October 31st has arrived and since we love to have fun and party, we thought that a costume contest would be a good time.  Barring one particularly questionable costume (Dean) the staff who have decided to participate in the contest are pictured below.  We are giving out a grand prize of $250.00 in cash.  I fought for a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd winner, but was out voted.  There are some really good spirited employees at Pepperjam and I am very lucky to be able to work with them on a daily basis.  Good employees make any job enjoyable, but I truly feel that we have some of the best staff in the Internet Marketing industry. Since we are not voting until 5:00, I cannot tell you the winner right now, but check it out after 5:00 and I will let you know.  We love feedback and opinions so please feel free to comment on whose outfit you think is the best.  I personally think that there should be about 5 winners, because the effort that went into some of the costumes was great! To those of you who have participated, thank you so much.  To the winner…congrats. There was stiff competition and you prevailed.  To the losers…better luck next year.  The stakes will increase.

Have fun and enjoy your Halloween 2006.  Be careful and smart.  Oh, as an FYI, I was not one of the participating Pepperjam employees.  Not because I do not get in the holiday spirit, but I really like being me!  Bye for now.

 Robyn

                     

Pepperjam President & CEO talks about politics and missed opportunity through search-engine marketing on the behalf of political candidates.  Why aren’t candidates using paid search?  Come on…aren’t they reading about the fact that search-engine marketing is the fastest growing segment of advertising….growing at a much faster clip than television, radio, print, billboards, etc.  Hey candidates, there is this company called Google…who have a marketing platform called Google Adwords – wouldn’t you want to show up in the search results in your particular district when someone types in “Economic Development?”  Give us a call

Several months ago at SES – San Jose we met Marcus (aka, Mediadonis) from CIA.de.  Marcus is one of the top SEO’s in the world and is well-known throughout Germany as one of their top SEO’s and internet marketers.  Let’s put it this way, when Michael Jones, Pepperjam’s COO suggested to Marcus that Pepperjam and CIA talk about a partnership in Germany Marcus said, “I don’t even get out of bed for less than $100K per month.”  Now that’s aggressive.  LOL.  However, after spending several days with Marcus in San Jose and learning that he truly is a bad ass internet marketer, we thought it would be a great idea to meet up with Marcus for a long weekend in New York City to prospect business in Germany, discuss search arbitrage in the United States, and to enjoy a long-weekend of fun, friendship, and celebration….yada, yada, yada.

The meeting place was NYC.  Representing from Pepperjam were Robyn Martin (Pepperjam’s Director of Affiliate Marketing), Michael Jones (Pepperjam’s COO / General Counsel), Tracy Chesman (Vice-President of igourmet.com) and myself.  Marcus arrived from Germany on Friday with his beautiful girlfriend Cloudia.

CLICK HERE for pictures from the trip.

Day #1:

Marcus and Cloudia arrived at the swanky Bryant Park Hotel on Saturday around 1:00pm EST where both Michael and I had rooms.  Michael and I spent all day Saturday with Marcus, while the girls (Robyn, Tracy & Cloudia) went shopping.  Room service was a little caught off gaurd when I called them at like 1:15pm to order a few 6-packs of beer – they told me that the downstairs bar didn’t actually start serving alcohol until 5:00pm – I reminded them that I was paying $750 a night for a suite and that I’d like some premium beer for a business friend from Germany…10 minutes later I got a call back from the front desk and they asked me if Stella Artois would be OK – Stella – absolutely!  Anyway…a few hours and Stella’s later we were blown away by Marcus – he is the real deal and his SEO skills are as solid as just about any industry person I’ve ever met.  By the way, I’ve been in this industry for a very long time.  Yes, he’s aggressive and clearly understands the benefits of a blend of black and white hat, but what is most impressive is that Marcus has created a number of really cool SEO tools that can be used anywhere, regardless of geographical location.  In short, this SEO Rockstar is for real.

After nursing some Stella’s at the Bryant Park we decided to meet-up with the girls for a quick drink prior to coming home and showering before a night on the town.  Robyn wanted to eat at Asia De Cuba; however, they were booked so Tracy recommended we eat at Sushi Samba, which turned out to be an outstanding choice. Dinner was amazing, the espresso martini’s were off-the-hook, and we had an awesome experience.  After Sushi Samba we went back to the Bryant Park Hotel, home to one of the premier clubs and celebrity hangouts in NYC - the Cellar Bar.

By the way, Marcus is co-host of seoFM.com – the German equivalent of Webmasterradio.fm.  In addition, rumor has it that Marcus and his co-host have been given their own show on WebmasterradioFM with a start date sometime in early 2007.

Day #2:

After shopping most of the day away on 5th Avenue in NYC we decided to stop by Madame Tussauds wax museum on 42nd and Broadway.  We all had a blast – it is quite amazing that just about all of the celebrities and political icons look so real even up close.  After Madame Tussauds we went to one of my favorite Italian resturant’s in the city called Patsy’s.  Once again dinner was amazing – we actually sat next to Peter Falk (aka Columbo), which was pretty cool.  There was also some celeb game show host that we couldn’t figure out his name or what show he was on.

Day #3:

On Monday we met up at American Airlines Theatre for the 24-Hour Plays - sponsored in part by our client igourmet.com.  The 24 Hour Plays is an on-broadway production that includes a “one-time only” cast of celebrities who get together 22 hours before show time…it is the first time they are all together – the celebrities break into groups (usually 4 – 6) and are assigned a director and the other usual production folks (sound, lights, etc.).  Get this…for the first meeting the only thing the celebrity actors are asked to contribute is a prop and some ideas for a story line.  After a few hour introduction among the actors and directors, the actors go home only to come back early the next morning (around 7:00am or so) to learn their acting roles and begin practicing their scripts that will become a LIVE Broadway production later that evening.  By the way – the directors don’t sleep – they write, edit, produce, and re-write the script throughout the night.  One of the directors was Andrew McCarthy – the dude from Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo’s Fire, and Weekend at Bernie’s II (loved that!).

You’re probably thinking - why would all these actors and actresses volunteer to participate in the 24 Hour Plays?  Easy – the production benefits Working Playground, an extraordinary non-profit organization that helps to promote art and music in underserved schools and communities.  I became involved with the 24 Hour Plays three-years ago when a personal friend of mine, Spencer Chesman, President & CEO of igourmet.com, invited me to the event.  As I mentioned, igourmet is a sponsor of the event (they provided all the cheese and gourmet foods to the actors prior to the event.

The celebrity line-up for this event was highlighted by Jennifer Aniston – in fact, this was Jennifer Aniston’s broadway debut so you can imagine the amount of paparazzi in attendance – it was crazy!  Other actors and actresses included Elizabeth Berkley, Erika Christensen (TV’s 6 Degrees), David Cross, Rachel Dratch, Michael Ealy, Gabrielle Hoffman, Matthew Lillard, Anthony Mackie, Julianna Margulies, Rosie Perez, Sam Rockwell, Liev Schreiber, Pablo Schreiber, Wallace Shawn, Fisher Stevens and Catherine Tate (The Catherine Tate Show, Doctor Who), and Nia Vardalos, with directors Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl), Andrew McCarthy, Ian Morgan (The New Group), Josie Rourke and Indhu Rubasingham and writers including Adam Bock, David Ives and Adam Rapp.

A bunch of friends met-up at the pre-party.  Brock Siegel (Pepperjam’s Vice-President of Business Development) drove to NYC for the event as did a bunch of executives from igourmet.  Pepperjammers Robyn Martin and Mike Jones also attended the pre-party, along with other close friends of igourmet and Pepperjam.

The play began at around 8:00pm.  The actual production of the play is quite amazing – the fact that the actors had less than 12 hours to learn their scripts and put on the play make for a great LIVE show – My favorite actors were probably Jennifer Aniston, Rachel Dratch (SNL), Wallace Shawn (Vincini in The Princess Bride), Rosie Perez, and Elizabeth Berkley (Showgirls / Saved by the Bell).  When Julianna Margulies (ER) forgot her lines and did an impromtu comedy skit it was pretty impressive – she is really an awesome actress.

After the show (around 10:30pm) we had tickets for the VIP after-party.  If you haven’t been to a celebrity, red carpet after-party it’s a pretty bad ass experience.  Just become friends with Pepperjam and we’ll take you to one.  All of the actors and actresses were readily accessible (aside from getting their picture taken by paparazzi and talking to reporters) at the party.  Marcus and Cloudia met up with us for the after party – they seemed like they had an awesome time and really enjoyed meeting a lot of the celebs.

I should mention that Pepperjam’s own Brock Siegel was interviewed by E! Entertainment Television about how he thought Jennifer Aniston performed – he had calls from all over the country from friends and industry people who saw his brief interview.  By the way – we want to thank Brock for wearing his pepperjamMANAGEMENT t-shirt – you never know when you are going to get interviewed by the national press…LOL.

Well..the night did eventually have to end and we had to part with Marcus and Cloudia.  However, we had a simply amazing several days hanging out with this SEO Rockstar and sweet model girlfriend – we look forward to working with Marcus on some Pepperjam Germany initiatives.

Until next year…

BOO!

With it being so close to Halloween I thought this would be an opportune time to provide my loyal readers (which I am sure is in the millions at this point, lookout Shoemoney) with not only some tricks but also some treats; some related to e-commerce and some not so much. Let’s start with something fun:

GooGhoul: This is a great website for Halloween and a great play on words. You type in your address and what comes up you ask? Why, Halloween events in your area of course. This is much better than relying on your friends since they are probably wrong most of the time anyway. Too bad it is only useful once a year.

Wave Guide Antenna: Got no dough for a commercial WiFi antenna? Looking for an inexpensive way to increase the range of your wireless network? A tin can waveguide antenna, or Cantenna, may be just the ticket. This design can be built for under $5 U.S. and reuses a food, juice, or other tin can. Very interesting and can be hidden from those pesky feds.

Roller Coaster Tycoon: If you have ever played this game you know it can get a little boring and sometimes you need to break up the monotony of running an efficient amusement park with a little carnage. So to all you Evil Geniuses and Ne’er-do-wells, enjoy!

Friend4Days: A great twist on the old pen pal routine. Essentially you sign up and you are given a friend, no picture, no info, just an email address. It is pretty neat that they make you get to know them first before you ever get to see a picture of this “friend”.

IceBrrg: Finally, and last in the fun stuff category, someone has created a website that allows you to make simple web forms for your website or blog. Just cut and paste the info and you can start collecting data for your spam list in no time. (Just don’t say you heard it here.)

Subliminal Spam: The argument of subliminal advertising has been hotly debated for years. Ever since that one day they flashed Drink Coke! in a movie theatre subliminal advertising has become legend and lore. The same effect has never been duplicated. Anyway, leave it to the spam “marketers” to try it again, and this time not even at subliminal speeds. It is so blatant and half-assed that it completely takes away from the lore of the elusive subliminal advertising. Anyway, it must be an abysmal failure and I hope they come up with something more creative than ripping off a fifty year old idea and then ruining it.

Also, keep your eyes out in the coming weeks for special blog posts, and very special one coming in December, more on that as the date nears.

When I came up with the title for this posting, I had to do some serious thinking in order to compare the two.  I love both football and affiliate marketing, and I figured that there has to be some sort of a common ground between them…and I think that I have found it.
So, let’s start with the Indianapolis Colts and Upromise.  Both are very powerful organizations.  Right now, the Colts have not really had a serious breakdown (except for the 1st quarter against my Redskins last weekend) but it is come to be expected that they will prevail.  They are the big team with big expectations, strong players, and good management.  Upromise is the big loyalty affiliate, similar to the Colts.  We expect so many things from them, as we do from the Colts, however what if they do not perform.  Do we loose trust in them?  Do we abandon our loyalty toward them?  Would you give up on the Colts…never, when you are a fan, you are pretty much a fan for a long time.  Of course there are exceptions, but pretty much, you stick with your team…win or lose.  I am a Upromise fan.
Next, I would like to tackle the San Diego Chargers, and compare them to a coupon affiliate.  Both rely on a special player to succeed.  When I was at The Affiliate Summit in Orlando this past year, I sat in on a session featuring Brad, from BradsDeals.com.  Brad flat out said that he relies on coupons and will not take on a merchant without them.  In this case, Brad relies on one thing to make his site work…as do the Chargers.  They rely on LT to make their team work.  Both BradsDeals.com and the Chargers gear their organizations around one thing…but what if that one thing stops performing?  Where does that leave Brad and the chargers?  Should they be building a backup to rely on?  Now, I like coupon sites and I try to get Pepperjam merchants on them, but I also manage accounts that do not believe in coupons.  Do I get sacked?
Lastly, I would like to compare a search marketing affiliate to the Philadelphia Eagles.  The Eagles have strong players at key positions in both offense and defense.  Search affiliates utilize the two major search engines…Google and Yahoo, to draw traffic.  They realize that although one search engine may be more powerful then the other, they come with a strong presence on both.  Offense and Google tend to be more exciting, or at least more of a draw but no one in their right mind can push defense and Yahoo to the back burner.  I will compare Brian Westbrook to Google and The Dawg to Yahoo.  To make the Eagles work, both are needed, and to make Search Marketing successful for affiliates, both Google and Yahoo are needed.  You can try to survive for a little while without one or the other, but you will not win the Superbowl, nor will your affiliate business be successful.
 So that is it, my comparison of football and affiliate marketing.  Hope it was insightful and useful.  Stay tuned for more.
 

Ok this title might not make sense at first but once you see what I have in store it will completely fill all the voids. I was reading my usual list of lunchtime websites when I came across a link for something called DropSpots. It was described like this:

“To some, it has sweet romantic connotations, to others, it screams of drug trafficking. This is DropSpots, and here’s how it works.

Hidden amongst your neighborhood, DropSpots is a secret nook or cranny where you can leave gifts or notes for people in your hood. Think of it as an alternative mailbox. Through the DropSpots site you can locate a DropSpots near you, or create one yourself. You may want to leave a neighbor you have a crush on a teddy bear or a miniature horse head on a dolly’s pillow for someone you can’t stand. DropSpots is a cute way of bringing your neighborhood together (or tear it apart)”

As you can see from the description this is a pretty novel idea, except for the fact that it is a tactic taken from the Russian Mafia. They used to do exactly the same thing, sans the internet, to deliver their drugs to all of the dealers they had working for them. The mob would drop it off, the dealers would pick it up, no person to person contact and it looks less suspicious.

Anyway this whole concept got me thinking about promotional advertising. We have all heard of the campaigns where you have to find a golden can of soup or something like that, and you can win a new car or a million bucks (tired prizes in my opinion). This is an interesting opportunity for local companies or national companies for that matter to really do some interactive advertising, promotions and contests. Imagine seeing a localized commercial for Coca-Cola, that not only mentions your town name but also has advertising tailored specifically to your area. It would be pretty neat if companies created some drop spots, left some items, coupons, etc… for residents to find. This would, in essence, help to relieve them of the “faceless corporation” adage and help build their reputation and image. The possibilities are endless.

I am going to create a Pepperjam DropSpots right now, I don’t know what I will leave there yet, maybe just a note but it will be fun.

On another note I am having a B-Day Bash tonight, so I am signing off to lace up the old drinkin’ boots. (For root beer of course)

Sayonara

Dean Karasinski, Pepperjam’s resident search and affiliate master, whitehat, wanna-be blackhat, hip, funky-ass, former pipefitter, get out of my way I wear a bullet-belt & skullcap, CJ-expert, azoogle-expert, linkshare expert, everything affiliate expert, search guru, Google Professional and Yahoo Ambassador celebrates his birthday today.

 Happy Birthday Dean!

CLICK HERE to sign-up for ecomXpo for Free – I’ve included a special link that they gave me since I am moderating a panel at the event.

I’ll be moderating a panel at ExcomXpo entitled the “Next Generation Affiliate Marketing: Taking Affiliate Marketing to the Next Level” on Tuesday, October 24th from Noon to 1pm (cst). 

eComXpo features all the benefits of a top traditional tradeshow without the cost, travel or hassle associated with traditional events. Attendees and exhibitors interact with over 7,000 people via chat or e-mail, attend educational presentations by top industry experts, visit over 300 booths in the exhibit hall and enter to win fantastic prizes. The best part is that it’s all done without leaving the comfort of your own home or office.

See you there!

OK – if you don’t listen to Webmaster Radio (WMR) on a regular basis you should.  You don’t need to be a .com junkie or an online marketing director to appreciate all the useful how-to information, shop talk, and commentary that WMR deals out for FREE over the net.  The internet-only radio station includes some of the most dynamic, experienced and well-spoken internet experts from around the world, including many Pepperjam friends such as Todd Friesen aka Oilman & WebGuerrilla aka Greg Boser who host “SEO Rockstars.”  In addition, you have the infamous Jeremy Schoemaker aka ShoeMoney who currently has the #1 most listened to show on WMR called “Net Income.” Here are some of my other favorite shows: “The Daily Search Cast” with SEM Guru Danny Sullivan, “Click This!” with Jenn Slegg aka Jensense, and “Strike Point” with Mikkel deMib Svendsen & Dave Naylor.

By the way – I’ve appeared on WMR twice with my friend Shoemoney – Download “Show #1 Here.  Download “Show #2 Here.  Shoe and I go into detail about our experience making money using Search Arbitrage and other related online marketing strategies.

To get details on LIVE WMR Shows click here, to listen to WMR right now click here (Windows Media) or here (RealPlayer), and to check out an archive of past WMR shows click here.

Aside from throwing great parties like WMR did recently at SES – San Jose, the staff of WMR and the radio show hosts are outstanding.  If you want to get connected to what’s going on in the online space, tune into WMR.

Enjoy!

Hey – I’ll be moderating a panel at ExcomXpo entitled the “Next Generation Affiliate Marketing: Taking Affiliate Marketing to the Next Level” on Tuesday, October 24th from Noon to 1pm (cst).  I’ve got to be honest – while I’ve spoken at numerous shows over the last several years I’ve never been part of a panel (let alone moderating) with such distinguished speakers.  Included on the panel is Todd Crawford (former face of Commission Junction), Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Digital River’s affiliate network, oneNetwork, Chris Henger, VP of Affiliate Marketing at Performics, and Linda Woods, President of PartnerCentric.

There are two parts to the panel.  First, there will be a lively 45-minute discussion and debate between, Linda, Chris, Todd and I about a number of important topics, including the future of PPC search affiliates in light of Google’s apparent push to minimize search arbitrage, the need by merchants for greater affiliate transparency and communication systems, and the effect of web services technology on affiliate marketing.  The second part of the panel will include a LIVE Q & A with each of us on the panel.

Since you’re probably interested in knowing how you can listen to the panel and ask me and some of the other panelists questions, I’ve included some template info from a recent release found here sent out by EcomXpo:

eComXpo features all the benefits of a top traditional tradeshow without the cost, travel or hassle associated with traditional events. Attendees and exhibitors interact with over 7,000 people via chat or e-mail, attend educational presentations by top industry experts, visit over 300 booths in the exhibit hall and enter to win fantastic prizes. The best part is that it’s all done without leaving the comfort of your own home or office.

Attendee registration at eComXpo is absolutely free and includes admittance to the exhibit halls, education center, networking lounge and eligibility for all show prizes throughout the three day trade show.

eComXpo recently introduced an exciting new educational feature eComXpo University, giving subscribers four months on-demand access to over 175 ecommerce marketing presentations, both newly created exclusively for the University, as well as archived presentations from the February 2005, October 2005, April 2006 and October 2006 eComXpo shows.

Being a part of eComXpo is a valuable experience for all participants and attendance is free. To get more information or to register as an attendee please visit eComXpo at www.ecomxpo.com. We’ll see you online at eComXpo!

About eComXpo
eComXpo is the first virtual, online trade show and conference for eCommerce marketers. Its fourth show is October 24-26, 2006. Over 300 exhibitors, sponsors, and presenters will be gathering with over 7,000 attendees (making it the largest eCommerce tradeshow in the world), completely online and 100% free to attend. eComXpo provides all the benefits of a top tradeshow without the cost, travel or hassle normally associated with traditional events. eComXpo is hosted by Virtual Trade Show which also powers online events in other markets.

For more information contact eComXpo at 847-295-6100.

If you end up listening to the panel make sure to come back here and give me feedback.