You may have come here from the blog of the make money online legend himself, "John Chow". Or perhaps you've never heard of this guy until now. In fact, The Monetizer just learned about Mr. Chow this past year, most likely by a random web search that landed on his page. If you asked most random people in the street, who is John Chow, they probably would have no clue. But in terms of the internet and blogosphere he's been highly successful with this make money blogging thing for a while.
So who exactly is this John Chow guy?
John Chow is a self-proclaimed "dot com mogul" and a legend in the make money blogging world. He is the editor in chief of techzone.com, a company which reviews and sells hardware technology. In addition to that, John also blogs about making money online using various advertising techniques on JohnChow.com. He has a large fan base of readers/subscribers as well as a large income generated by his site. He regularly publishes his blog income reports, and in August 07' he had made over $17,000. That's right, let that number sink in, $17,000 from a blog. His blog's current title tag is "I Make Money Online by telling people how Much Money I Make Online". This guy knows what he's doing. He's been featured on the techie TV show "The Lab with Leo Laporte", where he discussed how to monetize your blog. He's been on the radio, mentioned on countlesss websites, blogs and featured in various media stories, such as one by Newsweek. And just recently, he has been featured on the cover of a very popular magazine in China, called Ming Pao. Basically, when Chow blogs, people listen, and usually follow in his ways, or rush out to try the latest concept he has spoke of.
Now this is not all about "ass kissing" by the Monetizer, but more of an acknowledgment towards what this guy has achieved. It's always interesting to read different insights on blogging and monetizing. One thing that is always interesting is that John Chow makes a good share of grammatical mistakes and has posts which deviate from his blog topic of making money online (what he eats, stuff about his new baby, selling bed matresses). However, nobody is perfect and you have to admire what this guy has been able to accomplish. It also speaks large volumes about the concepts of optimization, monetization, and building a brand and audience from your blog. Chow has a large following (about 8,000 or so readers at least) and a large bank account, all thanks to the internet and blogging. It really proves that when you are already getting the traffic and the income, you can pretty much do what you want with your blog or site. Taking it in new directions just might help it achieve greater returns. In fact, Chow is always finding ways to increase the income of his blog, making him a great example to follow.
The Monetizer may mention John Chow or his writings here from time to time. If you aren't familiar with his site already, it's JohnChow.com and it provides a wealth of great info to learn from. It recently was redesigned by a pro blog company (Unique Blog Designs) and has a very stylish and clean look to it. The best thing to do when viewing his site is to not be jealous, not to copycat, but simply learn from the things that he is doing. Take notes of his design, the advertising methods that work for him, the new blog tools he says work well, and even what he eats. Monetizer is not saying to follow everything he does or copy him (even though a Cow has). Try things out for yourself and experiment with ideas that you may come up with based upon his teachings. And maybe just one day, The Monetizer and you will also be "dot com moguls" mentioned in the same breath as John Chow.
9/27/07
The Monetizer is a Fan of John Chow
New BlogRush Features Unveiled!
The Monetizer is not here to pitch BlogRush as the greatest thing since sliced bread, but so far it seems the widget and the features are expanding. Here's some of the nice recent changes they made at BlogRush:
- Widget flavors - BlogRush used to only let you choose a black widget on your blog. Not too useful or stylish if your blog employed a certain color scheme. Now they give you "flavors" to choose from. Monetizer chose Watermelon, you can see it in the lower left column..Yummy!
- Post filter - This is a very powerful tool to prevent BlogRush from displaying specific posts you make as headlines on other people's BlogRush widget. For example, maybe you just did a blog post to claim your blog on Technorati (it's rather basic and simple). Or you added a post to say you'll be on vacation for a few days. You probably don't want readers landing on your blog to see those sorts of things because they might not stick around for more (or even click them on another widget). BlogRush allows you to enter a word or phrase to filter. Maybe the word "Technorati" or "Vacation", keeping with the above examples. Or you could enter the entire Post title itself. BlogRush then makes sure those posts don't show up on the Widget elsewhere.
(Note: BlogRush encourages users to not have it so only 1 good post you did is constantly showing up on the Widget. They don't want people abusing the system!)
- Widget Filters - Another powerful feature allowing you to control what's showing on your blog's widget. With this one you can enter a keyword or phrase which you want blocked from displaying on your blog's BlogRush widget. Additionally, you can enter a specific Blog's URL to block its blog titles from showing up ever. Kind of evil, but maybe you are seeing headlines from a spam or adult theme blog and its showing on your widget. Or something shown is totally off from your topic. Might be helpful to block that from being on your blog's widget.
These features are some great positive additions. Right now, the dashboard and stats reporting are down for BlogRush, so Monetizer can't really report on how it's doing. Hopefully soon we will see it back up with good numbers to report. If you'd like to employ this helpful widget on your blog, get the BlogRush Widget here.
Feel free to leave comments/feedback regarding BlogRush. There are many supporters and critics and it's good to see what others think about this.
9/26/07
BlogRush: Crime Fighters & Blog Saviors
Since the Monetizer installed the BlogRush widget not long ago (less than 2 weeks), it's brought a total of 5 clicks for about 6,000 impressions. That's not entirely that impressive, but the Monetizer has been patient for a few reasons.
1) The widget is in Beta, so that means tweaks will be done to get things right and make it work better.
2) Most of the top bloggers are sticking with it and haven't ditched it yet, so it makes some sense to give it a try while these guys are still using it on their sites.
3) The brains behind the BlogRush widget have been pretty good with email communications if there's troubleshoots or problems going on or new features being worked on. A perfect example is that an email arrived to Monetizer early this AM with quite a bit to report!
The email from John Reese, Founder of BlogRush assured members that their stats showing on the member dashboards have been severely under-reported and that you're really getting more traffic then what is shown (good news for sure). They are working hard to get more categories to select from (right now it's limited as to what category you can choose for your blog). They also are working on preventing the bad guys and scoundrels from finding ways to "cheat" the BlogRush system. BlogRush says they will be doing a "manual review" of all new blogs to filter out those that are spammy and low quality. Basically these guys don't mess around, because there's a few paragraphs in their email warning the bad guys. And finally, BlogRush reports that they are working on ways to improve the statistical reporting you get and to make sure you see more traffic coming in to your blog.
This is some good news from their email:
"SPECIAL NOTE TO ALL LOW-TRAFFIC MEMBERS: In the near future we'll be giving our low-traffic members (those that need more traffic the most) the BULK of our bonus credit allocations. You'll get a ton more bonus credits than high-traffic members because you really need it. It's only FAIR!"
Bonus credits means you have more potential clicks coming via your headlines on other blogs displaying the widget. This makes great sense to sign up for now, because if you're a newer blogger on the block, you'll seriously benefit from the credits being given out!
These BlogRush guys have some bankroll and they don't appear to be just talking the talk or bsing people. As a good example, the Agloco program has been going on for months and claims it will pay members for surfing the internet. Monetizer joined it who knows when and barely saw much communication on their part, until maybe their Viewbar tool was ready to download. This would almost indicate they wanted people to join and encourage others to, but that they couldn't tell anyone what they were really up to, or when they might get paid. They still aren't giving much details on the "get paid" part. Anyways, BlogRush so far has been very upfront and communicative. If a blogger thinks they are a bad idea or tries to discredit their system, that's perfectly fine, but at least they keep their members/users in the loop.
If you aren't using the BlogRush widget, its available here for free. An advantage to joining now, you'll be assured that your blog gets a manual review for quality control, and that BlogRush will keep you updated via email.
Stop Procrastinating, Start Blogging
Checking out some articles on the Gather site (a friendly community you should join), there was one saying that today is National "Anti-Procrastination" day. It's amazing how many holidays exist nowadays. In fact there's at least 3 for each day of the calendar year it seems. Monetizer did a little research trying to find out more about this and couldn't find confirmation that today is the day. A web search determined that there's a Flylady who blogs about each Wednesday being "Anti-Procrastination" day. She also does "Tackle it Tuesday". The next logical choice that Monetizer would like to coin is "Make Money Monday", but that could become a tongue twister.
The point here is that we shouldn't procrastinate in the things we want to do to be successful. It may be related to your health, diet, job, debt, or whatever you choose. In this case here, it would be setting up a blog or website, and starting to get it going. Or if it's already up and running, finding new ways to analyze it, promote and monetize it.
Below are steps you need to take to get your new blog going. They also are helpful for someone who has been blogging for any length of time and may be missing any of the items numbered 3-5.
1) Start up your blog - There's no excuse to put it off if you've been considering setting up a blog. Blogger and Wordpress both offer free blogging platforms to use. Blogger is recommended if you want to do a free blog that you don't have to host on your own website. It allows easier integration of Google Adsense ads. It even has a spot to sign up for Adsense when you create the blog, and its template editor allows you to pick and choose the spots to put your ads. Head to Blogger.com, if you'd like to start an easy to set up blog there.
Wordpress seems to be the top choice for many of the pros and anyone with their own web domain and hosting plan. If that's something you can afford to do, or you already have web hosting, then definitely go with Wordpress. It has a top notch set of features and plug-ins. Hosting the blog, you'll be able to integrate any ads you choose into it, because it is your site. Just be warned, installing Wordpress is a bit tricky, so study up on the how to install guide. Also, if you decide to be gung-ho and buy web hosting and a domain name, carefully consider your choices for the webhost and what your unique site (domain) name will be (ie: www.joesmoneyblog.com) Remember that the dominain name you choose should be unique yet easy enough for people to type in. "www.thisismynewmoneymakingblog.com" might seem unique, but nobody will want to enter that in to get to your site every time.
Step 2 - Write a post about anything - Once you have a blog, make a post just to set the blog in motion. Make the post your "About Me" or "What this Blog is About". That will form the general theme and foundation for your blog as well as future posts. You can always come back and update/edit this post as you move forward, but it gives your blog at least a start page. Starting with an "About me" makes sense because you can even use it to set up your goals for the blog. As you progress you can refer back to it to stay on target or blog about how you're doing with the goals. You don't necessarily need to call it "About Me", but most serious blogs have these, and many readers might be interested to see where you're coming from.
If you are real inspired, set up a Technorati.com profile. It's a powerful online community which can bring more people to your blog. You will need to "claim your blog" (it's URL) with Technorati. One method they give to do this is for you to create a blog entry as they describe and post it. This will make sure Technorati can communicate with and include your blog in its searches. Technorati's a good idea for any blogger to join today as well, because it can bring even more potential traffic and readers to your blog. It also provides widget buttons that will allow readers to "favorite" your blog on their own Technorati profiles. (see button in left column near top)
Step 3 - Install Google Analytics - if you don't have the free Google account, create one, because it offers a load of great free services. You can also head straight over and install Google Analytics into your blog's HTML code, and it is rather easy to do. Check out this Google Analytics post at Bloggingexperiment.com, where he goes into more detail about why it is a must have. Analytics is a great idea to have running on your blog or website from the get go. It will track statistics for traffic/visits/searchs over the life of your site or blog. Having it in there from Day 1 makes a lot of sense.
Step 4 - Sign up for Feedburner - Once you have the blog, at least one post, and the stats tracking ready, you should start feed management. Feedburner is rather easy to sign up for, you just enter your blog URL and it creates the RSS feed URL for you. They also have comprehensive forums, with how to's and explanations there. Feedburner will provide you another useful tracking device for subscriptions and readers, and also provide you with ways to promote your blog. You may even want to get the "Subscribe to this Feed" button from their choices and put the code in your blog's sidebar, so it's there from the start. This will give readers the ability to subscribe to your material and stay up to date with new posts.
Step 5 - Join a few sites where you can promote - These can be forums, social media sites, blog communities, article submission sites. Join maybe 3-5, but continue to find new ones as you move forward. These sorts of sites can't be overlooked when you're trying to build a successful blog. The Monetizer recommends Gather.com and Squidoo because they offer additional monetization. Gather.com is good for submitting pictures and articles to receive feedback from the community. It's a great cross-promotional tool. Squidoo offers you a potential way to capture many viewers if your webpage (lens) rises to the top of the rankings. Better still, they reward their members. (Squidoo offers commissions and profits, while Gather has both a gift card and money program).
As for forums, the easiest thing to do is decide what your blog topic is and search for that particular forum. For example a search for "Business forums" or "Entertainment forums" should provide you with great starting points.
If you'd like a Blogging community try MyBlogLog.com, BlogCatalog.com, BlogToplist.com just to name 3. A web search will reveal many more. The best part of these is they provide you with some cool widgets and buttons to incorporate into your blog.
All in all sometimes we need a swift kick in the butt just to get ourselves going with things we hold back on. Until we just do it, we fail to take that ever important first step in achieving our goals and finding success. Choose something above that you aren't implementing now and give it a go.. Whether it's this Wednesday or any other day, stop procrastinating and get your blog or next steps going!
If the above 5 steps are things you've done already, here's a few more ideas:
- Install a BlogRush widget to gain additional traffic. Once installed promote it to your friends who blog, and you will gain more potential traffic by them signing up.
- Select another source of monetization. For example, if you're just running Adsense why not try AuctionAds (which starts you off with $25 in your account) or Amazon Associates as a second and third source? Each of these are free to join and can make great potential money sources for a blog.
- Submit your blog and RSS URL's to directories so they can index your blog and others might find it. A good list found here, although some sites may be outdated.
- Write 1, 2 or 3 blog entries in advance. Even if you don't post them, jot down ideas as blog entries and save each. You may come back to your ideas later and find inspiration to write a post.
- Find more blogs like yours around the web. Head to them, bookmark them, comment them (nicely). It's a good idea to see what others are up to in your niche or category. You may also find inspiration to post a new blog entry based on what you read.
If you enjoyed this post and want more, feel free to subscribe to the RSS feed or sign up for email updates!
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