Faking It Ain’t So Bad
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So what do you get when you take a fake cownapper with a nonthentic* (*new word) ransom note, a ridiculous demand and add an (international) audience to it? A crap load of traffic and about the first three pages on Google, full of backlinks. It seems most bloggers are obsessed with the amount of traffic they get, the number of clicks their ads get and basically how much money their blog is making them. So for all of you that forgot how to have fun and just want to see quality content* (*All is in the eye of the beholder blahdiblahdiblah), this is how you do it. You start thinking less in numbers and more in laughters.
People are always looking for entertainment and that’s just what the Internet provides. If you want to learn something, the local library or school is a great place to start. So to all the naysayers who said we were naughty, tricking our readers, making a quick buck and using sleazy marketing methods for our own benefit — We had a great laugh going through some of your posts and comments. Thanks for the entertainment!
Blogs all over the world jumped onto our little joke as we were featured in Spanish, German, French, even Bulgarian! Seems you can’t say anything anymore once people know your blog. We miss the good old days on anonymity…perhaps we should start blogging under a secret pseudonym!
Right, time to get serious and boring again –lets talk about mooney. We said we’d double the amount of the money that came in through the paypal donations yesterday and then give it to a random reader who has left a comment in the last post. So we’ve picked Adtracker K-Inthehouse! Woohoo to you! Please mail us your paypal address and we’ll cough up the ransom money right away! (Yes Darin, it’s that simple!)
Petit retoursur la blog d’otage. Une bonne BD geek déniché par GuiM. Deux outils de vidéoblogging live dans le presse-citron. Un bon débat autour des blogs chez Lousia. Facebook a retrouvé son .fr That’
Ironically, one of these bloggers is John Cow. His blog started as a “thinking outside the box” exercise by parodying John Chow. More recently he started a paid Wiki and sold it , titled a post with an offensive word, and did afake hack of his site. Just about every move he makes tosses another blogosphere sacred cow on the grill. Sometimes it works, sometimes it backfires, you may not like him but you have to agree that his antics have made his blog quite a destination on the Internet.
_- Mirantânicø -_ John Cow dot ComFaking It Ain’t So BadOs 100 melhores blogs em Portugues FAKING IT AIN’T SO BAD
Faking It Ain t So Bad
Instead of trying to figure out how to rehash the same old stuff all over again spend some time figuring a way to be innovative. Prime example of innovation at work would be John Cow’s being *cough, cough* hacked. How did it turn out for Mr. Cow?Not bad at all from what I’m seeing. Innovation drives success. This is especially true in saturated markets like blogging. Build strong relationships There is no substitue for building strong relationships with other bloggers. Both big name and no names. They can and will all influence
You guys are cool. i think bloggers blogging about making moneyonline are rather square. its cool seeing you guys do random things. shows me that blogging can be fun
maybe your really got hacked. i left a comment before and ran into an error. again today. sorry if there is duplicated content
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Thanks Bloggernoob, we’re working on the issue. Thanks for the heads up!
It’s not bad marketing, in fact it’s the best form of marketing there is.
Look how much Windows crashes, yet Microsoft keeps raking it in
And here’s another test comment.
Yeah I am now being talked about all over the place because of the fact that I made $0 in October! *sigh* oh well
Btw, I sometimes get that comment problem as well – I get the error but the comment still appears.
And here’s another test comment…
Guess what, another test comment!
Nice spike in traffic by the way.
If anyone needs any customized hack images, I’m the guy you’re looking for.
Ok, seems the problem has been eliminated. Moohoo!
LOL! Congrats K!
You didn’t got featured in Spanish. It was in PORTUGUESE.
[...] [...]
not my lucky day
WHatever it takes Cow dude. The real test will be if you can keep the buzz going. I know I’m here everyday…
Dude, you’ve pissed off the Bulgarians. Trust me from
a bad one night standexperience, it is never a good thing!Keep up the good work with the fun stuff Mr Moo
That is what sets you apart from all the other money making bloggers.
One of the main reasons I read your site is to see what stunt you will come up with next
An excellent ploy, my bovine brethren, but no ransom artist/hacker would spend so much time delicately cutting and pasting letter chunks.
I noticed the error too yesterday. Although it’s fine now. Btw, Darin posted something about the prizes.
Are you using Google Sitemap generator? That should be what’s causing the problems. I had the same problem after swtiching to 2.3
Very interesting idea, that’s for sure. And it worked didn’t it.
I for one didn’t link to you, or even write about it, looked like plain link bait
Good cow.. you solve the problem..
Now you’re one of blog celebrity ..
To quote Darin:
“So to all who feel cheated (and you know who you are) I appologize and will contact you with the status on your prizes in the next few days.”
Has he?
Thanks for the link to Alabala.org, Bulgaria, John Cow
That’s really an interesting way to get traffic while still retaining a level of fun in blogging. No wonder we love reading your blog.
You keep saying it is a prank and not a linkbait, but from what I see, it could be one of the best linkbaits in recent times. And it’s fun too.
Also you are “milking it” for all its worth….:)
Gobala, it was indeed the sitemaps plugin but there was also an archives plugin that was ausing similar issues. Thanks anyway!
And no people, we haven’t heard back from Darin yet..
Now you just have to think of an even better joke for next time
John, i think darin is busy at the blog expo with zac johnson and the rest, did you not make a trip?
It is a great thing to do (am I contradicting myself?) and I guess a spike shows that how great is this trick. Creativity wins!
P/S: I wonder will I see the error…
I like the references to Darin …. nothing like outing someone who`s done the wrong thing .
[...] if it’s all just an evil plot to get traffic. Could it be John Cow in disguise? If it is, it will be a miserable failure if it gets to any investigative media that finds no Mary [...]
[...] at work would be John Cow’s being *cough, cough* hacked. How did it turn out for Mr. Cow? Not bad at all from what I’m seeing. Innovation drives success. This is especially true in saturated markets like [...]
[...] they were offended or amused by the stunt didn’t matter. What mattered were the results: a huge spike in traffic and links galore! This gimmick is a classic example of how stirring up a little controversy can be linkbait gold. I [...]
So all I gotta do is fake a tragedy. Can’t be to hard.
Hey JohnCow, can’t believe I missed a pingback if Shankri-la received one! I am not sure how much money I won from the paypal donations. In case you still held the money for me, I sent you my Paypal address through your contact form.
I have my fingers crossed!
And here's another test comment.