Banned From Entrecard

a.k.a. Entrecard.com sucks!

Well, yet another site is added to the suck list, as my account has been deleted from Entrecard. Graham, the admin claims I have been dropping on a site that doesn't exist, and therefore must have been breaking the TOS. Here's a copy of the message he sent to first alert me to the situation on Sunday:

Greetings,

It is my unfortunate business to inform you that you have been caught with your hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. You've been dropping daily on a widget that doesn't exist.

You have an ultimatum.

You can tell us how it is that you are dropping on a widget for a site that doesn't exist, and more specifically where. Most likely a widget farm of some sort, with multiple's people's widgets pulled and displayed on a single page. We'll thank you for the information and give you a bounty.

Or, we can simply remove your account for illegal activitiy and send you on your way, banning you.

Please choose the former and give us some information, otherwise we'll have no choice but to keep the integrity of our network intact.

It disgusts me that he claims he'd give me a bounty for reporting some whacked out page that enables cheating, when I took part in no such activity, yet otherwise I'll be banned. What a crock!

I sent the only explanation I could think of, for why it was happening, which apparently wasn't good enough for the monkey admins over there. Two days later, on Tuesday, I got the notice of account deletion:

Your account 'Something From Some Unfamous Body' on entrecard.com has been deleted. The administrator gave the following reason:

illegal drops

Please contact support@entrecard.com if you have any questions regarding this action.

So be it. I can't imagine they understand any legitimate reasons for why things happen on their servers. They are so worried about "cheating" because inflation got out of control (because their initial "plan" didn't work). They tried to stave off the inflation with a new pricing model, but only caused confusion and frustration, losing some of their major websites/users. They were able to kill 40,000+ credits with a single swoop (15,000 was from The University Kid's contest, and countless others were from Joe Tech's Slot Wins), and instead of just deleting the credits that shouldn't have been there from some server error, they deleted the entire account!

Good riddens Entrecard, R.I.P. (or not!).

P.S. If you advertised on my page, you'll probably have to message support to get your credits back because their system doesn't automatically resolve those things when sites no longer exist on their servers!!!


Happy Tuesday!

Need Some Nice Traffic?

Maybe you like Joe Tech's Ad-Slot Widget:

...but it has you wondering why you spend all day refreshing his page to try and win a text link that will be replaced within a day (for small ads) or a week (for extra large ads).

Plus, you know sites like Blogrush absolutely SUCK for any real traffic needs, and Entrecard is ok, but doesn't give you many options for bumping your traffic up quickly without a lot of investment (you have to build up credits or buy them, and the new limits really put a damper on any plans to advertise for free on a popular blog more than once a week!)

Introducing a few fantastic solutions:

1)

2)

There's a lot to be said about these sites, but I'll try to keep it simple for now. If you need traffic, you need to utilize these resources; they allow for site, banner, and text link promotion, and FreeTrafficLotto gives you the chance to win cash as well!

You can use the sites totally free and get great results, and "playing" for the credits is kinda fun and definitely addictive! However, if you're looking for a boosted solution, or don't have as much time to invest, you can purchase a "pro" account on either site, ridiculously cheap! With FreeTrafficLotto, you can get the benefits of pro for only $5 (the price of approximately 2000 entrecard credits - which would buy you only one day of advertising a single 125x125 on a popular site there!), and for $6.97 (introductory price only) you can get a "pro" membership on Traffic Bunnies. Something to keep in mind for those larger traffic flow needs!

Enjoy your new flood of traffic!

Awesome Contests With Long Prize Lists

**UPDATE: Contests have ended - I wound up with a nice little prize from TUK, but nothing/nada/squat/zilch from WTW (BOOOOOOO!). Thanks University Kid!**


This post is gonna be kind of long, so be prepared. In fact, the contest lists are so long, you'd think it was some kind of long-list contest holiday! The two sponsoring sites are: The University Kid and Winning The Web, and both contests offer cash prizes! I'll be covering them in the linked order, even though the second giveaway ends sooner, because that's how I discovered them (and I can do what I want). So, to keep this from getting any longer than it needs to be (too late), here we go:


The University Kid

- Contest Prizes -
Wordpress Themes
- Two licenses for the Revolution Theme ($160)
- Two licenses for the Premium News Theme ($200)
- Two licenses for the Purple Fever Theme ($100)
- One hundred accounts to the Themes Club ($500)

Blog Utilities
- Three Licenses By FruitfulTime.com ($90)

Blog Reviews
- One Review By The University Kid ($60)
- One Review By Yimto ($20)
- One Review By The WWW Observer ($35)
- One Review By Bloggeries ($25)
- One Review By Neotrepreneur ($10)
- One Review By Life Is Colourful ($40)
- One Review By DaBlogger

Blog Analysis
- Full Video Review By Marcus Hochstadt ($700)

Consulting
One Hour Consulation with The University Kid
One Half-Hour Consulation with Neotrepreneur

Blog Advertising
One Month
- Two 125 x 125 on Wayne Liew ($30)
- One 125 x 125 on Blogger Noob ($25)
- One 125 x 125 on EZ Money Online ($25)
- One 125 x 125 on Affiliate Gossip ($15)
- One 125 x 125 on Rhyan ($10)
- One 125 x 125 on Jim Karter ($30)
- One 125 x 125 on Neotrepreneur ($10)
- One 125 x 125 on Life is Colourful ($30)
- One 125 x 125 on BLJConsultant ($5)
- One 125 x 125 on Resell Rights World ($5)
- One 125 x 125 on Viking Blogger ($25)
- One 125 x 125 on Dot Com Mogul ($10)
- One 468 x 60 on Blogging 4 Cash ($10)
- Five 16 x 16 on Blogging 4 Cash ($10)
- One 150 x 150 on Blogging 4 Cash ($5)
- One Text Link on Mr Javo ($7)

Three Months
- One 125 x 125 on The WWW Observer ($75)

Design
- One Custom Done 125 x 125 Ad By Affiliate Gossip
- One Custom Done Sketch By The Pencil Sketch And Art Blog

Entrecard Credits
- 2000 Entrecard Credits By Xavier Media
- 1750 Entrecard Credits By Mixed Market Arts
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Toast & Egg & Me
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Affiliate Confession
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Yimto
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Site Hoppin'
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Neotrepreneur
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Affiliate Gossip
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By BLJ Consultant
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Resell Rights World
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Happier Life
- 1000 Entrecard Credits By Article Snatch
- 800 Entrecard Credits By Kirushanth
- 750 Entrecard Credits By Money Making Student
- 500 Entrecard Credits By Bud Calabrese
- 500 Entrecard Credits By Mr Javo
- 500 Entrecard Credits By ImpNerd
- 500 Entrecard Credits By Life Is Colourful
- 500 Entrecard Credits By Money Making Blogs

Total: 15,800 Credits
_{There is a plan to purchase 10,000 more which will bring the total to almost 26,000 Credits!}

eBooks
- SEO Book Donated By The Net Fool

Cash
- $100 Paypal By The Profit Hustler
- $30 Paypal By Viking Blogger
- $15 Paypal By Final Fantasy Fan
- $10 Paypal By The WWW Observer
- $5 Paypal By Affiliate Gossip

Miscellaneous
- $50.00 In StumbleUpon Advertising By Mixed Market Arts
- 300 Stumbles + 300 Reviews By Niklas
- Twenty Pages By One Buck Wiki
- Domain Monetization Package By Domains Earn 4U
- One Featured + Three Regular Links By The SEOTree Directory


** So there you have the first super-long list of great prizes. The University Kid is a well Dugg site that offers helpful and informative content about the internet, blogging, making money, affiliate mistakes, etc... The site has a great clean theme with some nicely designed logos, and it isn't burdened with ads so you won't have to worry about long load times or obnoxious flashing webvertisements. Overall, it's a great place to visit, and certainly worth adding to your favorite feed reader.

With over $4000 worth of prizes up for random grabs, there's no way I could pass up 6 extra entries by posting about it. If you want to know how you can get your entries, you'll have to click on over to the contest post - you'll want to do it soon because it ends on April 5th during a live drawing.

Looking at my current debt, I'd have to say I could really use the cash prizes, but all that free advertising would really help my blogging business in the long-run. Of course, a nice new theme for my blog might be nice, seeing as mine is awfully plain as it is (I have ideas how I'd like it to look, but very little coding knowledge, and I'd hate to screw something up and not be able to fix it). Then, there are the Entrecard Credits, which I could use for advertising OR sell for some quick cash. I guess you've figured out by now that I can't choose, I want it all!

Ok, enough daydreaming, on to the second wishlist:


Winning The Web

- Contest Prizes Summary ($7,695 Total) -
_{EDIT: The prize list is apparently ever-increasing: $8,695 at time of edit.}
- $650 Cash from Azoogle Ads
- $500 Cash from PepperJam Network
- $250 Cash from NeverblueAds
- $200 Cash from BidVertiser

- 1 Full Conference Pass to Affiliate Summit East ($949 value)
- 3 Month Membership to Aaron Wall’s SEO Training Program ($300 value)
- 6 Month Membership to SEOmoz Pro ($249 value)
- 12 Month Subscription to RankSense Professional ($630 value)
- 26 Week Internet Marketing Plan from Purple Internet Marketing ($800 value)

- The Secret Classroom from Joel Comm & Next Internet Millionaire ($497 value)
- Autographed Copy of Kris’ Jones Upcoming Book on SEO ($20 value)
- Copy of the SEO Handbook 2008 from HuoMah ($10 value)

- 8 PSD Custom Banner Designs from Banners Mall ($275 value)
- 2 Exclusive Blog Themes from Unique Blog Designs (2 winners - $100 value each)
- 2 Revolution Wordpress Blog Themes from Brian Gardner (2 winners - $80 value each)
- Wordpress Coding from CSS Rockstars ($209 value)
- 1 License to Website Optimal Performance ($97 value)
- Blog Consultation Report from Jay Francis Hunter of Scribbles and Words ($90 value)

- 1 Year Membership to Hlola ($354 value)
- 1 Year Swamp Plan Web Hosting from Host Gator ($150 value)
- 1 Hour Blog Optimization Consulting from Daniel Scocco of Daily Blog Tips ($175 value)
- 3 Month 125×125 Banner Ad on AndyBeard.eu ($100 value)
- 1 Month Text Link Ad on Ades Blog ($90 value)
- 1 Month 125×125 Banner Ad on John Cow ($125 value)
- 6 Month 125×125 Banner Ad on JonLee.ca ($300 value)
- 1 Month 125×125 Banner Ad on Affiliate Confession ($35 value)

- 3 Fast Passes, 3 Featured Statuses, and 5000 Credits from Entrecard
- 1 Paid Review on Winning the Web - sponsored by 1 Cool File ($100 value)

- 20 Winning the Web T-shirts (20 winners - $9 value each)


** And there's the second list of amazing prizes! The list may look a little short, but that's probably because every prize is really "up there" in value.

To see the fully "decked out," nicely organized list (with pictures!), visit the Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You've Ever Seen post. Don't delay, all the prizes will be distributed when the contest ends on March 31st. Even though the total prizes equal just shy of double the first contest, I'm a little more excited about the first one because there are non-internet marketing prizes involved. That being said, they are both excellent contests, which I hope you'll all enter. Remeber, the more sweeps you enter, the better your odds of winning.

Best of luck to everyone - may your websites (and bank accounts) expand exponentially!

Monday Mania Post

Just a quick post to say that I don't really have anything to post about. Actually, I need to post about University Kid's amazing contest, but I have to prep it first, so maybe tomorrow. Basically, all I accomplished today was adding some quick-link 125x125 Entrecard-ad love to my sidebar - it gives me quick links to places I visit daily, and an easy way for you to do the same. Check it out if you get a chance.

Free Clicks Friday

I'll Click Your Ads
_{Say that 10 times fast!}
I quickly dropped my 300 EntreCards (I'm faster than you!) for the day, and now I'm kinda just sitting around. I've wanted to do a quick-n-easy short post all week, and I had an idea for one that I haven't seen before. Plus, I want to help some people (they say if you help enough people get where they're going, you'll get where you're going - or something like that).

A lot of people have PPC advertisements on their site, I know you don't get much per click, but I'm willing to go through and click a few if you'll simply comment with the site address below. If you have EntreCard (I figure 99 percent of my traffic originates from there, so it's a good chance that you do), don't forget to drop yours before you leave (totally optional).

Feel free to comment about my idea as well, and/or tell your friends. I'm curious if there are any hidden drawbacks to such a plan. Let me know, and have a great weekend!

Scratch Your Way Into Prizes

It only makes sense (to me anyway) that a site named getburied.com would create a scratch card.


_{Click the image above, or the link below to try your luck!}

This fun free new way to win EntreCard Credits seemed a little sketchy to me at first, especially when it said I won 10 credits on my first play. However, within the next 30 minutes or so, I'd received a return message and the credits from my win into my account. Too cool!

The site admin says he's added some additional prizes and changed the odds to make it easier to win, so there's never gonna be a better time than NOW to get in on the action. Who knows, maybe soon he'll feature ad spaces or link love as prizes too!

P.S. If you've never heard of EntreCard, you should check it out. It's a great way to get quick traffic to any site!

Good luck to all!

Quickie

Take a shower regularly... or you WILL stink!

_{This message posted as a public service announcement for Entrecard Bloggers everywhere.}

Entrecard Contest Addiction

(His Artwork, Not Mine)

It seems that every Entrecarder has been infected with the contest bug lately! It has been said before, although it had nothing to do with Entrecard at that time, that there can be only ONE - in this case I'm referring to VikingBlogger's current EC-credits-contest-to-beat-all-others.
Apparently, VikingBlogger purchased a couple thousand credits and they are burning a hole in his pockets, so he's decided to hold the largest giveaway in Entrecard history - 20,000 credits!

If you're a blogger and don't know about Entrecard, you need to get on board. If you're already a member, then you'll understand the significance of this contest, and you'll participate immediately.

For anyone else, not encompassed by the former two categories, I hope you didn't waste your time reading this post. :-D But thank you for your readership!

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Rather than create a whole new post for a related concept, here is an Entrecard link-paradise:

T h i s - I s - A n - E n t r e C a r d - D i s p l a y - W a l l - M a d e - F o r - E a s i l y - R e c o g n i z i n g - Y o u r - F a v o r i t e - E n t r e C a r d - D r o p p e r s.

C l i c k - O n - E a c h - L E T T E R - T o - J u m p - T o - A n y - O n e - T h a t - L o o k s - G o o d - T o - Y o u.

J o i n - E n t r e C a r d - A n d - S t a r t - D r o p p i n g - O n - T h e i r - W i d g e t s - N o w.

B e - A - P a r t - O f - A - W a l l .

Enjoy Entre–Hopping!!!