Has Entrecard been hacked?

I’m doing my Entrecard drop routines today and I noticed a series of “sexy” widget images with almost the same themes on my “Drops Inbox”.

EC Sexy Widgets

The reason on why a series of “sexy”  or “hot” images on my EC dashboard suddenly appeared in just one day really puzzled me. A two or three succeeding sexy images  is believable, but more than 10 is really humanly impossible. Nobody can switch their EC account in a snap of a finger unless the people who are doing these are using scripts to automatically “drop” on a particular site.

Here’s the result when I tried to connect to click on one of  the widgets:

From this:

Sexy Widget 1

to this one, that belongs to http://abidsyah.com/

Sexy Widget Homepage

If you check their sites, you will notice that they have almost daily post! Some even multiple posts in one day alone! And guess what?They even know how to properly target their market by using profitable keywords! These are sites made for Google Adsense although most of them doesn’t have single ad (yet) not even an image except for the EC widget.

Now, if you click on their EC image on their site, it will return a “No such user” caption such as this:

EC No such user

To my disappointment, I even got a “Penalty”  status from EC when I tried to click on a legitimate blog:

EC Penalty Status

This is the first time I saw this status since I joined EC two or three years ago .

Anyway, this is just to warn you that indeed a spammer or a group of them is lurking the EC community. Beware of them. I’m positively and absolutely 100% sure that they are using a sort of script or a bot doing an automatic drops in our EC widgets.

I will  inform the owners/moderators of EC about this issue and let’s see what’ will be their feedback.

Before I end my post, here’s another set of “sexy images” in one of my “make money online”  EC account:

EC Drop Me

You have been forwarned. Don’t waste your time in clicking their EC widgets.

Entrecard recently opened it’s network to virtually everyone. I’m sure most of the Entrecard members are already aware of this changes. According to Entrecard’s announcement, they are opening the system so bloggers can also network with regular website owners too.

I think one of the reason for this is that, by opening the network to regular website, they might also be looking for “other opportunities” to make the site profitable. I can’t see nothing wrong on this. It may even bring positive outcome later on, not only to Entrecard owners but to the whole community as well. This is what Adgitize is doing and I’m not against it. Let’s face the fact, business needs to profit too! Without a profit then there’s no business at all.

One of the  advantages of Adgitize over EC is your points (credits) are automatically converted to cash.

Entrecard is an advertising exchange network for bloggers (and non-blog too, now)  which holds the promise of boosting traffic by visiting other sites. Blogs or normal sites doesn’t matter because when you really want to gain more traffic in Entrecard network, you are suppose to reciprocate a visit.

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Entrecard, the free blogging network that launched a virtual economy for bloggers has been acquired by ZipRunner Inc.

According to Graham Langdon, the founder of Entrecard, that he chose ZipRunner among a number of potential suitors because he believed that ZipRunner Inc. has the resources to dedicate to Entrecard.

ZipRunner Inc., a Los Angeles based company have “exciting” vision for Entrecard’s future but they haven’t revealed any concrete plans yet.

What does this mean to Entrecard’s community? I don’t know yet.

Graham is urging all bloggers to a more bigger and better Entrecard. He will now act as an advisor and will help the new team of ZipRunner Inc to take Entrecard the next level.

Graham, just recently started a new blogs about being an entrepreneur and if you want to get in touch with him, you can find his blog at Ontrapranore.com.

Since Entrecard has been bought off already, I wonder what will happen Entrecard now. As of this time, I don’t have any idea. Will ZipRunner Inc. change the rules of the game?

For now, everything is wait and see.

I registered another new domain today but before I did that, I checked my emails which I got from GoDaddy. They have special promo by way of offering discounts using a promo code when registering or transferring a domain.

As you can see from the picture above the normal price of .COM domain name is $10.69 but currently they’re giving it away for $9.99. The good news is, you can still get MORE Discounts if you will use their discount code. Just like what’s you can see on the image below, but if you read further I’ll show you the hidden supercodes that domain buyers are using and keeping all the profits to themselves.

Here are the two promo codes that I received from them via email:

• fbfDom10 - get 10% OFF* our regular prices on .COM, .NET, .ORG, .BIZ, and .US domains.
• fbgdhome20 - get 20% OFF* your order of $75 or more. This special offer expires 7/13/2009, so start shopping now! Based on my experienced, this code actually never expires.

TIP: Most Go Daddy coupons are only valid on NEW domain registrations or on domain transfers. Therefore, buy multiple years upfront to save!

More SUPER Promo Codes

Since GoDaddy is sending emails to their customers regarding their promo, I decided to google around if there are other people out there posting their promo codes. Lo and behold, I’ve found some gems lying around ready to be pick-up.

For Renewals

These codes will give you $6.95 for renewal of your domains.

1. ZINE3
2. goxtgi200c
3. steve
4. gaze3

New Domain and Renewal

Here are the additional promo codes that you can use if you are want to get a better deal from GoDaddy.

1. ZINE5 - will give you 10% off any purchase.
2. ZINE7 -will give you $7.49 for each domain instead of $$9.99
3. ZINE25 - receive instant 25% off any purchase of $100 or more

GoDaddy Super Promo Code

The best promo code that I’ve used in registering a new domain is FACEBOOK5. I only paid $5.20, which translates to $5.00 off on domain registration!

TIP: To make sure you are saving the most amount of money, try all codes in your shopping cart. Use the code which one gives you the cheapest domains.

Whether you want to build a Web site for your business, create your family blog, or share photos online with friends, use GoDaddy promo codes today and get all BIG SAVINGS.

Most of the codes that I’ve posted here are working for years already. Saving money is especially important to people these days. Please feel free to share this code to all your friends, post them in your blog, tweet, write them on your facebook status and share in your other social network.

Update (August 16, 2009): This special offer expires 8/29/2009, so start shopping now! Use source code fbgdhome20 to get 20% OFF* your order of $75 or more when you order online at GoDaddy.com

First of all, my apologies to all BlogDeManila’s loyal droppers. I’m 5 days late on posting my compliment post for all you.  First, my wife’s site including her forum was hacked, so I repaired it back. And, secondly, I was out of town since last week and just arrived the other night. Once again, my apologies.

For the top 10 EC droppers this month, all I could say is “Wow! Amazing!”. There were some of you who are dropping daily here. A great thanks!

Without further ado, BlogDeManila’s Top 10 EC Droppers for this month are:

1. Theme lib dot com - very serious, that is deadly serious in dropping. A great source of quality free blogger themes for Blogspot bloggers.
2. BloggerRap – not only a source of blogging tips but on how to earn online as well.
3. AdsenseAddict - a blog that specifically teach you on how to make money online using Adsense. A good blog to advertise as well.
4. Scandinavian Ways – Winesworlds blog – this blog really puzzles me.Well ,aside from the gorgeous EC card, I’m wondering why a site that blogs about travels in Scandinavia is dropping EC on my blog like crazy!
5. Septagon Studios Inc News Blog - a publishing company based in Toronto, Canada. I remember I received a comic book from them.
6. Make Money on the Internet - not only a nice source on how to make money online but the admin, Abdulrehman, is very friendly and helpful too!
7. All blogspot templates – if you are looking for free blogspot templates and themes, then look no further. This site provides you all the themes that you are looking for. And, it is being updated almost everyday!
8. Doing Business – seriously speaking, this site is very serious in making money online. No doubt about it.
9. I Love-Hate America - too bad I did not make it on this site’s top 10 EC card dropper for January. Aside from a friendly blogger, I’ve found the owner  very beautiful too! Alright, nuff said or else…
10. All contests – if you want a great exposure (and PR too) for your next online contest, just contact the owner of this blog and your contest will spread like virus!

How I wish I can be able to thank not only BlogDeManila’s top ten but also the other droppers as well.  I still have to find that additional statistics on EC site on how to do it.

Once again, a billion thanks for all loyal Entrecarders! I hope I can reciprocate your efforts too.

As I’ve mentioned on my previous post, I will announce the winner of BlogDeManila’s First Generosity Post soon. I’ve already contacted all the winners, and they all responded, except for two. One of those who haven’t replied yet is the winner of 5,000 Entrecard credits! I hope he/she will  get in touch with me. Nevertheless, I’m posting all the URLs of the winners here.

So the wait is over, here are the winners.

Winner of 5,000 Entrecard Credits
Nico of Blogio

5 winners of 1,000 EC credits Each
German Laron of DerekenGavinRules
Tere of Blogs Contest
Musyodik of Dhyarga
|1f34|-|1r3 of Life4Hire
Matt Oxley of RagingRev

4 Free Sidebar Ads
Ray of Woman on a Journey
Jen of The Green Ninja
Mye of Blog Appetite
Chodirin of  Technology News

Special prize of 2,009 EC credit + Free Sidebar Ads
Toonatoons of Under The Sun

BlogDeManila did not pick the winners manually but Random.org did. I’m sure most of you know how Random.org works.

I love surprises, so for those who will subscribe even if the “contest” is over, I might send you “gifts” too!

Once again, thank you very much for all of those who subscribed to my RSS feed!

First of all, I would like to thank those who participated on BlogDeManila’s “secret contest”.

If you are loyal reader or visitor of BlogDeManila, I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. And for those who are not aware, BlogDeManila had a contest before the start of December 2008. I entitled it “BlogDeManila First “Generosity Post” “. I did not promote it because I want BlogDeManila’s reader to find it out on their own. I did not even mention it on any of my comments, nor posted it on any forum.

The contest has been successful. It generated new subscribers to this blog. The winners have been drawn already and will be posted here, but I have to let the winners know first about it.  There are a total of 11 winners bagging the following prizes:

• 1 winner of 5,000 Entrecard credits
• 5 winners of 1,000 Entrecard credits ( 1 winner per week)
• 4 winners of 125×125 sidebar advertisement for 1 month
• 1 winner of 2,009 Entrecard credits + a minimum of 1 month of 125×125 advertisement

All subscribers will be given 100 EC credits too!

So watch out for BlogDeManila’s surprise in your inbox.

For those of who are not reading Entrecard’s blog, they just announced that the transfer of credit is now “lifted” from 1,000 to 25,000 per week.

This is absolutely good news for the members who are holding bigger contest. This will also lessen the work for Entrecard staff, because most members need to coordinate with EC staff when they want to transfer more than 1,000 credits per week.

Awesome, isn’t? But why almost good news? Well, for the reason that it’s only for a limited time.

Until when? Entrecard didn’t put it on their announcement. Let’s hope that they make it permanent, and raise also the number of card we can drop in a day.

Let’s admit it, Entrecard is now the “currency” of most bloggers. It’s being traded like a real currency. Most of the online contest are also using EC as their prizes.

Entrecard (EC) is first and foremost a free blogging network that truly brings visitors to your blog.  You can earn EC credits which allows you to display an ad of your blog on other blog sites within the community either by “dropping” or clicking the EC “drop” button.

The formula is More EC drop = more visits = more credits = more friends = more links = more traffic!

The  more traffic your blog site is making, the more Mr. Google and Ms. Alexa will love your site. The more adorable  your looks to them, the more you’ll get candies too!

Alright, not the sweet candy but the potential moneys your site can generate. Money? of course! How? Just browse around this blog site and you’ll find the treasures that I’m telling you.

Let’s go back to our the topic. Yes, EC can generate a lot traffic for your site BUT it can cost you money too and this is one of the bad things of Entrecard (EC). How? It happens when a dropper (someone who clicks on the EC “drop” button) clickk on  the button and leave your blog or website right away.

These droppers are what we call “Power Dropper”. They visit blogs solely for the sake of dropping EC cards in order to earn 300 credits in the shortest possible amount of time.  These power droppers can increase your bounce rate which can COST YOU MONEY.

The bounce rate is defined as the percentage of visitors who turn around at the entry page and immediately leave the site. Such visitors “bounce” out and never see additional pages.

With high bounce rate, the traffic that EC droppers gave on you is useless. Google does punish for a high bounce rate, and droppers contribute to a high bounce rate. This is the problem with Entrecard, all this “card dropping” just to get the same crappy traffic back is a waste of time.

BUT, there is still hope. Watch for my next topic on how to best use EC for your benefits.