A Blogger’s dream is to blog until success if made through the blog or money is being made to live a dream. Many of us began blogging after stumbling across John Chow either directly or through Agloco. Although the evil Mr. Chow is not very successful at making over $27,000/month , it does not mean he started with success. It takes a lot of time for most of us to reach a point where we don’t have to worry about the growth of the blog anymore because it grows at a constant rate. You gotta admit that it is very hard for a new blogger to gain such success and a lot of publicity is needed to gain just a slight ramp on the Alexa ranking, but it is still not enough to become a John Chow. Small blogs do need help from bigger bloggers and that is why people like John Chow or Jeremy Schoemaker shouldn’t be a bitch.
HAH! I got you guys there didn’t I? No, this post isn’t going to be a bashing post that will start a fight with the big guns, but this post is suppose to make a point on how bloggers become a “bitch”. *I do apologize for my language, but hey…”bitch” isn’t a curse word anymore*
How are some bloggers a “BITCH”?
When I say a blogger is a bitch, I don’t necessarily mean that the blogger has no content on his/her blog or get into fights all the time. My purpose of this post is to discuss how little bloggers need the help of big bloggers to be able to gain readers. If you have noticed, blogs such as John Chow or Shoemoney (example bloggers) post valuable content, but they rarely link to smaller blogs.
If I recall, John Chow used to do linkback posts for bloggers that reviewed his blog in the past, but it seems like as he got bigger, he disregarded this strategy. I’m positively sure a lot of you do not know about Mr. Chow’s “Free Linkback Project“. After doing some huge digging through his archives, I found that this project was created all the way back in December 21, 2006, which is more than a full year ago. Back then, JohnChow.com wasn’t that big, but he was already ranked 1,529 on Technorati. I also must point out that Technorati probably wasn’t that big back then either, so who knows how the stats were…I only started paying more attention towards blogging around the summer of 2007. If I’m correct, John received around 870 reviews from other blogs and provided about 870 links back to those blogs. This must’ve been great for his readers back then, but this “project” ended in June 27, 2007, which makes this project alive for only half a year. This is around the time that Agloco posted John Chow’s link that shot his readership sky high, so I understand why John got rid of this backlink thing and started focusing on money.
John Chow is officially a “Bloggin’ Bitch” (no offense of course, so don’t hurt me!).
Before I continue this post, I would like to go off-topic here and notify John Chow of a mistake he made on his 404 page. Such a huge mistake for a huge blogger won’t you say? LOL.
How not to be a “Bitch” even when you’re so all the way up there:
Jeremy Schoemaker from Shoemoney on the other hand do provide a bit more to bloggers through a free T-shirt on his “Free Shirt Friday” posts. I’m sure most of you guys have heard about this guy that racks in over $200,000/year through his blog, but hey…he’s giving back one way or the other.
Here’s a little cap on what this “Free Shirt Friday” post is about:
About Free shirt friday: companies or site owners send me shirts for free and I take a pic in them and write about them. If you would like to send me a free shirt I wear a XL t-shirt (cause they shrink) or normally a large dress shirt.
Shoemoney was started with nothing too, but he’s still giving back to the community by allowing people to send in a shirt and in return, he blogs about your site. Yea, the shirt probably costs money, but what’s $10-20 compared to $250-450 for exposure on John Chow, am I correct?
Shoemoney is NOT a “BITCH”!
Are you a “BITCH”?
Many of you probably still won’t understand what I mean by this post and is confused at the whole point of this. Well, to know if you’re a bitch is pretty simple, so I’m going to list a few things and you decide if you’re a “BITCH” or not.
- Do you link to other blogs/posts on your posts?
- Do you tag people a blogger back when he/she tags you?
- Do you post about other blogs a least once a week?
With that said, I would like to discuss how I tried to play the “tag” game with a few other bloggers, but I received NOTHING in return. You may take a look at my blog tagging here and notice which blogs I’ve tagged. Some of these blogs probably ignore you, but they do know when they’re being linked to. I’ll also point out that one of the blogs I was looking to get tagged back from was Ms. Danielle, but I guess she is not a good sport when it comes to “tagging”. She obviously knows what “blog tagging” is by the looks of her post here.
All of us were kids before and I’m sure 99% of us have played tag. It basically starts with someone that is “IT” and he/she tags someone by touching him/her. It then becomes an never ending chain until someone ends it or recess is over. In the blogosphere, “blog tagging” is the same concept and do understand that it is relevant to keep blogs alive.
How do I prevent being a “BITCH”?
A lot of blogs are preventing this “BITCH” method by providing link love or blog tagging, which all of us love so much. Below are a few blogs that I’ve noticed that use some sort of link loving method to help us bloggers:
If you happen to use a least one of those types of methods to link to other blogs, then you’re not a “bitch” and you don’t have to worry.
Remember the key point is that everyone starts small, except for a few selected ones, and as you get bigger, you have your fellow blogosphere bloggers to thank for that. Give back to the community and never be selfish.
I hope this post isn’t going to end my blogosphere friendship with these top guns. The whole point of this post is to understand that bloggers should help each other no matter how big you are.
You should see my current series: Secret Guide to Social Blogging Success. ;:
BTW, Chow stopped doing the linkback reviews after getting Google bitch slapped. Google for his name and you’ll see he’s still under a dark cloud for doing it.
Frank C’s last blog post..Secret Guide to Social Blogging Success – Part II
Hey Mike,
I think that most of the time that these main a-list bloggers are busy – and I know this isn’t an excuse, but if you’re trying to re-tag someone who hit you, could you handle hundreds a week together with all of the emails?
Good stuff I aint no bitch too
Nick Sanders’s last blog post..Strategy and Goals for 2008
Nick Sanders » I agree that a-list bloggers are very busy and I’m sure they receive thousands of e-mails each week asking for a plug or linkback. Well, it still doesn’t mean John has to disregard these type of e-mails. He posts about 3-5times/day, so 1 post out of the WHOLE week won’t even put a drop in his ranking.
Frank C » Well, no matter what the reason is, John shouldn’t give up on giving links back to the community. I mean certainly his links don’t matter to Google, but it does matter towards his readers. His readers could still click those links. You get what I mean?
This is a good post. Expect to see it on my site soon. I’ll give you link love.
Mike White’s last blog post..I Just P***ed Myself
Hey, that’s why I’m giving away FREE link love to ANYONE and EVERYONE that wants it… they just have to leave their blog info as a comment on my “Link Love” post!
But if I ever do get big enough to do this as my day job, then I will continue to give back to the blogging community!
Jay
DatMoney.com
DatCurious.com
Jay’s last blog post..Blogging Theft! – Bloggers Steal Other Peoples’ Work?!
He! He! So now got bitchy blogger!!! I have very few link so I am safe!!! But the my site is not even small….it is micro!!! Nice information!
Have a nice day!
Horny Ang Moh’s last blog post..Tigress!!! Beautiful & Deathly!!!
I agree, sometimes you do all types of work and you never receive back your blog links. But, I think the world is simple, “You give and you receive”. If you truly believe that, what you give, you will always get 10 fold back eventually. Well, at least in my 27 years of life…
Couldn’t agree more.
How about people who never respond to their comments?
Binh Nguyen’s last blog post..The Best of Binh dot Name in 2007
I remember that series from Chow, I was even on it and got a back link in the process. I actually enjoyed John’s posts a lot more back then than I do now. He was a lot more down to earth. Now he’s jsut a bitch.
No I’m not a bitch, I’ll link to any posts by any author as long as they complement what I’m trying to say.
Bruce’s last blog post..5 WordPress Theme Development Resources
Binh Nguyen » That’s true too, I forgot about that
Bruce » Well, we still read his blog because there are good posts, but I just don’t like how it’s all about money for him now.
Very humorous post. I definitely don’t want to be a blogging bitch as it’s always important to give back to the readers.
Gyutae Park’s last blog post..Winners of the Week – Performancing & Search Engine Journal Blog Awards
Ms Danielle has been incredibly busy the last month or so, so I can see why she might miss a tagging here and there. She was a winner in my year-end comment contest and it took 5 days for her to respond to the notification email I fired off.
That said, it looks like she’s getting back to her blog on a regular basis. Perhaps you could try tagging her again
Jason’s last blog post..Japan May Weaponize Space
Jason » No one is ever too busy to link to a few other blogs. Busy usually means there are no new posts, which she clearly is providing.
She is now, yes. December was a very slow month for her site, though. I’m not defending the missed tagging, but with the number of sites linking to her blog on a weekly basis, if she didn’t write a post for five or six days (which did happen a few times near the end of last year), then I can see it slipping off her radar.
Either way, I agree that these things could be better checked with the tools on Technorati or Google. It doesn’t take much to examine the last 20 sites that linked to your blog
Jason’s last blog post..Japan May Weaponize Space
Nice post Mike … certainly didn’t pull any punches there mate !
Neil Duckett’s last blog post..Who Will Carry the iPhone in Japan?
Neil Duckett » haha! Thanks Neil
I linked to a fellow blogger in my last post. I glad to know that am not a BITCH
SEO News’s last blog post..10 Entrecard Traffic Tips for Success
when someone I dont know links to me, I follow it and comment on the post, but I dont put his link on my blog. Does that make me a bitch? =(
woobie’s last blog post..He?s All That, and More?
Don’t be so sure that being linked by John Chow would drive the hell of a traffic to your site. I can tell you it doesn’t. I’ve been one of those 870 bloggers, and although my blog was fairly new at that time, the traffic coming from JC was like a drop in the ocean. I’ve been participating in blog carnivals which brought in ten times more traffic.
I liked your comparison
Great post!
Simonne’s last blog post..Martin Dingman Mens Shoes & Marketing
I’m one of the few here that doesn’t blog for money and didn’t start blogging for money. I started for personal reasons, evolved into political, and have gone back to personal.
Having said that, I thought your post was really interesting in that I heard this all about a year ago from the political ’sphere when Markos Zuniga (Daily Kos) and a few others “purged” their blogrolls, effectively cutting off smaller bloggers. There was a huge outcry over it. When I first started blogging (many moons ago in Blog years) blogrolls were a way for people to find new blogs, to be recognized by bigger bloggers, and to support each other (as well as for personal bookmarking reasons- before RSS feeds). So, when bloggers purged their rolls it was like they’d stopped supporting the community overall.
As it is, those things happen and c’est la vie. I personally think it’s up to the lesser mortals to support the community, because the big fish have moved to their own pond. It doesn’t do any good to try to get their attention because THEY don’t need it from US anymore.
[...] Do NOT Turn Into A Bloggin’ Bitch! – Bloggin-Ads – First we’re going to start with a great sentiment from one of the best blog review sites out there: Remember the little guys. You’ll understand what I mean when you read it. And if you’re a blogger, you must go read it now before your blog gets big. [...]
Nice post. When I first started out on Entrecard, John Chow advertised on my blog and I wrote a post titled ‘John Chow on 3rdworldblogger and entrecard meme’ and linked to his blog. Well guess what, he came over, checked my blog out twice (saw his face on the Mybloglog widget
) and left without a leaving a comment! Plus he advertised again 3 times after that. Now is that being a Bitch or what? Like I said, Nice post Mike.
Good write up, mate.
One must not forget those who help one rose up in ranks in the first place.
Cheers!
Deimos Tel`Arin’s last blog post..By: Deimos Tel`Arin
Well, that’s the crux of the problem, eh?
If some guys are A-list bitches, what does that make us for following them? Baaaaaah!
mariam’s last blog post..Interest, dividends, capital gains – an all-in-one investment strategy, Part 6
good article and i agree with you. But how to act like a small blog when your high up there is just one of the things to worry about.
Gasmoney’s last blog post..Gasmoney Plans for 2008
Very useful info! First article I’ve really read entirely for a while. Great capture phrase Bloggin Bitch…love it!
i think im not a bitch, i tag people who tag me, and i give a reciprocal link to anyone who pignback or trackback some post of my blog. i have also turned on trackback do follow, so everyone who trackback me get some linklove.
i also have some tag posts, if u want to join me feel free to do it.
diego’s last blog post..december 2007 Earnings = 1549$ USD, details?.
I would also add Tyler Cruz to the list, he provides not only links but mini-reviews.
It’s funny that even in the blogging world there has to be blogging superstars. No matter what circle, there will always those who become celebrities and then those who aspire and then those who care but are too lazy and then those who don’t care …
This was a great post
Great post. Even worse than the blogging bitch is the silent bitch. They barely ever interact with their readers – even when they ask questions. When that happens – I become a bored bitch and move on to a better blog.
CatherineL’s last blog post..Are You Exploiting Your Child For The Sake Of Your Business?
Wow, this was a bitchy post.
[...] don’t mind that buzzing… it’s just snapshots of Bloggin-ad’s Do not turn into a Bloggin bitch article, which keeps flashing like static inside my mind while I’m writing [...]
[...] and worse and I can’t take it anymore. The result of that is I make a post about him like the Bloggin’ Bitch one or include small snippets of how evil this man [...]
Funny reading your post after the video from Blogger Unleashed saying that a certain blogger is a bitch (I suppose you have seen this by now?).
Well I will still stand by Caroline Middlebrook and maintain that she is not a bitch, just a blogger trying to make money online!
I know I’m off topic here but I would like to see your reaction to Blogger Unleashed’s video.
ROFL great post, I didn’t realise how much John Chow bitched.