Just a few months back, I had no idea what Entrecard was, let alone heard of it. I had just started pro-blogging and was as green as could be. In fact, I didn’t even want to sign up with Entrecard, simply because I thought it was some sort of nonsense site that spent its time gathering email addresses it could then sell to the online black market.

Obviously, I was wrong.

Now I’m a happy member, gleefully racking up credits through occasional dropping. I’m still not one of those constant, never-miss-a-day droppers; I drop whenever I have time to kill at the office. I’ve racked up quite a number of credits, thank you very much, that I happily spend on ads on a variety of websites.

But how exactly does Entrecard work? Just in case there are newbies out there who are interested but can’t quite figure out what Entrecard really is, let me help you out.

First of all, Entrecard is a platform for bloggers to meet other bloggers. It’s not just wanting to be seen, you have to see other blogs, too. It’s fundamental in the Entrecard system that you visit the other sites. Only then would you be able to “drop” you card and let them know you were there. Now this card serves just like any other calling card you may use in real life. Once you drop it, people will know you’ve been visiting and chances are, they’ll drop by your site, too.

It’s a very good way to discover and be discovered, actually. It was through Entrecard that I found a few of my favorite blogs (now listed on the blogroll in the sidebar). It’s also a great way to be noticed. Many of the readers of this site find me through Entrecard, as you can see from the live traffic feed below.

But why? The secret to this isn’t really such a secret. To gain credits that you can use to purchase advertisement spots on other websites, you need to drop your card on other blogs or sites. Whenever you see a site that has an Entrecard widget, click on “Drop”. You can even conduct a blitzkrieg attack on credits by clicking the Campaign tab on your Entrecard page, then selecting the category you want. After that, you can just click on every single blog listed and drop on each of them.

That means you’ll have visited tons and tons of new sites. All these sites will then see your card in their Drops Inbox and they’ll probably visit you right back.

That said, you can see that you get a popularity boost in two ways: paying Entrecard Credits for ad spots on other sites; and dropping your card. Either way, it’s a good strategy to get people to notice you. In fact, it would be a good way for you to establish links and online friendships, even.

You can add as many blogs as you want, customize your card and drop as much as 300 drops each day. If you have time and nothing to do, just drop, drop, drop and wait for the online traffic to come to you. Best of all, you might just find a great network of new sites you never even thought existed. It’s fun, friendly and quite helpful for us new bloggers. Try it out today.

And don’t forget to visit my widget and drop!

XOXO,