I just realized that EntreCard is consuming my time and my blog. This is not good. So this is going to be my last EntreCard post for a while. I love the service, I really do. But it is putting my priorities out of wack. Instead of sitting down to work on my next great blog post masterpiece, I find myself spending more time on my EntreCard dashboard. In the time I spend looking for a decent blog without a full ad queue to put my ad, I could probably bang out two or three posts that would set Digg on fire. Even when I have just a few minutes to spare, am I queuing up some new blog post outlines? No...I am clicking on my EntreCard inbox like a madman trying to make sure every card has a yellow border. I need to check myself.
Starting with this post I am setting some rules for myself. My blog first - EntreCard second. Before I check to see who dropped their card, I am going to do something constructive on my blog first. Even if its to add a comment on one of my own posts or come up with one sentence for a future post idea, I come first.
But....there is something I've really been dying to get off my chest that I am sure all of you can relate to. I just don't understand why some blogs that use EntreCard do stupid things that piss everyone off! So for these clueless morons, I came up with these simple Rules of Etiquette for using EntreCard. I am sure there are many more than I have listed below, so please add your rules in a comment.
EntreCard Rules of Etiquette
1. For the love of GOD don't make us search for your widget!!! Seriously! You want us to click on it right? Why are you making it hard to find? Once I even saw someone put the widget on a different page than their home page. Why would you do that? I only saw that once because I don't bother looking anymore. If you want to be a real EntreCard superstar, put your widget in an area that doesn't require us to scroll (ie - above the fold).
2. Do you really need music on your blog? This isn't MySpace. Do you know how disturbing music is to all the people in the office around me who are actually doing their job? I like to open multiple EC blogs in separate tabs of my browser. God forbid if they all had music.
3. Pop Up Ads? Really? This is just flat out saying "I'm greedy". If you have a blog that shows pop-up ads, I will never visit it again.
4. Don't make EC traffic worthless. This one is serious. Don't just click and go. If you find something that is truly interesting, leave a comment, Stumble it or Digg it. Otherwise all the traffic you get from EntreCard will be pointless.
Again, these are just some gripes I have about using EntreCard in general. But if I focus more on my blog and less on EntreCard, as I suggested earlier, they should not bother me as much. This is why I changed the title of this post from simply "EntreCard Rules of Etiquette".
It is Friday and I am sure that plenty of you are slacking off, just as I am. That is why I decided to give this post a topic of "Community Buzz". Posts in this topic are meant to encourage everyone to speak up and add their two cents. Are you waisting too much time on things other than your blog? Do you have anymore Rules of Etiquette for using EntreCard? Share them with us and contribute to the "buzz".
Happy Friday.
Jeff
