ShoeMoney, John Chow, Etc.
One thing I've noticed lately in keeping up with all the major players in Internet marketing is that once they've surpassed a certain level of authority among the thirsty public, they stop pumping out quality content and start generating catchier but less informative articles. Much in the fashion of news reporters who focus mainly on the stories that grab people's attention, these bloggers seem to throw tips & tricks out to their public to keep them interested.
I think what people are really afraid of is that they'll miss the next big thing. Sure, once in a while, good ol' Shoe comes out with a very handy post. After all, I am of no mind to make enemies with the guy but come on. But after a while, there's only so much you can learn about affiliate marketing from some show, book, etc. It seems as though they're just repeating the same thing in different ways, like the SAT test does to test your mental agility. Not to mention, they like to do a lot of product pushing posts (especially Chow), but I suppose that comes with the power.
Of course, who am I to argue with their witty contributions? After all, they have thousands of readers and ultimately, that's what matters most. All I can hope is that at some point they start giving back to their loyal readers what they're really hungry for-- good information. Information that will keep them ahead of the pack.
That's just my take though.
Popularity: 11% [?]
December 8th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Honestly, I think these guys are too busy to do much in the way of providing insight. Once you reach a certain level, you can coast on some things. Guest bloggers will provide most of the interesting insight on these blogs at this point.
December 8th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
@J.D.- Yeah, I agree with you. That’s exactly what UberAffiliate did for him. I just hope they start going back to what got them popular in the first place.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
awesome. really cool.
December 8th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
I think you give me too much credit… or you just are not that familiar with my site. My first post was about how i met paris hilton online…. Its a blog from a person who makes money online (and not by blogging).
December 9th, 2007 at 12:23 am
@Shoe- I suppose you’re right. It just seems weird to me that people flock to your site BECAUSE you make so much money vs providing them with the info. Perhaps they’re star-struck, but whatever you’re doing, it’s working.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:42 am
I’ve never really read Shoemoney or John Chow because half of their posts are sponsored and of no interest to me. Darren over at problogger however provides very interesting articles.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Blogs have an expiry date; they just do. I’ve read many blogs and at first I’m captivated, then I start to feel less interested in what they have to say because I’m actually reading the same message, but in different words, a different anecdote. Still, it’s the same message. My brain notices this subconsciously even if consciously I shut it away. Anyway, after a while it starts to really grate to the point that I just stop reading the blog. Happens again and again to me.
December 9th, 2007 at 9:56 am
I agree. I started reading shoemoney because he had good content, but it’s been a bit on the decline recently. There’s still enough content there for me to stay subscribed.
I started reading John Chow because I saw some good content there too. However, John Chow’s site is now full of product promotions and pictures of his lunch. It’s pretty awful recently — I get no value out of reading it and I’m pretty close to unsubscribing.
December 9th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I’ve been reading Shoemoney’s site for a long time, and I have to agree. I recently discovered my site has a better SEO “score” than Shoemoney’s. Thought that was pretty interesting considering he’s one of THE search engine optimization gurus.
http://www.nullamatix.com/this-blogs-seo-score-is-better-than-shoemoneys/
December 9th, 2007 at 10:08 am
With shoe everyone knows that his blog is about him, he has never said that he will help anyone make money. Most of his posts are about UFC and other insights into the people in and around affiliate marketing. But every once in a while he will throw some great posts out there like his 10K PPC experimnent, how many people do you know would experiment with 10k of their own money for their readers? Maybe it wasn’t all lost because obviously he knows what he is doing.
John Chow… I don’t know where to start…
December 9th, 2007 at 10:33 am
I could not agree more! This guys are just exploiting their online fame to the fullest. And I do not see anything wrong with it. But, what they do not get to see is the fact that their websites are becoming irrelevant! Now, what we need is some other power bloggers to take their places.
http://thebenjamins101.blogspot.com
December 9th, 2007 at 10:46 am
Sorry Adam, but i have been reading Shoe for over a year and have only ever seen maybe 3 sponsored or review posts.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:13 am
@Mubin
Its true, I was more talking about John Chow (who’s page is mostly ads) I still get no value out of either.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I have pretty much stopped reading their new content. All it is now is “help us earn more” articles, with really no point but using their large reader base to give them more money. Their posts have no value anymore.
December 9th, 2007 at 11:16 am
After you’ve been blogging for a while (say a year or more) it’s really hard to consistently come up with daily or weekly “how-to” posts that affiliates can apply practically. When you have a large readership though, you feel obligated to blog daily or at least every other day, and the odds of all those posts being quality are pretty slim.
When I read Shoemoney I’m pretty much just having a coffee and seeing what’s going on in the industry in general vs. looking for specific get-rich-quick tips.
At the end of the day, unless your blog generates more profit than any of the affiliate campaigns you’re currently working on, your time needs to be spent where the gravy is….
December 9th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Shoe is still a tiny bit better than John Chow, Chow’s posts are 99% paid advertisements and reviews, I can honestly say that I have not read any useful content on his blog for a long while now.
And what is stranger is the comments people leave on these paid ads posts and reviews, going all like: “this is great and this is fantastic and thanks a ton for this info”. I mean, come on. these posts are as much useful as a fork in the eye. and the only real reason they leave those comments is in hopes of getting some traffic back though his blog.
Anyways, I Unsubscribed and stopped reading Chow’s blog a long time ago, same goes for shoemoney.
You want real useful content, check out guys like ProBlogger or Daily Blog tips.
December 9th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
especially john chow 90% of his posts are about what he ate or review me’s no quality content AT ALL . shoe is OK … labnol and PROBLOGGER are THE BEST
December 9th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Seriously, who cares? There’s plenty of ‘good content’ out there. If you don’t like the blogs, don’t read em and especially don’t waste a post on it if bothers you that much.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
said the cow…
Everyone likes to post about things they dont like and vent.. lets not forget your recent anger at:
1) Daring for not shipping your PS3
2) Fatman unleased
3) The new owners of cashquests
December 9th, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I think this is true with a lot of sites. I used to read TechCrunch religiously , but now can’t stand it, as it has become pretty obvious that the only companies covered have some sort of relationship with the writers. Not so much with Arington, but some of the new writers it is pretty obvious they are either getting paid to write about companies, or it is some sort of favor. Just my opinion. I think Arington’s posts are still great, but have been watered down with bad writing from some of the new guys and it just kills the site.
A lot of this has to do with the power these sites yield and in many cases I think they abuse it.
December 9th, 2007 at 1:55 pm
Yes, I totally agree. While not all do this, some of the A-list bloggers use a standard pattern to their blogging, that begins with their posts; they write about some new service they have discovered that can make you money, such as the latest advertising widget. The article is normally quite long and well written, espousing the virtues of the service and how effective it will be as a source of revenue for your blog.
You will even find convenient links to the widget throughout the article, that make it so much easier for you to go to the site and find out more information, or better still sign up for yourself. What you will not see, or read however, is the fact that the blogger bringing you this latest information on the service has previously been contacted and already signed up for affiliate marketing or some other revenue sharing model.
Now most of people will know this for what it is, but many new to blogging will not. I think they are being fed recycled rubbish with no other intent then to boost the A-list bloggers revenue.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
You’re overlooking one important thing: Many of those A-list bloggers you refer to have a grand plan of which their personal blogging constitutes one integral role among others. Aside from blogging about how to make money online, John Chow has his own ad referral network he runs, not mention probably other projects on the side. You see this strategy by big bloggers all over the web. Darrel Rowse runs b5media, Tucker Max runs Rudius Media, etc.
Once you achieve a certain status in a profession, you’re given the ability to move on into other avenues beyond the job that originally got you to the top. This happens in almost every profession, so it is not blog-specific. Look at Michael Jordan. Even though he retired three times and kept coming back to the NBA, he still oversaw his Jordan brand clothing, and formerly managed the Washington Wizards. He branched out into over avenues aside from basketball because he knew his status as the world’s best current basketball WOULD NOT LAST FOREVER.
There is also this. At some point there is only so much one can write about any one subject by any one blogger before it starts to get a little stale. In book publishing Stephen King can write a bestseller every year and that’s fine, but for blogging it’s infinitely harder to maintain high traffic levels if you’re pumping out the same type of stuff year after year.
There’s plenty of great stuff out there. If the A-listers aren’t saying it, someone else as yet unknown probably is, and perhaps saying it better. Simple as that.
December 9th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I can’t believe something this pointless got dugg. Whether it’s true or not, especially in the case of shoemoney who’s blog isn’t even primarily about teach others money making secrets, it’s their blog and they can write whatever they want. Just like any store have the right to sell whatever goods they want. As a reader or consumer or customer, you have the right to choose whether or not you want to visit their site. Don’t like how the quality has dropped, don’t bother with it.
This has got to be the billionth rant on the same redundant topic circulating around the blogosphere, and to think that readers still expect the “elite” bloggers to pump out a certain topic consistently is an unreal expectation. A book can only be so big before it runs out of information to feed. Books of the same topic can only reword things so many time. A blog is no more than a metaphoric online book with each post adding new pages towards the final ending. Eventually, these guru will run out of “trade secrets” you’re looking for and you’ll have to dig up new secrets elsewhere.
That aside, you should read their blog because you like the overall blog, not just because you want to learn the secrets to making it big. Unfortunately if that’s all you’re there for, I am sure you’ll continue to be disappointed in the future.
December 9th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
[...] of AfftoolBox thinks John Chow and Shoemoney belongs to that exclusive list. I must first admit that I read these two blogs mentioned and [...]
December 10th, 2007 at 8:41 am
Lots of bloggers struggle with the chasm of going from a personal blog to a business.
When your blog reaches a critical mass of subscribers, it is no longer acceptable to the hordes of readers to talk about the same topics, or pump out lower quality posts, so i’d disagree with Steven in #23.
Rants about the quality of a particular bloggers work just signal to me that they are no longer serving their customers as greatly as they did at the beginning.
The great thing about the Internet is that the culture and business models are always evoloving, so it’s unlikely that bloggers will EVER run out of “trade secrets” as many of the markets haven’t even been created yet!
December 11th, 2007 at 8:10 pm
They are running out of idea and contents.
December 12th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Okay, how’s this for ironic. I ended up here indirectly via Shoemoney’s site after reading his latest article which I found very useful regarding manipulating search strings.
But in all honestly, only a day or two ago I thought to myself that Shoe and John’s blogs are on the decline quality wise. I continue to read daily though on the chance that today is a day they drop a golden nugget.
January 11th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
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