FROM: JOHNCHOW.COM: Misleading Credit Pricing
Something that Entrecard needs to work on is its pricing system. For the longest time, I was the most expensive blog in the network. Now I’m not even on page one. This is because of members mass dropping cards in order to inflate their price and build up their credits. The current number one site cost 466 credits per day but has only 72 RSS readers (he wisely removed the FeedBurner count from his blog).This gaming of the system is making it hard to tell which sites will deliver traffic and which sites won’t send anything. I wouldn’t spend 466 credit to advertise on a blog with only 72 RSS readers but all his spots are sold. People think high price equal quality but for many Entrecard member sites, that is not the case. Until Entrecard figures out a way to prevent gaming of their system, you should check out the site more to prevent having your hard earned credits wasted.Get 200 Entrecard Credits

Entrecard allows me to send any credit amount I want to another Entrecard user. So, the first 35 Entrecard users who writes a recommendation for me will each get 200 credit add to his account. That’s still not enough to buy a spot on this blog but it’ll get you a lot closer. You don’t have to use the credit to advertise on my blog - feel free to use it to buy space on any of the 2,500 blogs in the Entrecard system. In order to write a recommendation and get the 200 credits, you need to be an Entrecard member.

John Chow, of all people to complain about gaming the system, is doing exactly that. While bribing people with a measly 200 Entrecard credits to give him an Entrecard review, he bemoans the fact that he is no longer on the front page of Entrecard for his category. He belittles the higher priced blogs that are on the front page by speculating that they are just worthless mass card droppers and that your points are better spent on a “quality” splog like his. I recently read one blogger who paid for an ad on Chow and received a whopping 43 visitors from the ad. Whoooop didooooo … 43 visitors.

In reality, the leaders of the category “Making Money Online” are some hard working dedicated bloggers who post quality content and work hard to drive traffic to their blogs as opposed to such banal content as what they had to eat today or bribes for Entrecard recommendations. In the top 3 listings are the likes of Problogger, one of the top blogs on the Net, famous for it’s quality content.

Of course, John is no stranger to gaming the system. Bitch Slapped by Google, banned by Digg and Technorati, John is a Master Gamer. Gaming the system only seems to bother him when the tables are turned and someone else is on top. See also: John Chow Buys Comments | Evil Blog Promotion Ideas | Evil Blog Contest | John Chow Stuffs Cookies — Pretty obvious that Chow’s evil gaming methods have made his blog popular rather than quality content.

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Main Entry: mogul
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: owner
Synonyms: VIP*, baron, beef, big cheese, big gun, big shot, big wheel, czar, executive, key player*, king, kingpin, lord, magnate, merchant, prince, notable, personage, potentate, prince, royalty, sachem, top brass*, tycoon
Source: Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1)

I have participated in a lot of “make money online” forums and one thing I’ve noticed is that when the newbies come in, some fresh from reading a “get rich quick” type of ebook such as the Rich Jerk ebook or others, they are still completely clueless as to what it is they want to accomplish and how they will get there. They’ve been sold a bill of goods … the “make money online while you’re sleeping” bill of goods, and they’ve swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

You can see the amateurish looking little splogs they throw together and release into cyberspace, and then they sit and wait for the dollars to start rolling in. After as little as a few days after their “big launch,” they begin to ask questions in the forum like …. “my site is up, where’s the money?” They’ve fallen into the trap of putting yet another review splog together, thrown a few banners onto it and they’re ready to be the next Dot Dom Mogul.

Perhaps some of these are just really lazy people who are looking to make money without putting much effort into it, but a lot of them have been sold this dream of “easy money” and honestly believe it. Just look at the title and domain of the blog I created when I first got into Internet Marketing and I fell for the same crap. Now I’m stuck with the domain. I’ve got a pagerank 3 and my Alexa rating is on the rise, so I don’t want to just abandon all that.

These Get Rich Quick gurus are gaming you. If you are a newbie and anxious to achieve Dot Com Mogul status or at least just make a ton of money, the hard reality of it is that like any other job, blogging for bucks or Internet Marketing is work and it takes time to build a successful online business. So … who am I anyway? Am I a Dot Com Mogul that carries authority and someone you should believe? Read the rest of this entry »

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With all the problogger sites making obscene amounts of money, it is only natural that other bloggers aspire to follow in their footsteps. Often these bloggers have achieved (at least in their own minds) Guru status. They are the leaders and everyone else, the followers … the wannabees. In a way, I’m a wannabee also. I wannabee rich. By the same token, I’d rather etch out my own path to fame and fortune than go the same route as many of the so called A-listers. I visit them often to see what they are up to and more often that not, they fail to capture my attention. Obviously, they are good at profiteering, but not very good at being interesting. As an example, I’ll use one of the most successful blogs on the Internet … John Chow’s blog. I don’t personally have any gripes against this guy, but to me, this blog is just plain boring. If I have to see one more post about what he eats, I will throw up. Latest topics and headlines from John’s blog:

1. I am featured in the February issue of Entrepreneur magazine. You should be able to find it at your local newsstands now. My article is on page 52. Here is an actual quote from that article: “His blog remains a somewhat banal combination of his money count and what he had for lunch–the blogging equivalent of Seinfeld, the show “about nothing.”

2. The second post is a guest post with some advice on writing:

#1 - Don’t Ever Talk About Being Dugg/Reddited/Stumbled
I don’t know … take a look at the discussions about what social media can do for traffic and you’ll see that maybe this is a good topic if presented correctly.

#2 - Don’t Disclose Failure Unless It’s To Make a Point
Sorry, I disagree. How do we learn if not from our mistakes? Why not share this info so that others can benefit?

#3 - Shout About Your Successes
Used incorrectly, this often just smacks of arrogance and is a real turn-off (see previous post on this)

4 - Write with Authority
Only write with authority if you are an authority. To do so without qualification will just bite you in the ass

#5 - You Don’t Need To Tell The Truth All The Time
Why?

3. The third post down is: First Production Corvette ZR1 Sells for $1 Million
All I have to say is wtf? I came here for the secret. Give me the damned secret.

5. Dine Out Vancouver 2008 - Raincity Grill
Oh my God Noooo … not another meal

The reason they have such a strong following is because they’ve achieved the level of financial success that many bloggers hope to achieve and people keep reading hoping to glean just one golden secret that will launch their site into A-list heaven. Usually, that secret never comes but people have got to believe in a dream so they keep going back to find it.

I ran across this post today by a blogger that just oozes interesting and it is so true … the one thing that many people fail to realize, is that you can’t teach interesting, and unless you’re interesting, your blog probably isn’t going to reach the level of fame and marketability that the A-listers have. Read the rest of this entry »

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