Game, Set, Match. Rss Contest Over – HUGE PRIZES LEFT

by Jeremy Schoemaker on October 31, 2007 · 101 comments

The RSS contest between me and John Chow is now over.

So who won? IMHO we both win. It was great publicity for both of us and we both gained thousands of RSS subscribers. Officially I won the contest, but I think the REAL winner will be revealed over the course of the next few months when all the people who only subscribing for the contest entries.

Also MANY readers who did not know what RSS was or how to use it

Congrats to all the winners and thanks to all the people who helped us win! (you can learn to bring people back to life… but not from a jedi….)

The Grand Prize will be announced tomorrow and its 1 winner take all! (drawn from all month entries!)

$1,164 1 year subscription to PLRPro.com
$550 XBOX Guitar Hero Package (or cash depending on availability)
$1,895 SES Chicago Pass
$1,500 Drupal site
$804 1 year subscription to PLRProebooks.com

About the author...

– who has written 2414 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

Images provided by ShutterStock


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{ 90 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Israel October 31, 2007 at 1:43 pm

that sucks cuz i subscribed to both rss and email and was never able to enter not even once. thats not fair man. it blows actually. i wish i was able to be entered somehow.

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2 605videos October 31, 2007 at 1:44 pm

Still, you shocked everyone by pulling that out of the hat right at the end ? Theres gotta be a follow up post soon please ?

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3 Jorge @ InvestingAdventures October 31, 2007 at 1:44 pm

So how’d you do it? My guess is you pasted a picture of your RSS chicklet, added a link, and then updated the picture every so often to show a slight growth in your RSS subscriptions. No way you could have jumped 5k overnight. Very crafty sir.. good job!

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4 605videos October 31, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Well done, if there isn’t a update on this soon you will have a lot of frustrated readers ;-)

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5 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 1:46 pm

hmm 12,000 different entries and you couldnt figure it out =(

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6 Hustle Strategy October 31, 2007 at 1:58 pm

Congrats. Going to be a good story hearing about how it happened…

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7 LeGo October 31, 2007 at 1:59 pm

Agreed, will be nice to see how fast it drops…

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8 Instant Community October 31, 2007 at 2:01 pm

Well lets see, who the lucky winner is! :)

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9 Omar Yesid Mariño October 31, 2007 at 2:08 pm

Congratulations! I don’t like the prepotent John Chow and it’s good that you have won. Anyway, there is a rumor about you cheated to win the contest…

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10 George Kim October 31, 2007 at 2:11 pm

How did you do it? Jump this much in one day? :)

My guess is, you were showing fake RSS numbers throughout this month. Making it look like it’s a close race with John Chow. I believe there is a way to show fake rss numbers by messing with chicklet codes?

Then BAM, last day, you remove fake RSS codes to reveal the real one!

I can’t wait to see follow up post… how you did it. :)

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11 Mubin October 31, 2007 at 2:13 pm

He was too bust losing weight.

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12 Mubin October 31, 2007 at 2:13 pm

I knew it was bound to happen.

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13 larry franks October 31, 2007 at 2:13 pm

john chow got knocked the f@&k out

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14 Mubin October 31, 2007 at 2:14 pm

WINNER!

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15 Roy October 31, 2007 at 2:19 pm

Of course john will say shoemoney cheated. What else can he say? If he knew shoemoney cheated it makes him look worse because it just proves shoemoney knew how to cheat and when to do it.

John Chow claims to be evil! bah!

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16 Qtpies7 October 31, 2007 at 2:21 pm

congratulations on your win!

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17 Higher Money October 31, 2007 at 2:26 pm

Weldone on the victory. I always knew you would prevail :)

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18 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 2:31 pm

yea … where were you when I made the “john chow is kicking my ass” post ;)

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19 WP Themes Gallery October 31, 2007 at 2:37 pm

Shoe, congratulations on the win.

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20 Domtan October 31, 2007 at 2:39 pm

Congratulations Shoe. That was a fascinating last 24 hours on your behalf. The 4K jump/reveal was a rabbit out of a hat moment.

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21 Blog Contests October 31, 2007 at 2:49 pm

Holy crap that would be crafty!

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22 MyGoodFinds October 31, 2007 at 2:51 pm

Congratulations to you and John Chow! Now I know how to bait my readers to use RSS too :) thanks!

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23 hoodmonkey October 31, 2007 at 2:52 pm

the redirects where clever.. did they work? ;)

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24 Gary R. Hess October 31, 2007 at 2:56 pm

Quick! Everyone unsubscribe so John Chow can win ;) j/k

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25 big money October 31, 2007 at 3:03 pm

yeah jeeze! that was pretty awesome, I didn’t see your counter on the Halloween skin of your site, so I thought you had something secret going on in the background so Chow couldn’t see it coming. I thought it would have been crap if Chow won with him being ahead and bragging all through the last part of the month.

Also, you wouldn’t mind sharing how you obtained so much exposure and converts in one month? I could use some of this knowledge of the Shoemoney.

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26 serge October 31, 2007 at 3:11 pm

the real winners will be the ones who now subscribe to two great blogs. I really only read this one though.

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27 Joe October 31, 2007 at 3:17 pm

I have to admit it was quite the interesting finish. I didn’t think you could pull it out, especially with things so quiet over here and John buzzing the entire time. But hey, that’s why you’re one of the best! Congrats to both!

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28 krillz October 31, 2007 at 3:45 pm

well earned! This should keep john quiet, as he’s buzzing and writing about haw great and superior he was started to piss me off.

It’s like you turned on the N02 into the engine and left him way back in a nice cloud of smoke to choke on.

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29 King Jacob October 31, 2007 at 3:52 pm

Pretty impressive, very curious if thats the actual number and not a redirect inflated number.

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30 james October 31, 2007 at 3:54 pm

Shoemoney must have hacked feedburner its the only way

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31 Business Blog October 31, 2007 at 4:04 pm

No way you could have pulled that without cheating…and thats why I am so happy…you have evil’ed’ the evil John Chow…you got to celebrate this in a big way !!
however…I agree bith of you worked out such a contest that none is a looser ! BTW…whose brainchild was this contest?

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32 Roberta October 31, 2007 at 4:13 pm

Great contest! Glad ya came out on top.. ;)

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33 Nomar October 31, 2007 at 4:19 pm

very nice Jeremy :)

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34 Roger October 31, 2007 at 4:22 pm

Ok, now that you have added almost 7k new users (Congrats!), does your method of calculating total income still matter?

Number of rss subscribers x 2 = total income

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35 shoefake October 31, 2007 at 4:29 pm

shoemoney cheated, ugly bald headed liar.

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36 David Savage October 31, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Wow I did not see this coming, over the past month Chow has been bragging how he would win. Nice turnaround Shoe, can’t wait to see who takes the gold.

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37 SonicReducer October 31, 2007 at 4:31 pm

Yep, getting a customer (or subscriber in this case) is one thing. Keeping them is always the challenge.

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38 Black Ha tDomainer October 31, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Hey Jeremy, when will you release the feedburner boaster script? How much will it cost? Congrats!

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39 Domtan October 31, 2007 at 4:43 pm

Based on this performance, you could claim the Evil title too. Depending on whether the 4K jump was an evil tactic or sheer magic.

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40 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 5:05 pm

I emailed him with the idea. ;)

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41 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 5:06 pm

nah time will tell. Incentivized traffic is always poorer quality. Time will tell

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42 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 5:06 pm

you dont have enough money ;)

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43 ShoeMoney October 31, 2007 at 5:07 pm

hey now there is a difference between bald and shaved. Ask your girlfriend ;)

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44 Worknplay October 31, 2007 at 5:10 pm

I am hoping I win the grand prize. been waiting everyday to see if I will win something lol. By the way, congrats, I was telling everybody that you were gonna pull something big at the very end ;-)

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45 Julian October 31, 2007 at 5:22 pm

Thanks for kicking the butt of the uncool internet spammer known as john chow.

Someday people will understand that guys like him are just polluting the internet without adding anything relevant.

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46 Neon October 31, 2007 at 5:37 pm

i am so shock. i think jeremy planned this all along :D
d*mn.. and you purposely made the johnchow kicking your ass post to further mislead us! i think you successfully achieve lots of stuff… surprise us all unexpectedly… shock john… create a buzzzzz whether you are cheater. You must be excitedly waiting for this day to expose the true subscribers count. Hey… stop grinning !!

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47 TenBloggers.com October 31, 2007 at 6:11 pm

Shoe gave a nice Holloween gift to JC.

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48 Mubin October 31, 2007 at 6:19 pm

AWESOME!

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49 Proverbs 10 21 October 31, 2007 at 6:22 pm

***More traffic
***More loyal fans
***tons better prizes
and he had his poker shades(fake chicklet ) on the whole month.

plus
john chow was talking like he won a week ago

i would have paid to see
the look on johns face when he realized what happen!! lol

shoe you da man

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50 Domtan October 31, 2007 at 6:27 pm

Jeremy, did you plan this all along, the outcome, in this matter, or did you only pulled out the bag of tricks when John Chow was in the lead?

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51 John M Weaver October 31, 2007 at 6:33 pm

“hey now there is a difference between bald and shaved. Ask your girlfriend ” …Nice Shoe! …Still laughing!

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52 Rick October 31, 2007 at 7:43 pm

Well played my brother! That was awesome.. especially since he was talkin smack and you were playin the ole “I’m so busy” card.. very nice

*golf clap*

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53 Ginene October 31, 2007 at 7:47 pm

Nice Halloween look. You are correct you both win. That is a great way to get readers to subscribe.

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54 Max October 31, 2007 at 7:54 pm

Dude, that Grand Prize is so awesome. I hope i get picked. I’ve put my name in the hat the whole time, maybe this last one is it. Fingers crossed.

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55 賃貸 大阪 October 31, 2007 at 7:56 pm

Nice work beating him. I can’t really get into his blog, he makes it sound so easy.

Next, you should have a contest for Youtube subscribers with Aaron Wall.

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56 jim October 31, 2007 at 9:25 pm

Congrats dude, i like the redesign… how long will this last? :)

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57 hisgirlfriend October 31, 2007 at 9:45 pm

Trust me…she shaves….

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58 tom October 31, 2007 at 10:53 pm

Nice job shoe! Proving once again that you are in a league of your own.

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59 Jonathan Volk November 1, 2007 at 12:15 am

SICK Prizes. :D

Question: HOW the heck did you get so many subscribers so quickly?!?!?! I was amazed at the huge increase.

~Jonathan

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60 Jonathan Volk November 1, 2007 at 12:16 am

Forgot to ask, whats your current value per subscriber?! :D I am curious.

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61 lyricsreg November 1, 2007 at 12:58 am

New contest : who loses more subscribers in one month :)

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62 lyricsreg November 1, 2007 at 12:59 am

I had my doubts towards the end :)

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63 ismar November 1, 2007 at 1:04 am

LMFAO MAN WTF? 21K now? this nigga just dont stop

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64 Neil Duckett November 1, 2007 at 2:03 am

And the count just keep growin!

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65 Jack November 1, 2007 at 3:01 am

and it’s keep growing, since now john chow readers also be curious about how The Shoe did this. now they subscribed with hope The Shoe will expose his tricks. what? you said i’m wrong? well at least, i will subscribe now, i hope Shoe will expose his tricks :p

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66 nobody special. November 1, 2007 at 3:17 am

Shoe, that was awesome of you to set up our village with new computers. Thank you. We told everyone and they all wanted email accounts and the free money you’re giving away. You’re such a nice man!

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67 Mubin November 1, 2007 at 3:30 am

I was on the other end of that Im so busy card.

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68 Domtan November 1, 2007 at 4:12 am

Jumped to 21K. Now that is impressive!

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69 Thousand Dollar Project November 1, 2007 at 4:29 am

Congrats on your win shoemoney and congrats to the eventual winner!

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70 $1000 Dollar Project November 1, 2007 at 4:56 am

thats a massive 1 day increase man! well done, i just checked john chow and even he’s bowing to the awesome shoemoney

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71 Thor Schrock November 1, 2007 at 6:25 am

Great job Jeremy. You have a gift for promotion that is unrivaled on the Internet in my opinion.

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72 Mubin November 1, 2007 at 6:38 am

Maybe, just maybe shoe had a site where there were alot of visitors but none were making him any money, so SHoe redirected them to his feed….

nah, that didnt happen.

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73 Mubin November 1, 2007 at 6:39 am

Thats what she said.

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74 maurizio November 1, 2007 at 7:21 am

Congrats, I was saying the same thing.. both wins. Actually he won more than you because he learnt more on how to market his RSS. I’m pretty sure you used more sites to skyroket your RSS stats. :D

Check my blog to see a nice chart with the stats. (anyone feel free to copy it; referrals are welcome :D )

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75 Israel November 1, 2007 at 8:38 am

so thats your response? I see. thx for the help.

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76 Ventrilo November 1, 2007 at 8:43 am

congrats on the win

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77 charles November 1, 2007 at 8:56 am

after bumping to 18K, now it’s 21K.. wow , that’s awesome. Shoe, maybe in no time you’ll catch up with Darren. :)

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78 Chris November 1, 2007 at 9:40 am

Congrats, mate! I knew you could do it. And thanks a lot for the prize.

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79 Gecko Tales November 1, 2007 at 12:00 pm

Sending out brain waves for me to win. sending brain waves…

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80 jim November 1, 2007 at 3:23 pm

Release the winners already! :)

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81 Neon November 1, 2007 at 4:42 pm

seems like the subscribers still increase crazily.

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82 JoeTech.com November 1, 2007 at 5:21 pm

No grand prize winner announcement yet? You’re killin’ me!

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83 Tracy Robinson November 1, 2007 at 7:51 pm

Great reply, that is why you are the Shoemoney, I saw an old shoe in the road today and my first thought was, man if it had money in it, it would be Shoemoney.

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84 Catherine L November 5, 2007 at 1:40 pm

Must confess I couldn’t get the hang of RSS. But I had flu – so I was braindead.

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85 motorsportBABESau November 5, 2007 at 9:49 pm

Being a big John Chow fan I still cant believe you won. The fact that you won is the reason I am here reading your site today!

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86 chetan November 6, 2007 at 2:52 am

Congrats jeremy for officially winning it, although both are good workers in their fields.

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87 Joeychgo November 8, 2007 at 11:52 am

the contest was great on many levels Shoe. Great Job.

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88 Tony Smith November 8, 2007 at 2:52 pm

Either way you look at it, it was a BRILLIANT marketing idea you guys had!

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89 Wakish November 14, 2007 at 7:41 pm

You guys rock!

- Wakish -

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90 Reverse Funnel System Blog November 24, 2007 at 7:50 pm

Cool prices :D

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