I am a frequent reader of John Chow’s blog, and while I do agree with some of the points discussed here – like the quality of his posts dropping a little at times – I think using the word “Scam” is a little drastic.

When you pay for a review, you have to acknowledge that you are taking the risk that you have no control over what will be written or said about your blog. Its a review, not an advertorial. There’s a difference.

However, I do empathize with the woman whose blog got “torn down” – I have not read that review myself. While in the ideal case, John should have turned down the interview but let’s face it – most people who are still reading JC’s blog apart from getting tips from him – is the traffic that we can get from his site.

If you are an avid reader of JC’s blog, you would know that above all, he is a shrewd business blogger who deals in links – a link broker even, if you will. And I would assume that if you paid for a review from John, it would not be so much the content of the review, but the traffic that you get. After all, it is mentioned here that she did get 15 signups – which might have paid for the money she spent for the review hopefully.

I do appreciate your candid post, though I personally wouldn’t call someone’s blog a scam. But it has given me something to chew on. You’ve got yourself a new subsriber

He scammed her and she scammed his readers. Everybody’s happy!

We still need to know, though, as not all his reviewees are as slimy as he is. You did a good job highlighting this and explaining the whole thing. This isn’t the first time I’ve read about JC’s ReviewMe ways.

JC and many gurus seem to have gotten too big for their boots. They’re so full of themselves that they don’t know what they’re doing with themselves any more.

JC was never a make-money-online guru. He had a lucky break, then made his fortune in advertising dollars. That’s about it. He never learnt the ropes about affiliate marketing, selling info products, list-building, getting traffic, PPC, building an online business, etc. He’s actually much more of a greenhorn in this area than you or us.

That’s why he has to resort to his dirty tactics in ReviewMe. And also why he writes endlessly about food and cars. He can’t think of anything IM to write about because he simply doesn’t know it. Could be too that his simplistic mind tells him since everyone has to eat everyday, then food would be a subject to attract traffic.

To me, both his ReviewMe and his writing about food / cars are distractions to cover up his inadequacies. Who knows, maybe his traffic’s dropping and / or he knows he can never match up with the real make-money-online gurus.

Keep up the good work.

BTW the said scam site is now redirected to another get rich quick sales page called “Roadmap To Riches”. Guess Sharon REALLY regrets throwing away $400.

Can someone point me to the review where John Chow bashed this woman? I don’t visit his blog regularly. Thanks.

emigre

*Too Awesome!*

Totally cool post you made. I believe
that what I really enjoyed was how candid
you made your post about him and
the way it was handled. Hope you make
even more posts like these in the times to come.

Its just really interesting to see how an honest marketer
really stands up to justice.

I think there is more to talk about than actually
reviewing “food” on a blog. Sheesh.. I hope people
really do begin to see through that “veil”.

Kudos,
Vern