Everyone else is discussing EntreCard.com and I’m jumping on the bandwagon. If I could describe this simple little service in one word, “it works.” Ok, that’s 2 words but it’s the truth. I joined less than a week ago and I have already found new blogs to read, received traffic, (not massive amounts but this is due in part to the fact not that many blogs are in the system), and others have commented on my posts. It’s free advertising for your blog and in a way, a competition, (for me), as well.

When I say the service is simple-I mean it. Once you sign up and make your own 125×125 badge, (you can use the pre-formatted badges or upload your own), add your blog to the appropriate category and you begin “dropping” your card on other blogs. For example, the card currently running ad space on my sidebar:



Where it says, “Drop Yours,” you click, it says thank you and you earn a credit, (you also earn credits when other bloggers drop cards on your site). Credits are used by you to spend on placing your card on other sites-the more credits you earn, the more you can spend for advertising on other sites. Once the other blogger has approved your listing, you’re on your way to traffic and comments.

I think the essential aspect of the service in order for it to work is commenting on the blogs you not only advertise on, but those you drop your cards with as well. This is the social part of the site and blogging in general and I firmly believe, just passing by a blog without commenting, even if just to say, “hey, dropped my card,” can ruin a good experience. EntreCard.com needs more bloggers to sign up-it isn’t the service that disappoints a blogger, it’s a blogger who disappoints the service. Get involved, visit other blogs, move out of the small circle of blogs you read and join! It’s a community-we’re all there to benefit each other.

I noticed I wasn’t receiving comment notifications about 5 days ago. I found, through searching, that a piece of code in the pluggable.php file in WordPress was the most likely cause. I commented out the line, logged out and made a few test comments. Nothing. No email to my GMail account telling me a comment was waiting. After a little more research, I found a plugin to use instead of commenting out the line-so I upload the original version of the pluggable.php file, upload the plugin and enable it-a few more test comments. Nada. Zilch. The last resort and one I really did not want to do, was to set up an email address through my domain and forward to my GMail account, (DreamHost’s mail servers are not the most reliable, hence the reason for the GMail account). Still nothing. I contact support, which is the main reason I have stayed with DreamHost and within an hour or so I receive a response-which was, “Set up a domain email account.” Duh. I email back, (with my usual threats of changing to a different host), and finally I get a response from a familiar name who explains that GMail, in their efforts to clean up the Internet, had Greylisted, (read the Wikipedia article if you are not familiar with what Greylisting is), DreamHost and they were working with them to have the issues resolved. As of now I have everything in WordPress set to send to my domain email address.

I give Google some credit for taking measures to stop spam, but do they realize that 99.5% of my emails are legitimate? Or anyone’s for that matter. And DreamHost? Come on-the only reason I’ve stayed is because of the fast support turn around time, the ease of use and the price. Plus the fact I don’t want to move all of my files to a new host and wait for the DNS to propagate across the Internet-did it once and it was a pain. So, bottom line-if you have commented and I have not responded, it’s most likely due to the fact I never received notification-I am not ignoring you. For anyone who has sent information via my contact forms-the same, I probably haven’t received the email. They’re floating around in the email graveyard never to be seen again, or, in some cases, I’ll see them in 12-24 hours. In the meanwhile, if you need to contact me you may do so directly: afrogtokiss AT gmail [dot] com. Or, throw a rock at my head.

For those of you who may be experiencing the same issues and you’re with DreamHost, contact support to make sure this is your issue and not the problem with the pluggable.php file in WordPress. Chances are, if you’ve tried all work-arounds and you’re still not receiving notifications, the greylisting is the issue. Same goes for those of you using other hosts, check with support before losing your mind and doing something drastic.

Within the past week, I have come across several new sites dedicated to assisting bloggers gain traffic and readers. I had 2 goals in mind when I started this blog 3 years ago: Traffic and Readers. We all know with traffic, comes readers and the more people viewing your blog, (and hopefully linking), the more traffic you’ll receive. Search Engine traffic brings few, long-term readership. The person searching finds what he, or she needs, may browse for a few minutes and leave. As bloggers, we’re beginning to rely more on the social aspect of blogging and less on traffic from non-social networking sites. This is where rssHugger comes in to play.

What Will rssHugger Do For Me?

The concept is simple. Submit your blog, promote your content, find other blogs which interest you and subscribe to the RSS feeds and in return, build backlinks, receive traffic and gain new RSS subscribers. Viral blog marketing? Absolutely. The blogosphere is such a competitive place and survival depends on good content, which brings in readers who are in it for the long-haul. The best part? It’s free to join. Am I going to see a massive increase in subscribers and traffic? This remains to be seen.

I’m not a niche blog and don’t plan on changing my writing to please the masses. I can discuss anything-from technology to the idiots across the street. To put it politely, I at least offer a little depth and not blog about one topic day in and day out. Bloggers are a fickle group, some days they want variety, others they could care less about your posts. But, one important lesson I have learned, trying new services, such as rssHugger.com, are vital in surviving in the world of blogging. I’ll keep track of my stats, see how it goes and if it’s working. My goal will be 20 new RSS subscribers in the next month. Wish me luck- and sign up to see if it works for you as well.