Blogging Zoom vs John Chow
- 15 Comment
The apparent dislike for John Chow in the Blogging Zoom community is obviously present. I didn’t realize this and submitted a post about our entrecard on JohnChow dot Com. The response was immediate and negative. I got paragraphs for comments as well as very irrelevant discussion.
Many must not of read the article and just though I was praising John Chow like many do. I could care less really, however advertising on his widget not only brought us traffic, but also gave us more entrecard points which is good for anything. I don’t care much about him, or how much money he makes. However, he is getting all that traffic and money and I’d sure love a piece of it. Why not?
Why the Dislike for the Chow?
John Chow has not been offering much valuable content, if he ever did. He’s just enjoying being on top and earning thousands of dollars per month. In the meantime he is continuing his eating out pictures and traveling being a web celebrity.
He’s taken a lot from blogging, but how much has he really given back? No real golden tips, besides that it CAN be done. That there is life without adsense and after google slaps you.
So what? His posts consist of how much his blog is growing and how much he is earning. He often mentions his advertising and rates, as well as how great the advertising is. It’s not of much interest for me, he stays on my feed reader but I often just skim through the articles.
So what? Don’t read him. Take him off your feed reader and ban his URL from your computer.
However by blogging about him, arguing over how bad he is, you are just making him even more filthy rich. So in a weird twisted way, you are just helping him be who he has become.
Blogging Zoom Article
It was weird to see that my bloggingzoom article had less than 5 votes but over 10 comments (it’s more now!). While bashing Chow, many instead live and die by what Vic of Blogger Unleashed says which is fine with me. His blog has become very successful in a short period of time. He claims to be “controversial” but I think he’s mistaken for bashing and cursing. However, I do like Vic and it’s great what he’s been able to do.
What I don’t appreciate is to be judged and bashed by a simple post that wasn’t even read by them in the first place. I make enough money with my blogs and run this website because I enjoy it.
I guess I am asking for it, submitting this article to Blogging Zoom, but we’ll see what happens. Maybe it will be read this time? Maybe I can start getting ‘bashed’ too and rack up some links.
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15 Comments on this post
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TzuVelli said:
At least you did not submit it to Digg. Vic is definitely antiChow. And, it follows by extension that BloggingZoom would be as well.
January 9th, 2008 at 12:38 pm -
Rhys Wynne said:
I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of John Chow, and Vic does make a few good points (the easiest way to make money online is to target search engines).
However, the comments added nothing. I get a few more readers from entrecard, that makes me happy 🙂
January 9th, 2008 at 1:34 pm -
sir jorge said:
“Mo Money Mo Problems”
– Biggie Smalls
January 9th, 2008 at 1:41 pm -
Frank C said:
Like I said on BZ, it’s like going to Busch Stadium and ordering a Miller beer. (for people outside the US, Miller beer is made in Milwaukee while Busch beer is made in St. Louis. Both cities are big beer and sports rivals.)
Chow reminds me a lot of MLM gurus who lead a ‘downline’ along the primrose path with trappings of success and promises of getting rich. He can be funny and engaging at times but you need to know what you’re dealing with.
January 9th, 2008 at 5:16 pm -
Jennyjinx said:
I came here via EC.
I have to say those comments were harsh. Oh, and even though I don’t do the MMO thing, but I do know I’m sick of reading about John Chow. I feel like people are just invoking his name trying to get some cheap traffic. Ugh. Makes me ill.
However, someone on that site mentioned that the bounce rate is 99%. I don’t know from which site he received his stats, but my EC traffic doesn’t bounce (much). I average 2.53 page views per visit with most spending more than three minutes (per each unique visitor). Since joining EC I’ve learned enough about MMO to know that those numbers aren’t so bad. Right?
But my site isn’t about the same old internet marketing (no offense, but much of the internet marketing is talking about the same stuff) so it’s more interesting to browse through for folks that are more likely to click on ads and perhaps become repeat visitors.
I’ve also tripled my RSS subscribers, so that’s pretty awesome too.
At any rate, good luck with handling those comments. Looks like you’re doing pretty good so far. 🙂
January 9th, 2008 at 7:29 pm -
Funny Video said:
I used to read Chow, but after a couple of months, I noticed that I really wasn’t moving forward based on anything he wrote about. He mainly was promoting himself and selling stuff; nothing wrong with that, mind you, but hardly much help to me.
I found Court’s blog and starting reading his articles. Court has very informative articles and ‘how to’s. From there I found bloggingzoom and found another great blogger, Grizzly. Grizzly took me to the start of the next level, keyword targeting; everyone talks about using keywords in your articles, but Griz was the 1st, that I found, to actually spell it out.
Enter Vic. Vic stepped out of the shadows and started to fully explain what Griz was talking about, in a no non-sense style that was entertaining.
Does Vic like Chow? Oh hell no! As much as I like Vic, his info, and his style, I have noticed that people are flocking to him, nothing bad about that, but are getting onto a new bandwagon.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:17 pm -
Robert said:
As you say Funny Video, Vic, Court and Griz may represent a “new bandwagon” but they’re providing something useful. John Chow merely goes on about his latest trip to a restaurant, and how great he is. I don’t know if he used to be different and useful, but he certainly isn’t now.
It’s ok to be a “celebrity”, as long as we have some idea how it happened. When you appear to be some kind of celebrity but no one is sure how or why, then people will obviously have reason to dislike you.
January 9th, 2008 at 11:48 pm -
Matt Jones said:
I think you’ve got to give JC a bit more credit… sure a lot of his posts are not helpful but is there really so much more to learn about blogging that he can teach? It took him years of blogging multiple times per day to get where he is… and the fact that this debate is happening shows he is a talented marketer.
January 10th, 2008 at 3:46 am -
Matthew Henrickson said:
As I said that even if you don’t like him mentioning him in a positive or negative way is still building his brand and making him more money.
He really doesn’t have to post anything useful and I can’t remember the last article that I actually read that wasnt a guest post. Maybe besides the plugin reviews.
January 10th, 2008 at 11:01 am -
Mitch at Money News said:
I read a post from Chow every now and then when its something someone recommends in a post. Last one I read was a few weeks ago regarding how his traffic is actually less compared to last year now, he just found more ways to monetize it. He’s got alot of people who hate him, but if you don’t like him don’t read him or link to him. Easy as that.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:03 pm -
Malin said:
Who could care less about Chow. Just take advantage of the opportunity to get some of his visitors. The blogging world is filthy, so just play by the rules ^^. He has never written anything useful though…
Who knows how much in body benefits he had to give up to get all that money 😉January 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm -
Matthew Henrickson said:
“I don’t care much about him, or how much money he makes. However, he is getting all that traffic and money and I’d sure love a piece of it. Why not?”
January 10th, 2008 at 12:40 pm -
Ruchir said:
Well, you know people say he doesn’t give you any tips and I agree he doesn’t. However, it’s his personal blog, check his tagline and so he can post anything he wants. And its HIS blog. I really don’t get it why people get annoyed when a blogger isn’t giving them any tips…Hell, unsubscribe if you’re so troubled. It’s the blogger’s choice what he does with the blog.
And you know what the only secret to online fame and money is to just do it. Seriously, did John Chow know much about blogging when he started? NO…You learn the most while you’re actually doing it. Not from reading what tips someone is giving…
Just my two cents and no I’m not a John Chow evangelist…
January 11th, 2008 at 2:39 am -
Sutocu said:
I think you raise a very good issue and I definitely support you on this. Understanding the true motives behind some of the stuff John Chow says, and looking past his impressive monthly figures is a good thing. I fail to see why we would need to be against everything he says, though.
Even if most of what he said would be total nonsense (not saying it is so), there must be something to learn from John Chow, because he is successful.
Besides, stopping to blindly follow all of what John Chow tells us does not help up very much, if we jump to Vic’s bandwagon and do the same with everything he tells us. I’m not trying to bash anyone here, but no one has everything right or everything wrong. There’s something to learn from everyone, and something to disagree with in everyone’s speech.
January 11th, 2008 at 6:27 am -
Robert said:
John Chow isn’t trying to teach his readers anything, he’s trying to sell them advertising and pimping products to make himself money. Court, Griz, and Vic are teaching how to market web sites. One group is providing value, and the other is taking it. 3 people want you to think, and 1 counts on you not to.
Think about it. We’re not dealing with a simple variance in philosophy about techniques to use.
January 11th, 2008 at 7:24 pm