A-List Experiment Revisited

As I travel the “Make Money Online” blog world, I have noticed a growing resentment towards the more successful bloggers….the so called A-Listers. I have seen a number of blogs writing with a tone that shows displeasure towards these A-listers.

The overall theme seems to be a feeling of resentment that they don’t share their make money methods or that they won’t provide a free education for their readers. Is this warranted? Is it jealousy? Are they justified?

I wrote an article about 7 days ago saying that I was going to conduct an A-List Experiment. I subscribed to the feeds of the Top 10 Make Money Online blogs from the 45n5.com Top 100 list and followed them closely for the last 7 days to judge for myself whether they offered anything of value to other Make Money Onliners.

I would be remiss if I did not mention that the definition of value is very broad, so broad that it really can’t be defined. It can’t be defined because it is a different thing to different people. I can only write from my perspective and you can take that for what it’s worth.

Top 10

Pro Blogger – 1st up on the Top 10 is ProBlogger. I have to say Problogger Rocks! I have been a fan of this blog since I started reading blogs. Darren makes no claims of teaching anyone to make money online however he does a number of things to give back to the blogging community. A number of How To articles permeate his blog and one of my favorites are his Community Blog Consulting series. He also blogs on a very wide variety of topics as well so he offers something for everyone. If this blog isn’t in your reader then you are missing out.

Shoe Money – This is one of the more popular blogs in the Make Money world but I have to say I am not sure why. Jeremy seems like a quality guy and probably makes more in a week than most of us will make in our lifetimes online but his blog is not my thing. I have subscribed to him for quite some time and it seems like his blog is more of a gripe line than a blog. Maybe I am taking him wrong but it seems a week doesn’t pass without him taking a shot at someone for something.

John Chow – Ahh the villainous John Chow. John seems to be the target of every hater on the planet and I have to say it’s probably pure jealousy. John has become what every one of these haters aspires to be but yet they still rail on him for being successful. When I first started reading blogs I, like everyone else, always checked out what he had to say but in the months since I have taken him out of my reader. I couldn’t care less what he has to eat or what his corporate tax structure is. I’ve only tuned in for the last 7 days but it seemed like he is phoning it in. 8 out of the 11 posts this week were guest posts….and some truly awful ones at that. John….no hate for what you’ve accomplished, just not a fan.

Dosh Dosh – I have been reading this blog for a few weeks now, even before this experiment began. It is a super clean blog with a great writing style. I would call it a “white collar” blog. Some of our blogs wear jeans and a t-shirt to work, this one puts on a suit. Very polished and proper and is the kind of blog that we all like to read. It might have the evilness of John Chow but the content makes me think about things on a different level and I need all the help I can get there.

Performancing – What a welcome surprise this blog turned out to be. I checked it out after starting this experiment and I am glad I did. I don’t have much history with the site other than the 7 days that I have been following it but I like what I see so far. A lot of informative posts with helpful information for any level of blogger. If you aren’t reading them now then check it out…it’s much more helpful than reading about what someone ate for dinner.

Daily Blog Tips – Another great site. This blog covers a ton of different topics but all designed to make you a better blogger or bring some kind of value to your blogging experience. Part of the reason the blog has many personalities is that it is a multi-author blog, which brings that much more experience to the table. I read it weekly and with 8946 RSS readers they must be doing something right.

Entrepreneurs-Journey - This was the very first blog that I ever read when I stumbled across “blogging.” I spent hours in Yaro’s archives reading what he had to write and became quite a fan. It seems to me that the personality of Yaro’s blog has changed over the last year. In the early days he would write informative posts and tried hard to interact with his readers but it appears that his recent content is geared much more heavily (imho) towards internet marketing and product launches. I am still a fan but for any newbies out be aware that Yaro makes his living online for a reason.

Courtney Tuttle – Courtney Tuttle Rocks! What can I say about this blog other than one of the most informative and content laden blogs out there. Court goes out of his way to provide value to his readers and SHARES what he knows. If anyone wants to find a blog where they can LEARN something then you only need to go as far as here. Check it out today and you will find yourself lost in his archives. It’s the equivalent to a college education.

Vandelay Design – I would have never considered any site with “design” in the title to be a make money site but that shows what I know. As many of you know I am a big fan of having a compelling design, I think that many people will decide to read your blog based on its appearance so maybe a design site is a good read. I will keep this blog in my reader to see what he has to offer over the next few weeks. At first glance it looks like a site worth reading.

45n5 – The originator of the famed Top 100 list. Mark is a cool blogger who might be looking to reinvent himself as an Internet marketer rather than a Make Money Onliner. I like his site, it’s obvious that he has a ton of knowledge and brings a lot of value to the blog world….especially if you are looking to sell advertising space on your site. If you haven’t seen it yet…check out Show Your Ad Here.

Conclusion

So what have I learned? Value is different things to different people. You cannot assign value to something based on your own opinion but that shouldn’t ever stop you from having your own opinion or being able to speak it. I could tell from my original article that most readers expected this to be a slamfest or a hate filled rant. Sorry but this isn’t the Jerry Springer blog.

I also think that to do an article like this a service you would have to subscribe to their feeds for much longer than 7 days….in some cases that was only 2 or 3 posts which is hardly enough content to judge the blog on. Fortunately I already subscribed to many of them but still 7 days is not even close to enough time.

While writing this article I did start thinking about people’s behavior and what makes them tick. One question that kept coming to mind is why do make money onliners expect ANY of these sites to share how they make money online? I don’t think a single one claims to be a site dedicated to helping people make money online.

Still there is a real perception that they should be offering these services. I am not sure where this thought process develops from but I think it stems from people’s natural desire to take the easy way out. They think that they are entitled to reap the benefits of the bloggers hard work.

You only need to look at the line at the lottery machine to see America’s penchant for the easy way out. We want someone else to give us a step by step guide to making money online. We want the easy way out.

That is how internet marketers like Yaro are able to make their income online. Advertisers will spend a small fortune to hawk their product on John Chow’s blog because they know thousands of readers visit every day looking for the easy way out. Be leary of these products, sometimes they are very valuable and sometimes they aren’t.

Here’s the best free advice you will ever get. Making money online isn’t easy, it isn’t fast, it requires a TON of work, long hours and a lot of luck. There is a very good chance that even with all of the above you still won’t be successful so if you aren’t willing to work hard and put in the time then I would recommend that you quit now. Save the time, effort and energy because you have unrealistic expectations.

So I’ve shared my thoughts on the Top 10….I would love to hear what YOU have to say on the subject.