Short Conversation between dot Com Mogul and dot Com Guru
November 25, 2008 by Shanker Bakshi
Filed under Ramblings, Recent Interviews
It seems I am enjoying interviewing fellow bloggers and biggies of blogsphere these days. First of all it was with blogging buddy Gyutae Park then coder craftsman Andy and now comes short conversation with Mr. John Chow. There is one more coming your way in a very short time. If you go through various pages of this blog I had quoted it at many places that I started blogging only after reading some great stuff of Mr. Chow on his blog, before that I was not even aware any such thing like blogging exists on this earth. So I’m very humbly and respectfully owe this whole blogging thing of mine to Mr. Chow.
Way back somewhere in October 2007, I won this prestigious million Euro Wiki Page from John Chow dot com in a contest where Mr. Chow and Shoemoney were fighting with each other on who could get more RSS subscriber in the month of during contest period, so like many other things John is also pioneer and expert in this blogging contest things, so before starting this lets Win this contest together -Season 2 I had a short conversation with him in which he guide me how to go about it.
Shanker Bakshi: I am starting a big contest, it’s a contributory contest, Am trying to contact big shot of blogsphere to make it big but they are not responding positively.
John Chow: That’s too bad; did you answer the “What’s in it for me” question?
Shanker Bakshi: “HOW TO RUN A CONTEST AND MAKE IT BIG?”
John Chow: That might make a cool blog post 
Shanker Bakshi: they can at least response.
John Chow: That answer is pretty easy, you need to answer the question, “What’s in it for me?” Well, you need to answer their questions, it’s not yours, when emailing others to help, tell them what’s in it for them
Shanker Bakshi: okay – that’s a great tip. What is best place/way to promote a blog contest?
John Chow: any place you can, facebook, other blogs, twitter, etc
Shanker Bakshi: These days commenting helps more then anything -what’s your take on this?
John Chow: Yes, if you’re among the first
Shanker Bakshi: If I put a condition to participate in the contest like “TO BLOG ABOUT THE CONTEST” would it be amount to duplicate contents for Google? Lots of bloggers will copy and paste the contest post.
John Chow: Not unless every blog writes the exact same thing, you can solve that by asking a question like “What do you like about it?” that forces them to write something unique.
Shanker Bakshi: That’s a great advise again, thanks for your time, you been always so kind towards me.
John Chow: That’s good for you
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Hey Shanker,
Nice idea. You’ll probably have a better rate of success by interviewing people via IM than through email. Good luck!
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@Park Although not all the interview are through IM certainly.
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Great Interview…you are becoming an interview specialist now
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@Gyutae: You’ll probably have a better rate of success by interviewing people via IM than through email.
Thanks for the tip. Why didn’t I think of that before?
@Shanker: What a great chat! It kinda teaches me the real meaning of “What’s in it for me?”. I grew up thinking that “giving is receiving” and I still live by that rules of thumb. I think I should start asking myself ““What’s in it for me?” …..oh wait, maybe not…I don’t foresee myself asking that question….;)
Yan
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I actually don’t like JohnChow so I didn’t enjoy this post. HAHAHA
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@ yan -Thanks for your appreciation.
@ Hussein – any reason why you don’t like him buddy?
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I find it interesting how some of these big time bloggers will actually respond to us from time to time. You’ve been able to get interviews, while I’ve been able to get them to talk directly to me and answer a question here and there. Keep it up; good stuff.
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@Mitch et al: The mindset of us and them is weak and one you can’t have. You should really check out Scott Ginsberg’s site: http://www.hellomynameisscott.com. Theres nothing in it for me if you visit the site, but in his book “Make a name for yourself” he goes over why being easy to get a hold of should be “standard operating procedure for all professionals, regardless of age, industry, annual income or job title”.
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I see it differently, Michael, but with a caveat. Blogging or making money online aren’t my strong suits, nor my main thrust as far as my career goes. So, it’s perfectly legitimate and valid for me to acknowledge those who have and are still doing it, and how some of them prove to NOT be what we may think some of them are (okay, what we know some of them are, but I tend to try to be a little bit nice at times).
However, if it came to my main career, whereas I might acknowledge someone else’s talent, I would definitely come across differently because I know where I lie in my own industry, my level of skill, and I’m more used to people saying stuff like that to me about me. No ego there, just sharing (hey, my blog name; that worked out well!).
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I appriciate this conversation between mitch and Henry ( its like When henry meets Mitch). John is a great guy this is just i can say now.
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Waiting to be part of the Contest if I am eligible as per the rules and if I am able to understand as I am not too good in english and knowledge about blogging.
Thankyou !
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The Dot com Guru interviewed the Dot com Mogul. Was it face to face via webcam? You’re not only interviewing prominent people in India but those who are in the other side of the world as well.
What’s in it for me? This question needs a lot of time for reflection before I could get some answers.
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Hi Shanker,
Now I see, I really havent answered that question “What´s in it for me” when I were asking for sponsor for my near future big first contest.
Thanks for reminding me about this question.
I will change that right now and answer them that question.
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Shanker Bakshi Reply:
December 6th, 2008 at 9:26 am
Yes , We must answer thier quarry – “What is in there for me?”. Hope you will get reply.
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I figure the whole blogging community will be a better place to live in when less people are asking “What´s in it for me”. Will it ever happen? I wager not
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Hi Shankar,
Really You have a great idea of success by interviewing people via IM than through email. Best of luck!
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Man how lucky are you to interview the great John Chow. I remember getting an email from someone who visited my photoblog asking if they could use one of my photos in their magazine. I remember asking her, ‘What’s in it for me?’ and she replied ‘Fame and Fortune!’ lol It turns out they were a not for profit organization. I let them have the photo as long as they put a link to my blog and attributed the photo to me. Pretty good exposure at least.
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@Shankar,
Buddy really interesting concept of interviewing millionaire bloggers like John Chow.
Hot Celeb Gossip´s last blog ..O’Reilly on Low-Life Jennifer Lopez Calling Sarah Palin the ‘B’ Word
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