Well, it didn’t take long for a new advertiser to take advantage of the new theme. Cash Quests noticed the new look has a popular articles section and went immediately to take advantage of it by purchasing Post Level Text Link Ads on three of those articles.
A Post Level TLA cost $5 to $10 per month depending on the PageRank of the post. When you take into account how much traffic those pages will receive because they’re listed in the popular articles, Cash Quests made a great “thinking outside the box” move. I was wondering who would be the first to put post level links on those posts and now I know. And yes, one of the reasons for the popular articles is to help drive post level ad sales. 
This Is A Make Money Online Blog
For those complaining that this blog is trying to make too much money, what do you think drives traffic here? The more money this blog makes, the more traffic it gets. The old theme was stuck at $12,500 a month and I wasn’t going to break out of that unless I do a redesign. This is all part of the make money online process. I didn’t do a redesign for the sake of a redesign.
It’s Down by 120 Pixel
A few readers have commented that the new theme pushed the content way down. The content has been pushed down, but not by as a much as people seem to think – it’s down by 120 pixel. However, because the new look is busier at the top, it looks like the content is down by more than it really is.
Nate Whitehill actually made a theme without the Zonda F. That would have put the content higher than the last theme. However, it just didn’t look right without the supercar. Nate will be going over the theme one more time to do some code clean up and correct some formatting errors (like the side scroll).
The theme is designed for viewing at 1024×768. If you can’t see the first post without scrolling it means you should consider getting a higher resolution monitor. It just so happens I am giving one away. Not only am I giving away a 24″ wide screen LCD but I’m including a signed copy of The 4-Hour Workweek as well.
Thanks everyone for the comments on the new theme. We will be using them to further improve the blog.
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{ 99 comments }
Lovin the new theme! In fact, I might get in touch with Unique Blog Designs about helping me out with a redesign…
I really like the new them as well. Moves like thisis what keeps you in the forefront and the rest of us scrambling to try and catch up.
I like the re-design, and immediately noticed the reason behind it when I saw the ad buttons. I bet you’ll break $14,000 this month if all goes well?
-Terra
http://www.BetterForBusiness.com
$14k? Previous month the blog made $12k this month it has extra 8 spots that go each for $500…thats $4k extra, i believe he has (if not will slightly) reach $17k for this month.
SHITTAKE! I want one of these, now. Probloggers got one, Copybloggers got one, now the Chowster. When will those WordPress theme designers deliver up one of these?
Well … dunno, the ones that were releasing free themes have lost of motivation since the wordpress.net theme database will not release any longer sponsored themes. What the designers are supposed to do? Make new themes for the sake of making wordpress blog software more famous…and what to get in return?
Tho that opened a new door for the designers market, now if one wants a GOOD theme they need to hire a designer and get it done by them, unique.
omg.. 17k a month is ridiculous
also, I just noticed, there are the recommended moneymakers… i can only imagine how much he will make with that
yeah 14K is ridiculously nice…
I think the new design is fantastic too.
Yup….Fantastic
And the cow cant copy………
Don’t count the cow out, he’ll think of something evil to get some attention from this. He’s riding Chows tail and he’ll be damned if he falls off! Count on that.
Yeah – I’m sure there’ll be some bovine intervention some time soon!
Yeah there’s always something to be done. I don’t really see why the theme can’t be copied? It might take some work, but it can be done.
Simon
Plus with all the people saying it can’t be copied it’s practically encouraging someone to rip it off!
I’m sure the Cow will be at the front of the queue, although whoever does it first will no doubt get some good publicity – they just need to mention it on here for starters!
I checked out a couple of the Popular Posts just before you published this post and noticed the ads. Very smart idea. It was bothering that I couldn’t see any content above the fold but I just realized I had 5 toolbars activated. Now I can at least see the title of the most recent post!
John is right, CashQuests was quite sharp to jump on that. I would have done the same if I thought of it.
Don’t beat yourself up about it too much mate. CashQuests is alway good almost too good to follow on John’s teaching. Doesn’t it smell fishy to anyone else than me?
Lol, you think cash quest is actually John?
Simon
Does it sound that crazy?
Hahah – five!?
Theme looks good. Nate did a good job. I personally customized my own theme so the $600 you might have paid (or more) seems worth it.
I doubt John paid for this. It’s good advertising for Nate.
I was wondering what a redesign like this would cost. It looks great though and has already generated a $4000 profit from the button ads.
WOW John!
The new theme is very smart. I can see where you keep a lot of the good things about your old theme but implemented other areas so you can monetize to the max!
I’m willing to bet you will make a ton more with this new look because you have more room for sponsers!
However, will this water down the value of a sponser because you have so many?
Let’s hope not because I like the new theme!
I don’t think they really care, it’s all about what they are willing to pay, if the sponsors want to pay X for the spot then that’s what they’ll pay regardless of the other sponsors.
Simon
Hey looks great! Feels good to see something different than the Misty theme
I have a feeling Nate and Unique Blog Design will get a lot of gigs from having designed yours John
now I am testing new “evil theme” in opera ,looks good
It really is amazing how creative some people can be.
the design is great – just the email subscription box is getting to me – are you gon to be doing email marketing now too john? interested to see some post about it soon.
I do not think the layout drives the content away and yes I understand your blog is all about making money, but sometimes the content is what keeps your current readers, buyers or not
btw – i do like your content on here
Personally I don’t care about the layout affecting the content, if I like a blog I’ll scroll a little, or look at some ads if thats what it takes to get to the content. Interesting notion about the email subscriptions, does that mean I’m going to be getting those annoying emails in my inbox every day if I subscribe?
Simon
Nope. I don’t even know when the first newsletter will be going to be honest.
So, who will be the first evil advertiser that buys a post level text link ad and then sets up one of their computers to refresh that page 10 times a minute until it becomes a top post?
Dangit Steve, you’ve got to keep this stuff quiet until AFTER you do it. Or better yet, until after I do it
I thought TLA made every publisher agree to a disclaimer that they wouldn’t dicsuss post level links, that post level links didn’t exist and if anybody was found to release the idea of post level links to Google they’d be frowned and tutted at, really badly? Or has all that changed now?
Where in the hell did you hear that?
that’s for the inlinks program
I believe he has read that in the Special Private Invitation email sent by text link ads that states
I just quoted that from the e-mail i have received.
1152 by 864. I’m trying out this screen resolution, and although things are a bit smaller, I like it.
Wow, nice theme.
At first I thought you had redesigned your homepage the same way Problogger has, by moving your blog to another page and using the homepage for “other things”. I had to scroll to finally discover the latest post after the excessively long header. I personally think it’s ugly, not attractive at all and cluttered. What ever happened to “text links are better than banners…”? The feeling you get is similar to what you feel when you arrive at a flea market.
On the other hand I think it has inherited too much from the old template, the post section is almost identical and the colors have not changed much. But I do like what you did with the footer, it’s really pleasant to look at. Too bad visitors wont even see it.
I always thought that text-links better than banners was only Googles mantra? I wonder if the banner ads that appeared in place of the Adsense and mananged to flip $13500 had any influence?
Enough to make any man change his mind
120px is nothing.. If I’m interested in the article I will catch the scroll bar
120px = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Yeah same here, some people always complain about ads and headers and everything else, its not to much work to scroll down a tad.
John, excellent theme. I have actually contacted the company you ordered it from and on the way to suit-up my website as well.
I was thinking this was lucky for the company who did you theme.. if they were smart, they did it for free promo from John Chow! *=)
-Terra
http://www.BetterForBusiness.com
Yeah I’m sure Nate will get some good business out of this – and fair play to him as I’m sure he did this redesign for free.
Good luck to you Nate.
I don’t see why he should, but then again, I might have.
That’s genius from Kumiko I’ll be honest, supposed that’s why I’ll never be a gazilliobillionaire.
120px is quite a lot to be honest, but I’m not too bothered. RSS all the way
Agreed! Kumiko is well on her way to success… good eye Kumiko!
-Terra
Thanks Rhys! Just wait until I flip the links!!
ok i cant hold it much longer: Who thinks that Kumiko and John Chow is the same person hands up!
I doubt it, Kumiko has been around since before John told us about his little experiment.
Simon
Not sure what experiment are you referring to but it just strikes me like too many coincidents at once. Try just a two yeah? Lets see Johns furious defense here
:
1. Why all the secrecy around Kumiko now Cashquests (where he/she does not even refer to himself/herself as Kumiko) blog? While one of the basic teachings you see around for bloggers is to personalize your blog try to find any real personal info about “Kumiko”. Imho Kumiko was a fraud since day one and more I read the articles there more it looks to me like its John Chow speaking
2. Given John’s …um…money hunger it I wonder if there is any other blog/blogger receiving here as much free attention / linkage as so called “Kumiko”
3. John admitted few times that he is no stranger (at least in the past) to all sort of self promoting tactics including commenting on his own blog under different IDs etc. I don’t see reason why he would not be capable to run another even more blatant money earning blog.
Either way I leave with for you to find your own “oddities”
after all more controversy is just what this blog needs….NOT
I just checked out nate’s site and it is not only clean, hes got some pretty good articles and his blog designs are awesome, I bet hes about to get pretty busy.
Yeah he does have a nice site, and he’s doing quite well for someone that’s only been around for 7 or so months
That Kumiko is a smarty, even though I can’t tell her how I feel instantly on her comments section
Excellent theme John! It’s wow, and a nice response to Problogger’s theme, although i realize you really don’t care
.
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Good luck with your new theme
The new theme really looks great, John. If the old theme got stuck at “only” 12,500$/month, I think that the new one will bring you more money. I look forward to see how much you’ll make this month,,,and in the following months,,,It would be interesting to post some of your earnings at the end of this month, so we can see if the new look of your blog brought you some extra cash
Keep up the good work 
( P.S. Could you please visit my blog too and tell me your opinion about it? Thanks 
Obviously this will bring the revenue up…. He’s added 10 spots charging $750 per spot. That’s an extra $7500 right there
Yup the new theme sure will Make the revenue up……….and John Chow also will post up his earnings every month
Very good idea Cash! I’ve been trying to think outside the box a bit more lately.
Here’s what resulted. I think John Chow would be proud
Very Nice, JC is definently rubbing off on you
Nice and evil.
Good job and well done in getting in their first – I’m sure there were lots of people rushing up behind you to grab this one.
I must say that the new theme REALLY ROCKS!!!
Despite of other people are saying now I have more reasons to visit your blog. I just love a professional looking page. In my opnion the internet is full of poorly designed sites.
BTW I saw your apperance on The Lab with Leo… hope Leo gets you in the show more often…
I will be on there one more time.
The new theme is awesome. The style is very clean. Great job.
Personally I don’t like this design (too cluttered) but as you said, you are at least clear about the primary objective for your site – to earn more money. Also, aren’t you ‘wasting’ the most premium space on your front-page with an image of a car? I know you love fast sports cars but keeping in line with the theme of this blog (make money online), the car image doesn’t fit in and also occupies precious ad space.
I agree. I like a clean looking page with little distraction. But if I made as much money as John Chow I would clutter up my page for the money. lol
As far as the car image goes, he also discusses cars, food etc. So it still fits in with his theme. I’ve seen a lot of “money blogs” that also have other topics. I like this because it makes it more interesting in my opinion. I’m thinking of doing that too.
I smelled Nate as soon as I saw the new template, it looks too much like Nate’s style. I love the new look, but it doesn’t look original in my opinion.
Simon
I know what you mean – when you look at Nate’s site you can see the similarities straight away.
As a designer it must be hard to come up with a truly creative (and fresh) looking theme though – especially for something as functional as a blog.
The new theme is a bit top-heavy with ads. This makes it a little less elegant than before. But, hey, if you’re making money and that’s the point, more power to you.
The Sage
Great idea of Cash Quest to jump on that one, indeed, I actually tried to guest post on some other blogs, but than had to leave in a sudden.
The first post title indeed drops for only 120px which is not much at all, but at least readers can now read a decent looking blog, something personalized, and not the usual theme. Good move for the new design
great design john… I like the fact that you pointed out the true reason as to why you made the design change I think that’s very important for people to understand that change is sometimes needed to accompany growth.
cheers
Image of “wrongs”, in attention of J.C. and/or Nate
I did a search on TLA and couldn’t find “John Chow” anywhere!
How do I go about buying a link?
Here you go! http://www.johnchow.com/go/pltla.php
you have to be logged in to see the inventory of post level TLA.
Hi John,
I’m impressed with the new layout, will surely be a much better performer and earner for you! I’ve done a post on you today actually, discussing yourself, Mr Rowse and Ades – pop over and have a read!
The new theme looks pretty but it’s TOO BUSY… at least until I get use to it.
Continued success.
At least it seems to be loading faster now… perhaps the server was struggling before with everyone coming to check it out at once.
Lovin the new theme!…
It’s nice. four informative space on top of page.
On my 1024 x 768 screen you can’t even see the top of the post anymore.
The theme looks good but I can’t help but see this detail as a negative I’m sorry!
Hi,
***INTERESTED BUT IMPORTANT QUESTION****
I love the idea of monizizing the blog with a Text Link ad on a post level.
However, I am afraid that if I have a sponor basically for all my posts, will i not get penelized from Google? Basically how do I word it on the blog so that it does not sound like I am selling Page Rank and Anchor text, but traffic. Yes, anchor text and pr is helpful.
So please clarify becuase i am dependant on that extra adsense revenue and I do not want to do anything to get my blog banned.
Awesome blog and Awesome community, which really is what makes me really enjoy reading this blog!!!
Thank You!
I’m impressed with the new layout, will surely be a much better performer and earner for you!
Cool thanks
It’s slightly more professional than the last one, but still really fugly.
i think the new theme will make john chow more moola, then the old theme.
btw. I tried to purchase some ads via TLA and they didn’t go through for me
In fact my CC company asked me what were these transactions for $1.
Great look John…cool, crisp, proffesional.
Can I copy it? Just kidding.
You right, the more money you make the more the rest of us have a chance of making. Keep it up…please!
Hi Guys,
Can any answer this questions that i posted on
2007-08-23 02:05:51.
Hi,
***INTERESTED BUT IMPORTANT QUESTION****
The discussion at SES seem to indicate that link buying is bad. Any ideas??? I have a blog that is approved by TLA, however, I want to make sure google is ok with this.
Thanks everyone.
At first I thought the little banner ads on top for TLA, Adsense, and so on were paid ads, but now I see that they’re affiliate links. Probably makes more money that way.
Simon
i like the new design a lot. i saw nate’s blog design, and then daily web ideas, and thought about getting my own re-design done thru nate. darn it, don’t wanna look like a biter
I have to say that this is one of the blog that i visit just to learn more and more on how to improve my reggaeton site http://www.ultraxtreme.com, maybe i will try to seel some ad spot within a month or so and i will let you know if it is working or not guys
I bought a post level link after I saw this post but there is not lots of John’s post available for buying.
Thanks. I really love the new layout, much better than the last one. Specially the side bar on the right side. It looks beautiful, those sponsor banners and links and everything. Great Job John
The new theme is ultra hot.. and just cause your trying so hard, ill bite on the free ebook
Where has the popular articles section gone?!