Get Off Shoemoney and Chow
Alright time to get something off my chest here. Note that Shoemoney and Chow aren’t the only ones included – they’re just the most popular.
I usually don’t go a day without getting a “Dude your blog is 100x better than Shoemoney’s!” email or reading on somebody’s blog or forum that they hate John Chow because his blog only posts about what he eats for dinner. Here’s what you all need to realize :
Shoemoney and John Chow established themselves as make money online blogs. They built their readership and acquired their fame this way (a couple big check photos do help, I’d know from experience as well). Just because Shoemoney started his blog about posting his trials with affiliate marketing doesn’t mean he has to keep his blog that way. I’ll level with you here, Shoemoney and John Chow dot Com aren’t the best blogs out there with straight up affiliate marketing tips. I’d venture to even think they’d agree with that. Yet people still seem to think they are, and when they see a post about a UFC fight or a steak dinner, it’s all about how their blog sucks and it doesn’t teach shit. How many blog subscribers do you have? Shoemoney and Chow make more on their blogs than most of you do in affiliate marketing. So they’re obviously not doing anything tragically wrong, because their blogs keep growing.
They’ve both become industry leaders, and now their blogs are to report what goes on in the industry as a whole. That doesn’t include just affiliate marketing, they’re leaders in blogging and business development as well. Shoemoney talks about companies that are shady or things that piss him off, and Chow writes a shit-ton of reviews about other companies (including me). People read their blog to keep up on the industry, get some entertainment, and just for the fact that they’re famous. Do I read Shoemoney and John Chow every day? No. I probably check their sites once every 2 weeks to see if anything catches my eye. I don’t really read blogs in general, but I do check other blogs more frequently than theirs.
I’m not trying to suck up to Shoemoney and Chow at all, I just honestly don’t agree with people saying “dude you’re better than Shoemoney!!!!! LoLz0rs!!1!!” I’m not better than Shoemoney, and neither is my blog. He probably makes more money than I do, and his blog has more subscribers than mine does. Also they’re not pricks just because their blog sucks at giving up to date affiliate tips. I’ve hung out with Shoemoney and he’s a cool guy, and I’ve talked to John a little but from what I hear he’s also cool. Let’s stop pointing the finger, kids.
So, in your opinion, what are the best blogs out there for straight up affiliate marketing tips? Besides this blog of course… you’re one of my daily reads.
Keep up the great affiliate content.
Sounds like sucking up to me Paul. Or should I call you Pauline now?
John Chow’s tagline used to be “Learn to make money online” or something like that. Now it’s “I make money online by telling people how much money I make online.” There’s a clear difference between the two, and I imagine that most of the complaints are from people who read a lot of his earlier work.
Johnchow.com used to be a practical advice blog, but now it’s more of a look into his daily life. Once people realize that, they’ll stop expecting what he never said he’d deliver.
Shoe and JohnChow are definately not the best blogs out there for straight up affiliate marketing. My blog, for instance, never reviews my dining choices. However I do love food and travel so I read JohnChow.com quite often. Seriously though if Shoe and JohnChow are the only blogs you can find about anything related to affiliate marketing I have a really big bridge located in New York that I would like to sell you.
How much did you get payed for this post?
Great post – I think they’ll be the first to agree that they write they want and have earned the right to do so. Don’t go to their sites if you don’t like that they have to say.
shoemoney keeps it real sometimes, but john chow never ever posts any up to date information on making money anywhere, ever. any that come close to doing so are by people he pays to write for him. his blog exists solely to funnel money from newbs who are genuinely interested in making money online, and that’s just fucked up. period.
I agree with everything you said. Shoe always makes a point that he may make money off of his blog but as in income his blog is minimal as in 5% or less (i think).
If you hate their blogs so much (other people) don’t read them and don’t click on any of their money making ideas. That’s all
If more people spent time working on their own blogs instead of worrying about hating on others they would be making a lot more money.
Try more time working and less time blogging.
john chow doesn’t post money making ideas, retard.
Your link bait is lame dude..
I like blogs from people who offer free scripts that they developed and can help in earning money. You won’t find that on many blogs.
hahahahaha very funny!
Who & Who?
Give me UberAffiliate and ProBlogger anyday, news you can use.
I don’t read John Chow, but have been reading ShoeMoney since his PPC Experiment post went viral. Here it is:
http://www.shoemoney.com/2006/04/08/the-1000000-experiment-with-ppc-part-1/
That was a useful insight into PPC. Every now and again he has a decent-ish tip, but nothing like that. Since then, I read his blog mainly for the amusement value; he’s a likeable guy and his posts are normally interesting.
Whoa dude, calm down, this is a new attitude for you. Sure sure you dont like the emails and what not your geting but where is the fun lovable guy we all know? Way to hate on your audience pal..
Agreed.
I agree mostly with Paul, that if you don’t like it don’t read it; and anyone who ever says they “suck”. Well define “suck”, because they certainly make more money than those telling them they “suck”.
But you’re point, that it’s harming the n00bs, that just don’t know any better, is true… but then again, business is business. Eat or be eaten, if you can see Chow and Shoe for exactly what they are, maybe you don’t deserve to be i n the “make money online” world anyway…
What’s the “money maker” section then!?
*oh… affiliate links… alrighty then…*
dude you’re better than Shoemoney!!!!! LoLz0rs!!1!!”
Ouch
coming from the dude with the pr2 blogspot blog rofl.
We’ve really got to stop giving the trolls what they want.
Its easy to bash Shoe and Chow, they’re up the top making millions and theres a lot of jealous people out there.
95% of people know that their blogs are used as a personal insight into their lives and how they made it big.
The other 5% want a simple download given out for free that they load onto their website and within
24hours10 minutes they are millionaires flying off to the caribean with Miss World 2008.Lets leave the moaners and concentrate on the people out there tying to make it on the web by knuckling down and working hard – reading a few blogs can help you gain inspiration but the real stroke of genius that is required to make it big only comes from one place – yourself.
Interesting post. A couple weeks ago I was complaining about John Chow and haven’t visited his site since. “He’s a casualty of my information diet.”
On the other hand, good for him. I guess those that complain about him are just jealous that he can blog about anything and make money from it.
Shoe, on the other hand, is still in my reader. Even though he’s ignored me at every opportunity, the stuff he posts is useful on the grand-scale of things. Don’t look for specifics, but reading his blog can help identify industry trends.
I think the only reason I blog is because I work from home, by myself, and need an outlet for my thoughts. It’s my water cooler.
Sorry to disagree! Both blogs sucks!!! I can’t believe people waste their time reading that crap. Soon or later people will realize that and their revenue will sink.. Wait and see.
Well month on month growth for both sites dissagrees with you.
Not every blog will appeal to everyone, just read something else.
(I have a sneaky suspicion you read both anyway)
Of course Paul i agree with you that Shoe and Chow aren’t the best blogs..To be frank i just dislike reading Chow’s blog these days coz he lacks informational posts and just boasts about his parties and life. Great post..Keep up!
I completely agree that JohnChow.com sucks in terms of what people know it for, which is making money online. Every great once in a while he (or one of his minions) will post something sort of related to making money online with his affiliate link all over the place. I’m sour about it, but more out of confusion as to why people keep coming back and reading every word like it’s the word of God. Shoe on the other hand (I actually like John more in person, Shoe’s too arrogant for my taste) does post some helpful articles, but they too aren’t as often as they could be.
My sincere request to you Uber is that just avoid these kinds of posts or else you will follow Shoe and Chow…regards!
I can’t agree more.
Absolutely agree with you 100%.
Chow and Shoemoney have become more about the “cult of personality” IMHO. Still is enjoyable to read though.
You must be smoking pot.
Clearly Agreed.
Both blogs suck…People have lost interest in them these days..After all for how long can people like hearing to John’s hang outs?..Everything has its own limit..Both the blogs have gone down a lot in terms of Alexa..I say “They deserve it” :)
I totally agree with you. Great post. :D
Another great affiliate marketing resource is the 5 Star Affiliate Programs blog, it’s worth checking out and following on a regular basis.
Alan Johnson
John Chow’s blog has started out with him giving hands-on advice on how to make money online, but, since he currently has other ventures he needs to be on top of as well, the blog is more of a personal diary of his as an online entrepreneur at this point, where he mostly shares his views on all sorts of events and talks about his lifestyle.
Alan Johnson
Let’s face it: both bloggers are managing a lot of online projects (I’m not sure how much John is making in general, but I believe Jeremy has mentioned the fact that he is raking in over $1m monthly from affiliate marketing) so that it’s understandable that they don’t have the time it takes in order to give it 110% as far as their blogs are concerned.
But on the other hand, they are making a killing online, as I’m sure that everyone will agree. As far as I’m concerned, listening to what a person who is making over $1m monthly from his online activities, for example, has to say seems like common sense.
The bottom line is that no one is forcing anyone to do anything. If you don’t like the blogs, don’t read them. If you do, follow them on a regular basis, it’s as simple as that. They are offering information for free, no one has anything to lose, so that I don’t understand the need to turn everything into one big drama.
Alan Johnson
Are you whoring yourself out and trying to join the cool crowd of non producing big talkers? Please don’t go that route and lose respect as I really enjoy your blog. If you’re looking to pull in newbies and lose your readers that actually do well defending those posers is a step in the right direction. They are huge show boaters that run around talking about how great they are. They bring it upon themselves.
@Uberaffiliate: Seriously how much are you being paid to hurt your credibility defending the pro big talkers? FACT. Those guys do what they do in their self-interest and legends in their own mind … so do what is in your self-interest, capitalizing on that frustration and taking readers from them.
@Pingback: “Shoemoney and JohnChow, both excellent marketers in my view, but absolutely useless bloggers.: Ha. Ha. Exactly. I guess only uberaffiliate gets to call them useless.
@Smaxor: Exactly. Live by the hype/die by the hype. Since when did this become a facist state where criticism is not allowed anymore.
A very simple solution would be to read their blogs for those who like them reading and stop reading for those who think the other way…In my personal opinion their blogging days will soon end as people have lost zeal in their content…I must say their content lacks what the community needs and boasts more of their personal life…As Mr Steve said i agree their alexa have gone down…but i want to say that Alexa is not everything…Last time almost all the top blogs saw a considerable fall in their Alexa ranking…
In the end, everything is, again, up to you: if you are interested in what a certain blogger has to say you follow that resource and if not, you don’t. No one has anything to lose as a result of the fact that a certain blog exists: everyone is entitled to write whatever they see fit, it’s as simple as that.
Best wishes,
Alan Johnson
I started reading Shoemoney about four years ago because he had many great posts on DigitalPoint. At the time, the blog was primarily about making money online. It was the first one I came across that really explained how to do things right. At the time, PPC and affiliate marketing was just getting big.
Now, everyone is telling everyone how to make money online. Everyone is an expert. As a result Shoemoney.com has evolved into a more personal blog about Shoemoney and the cool stuff he gets to do.
Why swim in a crowded pond when you can have your own?
I’ve never got into chow’s blog.
Honestly, it’s just a game, and they both play it quite well.
They aren’t about to give out any pertinent information, but they fool their readers into thinking they are. That’s what they do best – putting out smoke screens.
These types of blogs will keep moving forward because their dumbed-down nature appeals to the mainstream who want to make money online without getting into the nitty gritty and scaring off readers.
To be honest, most affiliate blogs play this carrot on a string game but to differing degrees.
Most people who are making money online are happy they aren’t giving any secrets, while most newbies are left in the dark. In the end, you really do have to charter new territory yourself.