First off, I’m writing this review primarily because I have been a reader of JohnChow.com for a while now and I truly find his posts entertaining (and often educational) and secondly, because he’s offering to link back to this review and hopefully bring me some new readers.
Who is John Chow?
In a nutshell, John is a self-described “dot-com mogul” and he really is. He started the highly popoular TechZone and then went on work on several other online content ventures. John Chow calls his writings “ramblings”, but it’s really not. His posts are coherent, clear, and most of all authentic. John hails from Vancouver, British Columbia (that’s in Canada) and from what I can tell, he’s in his mid-30s, loves cars, food, and life.
JohnChow.com in a Nutshell
John’s first post on his new blog was on December 1st, 2005 so JohnChow.com has been in existence for little over 2 years now. JohnChow.com includes posts about his work, dot-com news, as well as details from his personal life including restaurant reviews, cars, and blogonomics (the economics of running a blog).
In many ways, John is a great example of way the internet has elminated the barriers to entry and has allowed almost anyone who has common sense, smarts, and most of all heart to be successful.
John’s website follows a pretty standard blog format with tabbed navigation on top, categories and feed details on the sidebar. The main post is to the left and the site overall has a light blue/white theme which is common to many blogs out there. There are ads interlaced with the content (standard AdSense as well as some product feed ads) and although they aren’t very distracting, I would prefer if ads are kept in a specific area instead of being spread throughout the page. The ads are also mostly tech-related which is fitting of a large percentage of the audience but for me, none of the ads were extremely relevant so I haven’t clicked on any of them.
Content
The content on JohnChow is usually solid. In fact, some o John’s articles routinely make it to the front pages of Digg and other social bookmarking sites. This is especially true of John’s articles about how to optimize your website to generate maximum income. His content monetization thoughts and articles are especially relevant since he’s someone who has done this for the last several years and has been very successful at this.
In addition, I find John’s reviews thorough and informing. His restaurant reviews are especially a treat as he includes well shot pictures of the food, transporting readers to almost a FPE (First-Person Eating) perspective experience. John also samples a wide range of cuisine which makes his reviews especially useful since most of us dibble-dabble from pho houses to 4-star restaurants from time to time.
One thing I’m slightly bothered about in the content is his recent promotion of Agoloco (founded by former AllAdvantage execs). He’s generated several thousand “network” members already and once the toolbar launches, he’s in a position to make a steady stream of income for a while. I won’t debate the validity of the Agoloco business model here or whether or not it constitutes a pyramid scheme but in some ways, his wholesale
endorsement has left me feeling a bit uneasy and feeling like someone has tried to sell me a ‘you can get rich too’ lesson.
So that is it, JohnChow.com. That’s J-O-H-N-C-H-O-W-D-O-T-C-O-M.
