I'm Just Sharing

Posted by Mitch on Jul 13, 2009

I recently watched an interesting video from John Chow called How I Make $40,000 a Month From a Blog. It was pretty neat, as he explained how he makes his money. One can’t be mad at him for making money, and though he states he makes it all from blogging, it seems there’s a lot more involved than him just blogging. It’s about an hour, and I encourage y’all to check it out.

Anyway, he talked about a few things he does that, I have to admit, irritate me when I visit his site. I’m not one of those people who hates ads, but I do hate popups, popunders, and now these things that end up on top or on the bottom or sometimes both on these pages, that you have to close to see more of the content.

One of the people there asked him about it, and he said that since he added all those things he’s converted more people and gotten them to give him their email addresses than he had before. When asked if he was worried about losing visitors, he not only said no, but he said “if they’re not really buyers, and I’m trying to make money, why would I worry about them?”

It’s an interesting point, and I’ll say now that I might have missed a word or two there, but that’s pretty much what he said. He’s not saying he doesn’t care about his readers; he’s saying he cares more about buyers.

It’s interesting because many of us are looking at finding different ways to make more money online in some fashion, and I’m not sure all of us have the stomach to do it in the way that will make us some serious money. Some of you may remember when I wrote a post asking if we can stomach sales, and I know for myself that I haven’t had the stomach for it across the board.

Sometimes, it does take that big decision as to what we’re here for, the fun, or the money making part. How bad do we want it, or need it? And, just because someone else wants it and needs it, is it fair to castigate them for it? I don’t hate on anyone who makes money; I want my own money. What I wonder is whether some folks go too far in making that money. We’ve discussed how some internet marketers seem to send us 2 or 3 sales letters a day, but that’s not the majority of them. We always have the right to unsubscribe, but do we have the right to hate the way they’re making their money, especially if it’s legal? Is there one of us who thinks these guys, who aren’t spammers because we did give them our information, are worse than the banks and credit card people, who put us into the financial mess we’re presently in?

Just something else to think about as we contemplate our money-making selves.

22 Comments »

Jake:

I think bloggers like Chow and Shoe make the money they do, because i don’t think they take it as personal as say you and I might.. we want to connect with our readers in some way and they just pound out the ads and emails and if they offend or aggrivate or whatever, then it’s ok.. because bottom line they’re out to make that buck!

I may be wrong but that’s my opinion haha

As far as the ads, I don’t care for the IN YOUR FACE stuff but I also realize how great they convert.. that’s one reason why I started using the Instant Slide Up… not so obtrusive… and you can set it to come up only once per visit etc etc…
Jake´s last blog ..Are You Ready to Make Money Online?

Mitch Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 1:16 PM

And that explains that, because I’d never noticed it coming up until you wrote this, only that it suddenly just seemed to be there. I have to admit, I’m not sure I’d even be going that far. Maybe one day, though; my wife says to never say never.

July 13th, 2009 | 12:21 PM

Deneil Merritt:

Ok to make this comment short as sometimes I tend to write a little too much.

John Chow & Shoemoney are internet marketers that happen to have blogs. As we are bloggers trying to make money like internet marketers. You see the big difference?
Deneil Merritt´s last blog ..Flashback Monday – Wordpress 2.8.1, Resources, & Article Writing Case Study

Mitch Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 2:14 PM

Yes and no, Deneil.

July 13th, 2009 | 1:28 PM

The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop:

Personally, I think everyone is out blogging to make money in a sense. In such a tough economy, I don’t think anyone is really just doing it for fun. Then again, maybe you can prove me wrong. Bloggers like John Chow are also out to make money, but they just have very well known blogs — thus they do better.
The Gooroo @ Finance Advisory Stop´s last blog ..Does Money Bring Happiness?

Mitch Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 8:18 PM

There’s this conversation I’m having with a lady on Facebook about affiliate marketing and MLM. The debating point is with trying to collect email addresses, something that she hates and something that I’ve been reluctant to do. On the john Chow tape, he makes it seem imperative to making money online. He might be right, since I’ve yet to come anywhere close to his success. I just keep hoping there’s a better way.

July 13th, 2009 | 8:05 PM

John Dilbeck:

Good morning, Mitch.

For once, I’m at a loss for words. I really don’t know what to say.

Years ago, I made a decision to never use popups, popunders, or any of the other obtrusive technical tricks to try to make a sale or get a new email address.

I decided it wasn’t for me. I’d rather make a friend than a sale and it’s probably why I never will make the kind of money these other folks make.

That’s okay with me.

(I’m not married, so I can say “never.”)

Act on your dream!

JD
John Dilbeck´s last blog ..One down, many to go

Mitch Reply:
July 14th, 2009 at 1:29 PM

Hi John,

Actually, it’s not the thing about being married where I pick up “never say never.” There are things I know I’ll never do, but there are other things I’ve said “never” to because I couldn’t conceive of ever overcoming some conceptions, and I did. Things like learning how to swallow medication (2004) and having to give myself injections (2007).

As it pertains to the advertising and the like, I just don’t know. If I got desperate to make money and thought it would bring sales, who knows what I’d do, as long as it were legal. I have other things I won’t do, such as allow a drug test to get work, because that’s an invasion of my privacy. So, we balance our needs versus our beliefs depending on what they are.

But for the rest of marketing,…

Mirjam Reply:
July 16th, 2009 at 8:01 AM

“f I got desperate to make money and thought it would bring sales, who knows what I’d do, as long as it were legal. ”

now that is an interesting remark cause really, it makes me wonder what it is you hate so much about making money online …
Mirjam´s last blog ..The Keyword Academy – The Missing Link!

Mitch Reply:
July 16th, 2009 at 10:56 AM

Ah Mirjam, I certainly don’t hate making money online; far from it. What I hate are things that, well, irritate me. For instance, we all hate spam, therefore we don’t spam. But if someone told me I needed to raise $10,000 by Friday otherwise my entire family would be killed, I’d do it in a heartbeat and hope for the best. As I said in my comment to John, there are things I might think of doing if I were desperate that I won’t think about doing if I’m not. Not that I’d necessarily do them, but I’d think about them.

All of us have a limit to what we’ll do when we’re pushed to it, but if we’re not, then we hate doing something that gets on our nerves. Just asking, but do you do things that you hate having done to you?

July 14th, 2009 | 7:20 AM

Mirjam:

Hey Mitch, you put up some interesting questions to ponder on as always
I never quite got the JC hype and understand less why people would even read his blog. Maybe they think somehow the success would rub off on them.

Anyways, that is not really what grabbed my attention, rather the “can you stomach sales” and how far do you go to make them. As you know, I do work with ClickBank and even though there are a lot of crap products, I really do feel there are a lot of good products on there as well, that really can help people with their problem. Would they be able to find that information somewhere else for free? Well yes, they could easily gather all the information for free online that is being sold in many of the books. Maybe it is just easier to have it all together in one book, maybe it is just faster or whatever, but I do know many are happy to open their pockets and pay for information. Plus the way CB is set up, they have 60 days to return it no questions asked.

That is probably the biggest reason I can ·stomach those CB sales· because even though I don´t read most of the products I “promote” on my money making sites (my blog isn´t a mm site ) I know that if it was really crap, people would get their money back. And if I would see a lot of returns on some products, I would just stop promoting it.

I think it is a personal decision you gotta make for yourself, whether you really want to make money online or not and which methods you find appropriate to do so. I myself hate pushing people to give them my email, basically because I am fed up having my inbox filled up with too much email myself so I have decided not to go that road.

And yes, I know it has been said too many times, that the money really is in the list, but I know of many people that earn a lot of money without the help of those lists, so again, it is a choice of path …

Mitch Reply:
July 16th, 2009 at 10:59 AM

Actually Mirjam, the only reason I decided to stop pushing CB is because I just don’t feel I have ever been given any of the credit for either clicks or sales that I know I’ve made. Maybe if I were marketing a product it would be different, but in general, I just don’t have the level of trust that it takes. I don’t mind anyone else doing it, but that’s my feeling.

As for the other, you’re right, we all have to balance what we do and what we like or don’t like. I have to weigh who I sign up for as to what they’re offering myself. Luckily, I have multiple email addresses, so my main addresses won’t get bombarded and I can filter out what I do and don’t want. I’m not totally against capturing email addresses; I just need to figure out what I’d do with them once I grabbed them.

July 16th, 2009 | 7:55 AM

Mirjam:

aaaaah….. now I see why you aren´t fond of CB, thought it was because of the products LOL You know, I never had that sensation, although I know there is one particular product that has received a lot of my visitors but hasn´t made me any commission while I am sure people have bought it, but I think that is mainly because they turned around and bought it through their own link. But for the rest of the CB products I promote, they are doing pretty well, so maybe it is about the particular products as well.

As for the not doing what i don´t want to be done to me, that doesn´t only go for my internet business but for life in general.

I just felt it was an interesting point you made there, one that got me thinking.
Mirjam´s last blog ..The Keyword Academy – The Missing Link!

July 16th, 2009 | 11:42 AM

Sire:

Those ads have always annoyed me on his site and is probably the one reason I don’t visit as often as I could.

As to the reason why he does so well. Like other well known bloggers, Darren Rowse and co, he has built up a certain amount of credibility as far as blogging for money, and so he is able to convert a lot of his visitors into customers as they hope to make their own blogging money.
Sire´s last blog ..Sire’s So Stupid

Mitch Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 9:43 AM

I’ll admit that I signed up for TTZ Media because of his recommendation, before I knew that it’s actually his company. They’re not bad ads, but they’ve never generated many clicks, and no sales, which is why I’ve moved them elsewhere.

You’re right, though, all the popups and popunders are irritating.

Sire Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 7:58 PM

The one thing that we’re missing, that is limiting any potential from making money is traffic. We get that up and the money making potential will also increase.
Sire´s last blog ..Getting Paid For Reviews That Have The No Follow Attribute

Mitch Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 8:08 PM

I don’t think I miss that one, Sire. It’s figuring out how to get all that traffic that we’re missing. Then again, I wrote on that also, if you remember.

Sire Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 8:51 PM

I know, I just felt like stating the obvious
Sire´s last blog ..Sire’s So Stupid

July 18th, 2009 | 3:06 AM

Brian D. Hawkins:

Well Mitch, this on one of the best subjects I’ve seen in a while. For me it’s like being torn between the blogger and marketer parts of me. I don’t use popups and such because I know it’s irritating to most of us. At the same time I know that marketing is all about conversions and the stats always prove they work. Myself, I try to leave it off my blogs but wouldn’t think twice about using them on a sales page or even niche sites.

It’s just a coincidence but just about an hour ago I was on a very big marketers site and I left very frustrated from one of those popups that don’t let you leave. You know the ones that make you click a button to leave the page? She had it setup where you couldn’t even maneuver within her site without going through that every time you clicked an internal link. Very frustrating.
Brian D. Hawkins´s last blog ..Just Ask – Article Marketing And Site Promotion

Mitch Reply:
July 18th, 2009 at 12:43 PM

I’ve been to pages like that, Brian, where you scroll down and this box follows you everywhere and just won’t leave you alone. I can’t believe someone wouldn’t find that sort of thing irritating if they were visiting another person’s page. But you’re right, the marketers swear they work, even John Chow in his video.

July 18th, 2009 | 11:48 AM

Christian Scherbel:

My experience is that popups and popunders do indeed drive up your conversion but your recommendation ratio really drops deep. We had long discussions whether to use popup and popunders with our website or not and since we stopped using these techniques our conversion to email subscribers fell a few percent but the PIs/UV really made up for it. So we are earning more money thanks to modest oldschool banner ads.

Mitch Reply:
July 19th, 2009 at 4:56 PM

Thanks for sharing that, Christian. I think that, overall, it proves that everything isn’t right for everybody. The big time bloggers are always going to get new people coming, but at a certain point those who visit often will get sick of seeing that stuff and stop coming. I know I’ve done that; luckily, I can see every post through my blog reader, where those things don’t come up.

July 19th, 2009 | 3:34 PM

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Do We Hate Marketing So Much That,…

Posted by Mitch on Jul 13, 2009

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