comment on any that I find interesting.
i usually listen to music while i drop . sometimes i rock my new grandson.
:)
I usually read the blogs, ok admittedly I am not into all the stock market ones. I have music on in the back ground usually singing and dancing in my chair.
I use noscript. It is hard to comment, but lets go again.
I drop and look for new money making opp. for my blog.
I usually listen to the rain on my white noise machine and listen to my bamboo chimes on the balcony. I usually read the recent post and leave some comments, but not on every blog I visit while trying to update a post or read e-mail.
This is a good question. I usually drop cards while simultaneously resting. I don't listen to radio or TV. I often read the fresh content or read my favorite blogs while dropping and waiting for the "Thanks!" message to appear (which sometimes takes a while).
In the evenings, sometimes my husband will watch a DVD or read to me, and I drop. But I always am resting when dropping (feet up).
I only go through my return drop box once in awhile, maybe weekly. I just drop on the blogs I read everyday. So I usually comment while I'm there. We tend to visit back and forth regularly.
I usually listen to tv in the background while dropping cards. Sometimes I listen to my husband tell me about his latest fishing adventure. I even manage to listen to my children read while dropping cards. I have a Wii fit and I love your idea. It would be so good to do some sort of movement on Wii to help you drop cards while getting you in shape!
Usually when I drop, that's all I'm doing. I'll read the new posts if they look interesting. I'm on a slow computer right now (until mine gets fixed...hopefully today!) so it takes quite a while for each blog to load. While I'm waiting, I sometimes work on an article or reply to email. Sometimes I fold laundry on the couch and walk over to the computer every couple minutes to drop on the new blogs that have loaded and then click on several more to start loading. I can't drop anywhere near 300 a day because of this slow comp!
Today I was paying bills and watching t.v. while dropping my cards. It's a great time to multi-task. It tends to take me a bit longer because I too, like to read as I go and leave comments when I find something interesting, such as this post!
I generally split my dropping into 2 sessions while listening/watching TV.
While dropping, I pay attention to the latest post on the blog and if it's something that catches my attention I will make a comment.
I think entrecard is a great system, however, I believe it would be a lot better if more people used it the way it was intended. Simply dropping on sites without commenting defeats the purpose of coming up with a dedicated readership. I've only been doing this for a little over a month, but now I'm working on repeat drops for sites that I like and making comments on these sites - several of these have now started doing the same with my site.
I'm one of those people who can't filter out noises, so I'm a straight-up dropper. No interruptions, no distractions. All bloggy, all the time!
I used to just drop my ecard and move on. Now I'm trying to take my time and actually do some reading and maybe leave a comment or two along the way!
Usually I use the entrecard toolbar so I have 10 pages loading at once. While they are loading, I am browsing through and reading anything new. I absolutely love reading everyones blogs.
oooh, I left you a surprise at my blog. It was posted today. :)
I read post if they caught my attention, i read comment but same as Nicole, i use the entrecard toolbar so i load up 10 pages, watching tv while waiting for the page to load once one loaded quick scan if not interested with any post i just drop and go to the next page.
I can say that post title should be really catchy becuase that is the first i look and i am sure that the rest of dropper are the same. If i think i will post a long comment i usually boomark to get back later and post the comment...i save time.
I usually drop cards while listening to the news. That way I can read posts and not really miss much of a TV show except the sports reports. Since I'm not into sports, that's not an issue for me.
Lately, I've been dropping cards but kept the new off of the TV. I was getting a bad case of information overload with all of the financial doom and gloom inrrupted by policial attack ads. And you know what, my mood is greatly improved today :)
Since I am using Mozilla, I would usually open 3 blogs at a time. While waiting for the other blogs to load up, I read the other blogs and leave comments on posts that I find interesting.
I don't drop on 300 cards on one sitting. Sometimes, I would finish 150 in the morning and the other half at night. :) Well, it takes me a longer time because I have 3 blogs that are "very active" in EC. lol It's really time consuming, but I am ok with it.
Happy blogging!
Thank you everyone for commenting. I now have lots new blogs to visit and some old favorites to visit also.
in an ideal world, I would have stOOpid judge shows on while I drop ...but since I don't get that many of them I have to make do :)
I basically read the posts that grab my attention and comment on the blogs I like most (like yours)! If I am home, I usually have the tv on in the background, but I don't really pay attention to it. I never really drop 300 though, I get to sidetracked by reading everyones blog.
My poor mom! We talk on the phone almost every day, and I always drop ECs during that -- and ANY phone conversation. Also while watching TV. If I'm in the mood and have the time to comment, tho, I'll devote more attention to it. And I RARELY drop 300 at a time. It's usually more like 100.
I write paid posts while dropping cards :) This is the most efficient way for me to do my dropping. Or when I am loading more than 25 blogs at the same time, I watch tv and just go back in front of my laptop when it loaded already.