Despite the hoards of people claiming to unsubscribe from my blog because of the Rick Roll April Fools day joke, the FeedBurner widget is showing that this blog broke through the 23,000 subscriber mark. While this may come as a surprise to those who unsubscribed (or believe what they read in the comments), it doesn’t come as a surprise to me or anyone who understands Internet marketing.
Your Readership is Dynamic
A blog readership base is a dynamic element – it changes all the time and is not static. The people commenting on this blog now are not the same people who were commenting six months ago. Six months from now, most of the people commenting here won’t be commenting anymore. That’s just the way it works. If the commentators on your blog hasn’t changed in the past six months, it means the only people reading your blogs are friends and family members.
This dynamic element of the blog readership is the reason I never worry when I see comments by readers claiming they’re leaving. I know the chances of them completely leaving is very slim. Sure, they may unsubscribe from the blog RSS or comment less, but very few readers will completely leave a blog. And the fact that they left a comment saying they’re leaving make them less lightly to leave. If they left, they wouldn’t be able to read my reply. Human nature being what it is, they’ll check to see if I or anyone else reply to their comments.
While we all want to see readership keep going up, there will always be bumps along the way. As long as the general trend is upward, you really don’t have much to worry about. I was thinking about photochopping my RSS widget to show 10 subscribers and making a post asking, “Where did everybody go?” but decided against it because April Fools is over.
Apology for the Rick Roll
I want to apologies if I upset anyone for the Rick Roll prank. I assure you that was not the intention. While most will take the Rick Rolling for what it is – an April Fools joke – some were extremely pissed off by it. To those who were enraged by my stunt, I offer the following kind words from my favorite childhood TV show, The Muppets. I think it truly express how I feel.
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{ 58 comments }
I couldn’t agree more. Besides, I highly doubt that you woke up yesterday with the intensions to do your readers any harm. It was a joke that didn’t turn out to well, that’s all. Either way, I’m still here and look forward to learning more from you. Thanks again for the e-book, it’s very informative.
I agree completely. It’s not like you (John) tried to do any harm on purpose. Besides, it was only a joke.
Here John,
Here’s the correct version of The Muppets show: (Please use the correct link next time!)
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OHpjcZNM8_k
Some of us didn’t fall for it. I didn’t click on the link because I suspected that you had a sense of humor and I figured I would wait for others to fall into the trap. Oh well, I guess you need to have a sense of humor to be a true blogger.
Agreed – it was just a joke… and a funny one at that.
Congrats on making it to 23,000! You rock John!
Nice of you John to ask for apologies for the harm few maybe feeling but understandably it was only an april fool joke with no intention to harm anyone. The only lesson we can get for that was jokes have boundaries too hahaha.
hehe … that’s awesome John. Even though you lost subscribers… their number still got bigger.
But I’m still waiting for a good post with some good tips on increasing out online earnings or some other program.
I’m tired of seeing other peoples posts, “shitty videos” and earning reports.
If you can’t find any in recent archives, download his book, it’s good, or go through the archives. It’s always a good idea.
Kenneth
jhonchow dot com see no limit. I am sure your traffic is gonna increase as the people who unsubscribed will have to come to your blog to read the posts. Congrats for achieving another milestone, But still i wonder where is the blog income report. Isnt that supposed to be published on 1st of April …. (I wish you had posted 100k $ income on 1st april, I am sure 99% of readers would have believed that
)
That would have been funny! I might have believed it!
Kenneth
damn rick rolled again !!
Same…really annoying that site
Well I know when I looked at your RSS feed after reading the “Free PPC Secrets” post it was at 23 018 and is now at 23 015. Just to be a little picky
Also, am I the only one for whom the TTZ Media ads aren’t working?
This is all I get:
http://image.shopzilla.com/resize?sq=60&uid=582687478 http://image.shopzilla.com/resize?sq=100&uid=582687478 http://image.shopzilla.com/resize?sq=160&uid=582687478 http://image.shopzilla.com/resize?sq=400&uid=582687478 built in QAM cable TV tuner – 5000:1 contrast ratio – 1920 x 1080 pixels – Anti Reflective Coating HDTV – Available in Black built in QAM cable TV tuner – 5000:1 contrast ratio – 1920 x 1080 pixels – Anti Reflective Coating HDTV – Available in Black 5 100.00 2 http://www.shopzilla.com/3H 1899.00 2351.21 4 Panasonic TH50PX75U 50 in Plasma TV
That’s fixed now. We had some syncing issues with the new servers.
Good to see! I like the TTZ media ads and it’s pretty annoying when they’re filled with random bits of code.
I removed them off my website because of those codes … Once they are more established then I will put it back
I wonder if JC’s going to do any more income reports… some other bloggers aren’t any more.. And it’s already 4/2. Perhaps he’s having problems counting it all!
Kenneth
I hope he does continue with the income reports. Those things inspire me.
Sometimes it’s besst to wait 2 or 3 days to see how things settle out with CJ. I’ve reported my income and even as late as mid month I’ll see $50 to $100 more in my CJ account for the previous month than reported. It’s best to wait and try to be a little more accurate.
That’s a great Muppets vid.
No problem John. I’m awaiting your monthly income report for March. When can we expect it?
I thought the joke was hilarious. Keep up the good work.
the joke just comes to show that both of you are and always will be some frustrated little nerds.
You’re spot on when you say that readership is dynamic.
My list of readers is probably only 1/3 original from a year ago.
People quit the whole idea of online income, or try hard for a few years.
If they advance, they’ll need me less and less.
If they go nowhere for years, they’ll quit in frustration.
Readership is dynamic, just like business= ever-changing.
Thanks,
Dan
http://marketersrelief.com
Congratulations on the new record, John!
I never saw it. Must be something in Opera that mad eit not show. Anyways. Congrads on the 23k
Hilarious.
23k in suck a short time of 1 year.
Great, keep going, I already subscribed.
And now post your income report man.
I was guilty of falling for it like an idiot! I completely forgot about it being April Fools day. Anyways, it was funny to me and I think those people who rant or whine about it are miserable in life in general.
Some people are such babies and have no idea how to have fun in life anymore. It’s sad really.
I only fell into one april fool’s day joke yesterday, and that was the first one I saw from DP. After that, I took all jokes I saw at face value. People just need to relax.
Best muppets video ever!
Glad to see you worked in the Muppets Video, John. And in such a classy way, no less. Nice work!
I think John is bang on with this post. Controversy gets people’s attention. Controversy sells. Look at people like Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh. You don’t get anywhere by being Mr. Johnny Middle of the Road. The truth is, a lot of people LIKE to be angry. They like finding reasons to be angry, and will seek it out if necessary. Strange, but true.
On another note, the muppets almost make being Rick Rolled bearable, lol.
- Dave
Secretly, this is actually John Chow’s favourite song. Whoops…not a secret anymore!
the thing that was irritating was the fact that I couldn’t close the tab and had to shutdown my browser which closed several open tabs.
btw shoemoney’s joke was better.
I agree. How much do you want to bet that most of the people that claimed they were leaving are reading this very post right now?
I found it amusing.. I actually didnt even know what being Rick Rolled was.. but it was funny.. even sent a link to my wife.. she didnt think it was soo funny =/ figure that one out.
I don’t know what is worse.. The signs saying “You have been rick rolled”, or the fact that I actually watched the whole thing! Nice variety in your posts, keeping the readers knowledgeable and entertained!
Apology accepted John. Besides who can’t resist Beaker, he was my favorite Muppets character.
Congratulations John for 20k+ subscribers
20k was crossed way back buddy
say 23k+
23K! Congrats!
ROFL! That was the best april fools followup EVER!
hahaha god damn I’d love to see the faces on all the fags who unsubscribed then came back to read that one last post and check out John’s apology.
That is funny,congratulation John Chow,you are the KING of internet.
not yet … Darren of problogger still have almost the double.
So hopefully there are many insane people who subscribed as they liked being rick rolled and just a few unsubscribed
Btw good record.
You shouldn’t have to apoligize for anything.
People need to understand that its a joke.
Why do so many people show negativity towards famous people.
John you have alot of “haters” out there!
Me personally, I’m respect anybody who has the talent to make money online.
So keep doing what you are doing.
Congrats!
And I am still subscribed to your blog, That april fool stuff didn’t affect it
congratulations john
i am new to this site and i think i will follow them
No apology required John. The April Fool’s stuff was all over the web the other day.
People should just chill out more :p
http://bookierant.com
At first I was pissed off with your Rick Astley joke, but I got over it and accepted that I deserved it. I have to admit it was a pretty good prank…Good thing I like Rick Astley…LOL
Keep it Up Dude!
Wonder what ever happened to him? His peer seems to have done VERY well for herself… You know KYLIE! They were both stars in the Ozzie Soap: Neighbors… Used to rush home after class and watch it at Uni. Well, rush isn’t perhaps the most appropriate word…
Mayank, you would have loved the april fool post rather lol
Congrats on the readers john, this blog is growing really fast. Should you have another contest with shoe ?
Great stuff, it is true that while old subscribers leave, new ones come again and this is important to assure. The trick could be where these come from – but as your readership grows, so does the number of people knowing you, which also means that they are talking, blogging, podcasting about you…
That was the first time I ever got rick rolled. Thanks John. I will admit, that the song is kind of catchey. The video, though, is hysterically funny.
Hahahaha
23,000 RSS subscribers is a lot. My website is stuck at about 21 RSS subscribers. I find it very difficult to actually get many people to subscribe to it.
RSS Readers are the foundation to any site. There are tons of RSS addicted people out there. As long as you post content of what people want to read, you will get traffic off of your RSS feeds! It is important for your feed to be universal and neat. Check mine for example:
Shudogg Dot Com Full Feed RSS
Shudogg Dot Com – Make Money Online Blogging