John Chow VS ShoeMoney - Rss Subscription Challenge

129 responses..

About 3 weeks ago I challenged John Chow to a marketing challenge of who could get more subscribers in the month of October. I love marketing challenges and I KNOW John will be a very worthy opponent.

Here is how it works.

Today (october 1st) we will see what our feedburner counts are. That is the starting point. Then on the 31st we will see where they are. That is the end point.

The contest is to see who can gain the most RSS subscribers for October.

So whats at stake? Well the loser will have to have a link to the winners website with “Find out why shoemoney is a better marketer then me”.

Good luck CHOW!




Related Posts:

  • John Chow Takes Over The ShoeMoney Show
  • Game, Set, Match. Rss Contest Over - HUGE PRIZES LEFT
  • Top Affiliate Challenge update
  • posted on October 1st, 2007:
    Written By: ShoeMoney

    129 Comments

    @October 1, 2007 6:41 am

    I personally think Jeremy is going to win for 2 reasons plus some.
    He sends me shirts, btw the pics are coming soon, and has a super bada55 logo.
    He is way cool and I’m sure one day he’ll ask me to be a guest on his show :P
    Hope your holiday was fun!

     
    @October 1, 2007 6:47 am
    Protestant Says:

    Will you both provide details on what type of marketing was done to up your RSS subscriptions? I think that would make an interesting post. ;)

    @October 1, 2007 6:50 am

    Good request by Protestant. A review/study of your findings that worked would be helpful to your loyal readers.

    @October 1, 2007 9:24 am
    Israel Says:

    yeh, that would be useful. although chow is already starting by giving tons of stuff away and some readers are “cheating”, i say they should not do anything and let it just occur naturally. thats a real sign of who has the most mojo.

     
     
     
    @October 1, 2007 6:50 am
    CatherineL Says:

    This is a great idea Shoe. But you do realise the evil one will use lots of devious tactics to beat you don’t you? I’m betting that you will have something interesting up your sleeve though.

    @October 1, 2007 9:02 am
    jim Says:

    He’s already giving all sorts of stuff away…

     
     
    @October 1, 2007 6:54 am

    Get a couple of the other top blogs to join you. It would make it alot more interesting since John Chow will probably use Adsense to increase his chances.

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:00 am
    Sander Says:

    I’ve compared the feeds at my blog http://www.searchenginegaze.com/rss-subscribers-contest-shoe-vs-john

    Good luck.. Btw, to which of the two feeds should I subscribe?

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:00 am

    There is an article on Daily Blog Tips about increasing RSS readers today for anybody else trying this.

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:05 am
    Kanute Says:

    Yeah Catherine is right, John is mischievous and really wicked and I’m sure he would come with multiple tricks. The good thing is the idea is yours and you certainly have the Joker

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:11 am
    Ginene Says:

    I just subscribe even though I have been reading your blog forever. I like you both so I had to subscribe to both of ya. :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:13 am
    Jake Says:

    This will be fun and it is a fantastic idea to get publicity.

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:15 am

    Yikes, Chow has some good prizes up for grabs … he looking to beat your pants off shoe …
    Darin

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:21 am
    DEXTER Says:

    Nice challenge for both of the biggest gamer in the net

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:24 am
    Tyler Says:

    Great scheme to benefit the both of them. All in all, it doesn’t matter who wins the challenge, because judging by the attention that this whole “challenge” is getting already…they have both already won.
    Bottom line is that this is near perfect link bait.
    Great job on a great idea Shoe!

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:36 am
    LeGo Says:

    Not sure whether to wait and see what is offered towards the end of the month by the marketing minds or if I wait will there be RSS only content for free stuff that I will miss out on… decisions.

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:38 am
    mubin Says:

    You guys should set up some sort of budget on this project. JC already has over 1k in prizes!

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:38 am
    GeorgeB Says:

    linkbait mania at it’s finest.

    But good luck nonetheless :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:45 am

    What are you offering for incentive prizes? John is offering quite a few goodies.

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:21 am

    Show vs. Chow: und hoffentlich ein paar RSS Tipps…

    John Chow und Shoemoney steigen im Oktober gegeneinander in den Ring. Wer schafft es, in dieser Zeit mehr neue RSS-Leser zu gewinnen, lautet die Frage, die am 31. Oktober beantwortet sein wird.
    ……

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:22 am
    Bob Says:

    i think you should also Challenge Amit Aggarwal at http://labnol.blogspot.com . he has more than 13000 readers of Feed….then we will see what happens……..

    @October 1, 2007 8:57 am
    james Says:

    hmm bob would not be much of a challenge I am guessing. That blog is much older then shoe and chows and only has 13000 rss… sad.

    problogger would be a better challenger his blog is as old as labnols but has 3x more subscribers

     
     
    @October 1, 2007 8:24 am
    uncle sha Says:

    I’ve subscribe to you guys both long ago

    can I subscribe you two again. is that possible?

    well good luck shoe!

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:25 am
    Bob Says:

    hey man! john is using a lot of COntests to win this contest………WOW!!!

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:37 am
    Mark Says:

    I’ve just unsubscribed.. Go John!!

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:01 am

    nice little contest…. Way to get some buzz going :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:03 am
    jim Says:

    Already have you boht in my reader. :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:03 am

    now who is this John Chow ?

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:06 am

    Good luck and I wish that the best one will win! Shoe be careful, because John already started a competition, to get help from his users. You must think of a linkbait, or something like that, show your adsense earnings again ;) this might work if you have another 0 to the old number.

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:16 am

    You have an evil marketing opponent - good luck! :D

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:37 am
    Joe Says:

    Shoe, you should make your prize that the winner gets to hang out with you for a day and you work with them on their sites and they get personal consulting from you.

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:41 am
    Kiley Says:

    Look at where the feed buttons in his post link to!

    Jeremy, your feed button in his post links to his feed!

    @October 1, 2007 11:59 am
    Vingold Says:

    Exceptional. I am sure over the next few weeks we’re going to be seeing all sorts of tricks like this being pulled.

     
     
    @October 1, 2007 9:44 am

    While the cheering crowds go for the small fish you throw as prizes, you guys are the ultimate winners with the big catch namely more readers. So who gains more ? You both or us ?

    Really an evil contest uh ?

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:45 am
    Kiltak Says:

    Yeah, but John is offering prizes to his readers for helping him out :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:47 am

    You guys should double team problogger ;)

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:51 am

    Are JC’s blog stats similar to yours? If not, you should do it percentage wise… your 4,800 new subscribers might be equal to his 800 new subscribers :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:53 am

    Just wrote a blog post about this whole contest. Check it out at: http://www.marketmatador.com/2007/10/01/why-john-chows-evil-marketing-works/

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:54 am

    Oh man, interesting battle. i have subscribed your rss feed.

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:55 am
    krillz Says:

    Well shoemoney, here’s a +1 for your syndication number :D

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:56 am
    browie Says:

    I’m going to find a way to have shoemoney be the winner. Everyone here needs to help Shoe win this contest.

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:56 am

    ten bucks via paypal and I will unsubscribe and resubscribe with a bunch of aliases, lol

     
    @October 1, 2007 9:59 am
    alexu Says:

    If there is only one link bait that you visit today - it has to be this one


    Why Shoemoney is better then Britney Spears

    I guess to make it even I would also need to make

    “Why John Chow is better then Paris Hilton” heh? :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:04 am
    krillz Says:

    shoe, do a contest like 1 or 2 days before, if you unsubscribe from chows rss they are up and running for a $100 price or something other cool thing :D

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:04 am

    LOL, enough said ShoeMoney will win this easily! :)

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:12 am
    Joey Says:

    It doesn’t matter to me who wins, I just think this is a great contest. We had a local high school rivalry for years here in football and the principals from each high school met at mid field before the kickoff and exchanged their schools hat. The loser had to wear the other schools hat all day the following Monday at school. Fun Stuff.

    Good Luck Shoe.

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:13 am

    shoemoney ftw!!!!!

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:17 am
    Rushh Says:

    Shoemoney..!! :D , Comon we are gunning for you :-P

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:21 am
    Tamish Says:

    How Bout Adding Me Into the Competition As Well .
    Then we shall see who wins .

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:23 am
    Chip Says:

    Nice one. I’m keeping an eye on this competition and blogging about it.

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:35 am
    The Foo Says:

    you may have to offer up some nice prizes to match John. he has offered some tasty perks or should i say bribes ;-) for signing up.

     
    @October 1, 2007 10:52 am

    You guys are big ballers, you should have made it interesting with say a 10k bet!

     

    [...] to some people just for subscribing to his RSS feed. This is all due to a contest he is having with Shoemoney to see who can add the most RSS subscribers to their feeds during the month of [...]

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:02 am

    Hats off to both of you for coming up with such a challenge…Either way it is a win win situation for both of you….however winners gets that little bit extra…
    It will be a tough contest, but my money is on JC, a wicked, wicked manipulator in such games…

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:12 am
    dillsmack Says:

    Fuck John Chow

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:15 am
    knupNET Says:

    Good luck with that Shoemoney!

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:15 am

    Suggestion - How about creating a widget of some sort that is a vertical text scroller with our names and urls for the success of your victory?

     

    [...] bloggers struggle hard to have loyal readers and feed subscribers, the giants like John Chow and Shoemaker challenge each other on some RSS competition on who’s better at getting [...]

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:44 am
    Tim Says:

    LOL let’s all subscribe to his blog multiple times, and then unsubscribe 2 days before so he thinks he’s doing good and then BAM =P

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:57 am

    I was just thinking about your subscription #s and how close they are, when I visited john’s site a few days ago. and now this. cool! may the best man win

     
    @October 1, 2007 12:01 pm
    Vingold Says:

    After the contest you should have John on a podcast to talk about what kinds of tricks and tactics you two pulled during the month of October.

     
    @October 1, 2007 12:44 pm
    Brent Says:

    Hey Shoemoney!

    Nice promo in http://mappio.com/

    First this win and then the RSS Title belt! Hard Work + Practice = Luck

    You make your own Luck!

     
    @October 1, 2007 12:51 pm

    LOL! I love the contest idea. Great job.

     
    @October 1, 2007 12:54 pm
    Amit Says:

    This is an nice idea… Shoe best of Luck.

     
    @October 1, 2007 1:05 pm
    Theo Says:

    I think John Chow will be cheating to win..

     
    @October 1, 2007 1:21 pm
    Hoto Says:

    that`s a very nice idea. i love challenges. Let´s see who is going to win.

     
    @October 1, 2007 2:30 pm
    Pogung177 Says:

    I’ll support you Jeremy, … let see in the next 30 days who’s the winner
    .Today 2nd Oct is my birthday.

     

    [...] I saw the so called competition between John Chow and Shoemaker in the both blogs. The competition is simply number of RSS subscribers. Who will make more RSS [...]

     
    @October 1, 2007 3:31 pm
    simon Says:

    Let’s wait and see….

     
    @October 1, 2007 3:53 pm

    OK - Lets be real… TV’s, iPods, or Forex reports are not what matters to the readers who are likely to subscribe.

    Post an offer to an outbound link page with high PR, or a full site review, or even a n00b co-hosting spot on your radio show…

    Make a contest that us visitors want the most - exposure to our own pet blog projects!! Appeal to WHY we all read your blog, we are starving for the small bits of info that will take us to the next level. Being recognized and acknowledged by one of the Guru’s of the trade… priceless!

    Mark - Always a joy!

     
    @October 1, 2007 3:55 pm

    Jeremy dont you think you will get less benefit if you win …
    If you win you only get the organic traffic benefit form john’s blog (no link juice as he is banned in G), but he gets both ;)

     
    @October 1, 2007 5:40 pm

    Good luck to both parties. I can’t wait to see what Shoe has up his sleeve.

     
    @October 1, 2007 6:57 pm
    Neil Says:

    Looking forward to seeing the wash-up at the end of the month!

     

    [...] have to link on there site stating why the winner is better then me.  Shoemoney has posted his John Chow VS ShoeMoney - Rss Subscription Challenge article and John has post his John Chow VS ShoeMoney - Rss Subscription Challenge article, John [...]

     
    @October 1, 2007 7:41 pm
    Collin Says:

    Heres what I posted oh John’s site

    John

    Here’s something you two big time bloggers should be doing to test your skills in this feild.

    Pick one new blogger each. There feed count has to be under 10 and work with them to increase there subscribers along with yours. Shoemoney should do the same and see who has the best advice and knows the most about growing a blog. You two guys are already huge, and making great money……..change someone elses life and continue to grow your blog…….Theres a challange John

    @October 1, 2007 10:05 pm

    excellent idea !!!

     
    @October 2, 2007 3:10 am
    John Loch Says:

    Now THATS an idea !

    I like it..

    I’d like to see it happen, where the only thing they do is give advice. No plugging or paid activity. Completely unassisted bar questions/answers, and advice.

    I suspect neither of them could pull it off (or would want to) outside their own brands.. of course I’d love to be proven wrong. Its been a long time since Shoes experiment.. :)

     
     
    @October 1, 2007 7:57 pm
    Ritu Says:

    just emailed John about that

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:30 pm

    Shoe FTW!!!!!

     
    @October 1, 2007 8:42 pm
    3Terabyte Says:

    This will be exciting. Anyone here willing to bet? I’m with shoe for $200

    @October 1, 2007 10:06 pm

    i think you will be hard up to get any takers.

     
    @October 2, 2007 3:15 am
    John Loch Says:

    I’ll take $20 of that action if you’re game 3T.
    Shoe is just plain Chowfodder !

    He won’t even come close :)

     
     
    @October 1, 2007 8:52 pm
    3Terabyte Says:

    @Collin

    That’s a good idea. Do you want them to expose their trade secrets? Very interesting…

     
    @October 1, 2007 11:56 pm

    [...] with lots of data about online advertising that doesn’t work?  I’ll bet you could beat Shoemoney and John Chow in the RSS subscription contest.  By the way fellas.  I added you [...]

     
    @October 2, 2007 3:30 am
    Thiru Says:

    Good luck. You will win.

     

    [...] some of you may or may not know Shoemoney and John Chow have had a recent competition to see who could gain the most RSS subscribers in one [...]

     

    [...] Top-Blogger aus den USA, John Chow und ShoeMoney, haben einen besonderen Wettstreit am laufen: Wer kann bis zum 31. Oktober die meisten RSS-Neuleser gewinnen?  Aktuell hat John Chow [...]

     
    @October 2, 2007 7:49 am

    [...] JohnCow VS Shoemoney - Rss Subscription Challenge, Click to READ. [...]

     

    [...] so I’ve never been a good, err, crap talker BUT Jeremy is going to kick Johns butt in a blogger challenge. They are trying to see during the month of [...]

     
    @October 2, 2007 9:50 am

    Can i sign up twice?

     
    @October 2, 2007 9:52 am

    can we take bets on Event?

     
    @October 2, 2007 1:36 pm

    Kick some ass. =)

     
    @October 2, 2007 1:54 pm

    Good luck. I think you will win, I just think the posts are better here, also John’s is pretty ad packed now.

     
    @October 2, 2007 1:58 pm

    Nice, I think you will win easily though. The posts are often better here plus John’s is kind of ad packed now to.

     
    @October 2, 2007 3:25 pm
    Ryan Says:

    I wish you both the best of luck but please Shoe kick his ass! I love your blog. Keep up the awesome work man!

     
    @October 3, 2007 12:24 am
    Seo Next Says:

    We all are with you, we shill promote this blog and try to increase few.

     
    @October 3, 2007 3:16 am
    Azeem Says:

    Wow!!Love this…must be great game though….Shoe Money win it!!

     
    @October 3, 2007 4:57 am
    Michelle Says:

    This will be interesting - especially as you both have a huge RSS subscription list anyway - so getting new people to subscribe will be difficult. I see the incentives are flying thick and fast!

     
    @October 3, 2007 5:02 am

    [...] who is your bet is it Shoemoney VS Johnchow.com below are their RSS links. JohnChow [...]

     
    @October 3, 2007 5:20 am

    This is an awesome challenege. It will be a close race but I think you will win it Shoe. All the best.

     

    [...] names in our space. Many of you will also know that ShoeMoney and John Chow have a competition (see here and here) raging for the month of October; whoever gains the most RSS subscribers in the month, [...]

     
    @October 3, 2007 11:22 am

    I have no doubt Shoe’s going to win this - his posts offer a lot more value than Chow’s, plus he comes off as an affable guy in his writing. People like him, so they’ll subscribe for him… I wonder how well this contest will work as link bait. Shoe - any chance you can share ibls and traffic to this page at some point?

     
    @October 3, 2007 1:53 pm

    So just to let you know “John Cow” is wanting and trying to take my Shoemoney shirt as he has said on my blog and his. Maybe he is wanting it for some kind of leverage on his side of the contest. Don’t worry I won’t give it up :)

     
    @October 3, 2007 5:54 pm

    This is the battle of the top internet monguls …. i am waiting for the day when my blog will be able to battle shoemoney and johnchow …. that is 100years to come …..

     
    @October 4, 2007 5:21 am
    The Dino Says:

    Well that is what I was waiting for… I was wondering when John comes out with this idea since he likes to post about this increase.

     
    @October 4, 2007 8:13 am
    LeGo Says:

    Just joined… Good Luck!