Scratching The Surface Of John Chow’s eBook
Business, Contributed, Education & Training, Everything, Money Making Add comments
Have you read John Chow’s book called “Make Money Online”? If you haven’t, I seriously suggest you do. Those who have, and think it is a useless piece of junk that John uses to sell ads, I’d request you to please hear me out.
If you leave out all the affiliate program plug-ins, then there are indeed some very interesting lessons one can learn from the book. For example, did you know that John Chow did not really create his fortune from John Chow.com? The blog was an afterthought.
He made his fortune, and more importantly, built his credibility from a website called Techzone. Yes, it is still there and you can go see it. It might not strike you as extra-ordinary, but back in the day, and I am talking late 90’s, this site was ground breaking.
Did you also know, that much as John pushes you to sign up for Review Me, it was he who started the trend of online reviews on Techzone? Yes, I got it all from the book, and I am sure so will you.
So what can one learn from John’s book, if we stop for a moment and start taking a look at it from a place value perspective?
1. To make money online, you need to think out of the box. How many of the “Make money online” websites actually make some serious money? Will they please identify themselves?
The theme is so been there done that. John Chow was a trendsetter when he created Techzone. You can be one too. Identify a niche for yourself where you command knowledge and respect, figure out what people are looking for in that niche, set yourself a target that you can review periodically, and build your site based on that homework.
2. My second lesson stems from the first one. It’s easy to get swayed by the tremendous success that John Chow, Darren Rowse and Shoemoney have had with their blogs, but stop to think about how they got there.
None of them achieved success overnight. Darren has been blogging seen the infancy of the blogging culture. It’s taken his 5 to 6 years to build a knowledge base. He has learned from his experience and is now reaping its benefits by offering that knowledge to you and me. The same applies to John and Jeremy Shcoemaker.
So build your online business a strong foundation before you start building yourself a castle. Without a basis, any and all tall claims will eventually be exposed as a castle on air.
3. Build on your base. Once you have a foundation ready, don’t wait to start building on it. It takes time to build a business, so do not waste any that you have in hand. John Chow was quick to capitalize on his Techzone fame with TTZ Media, and Darren Rowse has been quite successful with his role in b5media. Chalk out an extension plan. The Internet is a fluid media, and your business needs to grow with the flow in order to thrive.
4. Sell the hype. The end result of John Chow’s internet adventure is his blog, John Chow.com. He also sells his hype with the eBook I am writing about. Darren Rowse sells a product called “Six Figure Blogging”. There are many people out there selling similar products. How many of them will you buy… I am sure you won’t spend your hard-earned money to buy a “how to get rich quick” book from someone you hadn’t heard of before.
5. Remember your roots. Every blogger has a humble beginning. No matter how big you become, don’t forget where you started from. Give back to the blogging community. Goodwill goes a long way.
I leave it to you to decide whether John Chow’s book is useful or not, but it did give me some useful insights that I am sharing with you in this blog.
Do leave your feedback to the post, and pay my charges a visit at Paws Awhile. Your visit will make a big difference to some very lovable animals.
You’re right that JC is a trend setter. Ever since he announced that bar thing on top of a blog, so many people have it now. Also, since he announced the email subscriber thing, that’s all people want. That’s influence.
I seriously wonder if he’s trying to build a niche market in Vancouver with all his food blogging. Is he going for local advertising?
It wouldn’t surprise me one bit.
I thought John’s eBook was very thorough and very honest of how to make money online. I wrote my own review of the book earlier. I see a lot of copy cats and personally I am trying to stay away from copy catting John’s style. I see it everywhere though. People want to see your style not someone elses.
I still find it funny when I read the line:
“John Chow dot Com makes money because I don’t blog for money.”
Until recently I had no real interest in blogging and was not aware of the John Chow phenomenon.
Based upon your post, it seems that a lot of people were not happy with his “Make Money Online” book. From the points you make, which I find valid, I would think that the book may not have reached people well because of its philosophical nature.
Most people are looking for the “get rich quick” how-to guide, not a set of value statements on your success.
It appears that you were able to look at this book from a more sophisticated perspective, and that’s probably why your blog does so well.
I was just going to post something related to this post Mike. Great point of view, the important thing here is that everyone wants to make money in the first day of blogging. Not much people want to take time to learn first. Blogging is not a “Get rich quick”, it takes time to make things right. The John Chow ebook is just a good fish-hook with some great useful ideas, but wanting to be like John Chow is just the first big mistake of a blogger.
His blog does earn money and by writing ebooks telling people how to earn money people will eventually learn some way of how he archived such success and that could help other blogger.
John Chow’s book definitely taught me a lot about blogging and getting traffic to a blog. I also recommend Yaro Starak’s ebook. Both of those together work like a one-two punch.
Great information Mike and learned some new things about John I didn’t know before.
It may not be a great tool for the seasoned blogger, but for a guy like me that ebook was an amazing tool for resources and motivation.
Make sure you guys check out Paws Awhile because I didn’t write this great post
http://www.paws-world.blogspot.com/
-Mike
Yeah I always get asked How I Made my Billions Blogging + the first thing I recommend is people read John Chow’s excellent FREE eBook Make Money Online! Tons of excellent Tips + a great Resource!
I thought Jack Humphrey of Friday Traffic Report had an excellent FREE Web2.0 Social Marketing Guide*
http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/social-networking/authority-black-book-2008-advance-peek/
Cheers! Billy ;))
Peace*
I like his ebook, I dunno if its really a ‘book’ though, its just old blog posts put together.
I’ve downloaded many ebooks since becoming a blogger, but so far JohnChow’s is still the best for anyone just starting out.
btw I think you should remove the U comment I follow button, that is false.
I have read that ebook. Very Very nice ebook. John is really amazing.
@ Jackie
It is true. A lot of people just make another make money blog and copy everything John does. I made a blog aswell, but just money making isn’t my interest. Infrastructure, Development, countries, world affairs are my bigger interest. So I share them more than money making tips. And personally, I dont make so much money that I need to share tips to others. Glad you are staying away from copying.
Enjoyed your article about John Chow. An objective look at his history and his book.
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I really enjoyed this post, especially the part about building a foundation and realizing that you can’t be a success overnight.
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