2009 Planning Guide - My Gift To You!A-Listers Found Guilty Of Stealing
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As an aspiring entrepreneur you probably spent a lot of time per day going through all the A-list money making blogs to see if they have worked out and posted a new magic formula that will make you rich on the spot. After all, they are making tons of money so they must be doing something right, right? Yes they are, they are the so called money making gurus that can rightfully claim that title because it’s you that is making them all that cash! You keep checking their blogs, clicking their ads, signing up with the affiliates they recommend. Success breeds success. There’s nothing wrong with it but if you really want to stop giving and start taking, you might want to consider spending less time on their blogs and more on your own!
Quality isn’t always better than Quantity
Don’t think even for a second that these guys have gotten rich overnight, most of them have been around for a long time and you can easily be over bluffed by the sheer quantity of earnings they can boast about at the end of the month. After all, they do the same thing as you, they write articles and publish them on probably the same blog software as you too! The big difference is the amount of readers that read the articles. Yours might have taken you hours to compile and will get you ~50 readers while they post a stupid YouTube video on a lazy day and get over ~5000 readers. It’s because they have time on their side. Time that helped build a loyal group of readers.
Business and Pleasure
The only thing you can do is be patient, work hard to provide good quality posts, thus building a respectable name for yourself online. That’s something you can’t do if you’re looking for the answer on other people’s blogs all the time! Try to set a 80% work and 20% play limit in place. Force yourself not to wander off in their archives if you’ve only got a vague idea of what your looking for. Make very clear for yourself what you want and where you’re most likely gonna get it from. This will save precious minutes you could have used to write up another pulitzer worthy post like this one.
Our Confessions
We hardly ever read Problogger, Shoemoney and have never even seen Seth Godin’s blog…well we did just now actually because we had to find his link. 
We don’t believe that other people have the key for our own success online. It’s something only you can accomplish. Sure, you can take pointers left and right and learn from the mistakes others have made but it really comes down to your determination and passion. If you’re not passionate about what you do, how do you expect to ever excel in what you do? So there you have it, stay clear of those darned A-listers. Just spent that 20% per day on JohnCow dot Com because we know what’s good for us you!
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Problogger hasn’t updated since the 23rd anyway… not that I’m checking.
What are you talking about? problogger.net updates multiple times a day.
I was going to say that if you look at his blog he has updated every day. I think you looked at his main page and turned away after seeing a video post that he had put up on the 22nd of this month.
yeah thats sounds more likely!
Yes, you are right. I was looking at the wrong link… Man, am I a rookie or what?
ProBlogger might not update very frequently like some others…but his posts generally always contain useful quality content.
I agree with the guy who said that Shoe Money’s not worth reading…I’ve never found anything useful or all that interesting on his site. Some of these popular sites aren’t all that great, they’ve just been around very long… just my three cents!
-Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)
damn right, focus on your own site and make it the best that it can be !
Becks
True. I think there’s definitely a line though. John Cow is almost arguing that you should focus entirely on your own business and ignore the competition. I’m not convinced that’s a good business practice.
Personally, I believe that the A-listers have a lot of inside contacts that help them break a lot of news first. Without reading them, I’d be getting the news later.
However, it’s certainly not necessary to devote a lot of your time *reading* them, but I think it would be foolish if you didn’t at least *watch* them.
I work about 80/20 like that. I figure if I read the top two or three, I’m good. On a boring day I may read a few more but, I don’t have many of those.
Another great post…
This has got to be one of your best postings, Bob. This is what most bloggers should, and come to their senses.
Who’s Bob? Lol!
Wow, that was a really good post. It rings true….
I do spend a lot of time reading John Chow, Problogger, and others. I do like their blogs, but I could really use that time to make my blog better and increase the quality of the content there.
When I’m an A-Lister, though, I’ll probably be singing a different tune…lol
I hardly (I mean rarely) ever go to Problogger and I almost never go to Shoemoney LOL. I am usually always on the Chow or the Cow. You have some valid points and anyone here who has their own blog can clearly understand building a massive traffic takes a LOT of TIME and a lot of EFFORT.
practical is better than theory
Note to self: Spend less time reading John Cow’s Mooney Blog and focus more on own blog.
Also, note to self: Stop taking mental notes to myself.
-Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)
BTW I like your random and unrelated, but eye catching headlines…
-Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)
I like your pig. What’s his name?
There is no point in reading Shoemoney — ever.
Why is that?
When was the last time you read something useful on his blog?
He makes it pretty clear that his blog has nothing to do with making money. He’s not going to tell you any secrets either. There aren’t any. Hard work and lots of trying. He gives advice. He’s given quite a bit of advice. His radio show is good too.
Recently there’s been nothing worth reading on his blog. If he wasn’t a millionaire nobody would go there. Regardless of whether it’s about making money or not, it’s not useful content any more.
I have to agree to some extent with Angel on this one. Just because someone is rich, should be no reason why they should have massive readers. His posts are not all that great.
Cool post, very true.
The only money making blog I make sure I read on a daily basis is run by some Mad Cows.
I tend to read problogger, john chow and shoemoney on a weekley basis.
And that’s what makes you a winner!
What does he win?
Unlimited free reading from blogging websites!
There’s something that i want to undestand Steven. sometimes you answer instead you letting John answers. Are you is partener ? If so, what secret have put you to this position ? I’m new in this blog, that i follow only from a week. But it’s very grat. And you also.
I have take a look to your blog Steven, not bad. Which, you’ll not be an A-lister found guilty of stealing.
I am not his partner nor am I in any kind of appointed position. I don’t claim to have all the answers but if I happen to the answer to a question someone is asking, whether its from this blog or anywhere else, I’ll try my best to help and answer it. It’s that simple.
If Mr. Cow wants to answer the questions himself, he is free to do so. Others on here have help answered questions on here as well, so I’m not the only one. I like to help others whenever I can depending on the situation and whether or not I am able to.
Gosh Cow I have a whole new respect for you after this article. You lost me for a minute following that “fake” shutdown linkbait scam.
this article can help to remind some to remove lips from butt.
I was not going to comment because I felt guilty about not working on my own blog or sites. But then I thought any post that profound deserved a comment.
By the way my biggest time stealer at the moment is Google Analytics, now that’s a serious waste of time.
LOL it’s one of those you can’t live with it, can’t live without it.
I honestly believe this is the most intelligent post you have ever made.
Thank you for the self validation. I thought I was weird for telling myself the exact same things.
Keep up the good work
I have to agree, I usually browse around some of the sites to see what is going on and mostly I visit the new bloggers out there to see the new upcommers!
You have to understand Shoemoney isn’t making a killing on his blog. He’s making a killing on affiliate marketing.
Yes. That’s why I don’t understand why people read his blog.
Preach on brother Cow!
I spend very little time “reading” other blogs, but a few minutes a day “skimming” through some of the top blogs. That’s why headlines are so important. (Of course I soak up every word you say Mr. Cow, like a sponge.
)
That’s why I think it’s so important to blog about either something you already know a lot about or are willing to put in the time to learn the ins and outs of. If you’re just going to read other big wigs’s blogs and then say “Hey, so and so said this today…” then you are wasting your time.
By far, one of your best posts!
I agree with you to a degree (as you’d expect) - although I’d say it possibly only gives half the story….
I come across plenty of bloggers who spend a lot of time doing anything but blogging - to the detriment of their blog.
However - I think there’s a time and place for research, learning and self development - whether it be in the field of blogging or any field that you want to improve in.
The way I learn best is in an ‘reflection/action’ kind of model where I learn something (whether it be by reading or listening to someone else or by watching them doing it) and then i go away and do it myself. Then I go back into a reflection mode of watching and listening to others and then back to action of doing.
So I’d actually argue that by not taking on what others are learning about blogging (whatever site you choose to do that on) could be detrimental to your own blogging. Of course it’s about balance though - some spend too much time reflecting and some spend too much time in ‘action’ mode.
My last comment to Mr John Cow - while you might not read ProBlogger much - you certainly do know my email and are happy to use it when you want to get some attention/links, need some advice
This is the proudest day of our blog, a huge comment by the Pro Blogger! So about those links we’ve emailed you about…
links? You’re always welcome to join in one of our projects - this last month you could have had a total of 31 of them! (actually 62 of them because I link to each one from two pages).
Once we grow some balls to quit our dayjob. Then we’d have plenty of time to join them.
When Two elephant meet…
What projects are you conducting or doing?
Sounds like you need to visit his blog.
Darren comes up with some good projects from time to time to help you improve your blogging. He’s recently had a 7 day and 31 day project.
The good thing about these is you can jump in at any time and start from the beginning.
Rodney is seeing elephants.
@Julie
Oh if you’re referring to those projects, I already knew about them, I thought he was referring to something else.
nope - what Julie said
In the last 31 Day Project one person who submitted some posts to the reader submissions told me that he had 50 times the traffic over the month than he did the month before as a result of the traffic that came from it. While he only had a readership of a bit under 100 readers a day last month he managed to leverage the project to get his average up to over 5000 visitors a day. 3 of his submissions over the month made it onto Digg, Reddit and/or Delicious.
I’m not saying this to boast or to take all the credit because he obviously wrote some good articles, but he only promoted them in the project. Participating in these projects can definitely give a blogger a platform to step their blogs up a notch if they are clever.
Oh I am sure they drive traffic, I don’t doubt that.
hey howd you find out about intellitext ads cow guy?
Via the Internet.
haha sooooooo true!
Thank’s for this goog post. So, why will i come again in this blog, caus you gave me the secret : 80 % work and 20 % play ?
I was kiding. But, but, you’re great man. very great.
Rodney, I think it’s you who are the great man. who else could have come up with a name for a blog like http://www.blogger-au-bout-du-doigt.blogspot.com
Problogger lost me after guest posts and no two much money posts.
SpiderPig!
hey you guys at john cow. i think you guys are great and keep up the good work. reading john cow really sets me in the right moo-d at times. just wondering if you guys had an email to keep in touch with.
Interestingly enough, It was reading Problogger, that got me started in blogging.
Reading his blog about 4 months ago after typing ‘professional blogging’ into google, his was the first blog that came up.
And I probably spent about a week, reading as many articles as I could before I started blogging.
Now if I ever need any information, about blogging the first place I go to is Problogger, using the search function can pretty much get you get you an answer to any questions you have about blogging.
I agree. I have loved the 31 days to a better blog… or however he wrote that title.
johncow! how do u do the affliate links with php with it. it really befuddles me!
With PHP.
Hehehehe, lol!
I keep asking Google. but they never give me a straight answer. Are we permitted to use redirect links for users to sign up with Google Adsense under their own referral program?
- Raymond (MONEY BLUE BOOK)
Wouldn’t think so but we’re not sure. Better safe than sorry would apply in this case, it’s a bitch getting banned by Google
Change the script and get banned. The best you can do is to point people to a page that only has the Adsense script on it (and maybe some tracking). The only problem then is it takes them 2 clicks instead of 1 to get to the signup page.
They won’t tell you because you are a pig.
Great post. And Raymond I like your cow the pig…Very cute.
Sorry about that…I like both, the cow and the pig anyway…
I agree with this percentage breakdown to a point. Here is how I would probably break it down. Let me know your practice or what you would recommend to a new blogger.
I would recommend closer to 90/10 for about the first month. This is so that you can build up a foundation of quality content before you start your marketing and networking push.
After that I would drop to the 80/20 for about another month. Put a little more emphasis on building relationships and networking with other bloggers, while still placing the most focus on quality content.
Now that you have a good foundation of content the percentage would be closer to 60/40 for a while say 2-3 months. Still having more emphasis on quality content, but really starting to push your marketing efforts and spending more time