Tech Blog Review: Musings of a Young Tech Mogul

JohnChow.com isn't your regular tech-news blog. Instead of just being a dry recitation of the latest tech happenings, this site is an immediate, personal look at ways to use the Web to make money and make life easier, from someone who practices what he preaches.

The home page shows an expensive sports car and features the tagline, "The Miscellaneous Ramblings of a Dot Com Mogul." This made me think that this guy must be some high-and-mighty corporate technology executive... that and the fact that the article that brought me to JohnChow.com was provocatively titled "The Biggest Google Whores" (which I commented on when I first discovered it).

In that entry Chow sought to rank the individuals who had the highest AdSense earnings from their Web sites. It was an intriguing look at how individuals who started out with nothing more than good ideas had managed to make big bucks through the AdSense, including the two founders of Digg.com.

And it turns out that John Chow is himself a thirty-something guy who started his own tech Web site, not some corporate suit. In the Google whores entry and others on the site, he addresses topics ranging from how he's tweaked his Web sites to get the most traffic and clicks from AdSense to cool new gadgets that he's used. I liked the fact that he wasn't some wealthy dude bragging about his wealth; he's someone who built his business from the ground up and was enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge with others. Readers often comment on Chow's entries, and Chow responds to many of those comments and questions.

Blogs often include personal content, and JohnChow.com is no exception. When not blogging about AdSense or search engine optimization he'll talk about dinners with visiting family members, including photos of some absolutely scrumptious looking Asian dishes. (I try not to read JohnChow.com on an empty stomach.) If Chow is indeed a mogul, he's not the stuffy kind who spends all day hunched over a computer or analyzing stock charts. He seems like the kind of guy who sees wealth and success as just one part of a life well lived, one that includes family, fun, and giving back.

I would recommend JohnChow.com to any blogger or other person who is looking to make money from his or her Web site, or to learn how to make a Web site more attractive and more popular with visitors.