Since launching Zero Dominance two weeks ago, I’ve been experimenting with two different services for promoting the site. The first, Scratchback, costs money and the second one, Entrecard, is free for all bloggers. You probably have heard of them before. They are ubiquitous in many blogging communities, and it’s easy to spot the users by their (often design-clashing) widgets somewhere on the home page. What I learned from some of these communities is that a lot of people voluntarily participate in a link circle-jerk and a lot of familiar blogs’ links show up in more familiar blogs. Blog contests, shout outs, or just plain ol’ favorites on the sidebar. Whatever it is, you start seeing the same links over and over. I’m no expert in using Entrecard and Scratchback effectively yet, but so far these services somewhat break that link monotony.

I knew about Entrecard first and people in several blogging message boards were all abuzz over it, but I didn’t really see the potential in its usage. Overall I thought it would be a flash in the pan. Scratchback is something I just ran across by chance, by reading some blog that used it. This interested me more, because unlike Entrecard, you can secure a guaranteed link for a limited amount of time, instead of hounding people for EC credits. But it does cost you money. You see, Scratchback lists can be treated as a lower-class advertising area, and it’s also like a tipping jar for the webmaster. Not ready to spend $25 on a banner ad? Scratchback links cost as low as $1. This is both a good and bad thing.

It’s good because it requires almost zero effort on the buyer who places his link on the page. You don’t need to be a Scratchback member yourself to participate in the program. However, it’s also bad because at such cheap prices, it can turn into an impulse buy. My first Scratchback purchase was made for a blog that had nothing to do with the blog that I advertised on. Not surprisingly, I only got one click-through the entire first week that link was up. Waste of money, but this was only $1. I made a couple $1 link purchases in other places, in different kinds of blogs, and to no avail. Another problem is that, Scratchback is only widely recognized in certain niches. It’s no good for personal blogs, TV blogs, or any kind of blog that is not meta-blogging or marketing.

Entrecard fares somewhat better in my experience. You actually get to see some action happening, because its widget lets you know who had dropped their link into your card. Unlike Scratcback, Entrecard is reciprocal so everyone needs to sign up to participate. But lately, it’s been undergoing some odd changes with its screwy pricing structure and it’s making it harder for people to get recognized by bigger blogs. I don’t plan on using Entrecard forever. I think it’s a good way to bolster some traffic for new blogs such as this one, because I actually see worthwhile traffic pouring in from clicks on my EC profile. Once traffic grows to the point where I feel I don’t need marketing gimmicks anymore, I will drop Entrecard. More conventional methods like word-of-mouth and voluntary linkbacks work much better in getting new visitors.

So there you have it. They might work wonders in spiking up traffic now and then, but if you really care about traffic spikes, that’s what Digg and Stumbleupon are for. At best, Entrecard and Scratchback create awareness of new blogs. But the way that their rules are set up, it undercuts your blog’s awareness as it grows in popularity. Not to mention I’m a stickler for organization, so some of these widgets look out of place on my (somewhat plain) design. But for now, my Entrecard will stick around here, until it’s ready to be released back into the wild.