As Entrecard is trying to move forward with their rule change, that I call a step backwards, they’ve got a new plan in the works. Entrecard has partnered with OIOPublisher and not you can sell your adspace for entrecard credits as well as cash.

OIOPublisher with Entrecard

When you install the new OIOPublisher you can select the option to accept Entrecard credits as a form of advertising. You can charge whatever you want for your advertising, reviews, links, etc.

I didn’t think I would use this method, but I have thought that I might for text links and things like that.

Buy OIOPublisher

With this new entrecard promotion you can save a bit of money if you haven’t purchased it yet. At checkout enter coupon code entrecard to save $17. This will make the price only $30 instead of $47.

Are you planning on using entrecard with your OIOPublisher?

Lately Entrecard has been buzzing. Graham Langdon put EC up for sale, then within 24 hours took it off sale. It turned into more of an ego and website boost as many other entrepreneurs contacted Graham for support. Now he’s decided in a huge overhaul, that effects all members. In my opinion, not in a good way.

Entrecards New ‘Rules’

In means to help the “economy” or really for Graham to start making money himself instead of the members. The main rule that benefits him is no more selling of Entrecard credits. To ensure this rule their are credit transfer limits of 1,000 credits per month. And on that limit, you will be basically charged for sending ECs (tax).

I have about 5,000 credits sitting in my account, that is basically dead weight now. The new rules mean no more big Entrecard contests and will definitely limit what I give out as gifts when people are new to EC.

I was surprised to find many comments on the Entrecard blog favoring these moves. EC’s have become basically like blogger money. When I want to sponsor a contest, or spread around my ECs I wouldn’t hesitate, but now, I can’t.

This also basically nullifies every entrecard contest that is currently running, which couldn’t make those bloggers very happy.

Look at the Freebie Reporter who has over 70,000 entrecard credits available to win. With over 100 entries it looks like, all that is wasted.

I’m not sure how much of this will benefit the entrecard economy or the blogging community. It mostly, just seems to me, that Graham Langdon has realized in the longrun that he will be able to make more money this way, not necessarily at a benefit for Entrecard members.

Please share what you think. Do you support these new rules?

There are always contests for your blog. The best ones are all here, at BAYB. Take a look:

Iphone

If you want an iPhone for free, simply write a blog post linking back to Avon Blake.com. Winner will be selected at random at the end of September.
Ends on September 30th.

8GB iPod Nano

Write a review of Rishab Sood using 150-500 words and if it’s the best one you win a brand new Apple iPod Nano. Prize will be derlivered worldwide.
Ends on September 30th.

Indo’s Birthday Contest Bash

Little interesting competition from Indo Contest and Contest Live. Cash and free advertising for you. You have to subscribe to Indo Contest, register to Contest Live and vote the contest. More options to gain more points and increase your chances.
Ends on September 30th.

If you’re looking for blog contests, if you want to promote your own competition, don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests!

Reading Daily Blog Tips I saw an article about Re-Activating Inactive Email Subscriptions. I have done this in the past to try and gain back a few lost RSS subscribers.

Sometimes readers can go inactive if their mailbox cannot be reached, maybe it’s full or the email servers go down for a certain period of time. Start getting them your emails again by simply clicking reactivate.

I only had a handful inactive on my blogs, but Daily Writing Tips reports they had 150 subscribers go inactive that are now active!

Take It A Step Further

More often than not you will have more UNVERIFIED subscribers than inactive. This just means that they never confirmed their subscription, therefore never fully subscribed.

This could be for several reasons like they misspelled their email, never got the confirmation (probably went into spam folder), or simply forgot about. They once wanted to subscribe, so a simple email reminding them to subscribe shouldn’t hurt.

While I had a handful of inactive subscribers, I have about 10 that were never verified. After sending out an email I will see how many end up subscribing.

Source and Image from Daily Blog Tips.

WPAds is a great alternative to OIOPublisher, but it can be limiting. You can read our review of the WPAds WordPress Plugin to get some basic information about it. It’s not as good as OIOPublisher but I just received a tip to make it a bit better.

WPAds in Widgets

Adam Fulford recently asked me a question on how to use WPAds in widget sidebars. I recently had tried to do this on another blog and failed. Instead I had to add the code directly to the sidebar.php file. It didn’t look as good the sidebar was off a bit.

Responding to Adam I had to say I didn’t know. Well he managed to figure it out himself and let me know how.

By installing and activating the Exec-PHP WordPress Plugin you can add WPAds to widgets. Exec-PHP executes <?php ?> code in your posts, pages and text widgets. The plugin is really easy to install and I had WPAds in my sidebar in just a minute or two.

Thanks Adam for this great tip!

Take your chances and try to win something with these new contests. Enjoy!

Apple iPod touch

Extra Income Guide Blog is giving away an 8GB Apple Ipod touch plus Visa Gift Card and Entrecard Credits. You have many options to enter: Sign up for different on-line services (see original post for details), write about the competition and, of course, subscribe to his RSS feed.
Ends on September 30th.

$25 Gas Card

A new $25 Gas Card Giveaway (or an equal amount via Paypal) from Save Money. Simply write about this contest using the link: save gas articles.
Ends on September 30th.

$50 Cash

Subscribe to Workout IQ and you could win $50 cash (via Paypal)
Ends on September 30th.

If you’re looking for blog contests, if you want to promote your own competition, don’t forget to visit About Blog Contests!

Here’s a quick introduction to building a brand based around you.

Personal Branding is complex field of marketing and branding that would take an entire book to explain, but I would like to give you a few tips as to how to build your own brand.

What is a Personal Brand

Your personal brand is how people ientify with you.  You may be the “geeky tech blogger” or the “creative photoshop genius”.   Your brand consists of your blog posts, tweets, videos, photos and even the links you save on Del.icio.us.

Be Yourself, Be Open

You can use an alias online, but this will weaken your brand and make you harder find.  I use the same username for most of my social accounts, that same username is the name of my blog and is indexed in Google – People see my username and know its me!  Its also important to be yourself.  When writing blog posts or tweets etc. don’t take on an alter ego as people see straight through this.

Be Social

Create a Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, Youtube, Del.icio.us, Digg and Facebook account.  Your website used to be your homepage.  Now its spread across all of these sites.  Its also very important to use these sites properly.  Many people fail on Twitter by simply posting links back to their blog.  This just annoys the community. The same can be said for all other social networks.

Yes, you should be using all of those sites.  If you think they are useless its due to ignorance rather than actually believing they are duds.

Copy The Best

Take a look at Kevin Rose, Robert Scoble and Michael Arrington.  They all have strong personal brands. So its a good idea to look at what they are doing and copy.  And yes, that does require passion and commitment.  All three of those guys love what they do….and it shows.

Join In

Comment, Comment and Link.  When I see a cool article I link to it.  All my profiles are linked so posting it to Delicious will distribute it out to my network.  Giving link love (to quality content) is your most powerful marketing tool – so don’t underestimate it.

And once again – don’t bother talking about yourself and your content on Twitter, FriendFeed or your blog.  Limit posts about your own ventures to 3 per month, max!

For more of my content check out my blog feint.me – or follow me on Twitter.