This post was guest blogged by John Cow, who is trying to win the award for Best Blog Name of 2007. I’ll vote for that.
Who would have thought six months ago that we would have over 1000 RSS subscribers, a Technorati ranking of 1,230 and an Alexa ranking of 13,639 (US only: 4,664!) We sure didn’t!
One of the funny things we’ve noticed is that people along the way have started talking in a different tone to us. We began to receive emails which made us feel a bit uneasy – some people put us on a pedestal, something we’re not used to.
We used to be ‘one of the guys’ and now we’ve got people looking up to us all over sudden! Obviously we’re not complaining since we’re attention wh*res as you all know 
but it has made us more reserved in communicating with others. We don’t want to be treated differently and we certainly don’t want to be addressed to as sir. We’re just another blogger, like most of you. We got lucky in a way and we’ll have to deal with everything that comes with the spotlights. The good and the bad.
Here’s something to think about when you’re dealing with an ‘Internet Celeb’. (Oh we’re so full of ourselves 
)
- 1) We’re all just people with a blog. Don’t treat us like rockstars or behave like groupies. You’re selling yourself short if you do. And if you seem to underestimate yourself, why would we think different? We’ve got the same wordpress admin panel as you!
2) Keep in mind that because we’re in the spotlights, we probably do receive a lot of emails. If there’s something you want, just ask for it in a few lines. Don’t beat around the bush – long emails won’t get read unless you’ve managed to capture our attention in the first few lines. This is because of time management – not snobism!
3) Don’t overdo it. Some people just keep mailing and mailing and mailing. At a certain point we’ll get fed up with it. Wouldn’t you? We don’t have all the answers either and we use Google, just like you.
4) Its fine if you appreciate our blogs, we love to have you around as a reader and participant in the comments. Just don’t act like you’re worshipping us. It makes us feel a bit uneasy at times and we’d rather avoid that all together. It’s like the funny kid back in school who had a crush on you – bet you tried to avoid them too! Just act normal and be yourself. See point 1 again.
5) Appreciate the fact that you’re not the only one that tries to build some sort of relationship with the blogger. The more known a blog is, the more people will try to do the same. And unfortunately we just can’t all be friends. Its a fact of life. There’s people you like and get along with, and then there’s the others.
Don’t take this post the wrong way, we love who we are and what we’ve accomplished and we hope to continue to grow like we did in the past six months, but its a learning curve for us too. Mistakes will be made and admitted, but we’re absolutely enjoying the ride! Thanks for making us what we are today, we totally appreciate it!
By the way, we’ve been nominated as Best Blog Name of 2007 by Performancing, and we need your help to win this. We’re up against a few huge blogs with over 42,000 subscribers! Please vote for us and leave a comment that you did. We are giving away a few nifty random prizes to the voters – some cool WordPress hoodies, T-shirts and a bunch of EntreCard credits!
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{ 55 comments }
Great post John!
Toot your own horn much? (both in the post and in the comments
)
I wish I had to worry about this kind of stuff
~ Dave
I agree with you. When will I feel this way? Sometimes its good that you feel this way.
If he didn’t do it, someone else would have (and not because it was a guest post by the cow). Rather because every guest post so far has at least one idiot (or so it seems) that will give John (Chow) the credit for the post even if he isn’t the one writing it.
Exactly.
(Then there will be the guy who adds a one-liner and think that he’s contributing to the value of the blog with his comment. Jeez, what a dumbass!)
Wasn’t that post maybe more appropriate in your own blog? I mean, you talk about yourself mainly (and not an advise) and yet it is a guest blog. Oh well
Nice way of getting attraction.
No this post works tons better over here because of the readership over here.
Even if it works better, it still makes no sense publishing it here, but I won’t discuss that
Actually, it’s basically a case study from a blogger who has reached a certain status and is sharing his input, so I’d say that it’s relevant to this blog.
Alan Johnson
You’ll be glad to know I’ve never thought of you as a celebrity Cow.
It is a really great post indeed but was it really necessary to congratulate to your self ?
John Cow is a pretty cool blog name.
Great post, many of the things you write about, people just love learning from the best
i must admit, it is indeed a cool name.
You do realize that despite all efforts you’ve put in JohnCow blog, all the attention, RSS subscribers, traffic stats have been mostly won by a blog name that coincidentally resembles so much to JohnChow?
Nevertheless congratulations for the nomination and good luck!
Really think it resembles so much to JohnChow by coincidence ?
haha..yeah the 2 cows, John once used 2 cars, now he changed it ..haha
You created your own great niche but I actually think long term it would’ve been better to do your own since you don’t have to live under someone else’s shadow.
I know you’re newer around here but the John Cow blog was designed to be a parody blog during the early stages of it’s life. It’s the reason it’s grown so big so fast but I have to give the cow credit for growing it even further up to this point and the creativity he’s put into it.
I hope you`re joking?!
voted
best of luck
I voted for you as the best blog name of 2007 even if you are an attention and now a comment wh*re.
voted for you COW ..
Hope I could be nominated in 08
HAHHAHA, you gotta be kidding me! LOL
Oh well, your site looks nice, is your name really Johny? If so i suppose that makes it kind of clever. We have had John Buffalo have a shot too, I’m sure some more will try it too.
A Parody blog for the Parody blog eh?
Is that the chef from Ratatoulle in your header?
This is rich: a parody blog of John’s parody blog
Alan Johnson
Great post, SIR!
I hope to have the opportunity to be humble like you in the future!
But cows do get worshipped. You know the saying, “Holy, cow!”
lol cows are a loving creature so why not put it on a pedestal ? But i hear you and good post.
How do you vote for the blog? I will vote for it as soon as I know how. I used some of your techniques for getting quality backlinks and comments on my blog. I hope that they work!
Thanks,
-Scott
Mad props to COW
John Cow is definitely a unique blogger.
yeah..maybe he was inspired by john chow..long live both of them!
Well, you have to give him credit since what has initially started as a parody website has become a decent blog with a fairly large readership.
Alan Johnson
I like Cow’s way of putting things across!!
can a cow really be a celebrity? lol
You might be up against other blogs that are a ton more readership but you definitely have the best blog name out of the bunch which is what the contest is about
Dude, thats not a pedestal, it’s a lunch platter. We are hungry!
Wow, great post from the Milk Man
-Mike
I was surprised that the milk man had guest blogged here. I thought you guys (John Chow and John Cow) hate each other.
There are no enemies in business
“Don’t behave like groupies.”
) this is the best part
Well done – but lets get one thing straight. You were never just one of the guys. There’s two of you and you’re cows. Stop trying to deceive us – we know you’re cows. You can’t come over all bovine one minute, then pretend to be human the next.
And guest blogging for John Chow is dangerous. Didn’t you know – he’s probably planning to eat you?
hello,
you are realy a good chap with good ideas to attract people to your site.good.i will have to study a lot from you.very good and keep it up.
John…does this mean I have to take down the Holy Chow Shrine I erected in my living room?????
I’m curious as to who “we” is?
The Cow and “udders”.
Hey Cow, it gave me great pleasure spreading your wordpress theme for free… Cheers…
You can tell that all this fame is going to your head because you’re beginning to sound like a human. Do you realize you didn’t moo once in that whole post? Next thing you know, you’ll be walking on two legs!
If I had as much adoration, notoriety, fame and fortune as you two do (Chow & Cow) I’d hire someone to deal with my mail. In the old days we called that person “the girl”. She (or he) is now known as a personal or virtual assistant.
When we hired this person to perform this service for our customers, we called the service they performed..
Customer Service.
I have personally e-mailed you twice, to no avail and I won a prize (a book) that never arrived. I think it’s time for you to think about initiating some Customer Service to your adoring fans.
dead silence…
Sometimes silence speaks volumnes.
“Don’t treat us like rockstars or behave like groupies.”
Uh.. heh… don’t worry man.
Ok, hear that everyone? No behaving like groupies. I’m looking at you two with your nose on the mirror over there with your underwear around your ankles. Yeah, and you with the ‘John Chow tattoo’ also — step back away from the artist. Ok, who threw up in the corner?