Well you can’t really have a blog about making money online without talking about Entrecard can you? So, do I use it? Yes. Do I think it’s the greatest thing since sliced bread? No. Now maybe I just have a unusually high opinion of sandwiches but more than likely I just don’t think Entrecard is the ultimate answer for bloggers out there but that doesn’t mean it’s not at all useful. Apart from the traffic it brings in, which seems to be the most questioned part of the whole system (or more specifically, the quality of the traffic), there are other benefits from Entrecard that often get little attention.

1. Networking - If you need to find similar bloggers in your niche, Entrecard works as a great blog directory. It lists a huge number of blogs right there for you, split into categories and lists their recent posts too. Want to find some bloggers that share similar interests or get some advice? The Entrecard forums aren’t a bad place to start.

2. Get advertising & other services without spending a dime - When I say advertising, I don’t just mean putting your Entrecard up on another blog. Just take a look in the marketplace and you can find a plethora of other advertising options, such as blog reviews, traditional ad space, guest posts, commenting & more and all you spend is Entrecard credits rather than actual cash.

3. Target your audience - One of the advantages of the ‘rubbish’ Entrecard traffic is that you already know a few things about them, prime among them being that they use Entrecard and probably want more ECs. So why not throw an Entrecard competition where you give away a whole bunch of ECs, competitions can be quite beneficial. In fact, in the next couple of days I’ll be posting my first blog contest where I’ll be giving away plenty of ECs. There is even a dedicated area on the Entrecard forums for promoting your contests, so you might be able to turn that drop-and-run traffic into actual readers by giving them what they want.

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Expanding on the “Target Your Audience” point a little further and with a more specific focus on DotComDud.com, I know that most people using Entrecard are bloggers as well. Not only that, they are bloggers that care about getting traffic, plenty of which are also no doubt keen to make some money from there blogs. With that in mind, I can only hope they find what I have to say compelling but at least I’ve increased the chances that my blog topic is something they are interested in.

Stay tuned, at the end of the month I’ll report on my traffic statistics and show how Entrecard has performed.