My Controversial Blog Review on John Chow Dot Com

Ok, it’s not that big of a controversy – it’s really just one commenter who seems to have a passionate hatred of John Chow and anyone John writes about.

The Story

About two months ago I was offered the opportunity to have my blog reviewed on John Chow Dot Com for FREE (he normally charges around $500 for a review).

If you’re a regular here at FresheVenture.com, hopefully you’ve noticed that I DON’T like to invest money in advertising – I prefer to optimize my websites and gain free, organic traffic from search engines. So, it was not likely I would ever purchase a review of my blog.

The opportunity came from a program John (and I) were promoting at the time – Become a Blogger. It opened up for one week and John and I were both affiliates for the program.

I absolutely love Gideon and Yaro – Yaro’s course (Blog Mastermind) has played a HUGE role in the success of my blog. Since I already knew the quality of their work, I had planned to purchase a membership in Become a Blogger (it focuses more on multimedia blogging while Blog Mastermind focuses more on content). I figured with both courses at my disposal, nothing could stop me from reaching my blogging goals!

I happened to receive an email from John that week offering a free blog review IF I purchased the course through his affiliate link. Let’s see here…

• I already planned to purchase the product
• I could get featured on a blog that receives over 300,000 page views every month
• John’s blog happens to target the same market mine does – so the traffic would be relevant

Heck Yeah I’ll Buy Through Your Link John!

Since my review was published yesterday, I’ve received about 30 new newsletter subscribers and a lot more new readers! So, I would say the review has benefited my blog quite a bit.

The Drama Begins…

I fell to sleep last night feeling excited and energized. I couldn’t wait to begin connecting with my new found readers. Then, this morning I turned on my computer and checked my email and MY MOUTH DROPPED!

I received the most vial comment on one of my posts from a John Chow hater. Check it out:

I have since removed the comment for several reasons:

1. I don’t want to share my Google PageRank with this man.
2. The comment was not related to the post it was left on – SPAM.
3. It’s disgusting.

The Drama Continues…

I wanted to make sure I responded to any questions people might have about my blog review, so I headed over to John’s site this morning and who do you suppose I saw? The same man now attacking John!

I’m not much for immature arguments. I mean really – how is one supposed to participate in a discussion where one side of the argument is filled with unfounded, vicious attacks? But, I’m also not one to keep my mouth shut and I certainly wasn’t going to let this guy walk all over me. So, I said what I needed to say:

Calling All Reinforcements!

I was once told by a loyal reader that if I ever needed help with an abusive commenter, all I had to do was ask. Well, I’m NOT really in need of help as I’ve since said my peace on John’s blog. But, I thought some of you loyal FresheVenture.com fans might find this entertaining. So, here’s a link to my blog review where you can see the drama in action!

John Chow Dot Com Reviews FresheVenture.com

Truth is, this guy looks like he’s just trying to get a piece of John’s traffic by stirring up controversy. The problem is he included ME and I refuse to have my reputation toyed with (not that anyone seems to be taking him seriously).

What Do You Think of My Review?

Now onto more productive news, the review of my blog described it as text-heavy a couple of times. So, I can’t help but wonder if the average length of my posts is beneficial or overwhelming for you. Let me know by leaving me a comment below. Oh, and if you enjoy the review, please tweet and digg it!

P.S.

I don’t recommend purchasing a product through an affiliate link just to get a free “something.” But, keep your eyes open for these kinds of opportunities – we can all use a little help with self-promotion!

Topic Tags:

Gideon Shalwick, become a blogger, blog comments, blog mastermind, blogging, john chow, yaro starak