Entrecard is a popular ad swapping service in the marketing blog community. Users gain credits for ads displayed which can then be used to advertise on other sites in the community.

Entercard went on the market in September 2008 in what many considered was an attention ploy (the sale was eventually canceled.) The price asked for then was $1 million, although its difficult to tell nearly a year later whether it would have attracted a similar figure now.

Allen Stern at Centernetworks writes that founder Graham Langdon will remain on as an advisor to Entrecard, and the sale is being pitched as making the site a more “reliable and stable service” that will offer “great new features and strategic direction.”

Related posts:

1. Entrecard off the market, signs deal with OIO Publisher
2. Entrecard launches Paid Ad Network
3. Entrecard on the market for nearly $1 million

Blog ad sharing network Entrecard is entering the paid ad space with the launch of a new CPM based ad network.

According to Entrecard, 50% of shared ad impressions will be open to third party advertisers. Currently all ads in the network are shared between users with a credit system in place to allow for specific targeting; not dissimilar to a system like Bartercard. With the new paid ads, Entrecard will buy impression credits from existing members, allowing them to convert credits to cash.

Entrecard notes that the inclusion of paid ads will overcome a fundamental flaw with the current system: credit inflation.

The Entrecard economy has been in a state of inflation since day one. Every day, more credits are created than are deleted. As of writing this, there are 44 million credits in the Entrecard economy, and we’re adding more each day. This is not sustainable, and so it has become clear that we need a more efficient way than advertising taxes to eliminate credits from the economy. The good news is that if this works, we’ll be able to lower the advertising tax.

Allen Stern at Centernetworks notes that some users aren’t happy with the change “because they won’t be able to approve or decline ads in the same way as they can currently.”

Related posts:

1. Entrecard off the market, signs deal with OIO Publisher
2. Entrecard acquired by Ziprunner
3. SezWho Signs Deals with Entrecard, Creative Weblogging and Izea

The service delivered links via a widget placed on each participating blog, with users getting link exposure on other blogs based on how many impressions the widget had on their own sites. The service was highly popular among SEO and internet marketing blogs during its peak, according to Reese delivering 3.4 billion links.

In an email sent to Blogrush owners and posted on the Blogrush site, Reese states that the service wasn’t meeting its full potential after a number of issues over time, including quality control and attempts to game the system. Reese notes that no attempts had been made to monetize the service, and that they weren’t interested in selling it.

The likely beneficiary of the closure will be rival blog link swapping service Entrecard, which earlier this year had its own dramas when the owner attempted to sell it, then changed his mind in the space of days.

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The official spin on the sale from owner Graham Langdon is that there were plenty of buyers, but he decided at the last minute that he wanted to keep the site.

The good news for Entrecard devotees is that post sale, Langdon is back on the deal path, with a new partnership with OIO Publisher that will allow Entrecard members to use their Entrecard credits (members receive credits based on ad impressions) to buy advertising on the OIO Publisher network.

OIO Publisher is a popular ad client for WordPress blogs (they’ve recently launched support for other platforms), enabling web sales directly on each users site. On top of the plugin, OIO Publisher offers a publishers marketplace where OIO Publisher users can advertise their ad spots, similar to BuySellAds.com. Although it wasn’t clear from the post, the inclusion of Entrecard as a payment within OIO Publisher would seem to be an option in the latest release of OIO Publisher as opposed to a standard payment option, so the scope only goes as far as those sites with Entrecard accounts who decide to support Entrecard credits for payment.

Allen Stern at Centernetworks notes that some Entrecard users aren’t happy with having to buy OIO Publisher, despite a $17 discount bringing the price down to $30. Former Entrecard users such as Matt Packer however feel that the new changes may actually bring them back to regularly using the service.

I’ve never used Entrecard, although I did take a serious look at the service when The Inquisitr launched. It definitely works for some people, and it has a passionate user base. However, there were numerous stories around issues with the credit system, with some suggesting that people were gaming Entrecard; I don’t know the truth of that, but certainly it was enough to keep me away at the time. Either way, this is a good deal for Entrecard and its users, and can only help the service grow.

Related posts:

1. Entrecard acquired by Ziprunner
2. Entrecard on the market for nearly $1 million
3. Entrecard launches Paid Ad Network

The site is currently listed on Sitepoint with a starting bid of $100,000 with the owners saying there is a reserve close to $1 million dollars. Traffic numbers for the network see banner impressions at 80 million a month across 20,000 blogs with 100 new blogs joining the network each day.

Where the sale struggles though is on financials: Entrecard is currently pulling only $2000 a month, although naturally the site is being pitched a having great potential in delivering more, with a $30,000 figure mentioned. The owners also claim they nearly sealed a round of $700,000 with a future round of $2-5 million based on an $8 million valuation, but the deal fell through because “in the 11th hour, right before the terms sheet, because they lost faith in my ability to execute the plan after a series of tests in which I did not know I was being tested.”

There is potential in the site, and it’s not a bad service, but $1m based on $2,000 a month is multiple of 500 times…and it’s just not going to happen. $100,000 on a 50x multiple though might work, even if it’s a little rich considering usual multiples considered in deals of this nature.

You can follow the auction here.

Related posts:

1. Entrecard off the market, signs deal with OIO Publisher
2. Entrecard launches Paid Ad Network
3. SezWho Signs Deals with Entrecard, Creative Weblogging and Izea

Entrecard’s blog ad network has added SezWho as a way to reward bloggers who participate on the site. Bloggers whose SezWho comments receive high ratings through SezWho will receive Entrecard credits to be spent on advertisements within the 14,000 strong Entrecard advertising network.

Blog network Creative Weblogging will offer SezWho reputation-driven user profiles across its network, and Izea will use SezWho to power its SocialSpark Solution Center.

The commenting 2.0 space has turned into a numbers race as the various players look to increase their presence. These three deals give SezWho a serious leg up against rivals including Intense Debate and Disqus. There is room for multiple players in the space, but the service with more eyeballs will ultimately come out on top, and perhaps go on to become the Google of the 2.0 commenting space. Expect more deals like these in the coming months.

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