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I visited Entrecard today and signed up.  Entrecard is an intriguing mix of a social network plus an advertising network.

Entrecard is a free service that combines the idea of a traditional business card with the 125 x 125 pixel ad format that is so popular on blogs today.  When you sign up, you’re asked to upload an image that size to create your ad / online business card.  (You can enter text if you don’t have an image file).   That image becomes your online ad / business card.

Once you’ve set up your account, you get some widget code that you add to your blog, and then you’re ready to visit other Entrecard members and "drop" your card off at their site using their widget, in the same way you might hand a business card to someone you meet in person.  Dropping your card off and having others drop their card off at your blog in turn earns you Entrecard credits, which you can the use to buy "ads", that is, have your card featured on another user’s site.

Eventually you’ll also be able to sell these credits if you’re not using them for cash, or to buy more credits with which to purchase ads on other user’s sites.

Money Maker or Promotional Tool?

As the authors of the site point out on their pricing page, this service "will not make you rich, no matter how good a guess you make at your pricing."  From an advertiser’s perspective, freelance writers who aren’t on the professional blogger track would probably be better off buying a precisely targeted AdSense ad or  working on blog content related to their business.

Nevertheless, I think Entrecard is a worthwhile blog promotional tool.  If your web site has space for ads, until those spots are sold profitably or pointing to your own products and services, an Entrecard widget is a good use for one spot.  It may help you identify some congenial colleagues on the one hand, and help you build your own blog’s community on the other.

Although some of the first blogs I went to were of mixed quality, after a short time I found a few good ones.   For example, I’ll review an excellent blog about improving your writing in a future post.  Several other blogs were quite entertaining but less relevant here, but the gems I did find made it worth the trip.

One concern I have about the Entrecard is that — like most social networks — the pleasure of participating hides the fact that it’s very labor intensive.  In contrast, my experience with the 101 Subscribers campaign to date has taught me not to turn up my nose at a well placed guest blogging opportunity.  I’ve almost quadrupled my visitor count in two days, largely through this guest blog post.  Social networks I’ve announced the contest to have been less helpful.

Overall, as with any blog promotional campaign or tool, Entrecard can get you started, but without good, consistent writing and a clear purpose it won’t help you much.

Related Posts:

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Write This Word:  Monetize

P.S. For an amusing critique of the national 125×125 banner ad addiction, check out Garry Conn’s How Many Button Banner Ads Does It Take To Screw In a Lightbulb?