Wednesday, August 5, 2009

How To Be a Real Smart Carder - Clean Up and Use That "Friends Feed"


Lets Finally Get Over the Temptation.. and Become SmartCarders


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today we offer our weekly PSA in a post to help you get more use out of your Entrecard.

This is our All Powerful Friends Feed. you get in in the Newsfeeds Tab on your dashboard.

http://entrecard.com/feeds/news/TG2KYY929M/rss2.0


Going Here Means basically You take your time and look at the posts.
no toolbar and no bs - just the posts that have been Recently Updated, VOILA ! 


We read on a certain blog recently in the comments that if we
didn't bitch we'd have nothing to say. wow - powerful words indeed.

But we're not Thirsty, or Hongry. we're phat enough that we
don't need to go Buyin Hits and PR; Begging for comments 
or drops; let alone Donations.   so what we planned for our response
post is this - A PSA On Being a SmartCarder

Lets Learn How To Use Entrecard Like SmartCarders.
Uh Huh - that's not bitching or complaining - or pointing
the finger at anyone else, as we've been accused of doing.

First off the reason you want to consider this approach is
"Entrecard is supposed to be a Bloggers Social Network" - Not A Job.

Uh Huh - sorry we can't help but toss stones at them thirsty teams out there; who boast such high drop figures daily, but rarely make a Real substantive post. Sorry but IN My Opinion - posting pics of your kid,
your house and your car are not only dangerous, but outright asking for trouble. 

Recently those of us who read, saw the headlines about the break-ins that happened because folks twitted about being away from home. Please, think about your personal security and the crime rate; if not how many fools are out there waiting to kidnap your adorable blogging star subject. common sense ain't common, mom always said. today we are seconding that as fact.

Sorry - but there should be a link that connects when a blog appears in front of you - if you see politics, or
adult subject matter, that's not your thing ? why not move on -

We Are Here for The Reality of Politics and Entertainment. 

many of these blogs are serial droppers (clickfiends).
We've learned from watching them come up in our Inbox Day
After Day. We've stopped JUST dropping back on them;
but they still continue to drop on us for some reason...

Here's An Open Question to the Click Fiends -  
(you know who you are)

Why is One EC So Important when there is obviously nothing of interest to you here ? my bouncerate is the real issue to me, but not to you. hmph...  

please read this clickfiends, and those who want to make
themselves contributors to our daily gift ec pot -
"We see it as a gift, And We Say A "Hearty Thanks" for supporting our entrecard advertising fundage.


fyi - you too may have an EC Gift Pot - it works like this, if you get drops that you do not return, they are still counted remember. the dropper gets a point and the droppee gets a point. Niiiiccceee..

Ahhhhh That Dirty Inbox and Temptress Toolbar..

yeah. those are the two real culprits. If you want to have a better focus on
who you really visit on Entrecard, take a trip to your own profile.

Being Good Carders - We went to the Entrecard book last nite to see if there was a page on it; Only to be shown NO Entrebook ANYLONGER.   uhhhh yeah..click and see for yourself.


So we decided that the easiest route is to go to Your Blogs Profile Page. Just click on the Entrecard E on your widget on your page

It will Instantly Transport You to Your Profile page.

on that page is the most important tool you have access to - 
Your Favorites.

Your Favorites are hand selected by you; as you are dropping.
First thing you should do is to take a look at how many Favorites
you have saved over your months on Entrecard. count them.

Early this morning I went through mine, and was totally amazed at the blogs
that I like and favorited. some of them, I've visited once or twice - and I've
never seen them again. could there be some housekeeping needed ? oh yes indeed..

First I clicked the link at the end of my favorites column 

I was magically transported to the page which shows my Favorite Carders.
a huge list of approximately 400 cards opened. yes 400 - far too many to viist regularly.

upon closer inspection, I found that many of them were removed from entrecard
or even dead. I also noticed many marked clearly no widget; or ads disabled.
Our sister blog Recycled Frockery disabled ads for a few months during our redesign

deliberations; only to finally return and take ads again a few weeks ago.

the blogs which I wanted to take a peek at that - were mostly blogs that
I hadn't seen in a long time.  I clicked on the cards and loaded them in multiple tabs; exactly as the tool bar would. -
This is done by using the control key while I clicked the card.

As they loaded I got to see their profiles and to see our relationship played out..

many had no feed - so hence no blog

If i liked it, I clicked the url to visit to verify if the blog
was a keeper or a tosser. when the blog loaded I could
almost make an immediate decision. many were dead,
moved or just so old that there was no point in keeping
them on my favs any longer. I clicked that remove from favs
link on their profile page, instantly removing the card and the
feed from my friends list - poof. easy instant housekeeping.

How Did It Feel - Ooooohhhhhh let me tell you..

many of the blogs I visited this morning actually were just no widget,
but still great blogs. some of them like Junk Drawer were still listed - even without a widget. I let them stay because they are locked into that feed;
and I can still read them, regardless of if they are Active in Entrecard
or Have A Widget - get it now ?

the blogs who have no widget, may have left entrecard,
but their feeds are still available to me on my friends feed.
that makes it oh so great.

so I did the housekeeping judiciously - removing dead blogs,
and others that I know I have no real interest in. somehow I
felt bad removing some which still drop on me; even though I rarely drop back.

that's the beauty of this housekeeping. you make the choices based on what you want.

Keep that friends feed clean. use it to drop from, instead of that volitile clickfarm called the Inbox.

we're stepping back into our respectable position of avoiding the Inbox Totally.
we're going to keep our friends feed as our primary point of drop origin;
knowing that we're keeping it clean and useful. that's what we need entrecard
to do for us. keep it clean and useful.

this is our PSA for the Week of August 5-12th, 2009.


Please feel free to post comments, and to discuss the methods I've outlined
to help keep dropping interesting; and be a smart carder.
this post was inspired by a question asked by My Friend Cher on AskCherlock.


Hope You All Put This To Good Use and Start Enjoying Being a Smart(entre)Carder Again,


Cheers,

17 comments:

Cher Duncombe said...

RE,
Your post was inspiring and well thought out. If Entrecard is part of our blogging routine, then it should be fun, not work. There are so many worthy blogs out there, and they are interesting enough for me to leave comments, whether I agree, for example, with their political position or not. I say 'political' because that is the primary drive of our blog. I am also drawn to blogs outside the political realm because there are some terrific writers who put much thought into what they post. It is a diverse universe, the blogosphere, and we should enjoy it.

EC becomes work when you have labored over a post only to have many "drop" on you, but rarely read your post, let alone leave a comment. To be sure, there is the bounce rate which adversely impacts all of us who are serious bloggers.

I also find it offensive to open a blog only to find pics of a child's birthday party or a split tongue red with blood. I truly have no repsonse to that. No more drops on those.

Perhaps your idea of garnering those you find worthwhile and leaving a comment is the clear choice if we are to continue. Those who use ploys to draw us in only to ask for "donantions" do not serve the system well. I have found some charities to which I donate. I'll leave it at that. Sorry to prattle on so, but EC could be such a good tool. You have found a way to make it that way and should be commended.

Unknown said...

Pardon me...I am still chewing on the phat of your blog :)
And I don't eat meat so you should be very honored :P

Awesome...awesome and very thorough post.
I give you a high5 for taking the time to research and then to write this up and all to help us bloggers be more educated!

If I had an award...it would be handed to you sweet thang!!!!


People really seem to miss the operative of the word 'favorites'. It is not just a label for organization ...it means these are your friends and these are bloggers with content that are of interest to you.
Ones that you want to revisit or else why store them anywhere especially in your favorites:)

Again kudos to BadGals for sharing an important and realistic point!


Huggz~D~

doctor Faustroll said...

Sounds like a plan. I hadn't thought about the feeds at all. Thanks.

Babsy said...

@Cherlock -
Ms Cher. you are a wonderful inspiration. you and I talked about how much Entrecard really Means to Us and that provided the food for thought.

I must also admit that the hurt from the betrayal made me sad. I had to find a better place.

there is always a better place, and I want to try to find it.

Thanks for the inspiration, and please spread our message of using the Friends Feed to Become SmartCarders.

Bless Ya and Hugz to You both.

~RE

Babsy said...

@Dorothy
Ms.D - when I thought about your recent post on Betrayal and repair; I had to use that inspiration to give back positively.

I so regret bitterness, and strive to aim higher always; in my address to the pain.

there is never a time to look down, and try to become a part of what you know will not benefit you.

You are a Wonderful Sage and a Great Confidante'. I thank you more than you could ever know.

Hugz My Friend As Always,

~RE

Babsy said...

@Doctor Faustroll

So did that prescription work to put the umph back in ya entrecard DoctaDear ? we aim to please.
thanks as always for the comment and conversion to the new found movement.

spread the word - far and wide.
entrecard needs it, and you can deliver it to the masses.

Jude said...

Entrecard can't seem to find my feed, but I do have one. So just because they can't find a feed doesn't necessarily follow that there is no blog. Good post by the way.

Daisy said...

I set up favorites a long time ago when I first started on Entrecard. I decided to delete them all because it's too hard to maintain. But now I am stuck with just the blogs that have left Entrecard. I sure wish there was a way to delete those from Favorites.

Also, I have never understood why blogs that seldom update spend so much time dropping. Why do they want traffic?

jacqueline said...

Thanks for the education!!!

I must confess, in the beginning, I was one of those people who started to feel as if dropping was a job. Sometimes as I was dropping, I'd ask myself, "Why am I even doing this?" I was just going through the motions. Heck, I wasn't even advertising, just collecting credits.

But as I've matured with this program, I'm delighted to say that I've changed my ways. I no longer feel as if it's a job.

Nevertheless, I know I've missed out on some wonderful opportunities to network with some people here because I was focused on making drops.

This is a powerful social network which can actually work well beyond "dropping and reading." I'm still working on improving.

Thanks again for the education, insight and making us all more savvy Entrecarders. :-)

You ARE appreciated!!!!!

Tiffany said...

As a newbie to EC, I really appreciate the insight.

I was getting aggrivated by the "clickfarm" called the inbox.

I'm sure to be a better member of the community thanks to your guidance.

Much Thanks
Tiff

Patrick said...

The thing about dropping and running is a sore point with a lot of people. I can understand, you put a lot of time and effort into this thing, why just play this mindless game of ping-pong with someone who's not really interested?

To be honest, though, I'm not upset by it because people who like the blog will stay a bit longer (and comment) -- yes, that's a compliment :) -- and those who don't help to push up raw traffic numbers. These, in turn, help to push up rankings which, in turn, help with exposure.
At this point, I visit your sites without Entrecard; if anything, I just look you up in Google. Entrecard was merely the gateway drug to fully intravenous BadGal, so I'd say it's done its job.

Doctor Faustroll said...

Spam me, babsy. I am the original troll, the faust troll, up from heaven, down from hell, doing well, thank ya.

I been playing with the features a bit and they should help. I never used the tool bar because I use Safari on the Mac.

I'll give your strategy a week or so to clarify in my muddled mind before I post on it, and I will cite your bold as love ass, of course.

I'm not sure what the motive was behind the changes to the EC help system, but it appears that they are logging everything you submit through the feedback form.

I suspect they wanted to screen priority going in because everything I've sent them is in there.

It does piss me off some that they closed some tickets (such as the goddamn login and insufficient privileges problems that have made the ticket so useless from the get go) with no comment, no resolution, and apparently no gumption to get it on.

Sorry. I need to snort something and tap a vein and do some acid to get back down to earth.

TTYL

Babsy said...

@Daisy - I suggest you open the friends page; then click the widgets of those remaining cards and remove them. regardless of if they are in or out, they remain there until removed by the owner.

hope this helps remedy that craziness. maybe then you can start to collect some Good Friends.

remember to add us to that new friends list Ms Daisy ;)

Babsy said...

@Jacqueline - today is your BIRTHDAY !!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY

I'm glad that this post helped restore your Entrefun. that was the intention, totally.
glad to know we achieved our goal.

thanks for the comment Birthday Gal ;)

Babsy said...

@Jude - you mean entrecard can't id your rss feed ? crazy indeed.

so how do they verify that you have a blog ? that's very interesting indeed - as I've seen alot of those no feed widgets in the categories and wondered what that was all about.

thanks for the comment Ms.Jude

Babsy said...

@Tiff
Hey Tiff - glad to see you drop by my girl. I sent your page to someone earlier.

you are so sweet, and such a success story. girllllll you go head with your good hand.

thanks for the comment Tiffy Tiff !

Babsy said...

@PATRICK - You really know how to get a girls attention (Wink*Wink)

Patrick, you know this post was supposed to be about the betrayal; but after I went back to Dorothys' blog one more time to re-read one of her posts, I realized how I was cheating myself.

you are right each visitor counts; but negatively is not what I want.

you looking me up, steals my heart. wow to think I've actually got someone looking me up. wowwww

You Patrick Have Made My Day, Thank You Very Very Much ;)