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Why John Chow is Bad for Blogging


Why John Chow is Bad for BloggingI like to keep things related to health and weight loss, but there are times when I just need to vent. So this post is one of those times.

I have been intrigued with blogging since it started becoming popular a few years ago. That’s why I started this blog. I figured I would be able to document my weight loss journey as a way to make myself accountable for my actions. It has been working great. I love blogging, everything about it. Well, except for John Chow and wanna-be bloggers like him.

Being that I am a newbie blogger (this blog is only about 3 months old or so), I scour the internet for information that will help me better my blogging. Whether it is joining MyBlogLog (See my Community to the right), Technorati, or reading up on how to incorporate things into my blogging, I research everything there is to do with blogging.

One of the many sites I have come across during my blog researching is JohnChow.com. At first I figured it would be a useful resource, since he has been blogging for a few years, but then I realized that John Chow is bad for blogging. I am not the only one to realize this: Google, Digg, and a slew of others have criticized and/or penalized his blog.

So why do I think John Chow is bad for blogging? To start off he has taken the blogging out of blogging. What do I mean by that? I mean that he doesn’t just blog to blog about stuff. He now only blogs in order to make money online. His posts aren’t genuine. He gets paid for posting certain things. These certain “things” can make or break other sites. He is extremely biased with his posts. He tends to promote the heck out of things and it’s rather annoying. If there is nothing in it for him he doesn’t blog about it. At any given moment you can check his site at any time and see that he is peddling something.

Another reason why I feel that he is bad for blogging is because he has started this “make money with blogging” craze. Tons upon tons of wanna-be John Chow’s are now making dumb ass blogs about making money online. Don’t they realize that they will not make anywhere near what John Chow makes, if anything at all? They are just trying to be like him and spam the heck out of every single make money blog that there is. A perfect example is JohnCow.com. Yep, that’s right. JohnCow, with a COW. This guy, or as I suspect, couple of guys, are a bunch of young copy cats. Kids actually, that decided to mimic John Chow’s blog. While their posts are more entertaining and “light,” they are just like John Chow’s in that they are all about making money online. There are a slew of other copy cats, but you can find them yourself by just looking at the commentators on their respective blogs.

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**EDIT** John Cow just recently had a redesign done. I think it actually looks amazing. It sets the site apart from the rest and I think it will give the site it’s own identity now.

Yet another reason why I can’t stand John Chow is that he is a “make money” whore. He is all about the all mighty dollar. That’s it. All he wants to do is make as much money as he can from his blog. I can’t stand it. Not because I am envious (as you can see my blog is about my weight loss journey), but because all you see on his blog are ads. Tons of them. The first thing you see is ads. It’s like one big advertisement that happens by chance to have some posts on it. He should call his blog “The Ad Blog.” Some ads are okay, but damn bro, cut back on those ads.

I won’t lie, I have the damned blog RSSed, but only to see if he will ever start bettering his blogging. I have hopes that he will return to his original ways of posting genuine posts.

ShoeMoney.com, a blog worth readingOne blog I do like is ShoeMoney.com. The guy is an uber blogger. His blogs are genuine, personal, and entertaining. I don’t have to worry about him trying to sell me on the next big thing. Check his blog out, it’s worth it. Plus the guy was a fat bastard, not unlike myself, and lost weight. Although he did do it with gastric bypass surgery, but nonetheless he lost weight and is in good shape. He has some cool pics too. Well, now that I think of it, I am not as fat as he was. But whatever, check it out anyway.

Shouldn’t blogging be genuine? Blogs came about a few years ago because people wanted their voices heard. They wanted to have a place to say what they felt. If they happened to make a little money then cool. But blogging wasn’t about making money. Blogs weren’t started to get rich off of. I guess John Chow doesn’t care and neither do his readers. They hope he will be their savior and teach them how to make money. Haven’t they realized that if he teaches them all of his tricks that he jeopardizes his own income? Ugh.

John Chow…You are bad for blogging. Period.

About the Author

My name is Israel Lagares. I used to be the kind of guy that was always in shape, but over the last few years I've fallen off tremendously. This site is my final attempt to get back into shape. So far I've lost 70.4 lbs. Check out my weight loss chart, weight loss videos and progress pics. Follow my journey, those of others, and read our thoughts on various health topics. Share your thoughts, experience, and journey here on FMU.

Community Thoughts (145)

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  1. John ChowNo Gravatar says:

    I never said I was good for blogging. πŸ™‚ But it’s cool. Like my blog title says, “I make money online by telling people how much I make online.”

  2. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    Hi John, thanks for being a good sport about it and stopping by. Seems like you are realistic.

  3. I un-subscribed from the John Chow blog late last month. Much for the same reason you mentioned above. There are other blogs that I can read instead of wasting my time from someone who just wantd to focus on making money.

    Michael

  4. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    thanks for stopping by, you are welcomed anytime.

  5. JessieNo Gravatar says:

    sooo ummm you want me to kick him in the shins for you or what?

    BAHAHHAHAHAHAHA

    JUST KIDDING JOHN!!!!!!!

    …….or am I?

    /shifty

  6. John CowNo Gravatar says:

    It all comes down to personal taste. What if everyone would start blogging about losing weight? Would that make everyone sucks because that’s all they are blogging about?

  7. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    I dont think you understood, its not just about the topic thats damaged, its the reason for blogging. If everyone started blogging about weight loss that would be fine, but if every started blogging about weight loss just to make money then thats another story. Or better yet, if people started blogging about weight loss and had no real knowledge about it or experiences.

  8. mahdi yusufNo Gravatar says:

    thanks for the link back i hope you guys visit us again! the monkeys are alive with joy! subscribe we did! πŸ˜€ i totally digg the idea of this blog! i stumbled and dugg!

  9. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    no problem, thanks goes right back to ya for stopping by.

  10. SanthoshNo Gravatar says:

    I don’t see anything wrong in blogging for money. Almost everyone will be happy to do it if they can make $17K per month πŸ™‚

  11. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    That is the beauty of this world. We are all entitled to our unique opinions.

  12. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    I don’t think the reason for all blogs is to makemoney. lol. I said that john chow has spurred a new race of make money bloggers.

  13. JKNo Gravatar says:

    FatMan,
    if you haven’t already, give HIIT a whirl. Check with your doctor first! It is very very intense. But it burns fat like nothing else.

    HIIT=high intensity interval training

    enjoyed your blog! πŸ™‚

    you CAN do it

  14. JKNo Gravatar says:

    oh and I almost forgot!

    re John Chow, the guy has no integrity

    when he started his blog he pledged to donate any and all monies to charity.

    he showed checks that he had drawn to local charities but when he started to make REAL money… that talk soon was forgotten.

    check into his archives, the posts should be there

  15. IsraelNo Gravatar says:

    wow, i did not know that. i will go check the archives, that is very interesting.

  16. KingJacobNo Gravatar says:

    I think its funny when people post about how John isnt genuine or has no integrity cause he is making money. The guy has written some really good, useful posts over the past year and all paid reviews by him I believe are pretty honest.

  17. ScamNo Gravatar says:

    I actually like JC’s blog BECAUSE he is so obviously making money with every post. You are right to say that he probably doesn’t share his best tricks with his readers but then who would?

    He is quite open about his motivations for running that blog so I say good luck to him.

    As for copycat’s I quite agree – there are a few good quality ones around like Dosh Dosh or Cashquests but absolutely hundreds of sub-standard ones who naively believe that doing whatever John Chow says will make them rich.

    John Cow, as blatant a rip-off as it is, does work for me because they have a new angle on the make money online theme, unlike the other several hundred others who are still using the Mistylook theme and rewriting JC’s posts to look like their own.

  18. I have to agree with you johnchows blog is big mess of ads and I dn’t visit his site very anymore becuase the frikin ads make my comptuer come to a crawl and he has referral links everywhere Im afriad if I click on something it might a clickbank or some other thing as you said,, peddling stuff to make more $$
    pathetic.

  19. acosminNo Gravatar says:

    I tried to be a copycat but IÒ€ℒve realized that I canÒ€ℒt make money like him from blogging about making money and in my opinion his blog is all marketing because In one day you will see him sell a book or something to make some good cash. Copycats around the world change your niche =)

  20. krillzNo Gravatar says:

    you know the people who get famous and all of a sudden they think they’re way above the rest of the sheep.
    They start to think they are way better, can do things however they want etc etc.
    Yeah well I feel something similar has happened to chow, but it’s about money.

    On later posts, it’s all about the profit, profit and again profit he earned.
    Almost as he wants the the sheep to envy and praise him, he loves the ass kissing πŸ˜›

    But seriously it’s less of the how you too can make money, and here’s how it’s done, and more of hey I earned $X by using Y.
    I’m so rich yada yada, and not as much how he did it.

    Well of course he doesn’t want to share that, as that would spawn x amount of people doing the same and resulting in him getting less $.

    But the bottom line is, it’s after all the readers that result in chows progress, not him.
    So who to blame, the ass kissing sheep.

  21. Funny because I just ranted about the exact same thing on someone’s blog last night. I ended up unsubscribing from John Chow because I got tired of him constantly trying to sell me something or jam yet more ads up my butt – i also don’t care about where he ate for dinner last night, or what he did on his trip to china. In his defense, he does claim to donate all the money he earns.

    Recently I’ve dedicated my blog to explaining “how i did it”, with regards to the success of my website. My blog has NO advertising, no “personal rants” and no other BS.. Just “how i did it” .. sadly, i’m not as good of a writer as John Chow.. πŸ™ … but i’m working on it..

  22. Etienne TeoNo Gravatar says:

    I blog on money making but i do come from an honest point of view for the program that i reviewed, i am not like john being paid for the reviews. Sometimes if you are pretty much earning like john, you will put money in your head first and blogging about others that have no monetizing effect comes second.

    • IsraelNo Gravatar says:

      good point. also, some say he gives it to charity but i find that hard to believe. he also has a post saying that he is putting it into a trust. i suspect thats for his baby. that doesnt sound like charity to me.

  23. “He now only blogs in order to make money online. His posts arenÒ€ℒt genuine”

    He’s not the only one.

    Thing is, it works. So why would he stop? You’re still reading his blog even though you think this, so there’s no reason for him to stop – it makes him money! πŸ˜€

  24. MarkkNo Gravatar says:

    Heck, JC has a captured audience and he’s making the best out of it. Can’t blame him for that. Blame the majority who are his sheep and sucking up to him. There are make money blogs and there are make money blogs. So we perceive that they dominate the blogosphere because we all seem to be moving the same circle. And that’s what make us sick of it. Move out of this circle and explore other circles and you’ll find many other blogs with great stuff to read. These blogs don’t get caught in the money race, although they may have adsense, affiliate programs, etc, on site. Take Steve Pavlina’s blog – that’s a good one.

  25. greatness008No Gravatar says:

    Hey Israel…if you dont like JC’s ads how come you have ads all on your website as well??? Oh yeah John Chow rules…keep getting that muga aka money mr. evil one πŸ™‚

  26. KanuteNo Gravatar says:

    Personally i don’t think we should try to define blogging and what it is all about . There are over 50 million blogs out thereand anyone has its own story. I know what it means to write and yet be unnoticed, so every one of us has to pull-out his magic stick, and we al do it in different ways. John does it in unique way, he also writes about himself with nonchalance. it is not his fault if others imitate without knowing their left or their right.

  27. KanuteNo Gravatar says:

    Anyway before I forget. This is a very good link bait. You know very well that John Chow is controversial and you came out with this rather controversial review, let me put it this way. I’m I right?

  28. Hi there. Great post. I’ve seen your comments on John Chow’s blog before, so I kind of already knew that you didn’t like it much.

    I like some of John’s posts but I do agree that he doesn’t teach people how to make money. He shows them whatever is going to make the most money for him. But, if they are too silly to realise that, then it is their own problem.

    I do like some of his posts, but not all of them. l think he posts too much though. Does he write them all himself, or does someone do it for him? I just don’t understand how he has time to write all that, run his other business and eat all that food too.

    • IsraelNo Gravatar says:

      HAHA. Funny. I think he has some help with the writing. I also think he writes alot on one day and schedules it ahead of time, keeping it easy to manage for when breaking news happens.

    • KanuteNo Gravatar says:

      John Chow teaches how to make money more than any other I’ve come across, I bet I’ve been around for while and doing a lot of research. But you’ve got to interpret, analyse and reinterpret to be able to apply it. I write exclusively on Linux and Open Source, I don’t expect John to know that, so I’ve got to keenly pick-out what can go for me. There are so many secrets and I don’t expect anyone to just throw them out like that. This very post is a winner, that’s what John Chow is about. creating popular winning posts.

  29. JamaipaneseNo Gravatar says:

    amazing post…which I agree with and interesting comments, I can’t believe I read them all!

  30. JezNo Gravatar says:

    Just came back to give this post a second read, I think having it linked back from the top commentors list on JC was both smart and funny.

    One thing you are wrong about though is Shoemoney… he will take you to the cleaners just as fast as John Chow.

    Jez

  31. JoshuaNo Gravatar says:

    I’ve been reading John’s site for a while now and have seen it change over time…

    …but not into the horrible abomination you perceive it to be.

    I think John’s initial concept (if he even had one) of his blog was more or less about how he has made money from his other work/sites.

    He shared his information on how to be a webmaster and how to make some money.

    He’s written many great posts and has helped a lot of people that have, in turn, helped a lot of people.

    What I see of JohnChow.com today is him maximizing on everything he has built.

    You say you don’t want to read affiliate crap or be killed with ads (not directly quoting you, just in general), and I say I am fascinated with the methods he uses to put it all together.

    I think the thing about John Chow is that you learn by stepping back from the page.

    As he says, he’s making money by making money and telling you about it.

    You might not ‘learn’ from reading a post that’s basically selling a blog widget, but you should be able to pull some value in seeing how and why he promotes certain things or exploits certain ideas.

    I can sum up what my drawn out post is saying like this:

    Just like guns don’t kill people, people kill people…

    John Chow isn’t bad for blogging, but some people he’s inspired to start blogging are bad for blogging.

    • IsraelNo Gravatar says:

      Thanks for the detailed comment.

    • JezNo Gravatar says:

      JC used to write great posts, but not any longer… IMO.

      “I think the thing about John Chow is that you learn by stepping back from the page.”

      Absolutely, if you want to learn about reader manipulation then it is really worth studying that site and reading between the lines.

      I think JC has been bad for blogging in that his earnings have attracted the attention of IM’s and resulted in a lot of scammy blogs being created.

      Also, some people have lost out by following his lead, for example I saw one reader spend $1000 on adwords for Agloco, presumably as a result of JC hyping it up. Ok that person is likely to be over 18 and has to make his own decisions, but JC has to shoulder some responsibility if people take his advice and are subsequently screwed.

      JC will plug pretty well anything if there is something in it for him, if thats what you want from a blog then JC is the site for you, personally I’m with Israel on this one.

  32. loredanNo Gravatar says:

    John Chow might be bad for blogging but I think he’s damn good for marketing which is probably more important these days. As for Cow he is only a old and pathetic copy machine :). I really like the way them two are working together lately. Hopefully they won’t marry each other! That would be JohnChow the Cow πŸ™‚

  33. Lmao, fat man unleashed if you think John Chow was the very first guy to make money online you really are uneducated. You sure speak strongly on something you pretty much know nothing about.

    John may have been one of the prominent guys to start the make money with blogging craze but making money via advertising and making revenue from sites and what not has been going ever since the net was born. John Chow didn’t invent Adsense, AuctionAds or anything else, John Cow is not a copycat, he saw a golden oppurtunity to make a viral blog. A novelty blog that would take off purely given the viral factor.

    John Chow is a fantastic marketer, he’s not bad for blogging. He’s brilliant. He didn’t invent the idea to make money online he is just good at it. Honestly man at least know what you’re talking about before you bad mouth someone.

    • IsraelNo Gravatar says:

      Dude, what the fuck is your issue? I didnt say john chow invented making money online? Are you retarded or something? Get a fucking clue first you ass hole.

  34. SCottNo Gravatar says:

    I love how you say that and at the bottom there is the pay – per – post at the bottom, I thought that was funny. Also I found it humorous that I got to your site through his. Anyway, since his blog is about making money, him doing that is okay, because he shows you how it is done by doing it.

    Just a little Ironic.

  35. Gary R. HessNo Gravatar says:

    Nice linkbait dude. I see nothing wrong in John Chow’s blog, in fact, he is a ton of quality information I can’t find anywhere else on the net. Besides, he can’t be bad for blogging, because you obviously had something to blog about the day you wrote this.

  36. EntrepreneurNo Gravatar says:

    Well, after all that, it looks like you just made a lot of hits because of John Chow πŸ˜€

  37. JC BlendworxNo Gravatar says:

    I think its ok to make money off a blog. But if you are helping people and you are making a living doing it it’s ok too. It really comes down to whether your visitors like you for what you do.

    Obviously your readers like this blog because t has something positive to offer about your journey. My blog is focused around improving the marketing of a blog or website but I like to write reviews on people cause it’s interesting. I don’t get paid at all for them.

    I enjoy blogging and marketing and thats why I do it.

  38. sergeNo Gravatar says:

    this post reminds me of the post from Shoemoney about why talking shit is good for biz. I think you have garnished a lot of hits from this post. I am not saying that is bad, I think its great. God job. You should plan to talk more like this in the future. Maybe talk about some of the diet plans that are junk. I don’t know, just keep up the good work, and keep down the weight (j/k).

  39. Goodluck for these 2 men. You too, “goin-to-be” slim man, perhaps?

  40. Tibi PuiuNo Gravatar says:

    Man, I just hate John Chow! There, I said it ! !!

  41. I have to agree. John’s blog doesn’t have a lot of unique content. Most of the stuff he blogs about is old news or some new service/product he’s pimping.

    Compare that with Shoemoney’s site and it’s like night and day.

    Don

  42. Michael WooNo Gravatar says:

    Nevertheless he’s still my goal – my marker to hit – my financial goal πŸ™‚ hahaha.. I would love to develop something like his blog, it’s a real money maker! πŸ™‚

    • IsraelNo Gravatar says:

      I dont have a large goal like that. I just want to be able to have the site pay for it self, and maybe a phone bill. lol.

  43. Scott FicekNo Gravatar says:

    How in the world did you get John Chow to be the first one to comment on this post?

  44. JackNo Gravatar says:

    This is getting out of control. Fatman was this a marketing tactic? LOL

  45. AhmedNo Gravatar says:

    John Chow sucks!!..Love Shoe Money…he is so professional.. :X

  46. DavidNo Gravatar says:

    Ahmed, you sound like a naai you fool. Israel also stinks in this post. John Chow is a pioneer.

  47. AhmedNo Gravatar says:

    who the hell u think u r to call me a fool..u third rate…

  48. DavidNo Gravatar says:

    Shut up Ahmed. Are you starting a war with me you naai.

  49. AndresNo Gravatar says:

    LOL…This is interesting…Commentators fighting…hahaha…

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