John Chow dot Com Review
Wed, 02/21/2007 - 16:34 | 
Last week I didn't even know who John Chow was. Now I'm a frequent visitor.
The first time I had heard of John Chow dot Com was in this post on the Digital Point forums. At that time I just shrugged and didn't bother checking to see what his blog was all about. My mind is on information overload as it is now and I wasn't looking for yet another crowded, ad-ridden, jumbled up mess that so many of the revenue blogs look like to me. (And if you read no further please realize John's blog is anything but those things.) Edit 03/14/07: His blog is now a jumbled up mess, sorry to say. I don't mind ads but his blog is just too busy. I still read it though. heh
John's blog is what I call an "easy read". Since I surf the web a lot I don't like to spend a lot of time on confusing websites trying to find information. I like to get in, read, and get out. Except in the case of John Chow Dot Com, it seems like I get in, read, and read and read and read. I eventually get out but not for long as I keep coming back for more.
If you have never visited John Chow Dot Com his Top Posts lists is a good place to start. There is a lot of good information there on all aspects of blogging, such as monetizing, promotion, content and just about anything else regarding blogging. Some of this information is invaluable for a new blogger such as myself.
There has been speculation regarding the reason(s) for John's success and I believe it is his personal way of interacting with his visitors. But wait, maybe that's not the key to his success at all! Maybe it is his "Fine Dining" category! Personally, I think taking pictures of the food you eat and then posting the pictures on your blog is a bit bizarre, but hey, if it works for John Chow maybe it will work for me! Here is what I had for lunch today, yum yum. :)
I would have probably written about John Chow dot Com anyway but at the moment John is running a campaign to review his blog in return for a permanent link-back from his site. That was an opportunity too good to pass up so I had to take him up on it. If you would like to review John Chow dot Com and get a link-back yourself you can find out more about in his "review my blog get a free linkback" post.
John Chow review
Anna, I thought I'd pop across here from the discussion at eMom and check out you JC review.
It is utterly inoffensive. Why should this have been passed over? I really think it must have been an oversight on his part, however organised he is. I also wanted to thank you for your kind advice over there. I'm not sure I'll follow it up. "John Chow dot Com: Community or Cult" was perhaps not an angle he was impressed with.
Thanks, again.
I don't know...
It was weird because he said something like "here are the 10 reviews" and he only listed 9 and mine was missing. I believe it was an oversight also. Mine isn't the most in-depth review in the world but it suits his purposes just fine.
If he sent you an email telling you which batch you will be in it will only take a second to respond and ask if he forgot you. If you never received an email at all then maybe he never got your mail with the URL of your review? I believe there is a specific email address he wants people to use and the link is in the review rules.
The rules are simple:
The link for his email leads to his blog contact page.
Your backlink not being listed on his blog is not the end of the world, but you kept your part of the bargain, I think he should do the same.
Interesting.
Just 15 minutes back I created this blog http://thisisinterestingmarch2007.blogspot.com about http://www.johnchow.com/. Until 2 weeks back I too did not know who is. Now I do. I hope that, after going through my post, Anna, you too will link to my blog.
Later.
------------------------
Text of my post:
Interesting.
Yes, that is how I felt when I came across the website http://www.johnchow.com.
And hence this blog name.
Today, just now I created this blog for the purpose of writing this review.
He says in his website that when he started, hs intention was not to make money but to note down his ramblings. But I was doing internet search on money making and somewhere (I dont remember where) I came across a link to http://www.johnchow.com. Considering the fact that today, at the moment, I dont have sufficient free time to go through his website in detail and submit a detailed review, I will just write here what I feel.
Last year, after a reasonably long period of familiarity with internet, I had tried to put in some serious effort into website creations and monetization. And, I am in the process of establishing my regular income sources. It gives me a great pleasure to come across someone who started around the same period and who has succeeded.
I fully appreciate what he says about placing links to own earlier posts in a blog. It is informative to note that he has adopted several parallel channels of income.
When I came across the section about writing a review and getting a link back, I could not resist the temptation and here I am.
Layout of the website http://www.johnchow.com : Neat, pleasant looking and very organied.
The writing style: Lucid and direct.
Content: Very useful.
The pictures: Impressive.
And I plan to keep coming back and updating my reviews.
See you all until then. (By the way, the link you see below is courtesy the free web coutner code I got from internet.)
Kind of weird...
Kind of weird that you copied your whole blog entry into my comments section, but hey, whatever works, hehe... I never thought about doing that before so I went to your blog and tried it out there... :)
Your comment
Hi,
First things first. Thanks for visiting my blog. Within a day I have a visitor. Great.
Before coming to this page today, I had gone to my blog page. I saw your comment and was wondering how to let you know how i like your response. By leaving a comment on my own blog or by leaving a brief response on your blog.
Then I noticed that you have have written a comment on your own site. Great too.
Since, I am sort of new to this comments threads etc. , I thought all comments will be posted in single chronolical order.
Then I noticed the indenting and found, replies can be posted to individual comments too.
Now, regarding how much you liked my way of commenting - well, you felt it weird.
Regarding how I felt about your comment on my blog, I feel great about it. Not that I want to encourage myself and others to keep on duplicating content, but just that, for a budding blog, so much of discussion on johnchow.com on my blog, is a good development.
Now, I guess I was a bit over enthusiastic yesterday, but then, my real intention was that those people who come to your comments section actually see what I haven written, (in case they choose not to click on the link to my blog).
In future, I will not do the pasting of content on your site, but if you do on my site, I wont mind. In fact, I will like it. Because, if I copy your content, it is copying without permission, but if you do it, it is a guest leaving a nice contribution. Broadly smiles back.
I think comments show up differently
Then I noticed the indenting and found, replies can be posted to individual comments too.
Now, regarding how much you liked my way of commenting - well, you felt it weird.
Regarding how I felt about your comment on my blog, I feel great about it.
I think comments show up differently depending on which blog software you use... Most people use Blogger or Wordpress but I use Drupal... The comments on this blog will be threaded much like a forum post with other forum software you may have seen on the web... I like it a lot and highly recommend Drupal over any other blogging software I've ever tried...
Yah, I did think it a bit weird but I'm glad we had this conversation to get to know each other... thanks for stopping back by and come back any time! :)
John Chow Syndrome
there is a John Chow Syndrome infecting the bloggers.
I believe it!
I was infected before I ever heard of John Chow, hehe. I only ran across his blog a few weeks ago but I guess he can make the infection a little worse.
He loves to tell brag about how much money he makes which in turn brings more people to his blog which in turn makes him more money.
I've made $10.00 with Loudlaunch. My husband says he'll believe it when he sees it (since I won't receive payment until after April 1st). I don't think my $10.00 is anything to brag about though. I'll just have to try harder!
hahaha... funny..
hahaha... funny..
*grin*
I thought about making a category called "Fine Trailer Park Dining" but I don't have the guts to do it yet... matter of fact, I wrote one post already about my fine trailer park lunch of Spanish Beef and Rice but it is still in draft form... hehe
Good strategy !
I like your sarcasm. I'm a reader of John's blog as well, and I always skip past the restaurant posts. But yours was funny :)
hehe, thanks...
I was afraid it may have been taken the wrong way... I meant it as humor but I know I have a warped sense of humor so I have to be careful sometimes...
Fine Dining!!!
Ha ha...you have a very interesting super fast prepared meal. If I put my meal photos in the blog...it would be very boring and frightening ..... (I only eat in a dull canteen)
And cheap too!
It is what the poor people have for lunch, hehe... if I ever make any money from the internet maybe I'll be able to dine at the really fine restaurants just like John Chow...
Most sold product ever !
I heard a conversation a few weeks ago on the radio, and Ramen noodles are the most sold food product ever made :)
They sell over a billion $ worth of noodles/year :)
LOL, maybe I shouldn't have
LOL, maybe I shouldn't have admitted eating them but they really are not so bad for a quick filling lunch sometimes...