A few times a week I type “pepperjam” into Technorati - the #2 blog search engine - to see what people are saying. Every once in a while I’ll stumble upon someone saying something about Pepperjam that catches my attention. For instance, recently Shoemoney proclaimed that Pepperjam, “is the world’s largest SEM agency.” About two weeks ago I found out through technorati that Pepperjam Blog was nominated for “Affiliate Blog of the Year” by Search Engine Journal. Just a few weeks before that I was surprised to find out that I had coined a new word during a speech I gave at Search-Engine Strategies - Chicago - the word was GARBITRAGE and I used it when outlining the fundamental differences between MFA search arbitrage and SEM affiliate arbitrage. However, most recently Technorati helped me discover that I was dugg by THE “SEO Loser.”

SEO Loser dusted off and blogged in detail about one of my (personal) highlights of 2006 - me being interviewed on Shoemoney’s Net Income Webmaster Radio Show. Actually, Shoemoney interviewed me twice (First Interview Here / Second Interview Here) about making money with affiliate marketing using search arbitrage and other tricks. Anyway, SEO Loser definitely impressed me with his ability to extract some key money making moments from the interview’s.

Specifically, SEO Loser focuses on what was probably my top money making tip. The money making secret is to find an affiliate marketing method that pays you $50 or so on a monthly basis and then scaling it through replication. For instance, join one of the major affiliate networks like Commission Junction , Linkshare, or Digital River - they have thousands of merchant programs to join. Figure out a way of making $50 or more per merchant, per month and you’ll make some serious cash. Use search (PPC arbitrage / SEO), coupon & deal pages, product feeds or whatever you can creatively think of to generate the money…but the key is this: ONCE YOU FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE THE MONEY - REPLICATE IT.

In a reply on the SEO Loser blog, I admit to him that this is the exact strategy I’ve used to make a lot of money as an affiliate marketer - therefore, I thought it was worth noting here for other internet entrepreneurs to consider.

The truth is that I used the same concept SEO Loser blogs about to generate enough captial to launch my own full-service internet marketing company - Pepperjam and grow it to the point where it has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States (Inc. Magazine, 2006).

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I would like to take a moment to thank all of the affiliates who contributed to our many merchant’s success this holiday season.  Affiliates are a huge part of my everyday life, and are sometimes not given the credit they deserve.  I purposefully omitted websites as to maintain a level of privacy.  I am sure that I will miss a few, but I would like to personally thank the following people, as you have impacted myself and/or my co-workers substantially.

1.   Daniel W, you guys are great to work with and get things done in a very professional manner.

2.   Sok, thanks for always taking our merchants and giving us great placement on your site.

3.  Dave Y, you are so easy to get along with and when we talk, I can tell you are smiling on the other end of that phone. (me too)

4.   Asif, you are on the cutting edge of technology and I admire your accomplishments.

5.  Hsufeng, you are truly a pleasure to work with and so on top of your game.

6.  Mattias, thanks for the great placement on your site.  There should be more affiliates like you. 

7.  Janna, I know all of the hard work you put in to promoting the urban fashion merchants, and I am glad that you campaign has so far been successful.

8.  Sylvia, you have seriously impressed me with your skills in search marketing.  You are wonderful.

9.  Sajnish, thanks for being so willing to promote the Pepperjam clients.  We are going to make you a small fortune in 2007.

10.   Melissa, Debbie, and crew, thanks for being so professional.

11.  Kendyl and Roger, thanks for everything.

12.  David and Stephen, not only are you guys two of the nicest people in the industry, but you are two of the smartest.

13.  Hector and Hollie, thanks for all of your efficiency and hard work.  You guys are one of my all time favorite affiliates.

14.  Hi Rod, thanks for being so creative and willing to think outside the box.  The urban programs are going to explode on your site.

15.  Len M, you are so eager to give and take advice, and that is a great quality.

16.  Greg and Cindy, what you guys have going over there in San Fran is very impressive.

17.  Elena, if it was up to me, you would have more then one Golden Link Award.  You are pleasant and very insightful.

18.  Sharon, I am glad that we formed a relationship this past year.  All of the pages your team created for my urban apparel clients were impressive.

So, like I said, there are probably at least 15 more that I did not get to mention, and I am sorry for that.  I’ll get you next year.  I am looking forward to an amazing 2007 and a chance for us to form stronger relationships.  Pepperjam keeps growing we can’t wait to take you along for the ride.  I hope that you all have a healthy and wonderful New Year.

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Chris Winfield from 10e20 Blog posted the Top 101 Biggest Stories in Search-Engine Marketing for 2006. The rankings are very, very interesting, especially because Chris’ post provides hundreds of links to articles and blogs that provide even the newest of newbie search-engine marketer with an education on all the incredible stories that defined search in 2006. In addition, the list chronicals the major news events very well and who wouldn’t agree that Google purchasing YouTube for $1.65 billion is the #1 story of 2006.

My personal involvement in the Search Arbitrage debate, along with other industry folks including Shoemoney, Michael Gray (Graywolf), Jake Baillie and others made the list at #31!!!

My gut tells me we will hear more about the differences between Garbitrage, search-engine marketing arbitrage and comparison shopping search arbitrage in 2007!

Nice post Chris!

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Scott Jangro recently launched the “Affiliate Blog List,” which includes a compilation of the top affiliate marketing blogs online - the website resource includes real-time feeds from various affiliate marketing blogs, including 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Blogs, Pepperjam Blog, Quit Your Day Job, Jangro, and many others.

Another great resource for affiliate marketing buzz is Linda Buquet’s Affiliate Marketing Buzz - http://www.affiliatemarketingbuzz.com

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Pepperjam started using Adbrite in early 2006 both as an affiliate marketer, as well as to purchase contextual media, interstitial’s, and site-targeted banner ads for clients… In addition, we know some very large affiliate partners who use adbrite to arbitrage affiliate marketing ads.

Adbrite is an advertising network and marketplace that connects advertisers with website owners (publishers). If you own a website and are looking to sell available ad space you can use the adbrite network to sell your inventory; if you are an advertiser and are looking to promote your business via contextually-targeted ads or banners the adbrite network provides over 30,000 high-quality publisher websites to choose from - in effect, they allow you to Cherry-Pick the websites you want your ads to display - this is similar to Google’s site-targeting technology, but it is presented in a much easier-to-use interface.

Using some really cool Web 2.0 technologies Adbrite makes it easy to target your ads based on numerous variables including geography, demography, keywords, and specific categories. For instance, you can show your ads (text and /or banner) in the UK on music and hip hop websites or in the US for just about anything you want. Furthermore, you can target your ads based on ethnicity, income, etc. Adbrite offers about 25 or so unique categories for targeting purposes, including health and beauty, education, sports, automotive, shopping and more. For the most part, inventory availability is not a major issue - Adbrite offers more available inventory than just about anybody but Google.

Adbrite shows ads based on CPM or CPC - it really depends on what website you decide to target and what kind of inventory is available. It appears that Adbrite is moving more and more toward a CPC model instead of a CPM run, which allows you to gain placement and test ads on higher quality websites that may have only been available for an expensive CPM in the past. In general, you can get involved with Adbrite with any advertising budget. Some of the top websites that you can gain placement on include Friendster, eBaum’s World, Ringo, Shop.NHL.com and many more. Check out ADBRITE for a full list.

Why use Adbrite?

AFFILIATES:
Adbrite is a great supplement to traditional paid search. While Adbrite is similar in many respects to Google’s site targeting technology, Adbrite is actually better because you can run tests based on budget and you are given more targeting options. We have found that Adbrite works especially well for lead-based offers such as ringtones, dating, and credit reporting. However, Adbrite also works well for e-commerce offers from CJ and Linkshare if you take the time to target the ads. In addition, if you have affiliate relationships that pay on a CPC basis Adbrite can provide you with significant volume.

ADVERTISERS:
Adbrite is your inexpensive answer to massive traffic generation - if you need traffic Adbrite will deliver, especially if you minimize targeting options and use Adbrite’s Run-of-Network (RON) feature. Furthermore, if you care less about conversion you can use Adbrite’s interstitial advertising feature, which we’ve seen deliver as many as 500K clicks per day. However, Adbrite is not only about traffic generation - they also provide high quality traffic and leads if you take the time to test their various targeting technologies. The biggest plus is the fact that you can get started with any budget - this will allow you to test specific landing pages and ad copy, while spending a lot less than you would on Google or elsewhere. Moreover, we have found Adbrite’s tracking technology to be solid and it appears that they continue to make strides in improving reporting capability, including detailed site-by-site reporting with conversion data.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Adbrite.

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Pepperjam is proud to announce that Ken Mohn, Jr. has joined the Pepperjam Team as Director of Search-Engine Optimization (SEO). Ken brings over 10-years of online marketing experience to his position - Pepperjam is absolutely thrilled to have Ken join our leadership team!

Ken received his first commission check from online marketing in 1996 and has since built a very successful online marketing business. Ken has extensive experience in search-engine optimization (SEO), PPC search marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Web Design, E-Commerce, HTML, CSS, PHP, cURL, and MySQL. Ken is a graduate of the University of Scranton with dual degrees in Secondary Education and Mathematics.

In addition to his role as Director of SEO Ken will also join our cast of bloggers here at the Pepperjam Blog - look for Ken to share some of his insight into SEO, as well as add a little bit of color and perspective to the world of online marketing.

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The 2006 Search Engine Journal Blog Awards Nominations have been announced and pepperjamBLOG.com has been nominated for “Best Affiliate Marketing Blog.” We are honored to be part of an exclusive list of nominees that includes Revenews.com, 5 Star Affiliate Blog, and Shoemoney.com. Voting is open to the public - we are asking for your vote - VOTE HERE!

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I’ve wanted to weigh in on the issue of Affiliate Networks versus Ad Networks for some time, but I’ve waited to get about 10-months or so of experience using the ad networks (publisher & advertiser) before offering an opinion. I have about 7-years experience on traditional affiliate networks.

First, if you are an an internet entrepreneur and haven’t made money with Ad Networks such as Azoogle Ads or CPA Empire, stop reading this post right now and open an account - do it now!

There are some fundamental differences between Affiliate Networks and Ad Networks. Here are a few:

(1) Affiliate Networks focus primarily on advertisers (merchants) who sell products (think traditional e-commerce), while Ad Networks focus primarily on advertisers who promote offers (think lead generation.)
(2) Affiliate Networks tend to have merchants that pay affiliate marketers on a percentage-of-sale basis, while Ad Networks pay on a cost-per-lead basis. (Affiliate Network Example - DKNY pays affiliates up to 8% of each sale - the amount the affiliate makes varies based on the total sale; Ad Network Example - Foreclosure.com pays affiliates up to $25 per lead - the amount is fixed and is not influenced by sale amount.)
(3) Affiliate Networks focus on building relationships between merchant and affiliate (more transparent for merchants), while Ad Networks focus on generating large volumes of leads by building relationships between Ad Network and affiliate (less transparent for merchants).
(4) Merchant offers on Affiliate Networks are long-term, while offers on Ad Networks can be short in duration. For example, a lucrative offer (from an affiliate standpoint) on an Ad Network may be up for two weeks and be discontinued abruptly without explanation, while offers on Affiliate Networks tend to be constant and dependable.
(5) Affiliate Networks tend to have restrictive (merchant-friendly) payout structures, while Ad Networks tend to be less restrictive. For instance, on many of the leading Affiliate Networks, including Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Performics you may have to wait several months to get payment for a transaction that happened today, while on an Ad Network you can depend on timely payment usually every two weeks for leads generated just days prior.

So, I’d be happy to add to the above list if you’d like to suggest some fundamental differences between Affiliate networks and Ad Networks.

Now let’s take a look at the Pro and Cons of Commission Junction versus Azoogle.

(1) Commission Junction (CJ) offers affiliates a much broader selection of offers compared to Azoogle. In fact, CJ offers affiliates over 2,000 merchant partners, including EBAY, Buy.com, and Jay-Z’s Rocawear. Azoogle offers affiliates at most 200 offers or so, many of which are repetitive and difficult to promote (i.e. It’s easy to find a product to promote on Buy.com (CJ), but it can be difficult to promote an offer for a non-branded teeth whitening product.) ADVANTAGE: CJ
(2) Azoogle pays affiliates every two weeks, while CJ pays roughly every 30-days. Azoogle’s payment structure favors search-engine marketing affiliates who have to put up their own money to generate transactions. ADVANTAGE: AZOOGLE
(3) Azoogle’s affiliate managers tend to be much more attentive and skilled than CJ’s. ADVANTAGE: AZOOGLE
(4) CJ offers product feeds; Azoogle does not. ADVANTAGE: CJ
(5) Both CJ and Azoogle offer usable reporting interfaces, but Azoogle has made more of an effort to use Web 2.0 technologies. Azoogle’s interface is not necessarily better than CJ, because in general both interfaces can be much better than they currently are. ADVANTAGE: NEITHER
(6) Some CJ merchants retroactively reverse as much as 25% of commissionable sales due to returns, while Azoogle seems to have an overall low reversal rate. This means that the commissions you see in your account on Azoogle are more dependable than the commissions you see in your account on CJ. ADVANTAGE: AZOOGLE
(7) In many cases, Azoogle offers on average higher payouts than CJ on the same merchant (ex. Shoebuy). Note that Azoogle is able to do this because they actually act as a “Super Affiliate” and are therefore able to negotiate a higher than base rate (private) offer. ADVANTAGE: NEITHER
(8) Azoogle offers rewards (prizes, usually gift certificates) to affiliates on a monthly basis to incentivize performance, while CJ does not. ADVANTAGE: AZOOGLE
(9) Azoogle offers a meaningful affiliate (sub-affiliate) referral program, while CJ does not. In other words, Azoogle will pay you a percentage of all commissions that are generated by affiliates you refer to Azoogle. ADVANTAGE: AZOOGLE
(10) CJ offers web services (developers tools), Azoogle does not. ADVANTAGE: CJ

My analysis of Affiliate Networks versus Ad Networks suggests that affiliate marketers should selectively participate on both. While Commission Junction offers more merchant offers, product feeds, and web services, Azoogle offers a better payout structure, better affiliate managers, and incentives. The secret sauce is to develop a strategy that works and replicate it across as many affiliate networks and ad networks as possible. Don’t be fooled into thinking you’re not successful unless you are making X thousands dollars per merchant; instead, figure out a way to profit at least $50 per merchant or offer, per month. Think about it and develop your strategy…with thousands of merchants and hundred of offers you can generate substantial revenue whether you are focused on affiliate networks, ad networks, or both.

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Pepperjam is very fortunate to manage some of the top affiliate programs in online marketing. While we take great pride in all the programs we launch and manage, I’m not sure if any program has generated as much natural enthusiasm and excitement as the one we launched yesterday on Commission Junction for motivational speaker and life coach Anthony “Tony” Robbins.

Just a few days ago I blogged about the fact that next to my Mom, who is an absolute superstar, Tony Robbins is one of my biggest inspirations.

I’ve provided Tony’s bio below.

If you are interested in joining the Anthony Robbins Affiliate Program please visit Commission Junction . Questions or comments? Call Pepperjam at 570-408-9861 or 877-796-5700. This should quickly become one of the top performing programs on CJ - make sure you join and enjoy the action.

ANTHONY ROBBINS:

For more than a quarter of a century, Anthony Robbins has served as an advisor to leaders around the world. A recognized authority on the psychology of leadership, negotiations, organizational turnaround, and peak performance, he has been honored for his strategic intellect and humanitarian endeavors. His nonprofit Anthony Robbins Foundation provides assistance to the homeless, elderly and inner-city youth and feeds more than one million people in nine countries every year through its international holiday “Basket Brigade.” Robbins has directly impacted the lives of nearly 50 million people from 80 countries with his best-selling books and audiotape products, public speaking engagements, and live appearances.

What began as a commitment to helping individuals transform the quality of their lives has grown as Robbins is called on by leaders from every walk of life—presidents, political leaders, advocates for humanity, CEOs of multinational corporations, psychologists, peak performance athletes, world-class entertainers, teachers, and parents. Since fathering the life coaching industry more than 25 years ago, Robbins has produced the #1 audio coaching system of all time. He also is an international best-selling author, award-winning speaker, Chairman overseeing five private companies and Vice Chairman of one company. Robbins has been honored by Accenture as one of the “Top 50 Business Intellectuals in the World,” by American Express as one of the “Top Six Business Leaders in the World” to coach its entrepreneurial clients, by Justice Byron White as one of the world’s “Outstanding Humanitarians,” and by the International Chamber of Commerce as one of the top 10 “Outstanding People of World.”

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In an unprepared proposal, Kristopher Jones, Founder and CEO of the internet’s hottest company, dropped to a knee and pulled out the rock!  A weepy eyed blond bombshell on the other end of the plea answered with a resounding (and somewhat releived) YES!!!!! You heard it here first…..Kris Jones of Pepperjam and Robyn Martin of the same have decided to tie the knot in a summer ceremony to be remembered. 

 After two years of a loving relationship and a little sinful cohabitation, Kris mounted the nerve to ask the girl of his dreams to be his wife, and lucky for him she accepted.  Let me break the couple down for you so that you can truly appreciate this exciting turn of events:

 Kris is a serial entrepreneur who wages a daily war between an unrelenting drive for capatilistic success and an equally unyielding pull towards new age spirituality. With Kris’s vision and determination, Pepperjam has risen to the top of the internet marketing world.

 Robyn is the total package, with a look that will turn the head of any sane warm blooded male, coupled with a mind and attitude as sharp as a vaseline coated razor.  Kris hit the lottery with this one, and anyone that has had the pleasure to see Robyn at an affiliate summit conference will back my words without reservation.

 With so much joy around at this time of the year, the news only makes this holiday that much more special.  Kris and Robyn, let me be the first to offer my love and best wishes to two of my favorite people in the world. May your future together bring you true happiness, and may you grow in spririt and love as the new Mr. and Mrs. Jones!

 P.S. I am the best man so, look out for the bachelor party in Vegas this summer. Anyone that wants to come just hit me with an email at michael@pepperjamsearch.com.  It won’t be boring…I can guarantee that!  

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