Entrecard Ad Mania
Entrecard wants you to advertise...and advertise a lot. I suspect that the Admins are hoping that most people will spend the ECs they earn (by dropping cards and having cards dropped on them) on ads and not try and cash them out. Why? A couple of reasons:
1) Advertising brings the community together. While it is possible to set one's ad preferences to automatically accept ad requests, I would imagine that most people still want to approve specific ads, at least the first time around. I'm not so jaded (yet) as to not feel a sense of gratitude when someone chooses to advertise on my blog and I tend to remember them to a greater degree than those who just drop on my widget.
2) Advertising keeps the Entreconomy healthy. With thousands of Entrecarders dropping up to 300 cards a day, each one creating two credits, that's a lot of ECs running around. Advertising removes 75% of these from circulation and keeps folks focused on card dropping to earn ECs instead of just accepting ads on their site.
3) Advertising will drive traffic to your site. While it's true that you might get some traffic from power droppers based on how quickly your site loads and where your card is placed, and more traffic could arrive via reciprocative dropping methods, advertising provides an opportunity for your Entrecard to be seen by visitors to other sites who might never have had a reason to visit your site otherwise.
There are several Entrecarders who believe in advertising so much that they actually purchase additional ECs so they can cover a broader range of sites. If one is serious about their blog and looking to quickly build traffic and readership, advertising on Entrecard can be a great strategy.
