If you have been following all the past drama and various viral stories that surface on the Internet regarding the emotional and wrecking trauma that occur to famous – as well as not so famous Internet marketers and bloggers – then you might remember last summer of 2007 when the story surfaced about John Chow getting penalized in Google. As the story began to surface, many people, including myself, had already suspected that Google deranked John Chow’s popular blog because of how he was abusing the power his blog harnessed.
During that time, it wasn’t uncommon to read various declarations on John Chow’s blog boasting how he ranked #1 for the term “Make Money Online” in Google. John Chow would push the envelope and lure his readers into his ploy towards continuing his domination in the search results. With much hype and falsely fabricated value, John Chow would persuade his readers to link to his blog using the “Make Money Online” anchor text and in exchange, John Chow would include their link in future posts.
“All you have to do is link to my blog home page with the anchor text make money online,” and, “I link to anyone who reviews my blog.” – From the post, Make Money Online Batch #56
These posts were called Make Money Online – Batch Reviews and by the time it was all done and over with, John Chow completed 86 in total and scored close to 100 pages in Google prior to them putting an end to his anarchistic behaviors. Blindly, John Chow wanted so much power, he failed to see the wonderful power Google had already given him. Prior to his numerous attempts to manipulate Google’s ranking system, his blog already ranked quite well in Google for the search terms that were important to him. But by pushing that envelope too far, John Chow’s blog paid a huge price and also a price that hundreds, including myself, suspected would come in due time.
On June 19, 2007, the next day after John Chow lost his rankings in Google, he quickly released a post which explained to his readers that the cause of his deranking in Google was due to a WordPress plugin malfunctioning. He explained that the Googlebot came to his site at the same time his blog was being subjected to a MySQL DOS attack and then the very next day his rankings had disappeared.
“I concluded that the Googlebot must have came around the time when the crazy Comment Relish plugin did the MySQL DOS attack on me and took the blog down for almost two hours. The next day, I find my ranking had gone down for many of the keywords I ranked for, including make money online.” - From the post, Live by The Google, Die by The Google
For the many weeks that John Chow selfishly put his own readers at risk of losing their own rankings in Google by participating in his link building scheme he then offered a warning explaining that losing your rankings in Google can be a very scary thing and then explained that other bloggers should work on alternative ways to build traffic to their blog.
“For many websites, their only source of Internet traffic is Google. Without it, their traffic is nothing. That is a very scary situation to be in,” and, “You should work on getting Google traffic, but you shouldn’t do it the exclusion of everything else. If the bulk of your traffic comes from Google, then you need to work on getting other traffic sources.” - From the post, Live by The Google, Die by The Google
That word of advice seemed to have come a day late and a dollar short after racketeering one of the largest link building schemes on the Internet, and all at the expense of his own readership. Just a nine days later on June 28, 2007, John Chow shared more advice and a humble warning concerning Google traffic. His statement was more of a cover up for his costly and embarrassing mistake of leading his blog into the bottomless pit of deranking in Google. He explained to his readers that his blog carried absolutely no dependency on Google and that his blog held great power by the thousands of blogs that link to him. He further continued on by devaluing the free traffic that Google supplied to his blog prior to getting penalized.
“This is a good time to remind everyone that if you live by the Google, you’ll die by the Google. I do not depend on Google for my traffic and neither should you. Thousands of people have this blog bookmarked and nearly 6,000 read it by RSS. Way too many webmaster put too much time and effort into Google to try and gain a number one ranking.” From the post, It’s All About Pushing The Limit
If John Chow feels like too many webmasters place too much time and energy into Google, then why did he invest so much time into doing it himself? John Chow created a massive link building campaign that spanned across a grand total of 86 posts on his blog? I find it entertaining how for many months John Chow built up hype about how powerful it is to rank in Google and to be ranked number one in their search engine, but then after his blog got deranked, he then suddenly started whistling another tune.
For those who wonder how John Chow got so popular, you made him popular. John Chow used you, he used your blog and he used and consumed every resource he could manipulate and get into his hands towards creating the blog as you see today. John Chow does not and will not teach you how to make money online. Instead, he will use you, your resources, and your own blog to make money online for himself.
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Date/Time: 11-18-2008 20:42:18 Comment #26870
John Chow’s attraction mystifies me ….. there’s mor dot com pho and images of food on his blog than anything else.
Ppl will come to their senses yet.
Check out Paddy Bloggit’s last blog post..Distracted by work
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 20:55:37 Comment #26873
And you know what… I really do enjoy watching those videos. His blog is very entertaining. But it isn’t a blog that has taught me anything.
Date/Time: 11-22-2008 05:13:10 Comment #27076
Fortunetly Mr. Conn – I have learned a lot from his blog- In fact i would’t be blogging at all if i was not landed on his blog ( on a fine day)
You ignore a big thing out – He has great impressive writting Skill. ( you also have)
You are talking about him – Coz you know people like to hear about him
you are also using your readers – In Some way:-)
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 22:39:45 Comment #26878
John posts about Pho and his Dinners because it is a tax right off. When you make what he makes, you need tax breaks!
Check out Collin – Feed Flare’s last blog post..Make Your Own Buttons and Logo’s
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 07:23:34 Comment #26896
I remember him mentioned that before on his blog a few times.
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 20:46:02 Comment #26871
John Chow manages to attract people towards his blog. All in all, I can say that he’s a very clever guy.
Check out Ganesh’s last blog post..The Ultimate Blogging Theme – Is this the one?
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:18:07 Comment #26910
Totally! He is very clever.
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 20:50:47 Comment #26872
You are right with the last paragraph. I have to admit that when I started blogging I usually read his blog, which I found through Google… Some weeks ago, when I noticed that he does not teach you anything good and he only use his popularity to get new referrals and earn thousands of dollars a month just in commissions, I stopped reading it…
Check out Mr Javo’s last blog post..How To Boost Your Blog By Holding A Contest
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:32:16 Comment #26913
I often wondered how I would act and behave if I were running that blog. The popularity sure can get to a person’s head, but I’d like to think that I would run the blog just like I run my own.
With that said, there is a reason why I am not in the business of selling cars. Consequently, those same reasons is what makes me not very good in with the whole “selling ice to the Eskimos.”
Date/Time: 11-22-2008 05:15:04 Comment #27077
You are doing wrong -Something, somewhere.
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 21:16:37 Comment #26874
When I first started reading John’s blog, I thought I simply wasn’t absorbing the information offered because my mind isn’t wired that way (all the affiliate marketing and Google juice posts just flew right over my head). But I kept reading at first because so many of my friends insisted that they’d learned a lot from him, and then I continued because I simply like his “voice”. But when it became mostly guest posts? The voice was gone and so was my interest. So I unsubbed. I do follow him on Twitter though, and click over whenever it looks like something that would interest me. Sad to say that they’re always dining photos, or videos of his most recent trip or a house that he’s considering buying.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:45:37 Comment #26915
You know, and there is nothing wrong with that. Seriously… I think the personal side of John is awesome. I might be in the minority, but I really enjoy watching his videos at the restaurants and with Sally. I think all that is great!
To me, that is what blogging is all about. What I don’t like (and as you now know this doesn’t exclude John Chow) is when people use their resources at the expense of others for their own personal gain.
There is nothing wrong with selling products. There is nothing wrong with pitching products. I believe that people should believe in what they are selling. But that isn’t how John Chow thinks and many times he doesn’t have his reader’s best interests in mind.
The ironic part to John Chow and his blog is that people are subjected to his behaviors, stand up on their computer desk, raise their hands up in the air and ask for more!
Looking at his blog in “safe mode” if you will, what he has is truly a beautiful operation. However, many times he does things differently than I would. Maybe that is why he is rich and I am not. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t do too bad, and I sure love money. But my sickness for money doesn’t consume me to the degree where I will use and affect the lives of my readers adversely to attain the riches.
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 22:13:10 Comment #26875
Now I know why JohnChow gone in Google. So we must learn from his experiences. I am subscribed to his log since last year and I enjoyed some of his post. ‘SOME’ because not all his post are make money online tips but instead lifestyle post which I am not interested.
Most of my traffic were from Google. So I think I must start now to make a backup traffic source.
Check out Hussein’s last blog post..WordPress Theme Weekly: WPTone
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:58:10 Comment #26916
The issue with I had with that situation last year was that either, a.) he never had the intelligence to know that Google would eventually correct his behaviors, or b.) He knew and predicted the whole thing but didn’t care. Either way, results in something I find unprofessional.
He lead hundreds, maybe even thousands of bloggers down a path that if they had knowledge about, they might have made different decisions.
Did I play his “Make Money Online – Batch Review” game? No! I absolutely did not, because if I did, it would put the health of my blog at risk with my professional relationship with Google.
Did the hundreds of bloggers who participated in his game realize that by participating in the game with John Chow that their actions put their own blog at risk? I seriously doubt it. Why? Because they are not the expert. They look to John as being the expert and he lead them into a war that can have fatal results for their blog.
After it was all said and done, then and only then is when he started preaching about how bloggers should have diversity in their traffic. As I said, that is all fine and dandy, however, it would have been more professional if had warned his readers about the risks playing his link building game. But, I guess if he had done that, then it would have reduced the number of people who would have played. Catch 22.
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 22:17:59 Comment #26876
I was also subscribed to John Chow’s blog at one time, but like many others, I unsubscribed when I learned that he wasn’t teaching me anything of value. Honestly, I didn’t care where he ate, what he ate or what he bought. Why? Because I didn’t visit his blog for that information. I was lead to believe I’d learn how to make my blog successful through advice that he shared. In other words, I expected to learn a few of his secrets, but instead, I was misled. And correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I have learned, misleading someone is a no, no. In other words, you’re not supposed to say your blog or website will teach you X, but instead it teaches you Y. From everything I’ve learned, you lose visitors and readers this way, and it appears to me as if that’s exactly what John Chow has managed to do over the years: lose his readers because they were misled.
Check out Misti Sandefur’s last blog post..Butterfly Award
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:07:47 Comment #26917
Hi Misti,
John Chow’s blog can help you.. but you are reading it the wrong way. I have learned that you have to read it backwards.
http://www.garryconn.com/make-money-online-by-reading-john-chow-backwards.php
Date/Time: 11-18-2008 22:37:53 Comment #26877
Hmmmmm, well what I find funny is his tag line -The miscellaneous ramblings of a dot com mogul. I never understood why so many people said that his blog is about making money online. John has stated over and over again that his blog is about telling people how much money he makes from his blog and he wants to be able to see exactly how much money he can make from it.
See, John was very smart in building rank around the term “make money online” simply because there are a lot of searches for that term everyday and in adwords that term is one of the most expensive terms to bid on. In 2007, John had adsense on his site. So by ranking his blog number for for that term “make money online” should of increased his adsense earnings right and if he (and I am sure he did) filtered the type of ads that were placed on his site he would of insured he got paid the max amount. John is a lot smarter then most people give him credit for or think he is so evil.
Getting ranked for a term just means your ranked for that term and should not mean that when people click over to your site that is all they are going to be reading about. Heck, my site ranked number one for the term “half fuel” in broad, exact and phrase match searches, and that rank was out of 70million pages indexed. Does that mean my site should only be about fuel? No, it should just mean to people searching that term I have good rank for that one post.
Check out Collin – Feed Flare’s last blog post..Make Your Own Buttons and Logo’s
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:34:55 Comment #26918
Collin, I have to politely disagree with you. For a long time, John Chow did promote his blog and give people the perception that he was the man to see about learning how to make money online.
Around the same time he got penalized in Google is around the same time when he decided to do the new “I make money online by telling people how much money I make” theme. In the early days, he was actually quite helpful, thus that is how he had the material to create his eBook.
Once again Collin, I respectively disagree with that as well. The term make money online, in fact, is one of the lower paying terms one could bid on in Google Adwords. Currently the estimated cost per click is around $2.77. Secondly, you’re looking at an annual average of around 450,000 monthly searches.
That is peanuts compared to some of the niche topics I build blogs on and rank #1 for time and time again. It’s sad to come to this realization, but John Chow was very successful at his mastermind plan of creating a blog that caters to thousands of mindless people that will jump when he says jump and most importantly, “purchase what he says to purchase.”
John Chow did what he did so that he could capitalize on the lucrative business of successfully selling products and services to a targeted audience, specifically ignorant people who want nothing more in this world other than to make money online. People who want it so blindly that they will purchase anything in hopes of living that dream. That is why he did what he did.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t think he is a remarkable individual. I just don’t approve of what he does time and time again to people. The same can be said about how vegetarians don’t approve of how cows are killed prior to being processed for food consumption. Unfortunately though, in this situation, John Chow readers are the cows and they processed and consumed by the butcher, John Chow himself.
Date/Time: 11-21-2008 08:36:43 Comment #27023
Garry,
Judging by the facts stated in this well-researched article, I would be inclined to believe it, however I beg to disagree in calling his followers as “mindless”. It’s completely inappropriate to call them mindless just because they are under the spell of John Chow’s charms. This will only encourage more followers for him. People would appreciate more of what you are actually doing at present of teaching people the real stuff on how to make money online with your running semi-interactive-tutorial-type of answering various questions from your readers. Continue it with more honesty and sincerity, then we will all wake up one day that you are already hundreds of steps ahead of MR JOHN CHOW in this blogging game!
God Bless and more power!
SAMMY
Check out ONLINE WEALTH BUILDING’s last blog post.."NETWORKING YOUR HOME BUSINESS WITHIN YOUR CIRCLES OF INFLUENCE"
Date/Time: 11-21-2008 11:38:44 Comment #27029
Hi Sammy,
You are totally right and make a very true and valid point. Thanks for stepping up and communicating that to me. What can I say, you are totally right!
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 00:12:39 Comment #26879
Hi Garry,
The very fact that you are writing about him gives credence to his cause. The fact that I am even taking the time to comment on this gives credence to his cause. What can I say? He is a blogging icon. Nothing more, nothing less. He makes more money off his blog anyhow. Its all a game for him and he is pretty good at it…
Cheers,
Jeremy
Check out Jeremy Day’s last blog post..Stumble Upon, Stumble, Stumbled: The User Guide to Stumbling
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:36:52 Comment #26919
I can’t disagree with that at all.
John Chow is very good at what he does.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 01:47:10 Comment #26882
Getting into the fight with Google was the best thing that every happened to John Chow. I mean, look, today, a year later, this is still being talked about… talk about publicity…
And Garry, I sent you an email about a week ago that hasn’t been replied to yet, just letting you know like you said to in the contact form
Check out Simon’s last blog post..The Website Flipping Dilemma
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:38:11 Comment #26920
I get a lot of email Simon, please resend the email and or tell me what day you sent it to me. Did you send me a direct email or through the contact form?
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 17:46:25 Comment #26941
It was through the contact form probably between 5-7 days ago
Check out Simon’s last blog post..A Review Of The Blog Comment Blueprint
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 02:25:03 Comment #26883
Very detailed post, Garry. You have researched what a lot of people do not know about. But you know what? He gained all this fame from the failed “Agloco” company that promised to have a Internet-paid surf bar. He was one of the Top 3 referrers on that site and Agloco thanked John by putting up a link to John’s blog. This started ALL the commotion and I believe it is after that, that he started working on his blog. It’s funny how he NEVER talks about Agloco anymore…especially when they were the ones that actually gave him the $30-40,000 he makes now.
-Mike
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:51:38 Comment #26921
Mike,
John didn’t start mentioning the Agloco failures until December of 2007, that is six month after the whole situation with Google. I am sorry to say, but you are wrong about that.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 06:34:19 Comment #26894
Ha ! I never knew John was good as such things, and i have this internet marketer who worsjips him, infact he uses his pictures on some of his post and articles on the local tabliods but the scheme did help him and that is what the internet is all about scheme’s its very sad that such things happen and alot of bad Internet marketers are out there doing negative stuffs and not educating you .. ooh well so much for John wish he could come here and defend himself though
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:52:59 Comment #26922
He has in the past… but I am unsure if he’ll step into this camp fire this time.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 07:06:50 Comment #26895
It’s funny because I agree with what everyone says about John Chow not really providing any useful information on his blog, yet I still stay subscribed to it. Part of it is simply that I like the food posts and some of his other non-MMO related posts, and that I like his general style.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:53:55 Comment #26923
Indeed, he is a very entertaining person to watch and interesting too. I have been reading his blog and keeping tabs on it for a long time.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 09:27:31 Comment #26900
Frankly, I’ve been interested in people who try to persaude you with flashing things. The first time I went to his site and saw the Lamborghini, I was turned off.
You’ve got to hand it to him, though. People are still writing and posting about him. People are still doing his work for him. Bad publicity is still publicity and probably a bunch of people will now go check out his blog just to see what he is up to.
Count me out. cd :O)
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:55:38 Comment #26924
For me, I’ll cover a story about things that I feel will interest my readers. I think the whole John Chow experience should seriously be put into a book and sold on the book stands. Strangely, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened very soon.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:03:30 Comment #26909
I think his blog is all about “socialization” instead of teaching people how to make money online? Anyway, I thought he is really great when I first started in blogosphere and I didn’t step in his blog after I’d blogged for few months. I learned nothing in his blog.
But his blog is still good in sharing his personal rants. This is the great thing in his blog. This is what I think.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:57:09 Comment #26925
His blog is great and a lot of people who follow his blog come there to have fun. However, there was a time when his blog didn’t place so much focus on the loose topics. It was at one time a very controlled and organized blog that focused on one topic.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 12:25:53 Comment #26912
Good post here, you did your research well. Of course I was around to see all of that happening also. This is the first time I have been here, I think you just earned another reader.
Check out Dwayne’s last blog post..What kind of Computer do you use?
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 13:58:28 Comment #26926
Hi Dwayne,
I’ll never turn a new reader down. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment and introduce yourself. I look forward to reading more of your opinions and feedback in future posts.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 14:38:43 Comment #26927
I definitely think his blog has value. It has value in that if you are lucky, someday, you can develop a “cult of personality” if you will.
He is more like a jay Leno than a Suze Orman.
AL
Check out Lawn’s last blog post..Christmas Lights: clean, simple, classy (Part 3)
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 15:39:05 Comment #26932
I used to visit Chow’s blog quite often but then I realized that he doesn’t really teach much of anything, so I rarely go there anymore. I do still stop by every once in a while just to see what he is up to though. Actually, I think I will go there right now since it’s on my mind.
Check out Trent Brownrigg’s last blog post..Home Business Website for Sale – Great Opportunity!
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 16:46:50 Comment #26934
I’ve only read a few of his posts. There is a difference between teaching and selling. All I ever saw from him was the selling and no real teaching.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 16:59:40 Comment #26935
41410 readers as I type and he is building his Twitter readership (2853) too.
All I see him doing is pushing, pushing and pushing for more and more subscribers ….. good for his ‘fees’ ….. It’s a pity his subscribers don’t get more advice and less dot com pho!
Garry’s posts far out strip Chow’s content any day.
There is more to be learned from one post here than from a week or more of Chow’s posts.
All I can see developing is John Chow’s bank account and his waist as he subscribes a few more readers.
Date/Time: 11-19-2008 18:21:23 Comment #26950
Date/Time: 11-20-2008 08:28:44 Comment #26985
Garry,
Great Post I really enjoyed it.
It seems to me that a lot of “top bloggers” have this Google mentality. Isn’t it Shoe that has the “screw Google” saying. Maybe we should change the old saying to “hell hath no fury like a blogger scorned” because it seems the moment that somebody or some entity does something to harm or at least not benefit a blogger they are off the bandwagon and pushing for other services.
In reality though most cases and situations in which a user gets penalized is because they did something that they weren’t supposed to do like follow general good practices or T.O.S. For example Getting banned from Adsense, penalized by Google, or being removed from a forum.
Much of the problem is that bloggers (in this niche) are still looking for instant results and will do any to achieve them even if they aren’t following good practices.
Adam
Check out Adam’s last blog post..How To Make Money By Creating Wordpress Themes: Part 1
Date/Time: 11-20-2008 17:44:56 Comment #27008
I personally have had no success making money on internet! If anything I have lost alot of money! Consolidating debts right now! I am 61 just waiting it out for social security at 62! I have got burned so many times
even from consulting firms that promised you would recoup in 6 months
but that was just a sales gimmick i guess! Now dont want to refund so went thru BBB and still waiting not sure I will ever get a settlement!
Date/Time: 11-20-2008 17:51:53 Comment #27009
I’ve often said that I’d make money off the net if I stayed off the net!
But what the hey ….. it’s a fun hobby and it’s nice to dream!
Check out Paddy Bloggit’s last blog post..Chaos abounds
Date/Time: 11-20-2008 20:22:51 Comment #27014
John Chow couldn’t do it by himself could he and to do that one needs traffic of people and philosophy, at least with the Blog. I know the Blog, it’s very busy at times very slow (I can’t say whether due to hundreds visitors opening pages or if it’s cause of the #’s of ads) so I stopped reading his posts. Interesting how he managed to organize charging for the ads that much!
Date/Time: 11-21-2008 06:45:55 Comment #27020
Great article Garry – I’m happy that people have started seeing behind the smoke screen. I love the article and I hope I’ll read many more like this on your blog – keep it up man.
Check out CristianR’s last blog post..DIY foam insulation
Date/Time: 11-22-2008 03:36:57 Comment #27075
I think that posts like this help John Chow’s popularity. And like he always say; “any publicity, is good publicity.”.
Check out TheWeblogZone’s last blog post..Building Good Reputation Online
Date/Time: 11-23-2008 02:42:28 Comment #27124
Very interesting and well written post, Garry. Truthfully, I’m relatively new to the “internet guru” thing, and the first post of his I ever found was one of his income reports about six months ago. I’ll admit that impresses me, but I’ve never thought that he was telling any of us much on how to make money. On another post I commented how impressed I was in the information you were giving people who were asking you all sorts of questions. In that one post I think I learned more about some things than anything I may have ever learned off his site. But, I’ll admit that I’m still impressed by his monthly income, and still want to get even 1/10th of that.
So, I’ll read you to learn, and I’ll read him to be entertained and have a goal to shoot for. lol
Check out Mitch’s last blog post..Chitika
Date/Time: 11-23-2008 06:57:21 Comment #27129
Well Johns blog is all about affiliate marketing and nothing else. I can’t sell stuff on my blog so i have to run PPC adverts.
Date/Time: 11-23-2008 15:51:17 Comment #27133
John Chow used his brain to pull the juice from others and he got the good results. He became popular and still people follows him even when he publishes off-topic posts. This is normal and not bad. Indeed, people linked to him manually and not in an automated way! In order to get success, one must use different techniques to get most out of the system. I am sure that you agree with it.
BTW, I’m not a hardcore fan of Mr Chow. I just read his updates on my reader along with some other bloggers including you. Because these are the selected few bloggers who inspired me to start blogging.
Thanks.
Check out Earn Blogger’s last blog post..Tweetag : Browse Twitter Tweets with Tags
Date/Time: 11-23-2008 19:59:14 Comment #27140
As for me Johnchow is an unique character, he’s great for something and bad for other things, yet people talk about him almost in every blog i subscribed. But there 3 things that i found very cool about him:
1. He doesn’t care what people say about him albeit mostly are negative comments
2. Many people complain about his suck English grammar and bad spelling, yet he gets thousands and thousands of bucks every month by writing posts in english
3. And the last part is he doesn’t really need mr.BIG G to get high traffic, i think this is the coolest.
He really is something
Date/Time: 11-24-2008 03:57:55 Comment #27159
For me, John Chow has unique idea and become idol for lots of bloggers. Many of them feel very proud when John Chow leave some comments in their blog. Its like a superstar’s signature on our autograph.
Anyway, the past is past.. I hope your blog can grow better then John Chow’s blog.
Date/Time: 11-26-2008 11:27:43 Comment #27276
I’ve known John for a very long time, and I happen to know that he runs a number of forums as well. Many of the keywords that his sites rank well for are due to his own efforts.
I’ve never known for him to bribe, or otherwise influence people to link to his sites using specific anchor text, but I do know that the method works. I could actually be the one that planted the seed that caused his misfortune.
I do recall having a very long conversation with him regarding Google Bombing, and I must admit that I did tinker with the concept for a while, and found that it does work. Just ask Captain Kirk
in any free advertising forum.
I’m sorry to hear about Mr. Chow’s misfortune, and wish him the best of luck in the future.
Very interesting article. Thanks Gary!
Check out Robert Nauert’s last blog post..The Trick to Cashing Out in Forums
Date/Time: 11-26-2008 16:56:23 Comment #27283
What a sad account of someone who allowed greed and selfishness to dictate his business model. In the end, Google rightfully penalized JC and sent a message out to everyone: don’t manipulate the business model!
Check out Matt Keegan’s last blog post..Musings From The Left Coast