In my quest to monetize the time I spend on the Internet, I’m experimenting with various programs to increase the amount of subscribers and Website traffic to all of my sites. We all know that quality content is king, but if you’re target readers don’t know about you then it means nothing. In addition to my Win a Nintendo Wii Contest, I joined the Entrecard Advertising Network for Truebluetitan.com.

What’s Entrecard?

Entrecard is like an ad exchange network, but with a twist. First of all, it’s free. If you’ve been around the Internet as long as I have then you have come to learn that free then usually means that it’s not worth your time. However, with Entrecard, I feel that it’s probably not the case. Why? Well, I have been using the program for 2 days now and have already had 82 people visit my site because of the program. Getting 41 new visitors a day for free isn’t bad at all.

Additionally, Entrecard has some of the top bloggers out there participating in the ad network, and if you are lucky you can get an ad displayed on their site for a day without spending a dime. However, I’d love to be able to purchase multiple days of advertising with one click instead of having to constantly resubmit to a site.

How Does It Work?

After signing up for your Entrecard account you create a unique 125×125 advertisement and upload it to their site (My current advertisement is on the left). If you do not have the ability to create a custom advertisement, Entrecard has several templates that you can use instead.

Once you’ve chosen your advertisement it’s up to you to visit other people’s blogs and click on the “Drop yours” button at the bottom of the ad to build your credits. Anytime someone drops their card on your site you gain a credit as well. Credits are used as currency to purchase advertising on other people’s sites. The number of credits required to advertise on another site depends on how popular their widget is (# of cards they have received).

It is also necessary to place the Entrecard widget on your site. The nice thing is that you have 3 different formats to choose from. Being the minimalist that I am, I went with the smallest footprint possible.

Ways To Improve Your Entrecard Ad Spot

Since your ad is what the members of the Entrecard Ad Network and their Website visitors will see it’s up to you to differentiate yourself from the competition. By using Entrecard’s standard templates your site is going to disappear in the crowd. That’s why I’m going to offer my design services to anyone interested in having a unique Entrecard Advertisement for their site. The fee is $10 per design and you can get in contact with me through my Contact form.

Will It Pass The Test Of Time?

I’m still not sure if the program is a worthwhile investment in the long run. For one thing, it’s takes a long time to drop your card on other people’s sites. Several unethical Entrecard users have already tried to buck the system by creating a script that automatically drops their card on participating sites. I knew this was going to happen, and I have to admit, I was tempted to write a script of my own, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who’s doing it, and I ‘d like to see if the system really works the good ol’ fashion way.

Sign Up!

The only way that the site is going to be successful is if it continues to grow. It’s still in it’s infancy, but I’ve discovered some pretty interesting Websites through my participation in the program, and I only imagine that it’s going to get more popular as time goes on. So if you’re interested in increasing the traffic to your blog as well as meeting new bloggers out there, sign up for Entrecard today.