Rich Minx

(Note: This is an unpaid review for John Chow dot Com, a site about how to make money online. He invites his readers to link his site to that anchor text in exchange for a linkback from his very popular site. If you want to give it a go, here are the rules.)

First, who is this John Chow fellow?
John is a self-proclaimed internet mogul. In the ’90s he started a successful site called TheTechZone and more recently his more personal blog, which also generates a lot of interest, readers and money. I discovered John Chow dot Com a few weeks ago and added it to my feeder. Judging by the many comments left with each post (and some of the posts themselves), he seems to attract mainly a young, male audience.

Site Design: The fast car graphic at the top communicates what John’s all about: wealth, fabulous wealth, to be enjoyed while keeping ahead in the ‘net game. The site uses a basic, clean Wordpress template.

Site layout: There is often too much content on each page, making it slow to load. The popularity of John’s blog means often over 100 comments are left for each post, although many seem to be of the “Nice post, John!” variety in the hope of winning a few clicks. The nav bar tabs at the top are handy but you have to scroll down for recent posts.

Advertising: This deserves its own area because John is clearly king of blog monetizing. First, he reviews sites for $400 (I do it for free!) because his readership is high enough to justify it. He has many sponsors and contextual keyword advertising (which I personally find really annoying, especially when it’s my comment text these links appear on!). He also uses ReviewMe for reviewing other products, and adds affiliate links into his posts. Oh, and AdSense of course.

Content: John’s personality shines through the entire site (well, it’s his name for starters) which his readers clearly appreciate. He’ll post pictures of himself and even videos. While he’s sometimes accused of arrogance and selling out, his writing style and content is fun, cheeky and generally useful. He knows his stuff, so when he dishes out advice his readers leap in with a big spoon ready! At other times his content is not relevant to the keywords he wants to be associated with (a funny video from Will Ferrell or pictures of half-naked girls, for example, or perhaps this content too is a lesson in itself). Regular competitions also keep his users engaged.

The most important thing is that John posts unique, insightful content (most of the time) and is very open about how he attracts users and makes money from his blog. That makes him essential reading. And while I’ve yet to become a millionaire from reading his blog and following the advice, I’m optimistic.

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