Faking It Ain’t So Bad

Written by John Cow on November 8th, 2007

Want to Learn How to Build a Business Not Just a Blog.. for FREE? CLICK HERE Now to Find Out How!

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.

alexa.jpg

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!)

Did You Download Your FREE Copy of "How to Build a Business NOT Just a Blog" Yet? Click Here Now to Get Your Copy!

RSS feed | Trackback URI

42 Comments »

Comment by bloggernoob
2007-11-08 21:53:34

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

 
Comment by bloggernoob
2007-11-08 21:54:42

maybe your really got hacked. i left a comment before and ran into an error. again today. sorry if there is duplicated content

 
Comment by bloggernoob
2007-11-08 21:55:02

WordPress database error: [Table 'johncow_wrdp1.wp_post2cat' doesn't exist]
SELECT YEAR(post_date) AS `year`, MONTH(post_date) AS `month`, category_id FROM wp_posts INNER JOIN wp_post2cat ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_post2cat.post_id) WHERE post_date > 0 AND ID = 401 ORDER By post_date DESC

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php:160) in /home/johncow/public_html/wp-comments-post.php on line 67

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php:160) in /home/johncow/public_html/wp-comments-post.php on line 68

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php:160) in /home/johncow/public_html/wp-comments-post.php on line 69

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/wp-db.php:160) in /home/johncow/public_html/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 391

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-08 22:00:14

Thanks Bloggernoob, we’re working on the issue. Thanks for the heads up!

 
Comment by Hyder
2007-11-08 22:00:30

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 :!:

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-08 22:02:39

And here’s another test comment.

 
2007-11-08 22:03:20

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.

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-08 22:03:26

And here’s another test comment…

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-08 22:04:36

Guess what, another test comment!

 
Comment by Hyder
2007-11-08 22:04:44

Nice spike in traffic by the way.

If anyone needs any customized hack images, I’m the guy you’re looking for. :razz:

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-08 22:05:07

Ok, seems the problem has been eliminated. Moohoo!

 
Comment by Ad Tracker
2007-11-08 22:12:36

LOL! Congrats K!

 
Comment by Jorge
2007-11-08 22:30:49

You didn’t got featured in Spanish. It was in PORTUGUESE. :grin:

 
Comment by Indra Diky
2007-11-08 23:00:24

not my lucky day :cry:

 
Comment by Allyn Paul Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-08 23:23:08

WHatever it takes Cow dude. The real test will be if you can keep the buzz going. I know I’m here everyday…

 
Comment by Rhys
2007-11-09 00:18:35

Dude, you’ve pissed off the Bulgarians. Trust me from a bad one night stand experience, it is never a good thing! ;)

 
Comment by fatgadget
2007-11-09 00:41:23

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 :)

 
Comment by MoneyMoose
2007-11-09 01:52:18

An excellent ploy, my bovine brethren, but no ransom artist/hacker would spend so much time delicately cutting and pasting letter chunks.

:razz:

 
Comment by Teejay
2007-11-09 02:13:48

I noticed the error too yesterday. Although it’s fine now. Btw, Darin posted something about the prizes.

:shock:

 
Comment by Gobala Krishnan Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-09 03:42:20

Are you using Google Sitemap generator? That should be what’s causing the problems. I had the same problem after swtiching to 2.3

 
Comment by Eli Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-09 04:07:07

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 :)

 
Comment by shy guy
2007-11-09 05:58:35

Good cow.. you solve the problem..
Now you’re one of blog celebrity ..

 
Comment by Angel
2007-11-09 06:27:01

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?

 
Comment by Todor
2007-11-09 07:10:50

Thanks for the link to Alabala.org, Bulgaria, John Cow :-)

 
Comment by jerrykhoo
2007-11-09 07:17:11

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.

 
Comment by bmunch
2007-11-09 07:21:18

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….:)

 
Comment by John Cow
2007-11-09 07:57:18

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..

 
Comment by James Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-09 09:13:50

Now you just have to think of an even better joke for next time :razz:

 
Comment by Etienne Teo Subscribed to comments via email
2007-11-09 10:33:14

John, i think darin is busy at the blog expo with zac johnson and the rest, did you not make a trip?

 
Comment by Wayne Liew
2007-11-09 13:30:59

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…

 
Comment by Neil Duckett
2007-11-10 09:55:17

I like the references to Darin …. nothing like outing someone who`s done the wrong thing .

 
Comment by Jenny Subscribed to comments via email
2007-12-07 21:32:54

So all I gotta do is fake a tragedy. Can’t be to hard.

 
Comment by K-IntheHouse
2007-12-17 01:37:53

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. :razz:

I have my fingers crossed! :-)

 
Name (required)
E-mail (required - never shown publicly)
URI
Subscribe to comments via email
Your Comment (smaller size | larger size)
You may use <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong> in your comment.

Trackback responses to this post