The Blog Of Oussama Messaoud - Ways to make money online -

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January 12th, I started this experiment to try and figure out how much would a blogger pay for EntreCard credits. During 20 days, I invited visitors of this blog to vote and now is the time for results :

- Duration of the poll : 20 Days
- Number of voters : 14 (A bit disappointing but a good number anyways, that allows for some results)

Votes Break Down :

- 43% (6) would pay … nothing for 1000 ec
- 36% (5) would pay something to get 1000 ec :
* 1 would pay $20
* 1 would pay $15
* 1 would pay $5
* 1 would pay $3
* 1 would pay $1
- 21% (3) have no clue or gave another answer

Some Analysis :

So!! It seems that most people would pay nothing to get the 1000 ec. I hear them saying “I’d rather drop like crazy and keep my cash”. Which is fair enoughI guess. If you think about it, some EntreCarders drop 300 cards per day, so it will only take them 3 days to get the 1000 ec.

Others would pay for their time, but the value given is quite different from one to another. At least we know that there are people there who are ready to pay 20 bucks for the 1000 ec. But if you would consider selling 1000 EC credits, you better keep your price $5 or lower.

This said, I would argue that the best price for people who would spend money for those credits would be $3 per 1000 ec, which is $.003/credit.

I will, nevertheless try another way to calculate this : the average of all suggested prices, that’s (20+15+5+3+1+0+0+0+0+0+0) / 11 = 44 / 11 = $4 for 1000 ec = $.004/credit

Synthesis :

Although, based on this experiment, 43% of people wouldn’t pay a dime for EC credits, we could consider that those who would pay, are ready to spend between $.003 and $.004 for 1 ec.

What do you think of these results and how would you analyse them? I would really like to hear from you so drop your comments and shout your opinion.

In order to be invloved in determining the cash value of EntreCard credits, you still have ONE day left. And the countdown is going on (you can see it above the poll itself).

I encourage everyone to vote and give their opinion in order to maximize the success of this experiment. I will be unleashing the results on February 1st, so Vote and Keep Tuned. One great way to be sure not to miss the announcement is to subscribe to the RSS feed

It’s been quite some weeks that I am seeing “A new version of WordPress is available! Please update now.” on my WP admin. The reason is that the first time I saw that link and clicked, the instructions I’ve read on the upgrade process just made me feel #@%$^:s. It seemed like a real pain with all those files to be overwritten, others that you should pay attention not to overwrite, all the manual desactivation and reactivation of plugins, the maintenance time, etc. etc.

Since then, I’ve been ignoring that link I see every time I am up to blogging. It is calling me and screaming at me, but I try not to look it in the eye.

Today, I said to myself : I am sure some guy/gal thought of coming up with a way to automate that. I googled the issue and came across Keith Dsouza’s techie-buzz.com. He has a plugin named Wordpress Automatic Upgrade plugin. I didn’t try it yet although it seems to be the best plugin ever, and most people are very happy with it if we believe all the comments. However, a little minority seem to have some issues, so I am not taking the extra step yet, fearing to finish up in the minority group, or even more serious, screw something up in my blog.

Anyone tried the plugin? Anyone has some advice on how to upgrade WP with the least of pain? I am really fed up with that link in the middle of my admin pages.

In my blog readings, I often come across posts that are giving tips about getting more traffic/exposure. As a blogger, and like any other one of you, traffic is one of my main concerns.
One thing that keep on coming as a great way to drive visitors to your blog, is commenting on others’. In fact, it’s a very efficient (and free) way. Here is how you can get the most out of it :

(1) Look for blogs that you find interesting. You are more likely to have something to say about things that interest you. We are not talking about commenting just for the sake of leaving a link. That would be more like spamming, and people won’t be eager to visit your blog if they don’t find your comment interesting.

(2) Leave comments whenever you think you have a point, even if you think it’s not of a great value. As long as it’s relevant to the topic, it may be of a help for another reader. Again, never comment just for the sake of commenting. It would bring the opposite effect.

(3) Try to write on blogs that deal with the same topic as yours. That would bring targeted visitors to your blog that are more likely to become loyal readers and ensure a regular and stable traffic in the future. I don’t exclude the option of writing on blogs that talk about different things than you. It can bring short term traffic, and you may want that. I am just saying that the first option brings a more long-term traffic.

(4) Be involved in discussions. Don’t just leave one comment and run. People may not want to visit your blog when they first see your comment, but when they read your name several times, they get familiar with it and will be more curious to see what you have to say in your own blog.

(5) Comment in this blog. In fact, not only do you get all the benefits of commenting as described above, but your link may also en up under “Top Commentators Of The Month” if you happen to have a lot of things to say. These links are reset every month so it’s never too late.

I hope it helps, and I hope you will use the points stated above, especially the #5.

This question crossed my mind few minutes ago when I was getting ready to get me a coffee and do some blogging. When I thought about it, I wondered how such an obvious question didn’t occur to me before. In fact, these little ECs are getting more and more interest throughout the blogosphere, and must have a certain value for bloggers. Contests are being ran to win a certain amount of ECs, shops are being open to sell services priced in ECs and the list is long. Moreover, I sometimes lack time to spend on dropping cards on other blogs and would love to just pay for a few ECs to be able to advertize on some entrecard widgets.

So before I ran and start writing, I wanted to know if anyone had the same curiosity before. I Googled the matter and came across the blog sitecash who asked the same question and came up with a great way to try and find an answer. He simply ran an ebay auction on 50 ECs. Now the auction is over and the winning bid is $1.25, making the tentative value (based on this experiment) of 1 EC : $0.025.

How accurate is this experiment?

Although the experiment was a great idea to get a first hand picture of the EC value, I don’t think an ebay auction is the best way to assess the real value of those credits. Especially if you know (based on what the blog sitecash is saying) that the auction didn’t get the expected attention.
Moreover, I think that the quantity of ECs (50) being put to auction isn’t attractive and gets less interest from tentative buyers. 50 credits can be won in a 15 minutes time, if you just drop 3 cards per minute. Without counting people dropping back. For this reason, I think that ECs have more value when sold in a bigger quantity. A quantity that needs a lot of time to get, and that can help you buy few ads on big blogs.

My own experiment

Considering what I mentionned above, I am tempted to run my own experiment. I created a poll (just below my EntreCard widget in the sidebar), to know how much you would pay for 1000 ECs. I will be running this poll until January 15th 31st, and will then publicize the results and try to see what this assessment method will teach us. I hope to see a lot of you answering so that we can get as accurate as possible. To enter your answer, you can choose either $0 (no value) or enter the value in the text area. If you are not sure about what value to give, you have the option too.

Let’s see what we can get.

It’s the title of my wife’s new blog. The blog is in French. The main subject as the name indicates is “Differences” in all aspects of life.
I love the concept. Happy blogging dear. \^^/
Here’s the link

>> Differences

I came across this site, Peace One Day, and I must say that I was inspired. I learned that Sept 21st was chosen to be a fixed day of peace every year. The video below explains very well the concept and gives a bit of background. On the website, I committed to talk about it on my blog and let people know about it. In doing so, I am wishing to make a small contribution to spread this message of peace. I also added a sticker on the top right corner. Watch the video, then make your own commitment.

That’s what this T-shirt from Sense Alive Design is saying. I simply loved it.

I don’t know about you but I am definetely getting one of these.

You can have a look at the T-shirt models they offer here.

My awesome friend, my laptop has been with me since November 2004. I bought it in the US, short before I return to Tunis. He’s (Yes, he’s my friend, I wont call him “it”) been with me since then in all good and bad moments of life and helped me to work and sometimes to entertain myself.

Now has come the time to say goodbye I guess. It’s not because my lovely Laptop is mis-performing or anything. He’s still doing great. But I guess that’s how life is. I am putting him for sale on ebay. Maybe is he destined to move with another friend who will take care of him and show him new places and programs and softwares.

I hope he can find affection and love somewhere else. I will never forget him. Snif snif

It is a small website consisting of just 1 web page, but it gives information on the movies you can see in Alhambra movie theater. It also tells you about the movies that will be on their screen soon.

I did some research on the web and I think they are the only tunisian theater offering an informative website. And for this, they deserve credit for making the effort and taking the step.

However, a lot of work is still to be done about the design of the website and the quantity of information you can have there (example : ticket prices, how to contact the theatre, maybe a little location map, some news, etc…).

Hoping to get heard and hoping for others to follow.