Get Serious

Written by Jason on August 7th, 2007
Share

One of the things we were really looking forward to seeing after our little link bait prank, were people’s reactions and boy did we get some! Roughly 80% of you laughed it off as we thought, but some people just got so…serious! We’ve been accused of lying, cheating and displaying unprofessional behavior. Saying we’re using our readers as guinea pigs and anyone that still reads us is unprofessional too?! It’s kind of disturbing to see how badly some people think of it.
We can assure you that no cows were harmed in the making of this link bait.

Why we do what we do:

JohnCow dot Com to us is a fun experiment to see how far a blog can go by piggy tailing on the success of a well known A-list blogger. To see how a blog celeb like John Chow would react. To see what it takes to get people interested and keep them coming back. To see how trying to think out of the box would work out for a new blog. Yes we’re making money. No, we’re not in it for the money. We felt that the blogosphere was getting dull and predictable and that it needed something new.

When we played our little joke, we knew we were giving you guys plenty of ammunition to shoot us with like sitting ducks. No risk, no reward. No guts, no glory. It could have worked out really bad for this blog but we took our chances. We’re a parody site and crap like this coming from us was to be expected. If you took us serious from the start, we’ve seriously done something wrong along the way! Whoever thought of us as a not to be taken lightly authority having blog, raise your hand so we can refund you your tuition fees! (No scamming though, we’ve got written records).

If you want to blog about serious stuff, fine. We however think that life is serious enough and we’re on here to have a little fun, perhaps even entertain and help a few of you along the way. Just makes us wonder why you came here in the first place and why you’re writing about us? Don’t like it? Go find something that you do enjoy. We won’t mind, really.

Seriously? We had a great laugh seeing all the speculation posts and rumors flying around the net and believe us when we say that it was very hard not to reply to each and every post we saw! So we had fun and so should you! Please stop taking us seriously because we don’t. Although people seem to be writing songs for us now!

Oh, by the way, we’ve just received an email from Patrick Gavin, Head Honcho of Text-Link-Ads and he told us that we’re accepted into the program after the mix-up between us and some illegal site two posts ago! You Rock Patrick!

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

56 Responses to “Get Serious”

  1. much more than I usually would. This was my test- to see how much attention someone could get when they clearly state what’s on their mind- whether it ticks someone else off or not. Here’s what happened: The John Cow blog published a post titled Get Serious, where they linked back to the comments I made here on SiteFever. In the end, my Technorati rating went up 65.7%, my rank rose 44.2% and RSS subscribers climbed 30.3%! Not only that, but the comments

  2. Make Moo Famous – Batch 1Exactly How I Got a Stampede of Web TrafficHannibal The CannibalMaD CoW GiVeaWayDigg Made EasyMake More Money With Your ThemeText Link Ads Says We’re NaughtyViva Las Vegas!0 AGLOCO Sign UpsGet SeriousA Brisket Case Study Of Buzz MarketingIs he milking the cow too hard ? Who Won The $500?20 Ways to Increase Your Blog TrafficMake Moo Famous – Batch 6Our First Evil Money Making Post!Are You Cow Enough?

  3. And This Month’s Stupid Cow Award Goes To…Make More Money With Your ThemeDigg Made EasyHannibal The CannibalMaD CoW GiVeaWayViva Las Vegas!Is he milking the cow too hard ? 0 AGLOCO Sign Ups20 Ways to Increase Your Blog TrafficGet SeriousA Brisket Case Study Of Buzz MarketingWho Won The $500?The Big BooHoosDo Yourself A Favor, Don’t Be A ****Our First Evil Money Making Post!Criticizing Critics Make Moo Famous – Batch 6Dear Person Who Just Stole Our Bike

  4. Markk says:

    Britain is facing a real foot and mouth disease right now. Let’s hope this cow barn stays pretty safe if it continues to keep things light and easy with some good advice now and then. If you submit to those without any cow sense who think a cow must behave like a serious looking bulldog then all is lost. Hope you like the little Ramblin’ Cow song.

  5. Told you Patrick was cool, he’s got his head screwed on right.

    As for people getting upset about your link baiting, ins’t controversy one of the best ways of promoting a blog? I thought it was a great laugh, not to mention very clever.

  6. lilian says:

    My brandname is 5xmom cos I have five kids. On April Fool I bluffed I am pregnant and got 80+ comments. But out of that, a few ditched me ‘cos they said I played with their feelings. And one said it is against my faith (Catholic) to be playing April’s Fool prank. I guess you win some, you lose a little. :mrgreen:

  7. Cash Quests says:

    As soon as your readership grows above 5 it’s impossible to write a post that doesn’t piss at least one person off.

    Your blog. Your money. Your rules.

    • John Cow says:

      We thought about mentioning that last sentence but then decided that we shouldn’t have to state the obvious.

      • Cash Quests says:

        I don’t think that it’s as obvious as you think.

        With all this web2.0 interactivity and user generated content, a lot of your readers will have been brainwashed to feel a “sense of ownership” and “membership” to any site they visit.

        Do something here they don’t like and it’s like you’re doing it to their own site – hence the reactions you received – kind of the equivalent of “hey don’t do that linkbait on *my* site!”

        That’s why John Chow is so good at making money – he manipulates that ownership illusion into an income stream.

  8. Cubofild says:

    You should make POLL to see how people react about this! :razz:

  9. wait, this blog isn’t serious. damn it!

  10. Ginene says:

    As long as you cause controversy and have people talking bad about you, then you are doing a great job! I wish someone would talk about me. Anyone, anybody, anything. LOL.

    Love you blog!

  11. Ginene says:

    Should’ve reviewed my post. I meant to say Love your blog.

  12. [...] to Google Latest Content Get Serious – 3 hours ago One of the things we were really looking forward to seeing after our little link bait [...]

  13. I’ll keep coming back ! I’ve learned a think or two :razz:

  14. Yep,

    This blog is meant to educate whilst still having fun

    good work J.Cow :twisted:

  15. digitalnomad says:

    I love the word “whilst”. Sounds like Sean Connery talking.

  16. Fatgadget says:

    Dear Mr Moo

    I am absolutely shocked and appalled at your behaviour.

    It was my understanding that this blog was a serious blog about making Mooney.

    I can’t believe you have duped us all, and that really was a rotten trick with the linkbait.

    In light of this new information I can no longer read your blog every day, I feel that you have treated all your loyal and regular readers badly.

    From now on I shall be taking my custom elsewhere and reading the real Mooney making blog form a certain Buffalo.

    Good Day!

    :cry:

  17. Julie says:

    How do I feel about all of this? I for one am having a big fat juicy hamburger for dinner tonight! :twisted:

    Seriously though, people need to lighten up a little. The ticked off people are just jealous that you thought of this idea first. They have no imagination and aren’t making any money from their blogging efforts and are mad at those who are. But that’s just my opinion.

  18. Eat More Chicken, I love it, these comments alone are hilarious, forget the linkbait, forget seriousness, isn’t life hard enough?

    I don’t know about you guys but I think getting serious and growing up are overrated, that’s why I refuse to do either!!! :mrgreen:

  19. LuKiaNo says:

    So that’s what I’ve got to do to get a link from you! You’re all guinea pigs(including me)! :twisted:

  20. 1neurona says:

    From the beginning it knew that one was a joke.

    I prefer this blog, to the “other”.

    Attempt to be sincere: it’s in the air, if you are not really the true Chow.

    Anyway: this blog is more funny.

    (If you want to do the same with mine, you has my permission. :lol: )

  21. Well I was MIA, when the original post went up, caught it in my RSS reader, knew it was “fake” from the get go. I find it a bit funny

  22. sitefever says:

    Well Cow, now you see my real feelings about your blog.

    Looks like you’re not the only one who likes to pull people’s udders! :)

    You’ve got a good thing going here- keep it up.

    John

  23. Mike says:

    You walk a bit of a tightrope Mr. Cow.

    Sure this is a parody site, but in my opinion some of your posts have proven damn useful. You are on your way to becoming an authority site, whether that was ever your attention or not. But it’s always good to keep in mind that cows have a good sense of humor. ;)

  24. Joshua says:

    People are strange.

  25. [...] el sistema sólo mostrará el primero que se guardó. 01  Get Serious  5 Channels Dc For Free online Limousine Mart Promotions Television channels online Tv Wal [...]

  26. John Cow says:

    Never looked at it from that angle actually. You might be on to something.

    Is that one of the reasons for not letting people actively participate on cashquests by taking away the option to comment?

  27. digitalnomad says:

    Good point. Some people will even suggest that a blog without comments is not really a blog.

    Very odd.

  28. Angel says:

    Kumiko just likes annoying us :p

  29. Angel says:

    Huh? Cos I like reading it. I said that already.

  30. mahdi yusuf says:

    julie is funny! i always had a thing for funny girls! :oops:

  31. Angel says:

    I ate chicken and rice today. Was pretty boss. Will do it again tomorrow.