I just received an email message through the Entrecard Blog Network inviting me to Beta test a new affiliate marketing social network now on the block. This is of course in addition to what I consider a social network already in Entrecard. It seems to me that this area of Web 2.0 isn’t quite done yet with new entrants coming at a good clip.

Now, since they are still in Beta I expect that the network will grow from its current 33 members to something much greater and at that point I’m wondering what the utility of such a network might be for us bloggers.  The reason I ask is that with Entrecard so well entrenched I wonder whether people will try it out, get frustrated with the Beta version and then simply stick to Entrecard.

I would be interested in learning what you think about the potential for such a service. You can try it by visiting their website. 

Like many of you know I recently ran the 1st ever Entrecard credits auction on eBay. As promised, I am going to run through the experiment specifics, reasons for running the auction, and then a results breakdown and the conclusions that I’ve drawn because of the auction.

Specifics:
Auction Start Date: December 18, 2007
Auction Close Date: December 25, 2007
Auction Title: www.sitecash.info blog 50 Entrecard credits experiment
Category for auction placement: Advertising Opportunities
Number of “watchers”: 2
Number of actual bidders: 2
Number of total bids received: 8
Open Price: $0.01
Close Price: $1.25

I ran this auction for a reason…

The main reason was to figure out how much each of these Entrecard credits that we all vie for are really worth in real dollars. The whole thought occurred to me when I was a newbie Entrecard user and noticed how long it took for me to drop cards on blogs using the Entrecard system. I figured that by auctioning off a number of credits I could come up with a per credit dollar value–something that I have since been calling a pay-per-drop rate (PPD).

The Results

So at a closing auction price of $1.25 for 50 Entrecard credits we can value each Entrecard credit at $0.025. That is your PPD as you receive one credit per card dropped. Sure there are other things that can earn you credits (contests, ad sales etc.) but this is the simple way to understand and explain PPD.

Conclusion

I was actually a bit disappointed with the results on this experiment. Not only because the Entrecard credits have proven to be of little dollar value at auction, but also because of the lack of attention that the auction generated. I was expecting more widespread coverage in the blogsphere as the Entrecard movement has taken hold. That scenario never materialized.

Hidden Value

Although the PPD rate was a paltry 2 1/2 cents, I still think there is value here not reflected by the auction. One reason I think the auction doesn’t paint an accurate picture of value is that the auction was held during a time when most people have something else on their mind–holidays, family, and the new year. Many people are out of town, shopping and preparing for the holidays. This makes the auction marketplace difficult for items like Entrecard credits as most people have iPods, iPhones, or other more traditional gift items on their shopping list.

What we should really come away with here is that a hard dollar value for credits is difficult to come up with. In large part because the value of Entrecard credits is based on how you use them within the system and which development phase your blog finds itself in. It has been well documented that new blogs benefit most from the attention Entrecard gives them (spikes in traffic and visitor counts). On the other hand, a more established blog must use the Entrecard marketplace very differently–as a networking hub. It must be actively used to make contacts and forge relationships with others. This provides bloggers more leverage to distribute news, make blog posts more widely read, and collaborate. Remember that if you can do all three of these things and do them proficiently, then perhaps Entrecard credits are really more valuable to you then any dollar amount can express.

Okay, so I have decided that I would test the waters in the giveaway area for Entrecard credits. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers starting contests and giveaways for these credits so I am going to do the same to test the effectiveness of the concept.

How to Enter:

This is really quite simple. 100 Entrecard credits are on the line and all you have to do is write something about the 1st and only Entrecard credit auction. Just mention it to your readers with a trackback to my article titled “How much are Entrecard Credits worth in Real Dollars” . Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be long. In fact just a link to the post would do it as long as that trackback is present.

In order to be eligible you must enter on or before December 24th, 2007. A winner will be randomly selected on December 26th, 2007.