Entrecard : An Epic Fail

I wrote previously that the ad network introduced by Entrecard is an epic fail. I was right. The ad network was supposed to be launched in approximately one weeks time, it took them more than two weeks for the same.

Initially there were talks of revenue sharing, cash outs and all other such big jargons were thrown into the conversation. Now, Entrecard says that -

Revenue generated from these paid ads will go to fund our future operations, feature development, more servers, and all that good stuff, as well as a war chest to cash out all your credits with (or all the credits of those who wish to cash them out!). So please approve paid ads proudly knowing you’re supporting Entrecard and the only true virtual economy in the blogosphere!

It's like saying that I'll be using your blog for selling space to third party advertisers, and the moolah that I earn from that advertising goes in my pocket. Why, because I want you to feel proud that you are supporting me!

To add to the injury, bloggers who would be using Entrecard to display those paid ads would not even be credited in terms of ec, which is the virtual currency in Entrecard! I myself had approved about 15 paid ads and my ec never changed from 309. It looks like Entrecard is in dire need of charity but is quite ashmed to ask for it, so they developed this new business strategy.

And Entrecard is so user friendly that they do open forum threads about the issues being faced by Entrecard users, there goes a dialogue between phirate, who is from the development team, and a certain jegan414, who is a senior member. And jegan414 asks questions which are typical and are aimed towards supporting Entrecard than discussing any real problem like the structure of the cash flow the the bloggers are generating for Entrecard. And a significant answer from phirate about "exposure for the buck" goes something like this -

We're not sure how the impact of paid adverts will impact EC advertisers on the same spot to be honest. I'll do anopther post in a moment discussing this issue.

Isn't that wonderful bloggers! And on top of that, when Entrecard could not answer the flow of questions, they simply closed the thread. After all bloggers are supposed to blog, not ask questions, right?

Honestly, I am not here for charity. If you want ad space on my blog, you either need to pay for it or give me some value return. If you cannot, then I would simply leave. And that is exactly what I did. I had mailed the accounts department for deletion of my account. Was it a big decision? No.

Entrecard, when it started, looked promising. But a lack of proper business strategy has made it an epic fail.