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Miscellaneous Ramblings for 8-15-2007

written by John Chow on August 15, 2007

Make money with YouTube

Blank Screen In MS Outlook

Today I got up to a blank screen in my MS Outlook. All the emails were apparently still there but the inbox was blank for some reason. To make things more strange, some emails showed up when I hit refresh and then disappeared again. Turns out I had a corrupted inbox and had to repair it. However, my scanpst.exe and certain DLL files required to repair the inbox was missing. I had to asked Gary at BlueFur to send me copies of the file. Half an hour later, my inbox came back. It’s pretty scary to face a blank inbox in the morning!

15% Off Text Link Ads For The Remainder of August

Text Link Ads is running a promotion for the remainder of the month. If you place a link order now and enter August into the coupon code, you’ll get 15% off. Now would be a good time to pick up the last link spot on this blog. Not only will you save money but the price is locked for as long as you renew the spot.

If you are a brand new TLA customer, then you maybe better off with the $100 coupon Text Link Ads has available for new customers. It’s too bad you can’t combine the two coupons.

Don’t Have a Cow Contest

Over at JohnCow.com they must have the coolest web hosting provider in the pasture (besides BlueFur). These guys are having a “cowpetition” and are giving away a $500 prize. Here’s your chance to win a Playstation3,or an Xbox360, a Nintendo Wii, an iPhone .. you name it, they’ll pay for it.

Since the cow won something from me, I think it’s time I won something from him.

Win the Complete Blogging Package

Blogging Experiment is offering a really cool contest for all your bloggers who wants to make it big. Instead of offering the latest tech gadget like some cow I know, Ben Cook is offer up a complete blogging package as the prize. The winner will receive a three month subscription to the Blog Mastermind Mentoring program, a copy of Aaron Wall‘s SEO Book and a free blog critique from Chris Garrett of chrisg.com.

There is also the possibility that Ben will throw in $100 of text links from Text Link Ads and a ReviewMe review from this blog. Check out Blogging Experiment for all the details.

The Biggest Beer Giver of The Week

Thanks to Blog Sonar for sending me $30 of beer. Vancouver is very hot this time of the year and a beer goes great with the BBQ! The concept of Blog Sonar is that the user does his own blog review, with the condition of doing a review of Blogosonar.con.

This Is Really Going To Increase Ad Prices

I got an email from Shazilla Nizam. She’s the person who purchased the flipped ad.

I’ve received 7 confirmed orders of the SGR program so far. That translates to $3,500 worth of commissions. ROI just hits the roof with this one.

Thanks John!
Looking forward to more traffic and conversions for the next 27 days.

Shaz is so happy with the outcome she’s setting up a contest within a contest for John Chow dot Com readers. She’s giving away a SGR package worth $1,995 to the winner of the $1,000 Cold Hard Cash Contest, on top of the $1,000.

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{ 49 comments }

ouchs August 15, 2007 at 12:16 pm

blank emails?

mason August 15, 2007 at 3:09 pm

yea.. how much email do you get to have a blank email screen? anyways, you ever tried mozillas email app called thunderbird?

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/

check it out.

Carl of PseudoPower August 15, 2007 at 9:22 pm

Outlook is no good! I’ve heard many horror stories about it crashing and people losing e-mails.

Take it as a sign John! Run!

John Chow August 15, 2007 at 5:15 pm

Blank as in look at your inbox and there is nothing. However, the email is there. You just can’t see them.

KingJacob August 16, 2007 at 10:15 am

Id freak out but than Id realize I backup everything in Raid ever since my laptop crashed. :sad:

Gaida August 20, 2007 at 10:15 pm

Hi John,

That happened to my emails as well. It sure was one way of cleaning out my inbox. Thought someone had given me a helping hand.

Hamilton Ontario Web Design August 16, 2007 at 6:58 am

I’m not surprised, outlook is buggy at best… :)

Abdalla August 15, 2007 at 12:21 pm

wow, that ad space really was worth it!

Terra Andersen August 15, 2007 at 1:26 pm

I agree! Woah! That’s great stuff, and it’s only been a few days… for the rest of the month, that could translate into over $20,000 worth of sales for this adbuyer! Craaaaazy! That’s some good ROI!

Hamilton Ontario Web Design August 16, 2007 at 7:00 am

Yes, John is definitely undercharging for that adspace :P

ouchs August 15, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Hey John,

I owe you a $100 beer! I promise you I would give you my first $100 blog revenue to buy you a very expensive beer! :razz: . From reading your making money eBook, I’ve earned close to $400 from my blog in two just months.

Thanks for the inspiration!

craig August 15, 2007 at 3:13 pm

$400!?! . . really? I guess I should download a copy. thanx for the info.

SEO Optimization August 15, 2007 at 4:02 pm

Well you already earned $400, what are you waiting to “Buy him a $100 beer via paypal” :P

bob cobb August 15, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Wow, I can’t believe how much that program pays out :shock:

Blogging Experiment August 15, 2007 at 1:58 pm

John, thanks for mentioning my contest! I’m sure lots of your readers here will be interested in my latest post as well: Commenting on John Chow dot Com – A Case Study.

Thanks again!

mason August 15, 2007 at 3:08 pm

wow congrats to Nizam. now I have to click on the ad to see what all the hype is about.

Shaun Carter August 15, 2007 at 3:12 pm

Nizam is really going to rake in the dollars on that ad… wow that’s impressive.

sandossu August 15, 2007 at 3:26 pm

You’re teasing people to offer you more beer so they’ll get a link as offering the most ?

Great idea.

Geedos August 16, 2007 at 5:20 am

Well this is the most evil blog on the planet! :twisted:

Hamilton Ontario Web Design August 16, 2007 at 7:01 am

John’s full of great ideas, haven’t you been reading? :)

SEO Optimization August 15, 2007 at 4:00 pm

I am not sure if the post was not published or i forgot to hit the Submit button :shock: anyway here i am again.

The mogul of John Chow has mad a typo :shock: (seems like he was more tired than me at this moment).

Over at JohnCow.comm they must have

TJ Tutten August 15, 2007 at 6:30 pm

Our comments do just seem to evaporate – I hope that mine was posted!

SEO Optimization August 15, 2007 at 7:24 pm

p.s. did not meant to offend or play fool, was just pointing out.

Mayo August 15, 2007 at 4:36 pm

Woww …. someone is willing to pay allmost 2K for that crap… .wowww… there seems to be idiots born every minute … with lots of cash… woww… :roll: :lol:

John Chow August 15, 2007 at 5:22 pm

There is nothing wrong with spending money on education. People spend $20K to $50K to get a degree in hopes of getting a job but I don’t call them idiots even if I think working at a job is the dumbest thing in the world.

blogcrowds August 15, 2007 at 6:20 pm

Well normal people do get decent jobs from those degrees, we’re not all born naturally evil like you John.

That raises a question, are you kids going to spend $20K to $50K to get a degree or go with the high road like you?

John Chow August 15, 2007 at 7:30 pm

Lucky for me UBC has one of the best business schools in Canada. And being local, it won’t cost $50K since she can live at home.

I think education, no matter where you get it, is very important. You can use the education to get a better job, but you can also use it for other things.

KingJacob August 16, 2007 at 10:19 am

Some really crazy people spend almost half a million on education, we call those people Doctors.

Mayo August 16, 2007 at 2:34 pm

Ok, it’s essential to invest into your education but for me it’s simply dumb to invest into something that is pretty much common sense… you certainly must visualize your goal! But there are a lot more better ways to invest in although they are somewhat slower and that is books! If i could cash out now for someones tutoring it would be either Tim Ferriss tutoring (that would be great coaching programme) or Eben Pagan (if you have almost 2K for some “visualise and it will come” mumbo-jumbo you certainly have 10K for the real business know-how).

Mayo August 15, 2007 at 4:37 pm

umh forgot to put LOTS in “idiots every minute” :twisted:

Carl Coddington August 15, 2007 at 5:27 pm

I had that same white screen problem. I still haven’t figured out how to solve it. Thanks for the link to the company that helped you.

TJ Tutten August 15, 2007 at 6:28 pm

I do tech support during the day, and I’ve been faced lately with a lot of callers staring at that big blank inbox – I wonder if MS is trying to tell us something?? It’s just very odd… :roll:

Shazilla Nizam August 15, 2007 at 7:36 pm

Hi John.
Didn’t expect that you would blog about my personal email to you. But it’s fine.

By the way, I am not a guy. I am woman.

Thanks. From the comments, looks like more sales are going to be made. And John, from the very beginning, I know that $1500 or even $2000 for the adspace is just too cheap. We are talking about John Chow Dot Com.

Thank you for telling them about the contest. I can’t wait for one of your readers to win, because they’ll win big with the SGR package. And hopefully, they can become Richer from it.

Yes, increasing the price John makes sense. That’s just the natural progression of things in your blog. It gets better and better. I think I got a great deal. The last time I checked from Zeila Rich, the owner of the website, she got another one sale since that email. It’s blowing the top of the mountain off this one.

Science of Getting Rich is indeed a form of education. $2,000 is nothing, compared to the amount of knowledge you will learn. There are so many great things in this package.

By the way, I am the marketing person for Zeila. I look out for the best avenues to market on her behalf. I get 50% of what she makes. I am a happy woman.

Thanks,
Shaz

Ryan Stewart August 15, 2007 at 7:48 pm

That’s great news about Shazilla turning such a great profit. I’m so glad she bought the ad. This flip was truly a win-win-win. A trifecta!

John, are you going to the blog world expo in November?

Wahlau.NET August 15, 2007 at 8:19 pm

johncow link seems to be johnchow.com

is this your evil trick too.

shazilla is doing so well by buying the ads….

Carl of PseudoPower August 15, 2007 at 9:25 pm

Hmmm. I’m kinda in shock at how well that site is doing.

Maybe I need to look into selling that program.

Colin Klinkert August 15, 2007 at 10:09 pm

Only sell it if you have done it yourself and can work from experience, that would be my advice Carl

Marko August 15, 2007 at 10:10 pm

John, do you really buy beer if someone donates for it? What happens if you get too much donations for beer? :mrgreen:

John Chow August 15, 2007 at 10:39 pm

Beer party! :cool:

Hamilton Ontario Web Design August 16, 2007 at 7:03 am

Who’s invited? :)

5xmom August 15, 2007 at 10:12 pm

Wahlau,

Over at JohnCow.com they must have the coolest web

Hey, I notice that too! Now let me go back and quote JohnChow and link to my own domain. :grin:

Ruchir August 16, 2007 at 2:16 am

Omg! John Chow the evil still uses MS Outlook. Dude Outlook just sucks…try out Mozilla Thunderbird instead.

Arjun Muralidharan August 16, 2007 at 3:43 am

Trusting MS Outlook with your Mail is like trusting the Devil with your soul.

Geedos August 16, 2007 at 5:23 am

With all the buzz (and profit) that has been made around the sale of advertising on this blog recently i fully expect John to blitz his revenue records in the next couple of months.

I think he has stumbled across a potential gold mine in selling his own advertising spots on this blog. It wouldn’t surprise me if spots went for close to $10k each – even at that figure the ROI seen by the likes of Shaz would make it a great purchase. :twisted:

Hamilton Ontario Web Design August 16, 2007 at 7:05 am

John is definitely starting to get to the level where he can sell ads on his own, cutting out the middleman and keeping all the profit for himself.

Joshua August 16, 2007 at 7:51 am

So many contests to win, so little time… :twisted:

Click Input August 16, 2007 at 9:58 am

$3,500 in commissions? Holy cow!

I bet you will be running something similar yourself John in one month

KingJacob August 16, 2007 at 10:18 am

Wow, John I think you underestimated your adspace big time but then again you’r probally earning some traffic and your “inflating” the value of your blogs adspace and I guess thats worth more than a few grand. :wink:

simon August 16, 2007 at 9:48 pm

Blogosonar.con ??
I don’t think this URL is corect :cry: