Welcome to this weeks edition of Meet The Pepperjam Team. This is our 32nd video and this week we have John Heil. John has been with us for about 6 months and works in our publisher services division. He works diligently to make sure that we are always on top of the affiliate network list. He is managing over 10 networks for us an every one is very successful.

When he is not working himself to death he is spending time with his family or playing Gears Of War for the XBOX 360. You can message him for his gamertag Anyway here is John Heil!

Enjoy!

For those of you who don’t know the “rules” behind the Meet the Pepperjam Video Series, here they are:

Every Friday Pepperjam will post a new video interview of a member of our staff - everyone will be included - affiliates managers, executives, search-engine marketing managers, directors, software engineers, assistants, online media buyers, and interns. The person being interviewed won’t know he / she has been chosen until about 30 seconds before the interview - this way you’ll get an unrehearsed, real world look at the employee…hopefully, this will make it interesting and non-corporate, which is what we are known and respected for across the internet marketing industry.

Why are we doing this? Well, I am proud of our team and I think you’ll find them as interesting and intelligent as I do. Also, I’m a student of viral video and the social media space and I want to test the waters as it relates to what corporate america is doing (and not doing) to spread buzz and build next generation work places.

Finally, I just thought it would be cool to put some people in front of a video camera that have never done so before, have a little bit of fun, and see if Pepperjam can spread some additional buzz about why we are the leader in online marketing.

FYI - all videos will also be posted to YouTube. If you think what we are doing is outside-the-box and interesting please blog about it and share the story with the world.

Our previous videos include:

Maura Goodwin
Tara Lou
Dean Karasinski
Kim Noler (dated YouTube founder)
Stephanie Yachim
Roxy (Pepperjam’s English Bulldog)
Kris Jones
Katharine Dempsey
Ken Mohn Jr.
Mandy Foley
Tara DeGiusto
Robyn Martin
Kate Sarnak
Aaron Baker
Michelle Foley
Megan Rogan
Mike Jones
Maggie Oldziejewski
Daehee Park
Leslie Stewart
Trevor Brennan
Brock Siegel
Sarah Hohol
Matt Bradley
Chris Thomas
Nick Jurista
Derek Traver
Amber Sansky
Pepperjam All-Stars (Kris Jones, Mike Jones, Shoemoney, Mediadonis)
Quinn Kavanagh
Jaclyn Francese

Other fun Pepperjam Vids:
“What would you do for a One Year Supply of Energy Drink”
Naked Crazy Man Video
Pepperjam Adds Ping Pong Table to Pepperplex
Roxy with the Tony Robbins Beach Ball

affiliate network Affiliate Summit Miami 2007 engine gamertag gears of war heil john lead of the week Linkshare Golden Link Awards managers marketing media buyers Meet the Pepperjam Team mezi media publisher services search search engine marketing Uncategorized video interview video seriesaffiliate network Affiliate Summit Miami 2007 engine gamertag gears of war heil john lead of the week Linkshare Golden Link Awards managers marketing media buyers Meet the Pepperjam Team mezi media publisher services search search engine marketing Uncategorized video interview video series

The Next Internet Millionaire Episode Two is now available!

It’s better than the first!

You’ve got to check it out!

Here you go:

affiliate marketing internet marketing Next Internet Millionaire Uncategorizedaffiliate marketing internet marketing Next Internet Millionaire Uncategorized

OK blog readers,

Here is a 24 hour heads-up on a press release that will go over the PR wires tomorrow morning regarding us being named by Inc. as one of the fastest growing companies in America for a second straight year!

_________________________________________________________

Pepperjam, a full-service internet marketing agency and 2006 Inc. 500 award winner, announced today that for a second straight year Inc. Magazine has recognized the company as one of the fastest growing privately held businesses in the United States of America. With explosive growth of nearly 600% Pepperjam ranks as one of the fastest growing internet companies in the United States.

According to Inc. Magazine, Pepperjam ranked #575 out of 5000 companies who made this year’s list. Among “Advertising and Marketing” companies, Pepperjam was ranked the 54th fastest growing privately held company in the United States and the 2nd fastest growing company within the State of Pennsylvania.

Learn more about Pepperjam at www.pepperjamsearch.com

Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam said, “We are once again honored to be recognized by Inc. as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States. Our meteoric growth is a testament to Pepperjam’s hard-working, experienced staff of nearly 100 internet marketing professionals and to the fact that Pepperjam continues to deliver unparalleled results for our clients. 2006 was an explosive year for Pepperjam and 2007 is on track to significantly exceed the previous year in terms of client acquisition, revenue, and employee growth.”

Aaron Baker, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing at Pepperjam said, “In the last twelve-months Pepperjam has positioned itself as the leading full-service internet marketing agency in the United States. Pepperjam has welcomed over 75 new clients in the last six-months alone, including power house brands such as Nordstrom, Old Spice, The Washington Redskins, Seasame Street, Oscar De La Renta, and Jelly Belly® Jelly Beans among many others.”

The 2007 Inc. 5000 list measures revenue growth from 2003 through 2006. To qualify, companies had to be U.S.-based and privately held, independent, not subsidiaries or divisions of other companies, as of December 31, 2006, and have had at least $200,000 in revenue in 2003, and $2 million in 2006.

About Pepperjam:
Pepperjam, founded in 1999 by internet marketing expert Kristopher B. Jones, is the fastest growing full-service internet marketing and technology agency in the country. With core expertise in search engine marketing, affiliate marketing and online media buying, Pepperjam offers an outsourced online marketing solution to many of the internet’s leading brands. Pepperjam is composed of distinct divisions, offering a suite of targeted services dependent on specific client’s marketing needs. These divisions include:

pepperjamMANAGEMENT is the most-recognized outsourced affiliate program management company in the world. Launching and managing many of the leading programs on the top networks including Commission Junction and Linkshare, pepperjamMANAGEMENT provides companies with an unparalleled expertise in what it takes to develop a world class affiliate program.

pepperjamSEARCH offers powerful search-engine marketing management solutions utilizing the most cutting-edge techniques and technology in the business. Leading a select group of Google Adwords Qualified Companies, Pepperjam boasts an expert staff of certified Google Advertising Professionals and Yahoo Search Marketing Ambassadors. Working with advanced, proprietary API-Driven ppc management tools, pepperjamSEARCH offers the ultimate ROI available through the advertising medium of search.

pepperjamMEDIA is the industry’s leading online media planning and management agency offering services to advertisers and advertising agencies. Pepperjam’s expertise is divided into the (7) seven primary online media channels: (1) Search Advertising, (2) Contextual Advertising, (3) CPM / CPC Banner Placement, (4) Ad Network Placement, (5) Affiliate Marketing, (6) Social Media Optimization / BUZZ Marketing, and (7) Strategic Partnership Placement and Acquisition.

affiliate marketing Inc. Magazine internet marketing pepperjam search engine marketing search engine optimization seo social media optimizationaffiliate marketing Inc. Magazine internet marketing pepperjam search engine marketing search engine optimization seo social media optimization

Welcome to this weeks edition of Meet The Pepperjam Team. This week we have Jaclyn Francese, Jaclyn has been with us for 10 months, 7 of them as an intern and the last three as a full time employee! Jaclyn will often bring food into the office that she bakes herself and most of the time it is gone before I get any because it is so delicious.

Jaclyn is from New York so you know she is a tough chick. She attended Wilkes University and started interning here. The rest is history, it is great to see Jaclyn everyday as she is normally more cheery and talkative than she is in this video (she is just a little camera shy)

Here She Is, Enjoy!

For those of you who don’t know the “rules” behind the Meet the Pepperjam Video Series, here they are:

Every Friday Pepperjam will post a new video interview of a member of our staff - everyone will be included - affiliates managers, executives, search-engine marketing managers, directors, software engineers, assistants, online media buyers, and interns. The person being interviewed won’t know he / she has been chosen until about 30 seconds before the interview - this way you’ll get an unrehearsed, real world look at the employee…hopefully, this will make it interesting and non-corporate, which is what we are known and respected for across the internet marketing industry.

Why are we doing this? Well, I am proud of our team and I think you’ll find them as interesting and intelligent as I do. Also, I’m a student of viral video and the social media space and I want to test the waters as it relates to what corporate america is doing (and not doing) to spread buzz and build next generation work places.

Finally, I just thought it would be cool to put some people in front of a video camera that have never done so before, have a little bit of fun, and see if Pepperjam can spread some additional buzz about why we are the leader in online marketing.

FYI - all videos will also be posted to YouTube. If you think what we are doing is outside-the-box and interesting please blog about it and share the story with the world.

Our previous videos include:

Maura Goodwin
Tara Lou
Dean Karasinski
Kim Noler (dated YouTube founder)
Stephanie Yachim
Roxy (Pepperjam’s English Bulldog)
Kris Jones
Katharine Dempsey
Ken Mohn Jr.
Mandy Foley
Tara DeGiusto
Robyn Martin
Kate Sarnak
Aaron Baker
Michelle Foley
Megan Rogan
Mike Jones
Maggie Oldziejewski
Daehee Park
Leslie Stewart
Trevor Brennan
Brock Siegel
Sarah Hohol
Matt Bradley
Chris Thomas
Nick Jurista
Derek Traver
Amber Sansky
Pepperjam All-Stars (Kris Jones, Mike Jones, Shoemoney, Mediadonis)
Quinn Kavanagh

Other fun Pepperjam Vids:
“What would you do for a One Year Supply of Energy Drink”
Naked Crazy Man Video
Pepperjam Adds Ping Pong Table to Pepperplex
Roxy with the Tony Robbins Beach Ball

Meet the Pepperjam Team Uncategorized Video BlogsMeet the Pepperjam Team Uncategorized Video Blogs

Yes it is entertaining and yes it has become relevant culturally BUT did you ever stop to think if it adds value to a product? Does it help promote the brand, the product and its message? Did you ever think “Why are marketers (the professionals) allowing users to to do their job for them?” Is user generated content making us dumb, is it dumbing down the brand and the process of marketing to a simple entertaining video that has nothing at all to do with the brand? Are users really qualified to make these decisions and ads for brands?

I have been pondering these questions for days now and often wonder if user generated content has had any great impact on the world of marketing. Has it really given is a truly fresh perspective or has it dumbed things down to the point where marketers don’t have to put any thought into what they make any more because they are outsourcing it to the users. Sure, they “pick the winners” but couldn’t they have come up with a better idea, I mean they are the professionals or is it that marketers have run out of ideas or aren’t creative enough to come up with some of the stuff that users do. Are marketers having trouble thinking outside the box?

Sure all the user generated videos of people mixing diet coke and mentos made both of their sales go up about 14% in one month when this craze was at its height. But you need to ask yourself was this intended? If just generating sales was intended then it did its job. If getting people to USE your product on a regular basis and consumer retention was your goal than I am afraid that they lost out. People were just buying this stuff to try what they saw on youtube. Does this add value to the brand? Well, thats very arguable but I would have to say no because it wasn’t getting the brands message across, it wasn’t saying that diet coke was better for you or that mentos freshens your breathe, it was just saying “look what these two products do together” and I think it was a negative message because people will see this chemical reaction happening and think twice about putting it into their body. Now, I am not against user generated content and I actually enjoy most of it, I think alot of good ideas come out of it and it gives alot of talented people a chance they might not otherwise have. I just don’t think we should come to rely on it. It should become part of the marketing repertoire and not marketing.

And Finally:

ad retention coke coke and mentos diet coke diet coke and mentos Entertainment marketing mentos pepperjam social media optimization thinking outside the box too much user generated content UGC Uncategorized user generated content user generated contentad retention coke coke and mentos diet coke diet coke and mentos Entertainment marketing mentos pepperjam social media optimization thinking outside the box too much user generated content UGC Uncategorized user generated content user generated content

No, that’s not a typo. If there’s one thing everyone seems to agree on at Search Engine Strategies, San Jose it’s the ABT’s of Search: Always Be Testing. Ken Mohn, Pepperjam’s VP of Search, and I just returned from an enlightening session entitled “Ad Testing: Research & Findings”. The speakers discussed different techniques that they use to optimize every aspect of a Text Ad: Headline, Descriptions, Display URL and Landing Page. This is something we’ve been very passionate about at Pepperjam over the past few months and it was very encouraging to hear everyone speaking so enthusiastically about the success they’ve seen with these techniques. The consensus here is that Testing should be a continuous process; you should always be testing and constantly improving those Ads that are already performing well, they can probably perform better. There was also an Adwords representative on the panel to assure us that Google loves Testing and while we may be afraid at times to fix something that ain’t broken, there’s no penalty to your account’s Quality Score if you’re ultimately working to improve a searcher’s experience and in the process, creating a better converting Text Ad.

In other conference news, everyone here is having a great time in San Jose. Last night was the Pepperjam co-sponsored event at the Hakone Japanese Gardens in Saratoga, California. It featured Sushi, Saki and most of the brightest minds in the SEM industry. Here’s a couple of photos I snapped on my cellphone:

Tonight we head to the Googleplex for Google Dance. It should be awesome so be sure to check back soon!

Ken Mohn pay per click quality score search engine marketing search engine strategies SES San Jose 2007 UncategorizedKen Mohn pay per click quality score search engine marketing search engine strategies SES San Jose 2007 Uncategorized

First, thank you to everyone who has e-mailed and called Robyn and I to congrat us on our recent marriage!

Our honeymoon is now winding down…we arrived in San Jose early this afternoon to attend SES - San Jose.

Robyn and I are here with the following Pepperjammers:

Aaron Baker (VP of Sales & Marketing)
Ken Mohn, Jr. (VP of Search)
Christian Wenzel (Director of Search Services)
Quinn Kavanaugh (Senior Account Executive)

I speak on Wednesday on a panel entitled, “The SEO Reputation Problem.” By the way, I’ll be arguing that the so called reputation problem with SEO is overblown and misunderstood.

The reality is that SEO is an integral component of a successful, integrated online marketing strategy.

Ignoring SEO or leaving it to the search-engines to solely determine your organic search ranking is equivalent to opening up a pay-per-click account, selecting the top position for every keyword, and assuming that Google is going to only serve keywords that convert for you.

The reality, which I will argue, is that SEO presents an effective opportunity for businesses to analyze competition and build successful online businesses. All of the most successful organically ranked e-commerce websites enjoy their ranking because they pay attention and take action to ensure that their websites are delivering exactly what the search engines want.

What “search-engines” want is the basis for building a successful search-engine optimization strategy. Moreover, search-engine optimization is a process that includes many variables all of which can’t be taken for granted.

The “reputation problem” stems from an exaggeration that all or most of SEO’s are blackhat - that is just foolish and I look forward to arguing to the contrary.

Pepperjam is also exhibiting so if you’re at the show please stop by our booth. If you see any of us at the Marriott bar please say hello and the first drink is on us!!!

affiliate marketing search engine marketing search engine optimization seo SES San Jose 2007 social media optimizationaffiliate marketing search engine marketing search engine optimization seo SES San Jose 2007 social media optimization

Today marks the launch of the soon-to-be new hit reality show - The Next Internet Millionaire.

My “Next Internet Millionaire” reality show debut doesn’t come until Week 7 (somewhere in September or so), but I intend to watch every show - I’m not at liberty to tell you my involvement in the show other than to say that I participated in an entire episode as a quasi guest host and speaker.

Yeah, I have the benefit of knowing who the top 6 finalists were, but I have no idea who wins the show, or even who the top 5 are so I’ll be watching as closely as all of you!!!

Congratulations to Joel and Eric on an amazing debut show - the quality is unbelievable and I’m happy to see that thousands of people have already watched the show in its first few hours of launch!

Here’s the video in it’s entirety:

affiliate marketing internet marketing Next Internet Millionaire search engine marketing search engine optimization seo Uncategorizedaffiliate marketing internet marketing Next Internet Millionaire search engine marketing search engine optimization seo Uncategorized

Hail To Thee Loyal Pepperjammers.

This week we have Quinn Kavanagh, one of our most talented account executives/sales associates. Quinn has been with us about 6 months and is one of the voices of Pepperjam. He is the one on the phone and in the trenches getting to the down and dirty and the nitty gritty of the internet marketing industry. Quinn is amazingly talented and a hard worker. He is a graduate of Penn State and a HUGE Nittany Lions fan. In his spare time he likes to golf and play guitar hero.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Check It:

For those of you who don’t know the “rules” behind the Meet the Pepperjam Video Series, here they are:

Every Friday Pepperjam will post a new video interview of a member of our staff - everyone will be included - affiliates managers, executives, search-engine marketing managers, directors, software engineers, assistants, online media buyers, and interns. The person being interviewed won’t know he / she has been chosen until about 30 seconds before the interview - this way you’ll get an unrehearsed, real world look at the employee…hopefully, this will make it interesting and non-corporate, which is what we are known and respected for across the internet marketing industry.

Why are we doing this? Well, I am proud of our team and I think you’ll find them as interesting and intelligent as I do. Also, I’m a student of viral video and the social media space and I want to test the waters as it relates to what corporate america is doing (and not doing) to spread buzz and build next generation work places.

Finally, I just thought it would be cool to put some people in front of a video camera that have never done so before, have a little bit of fun, and see if Pepperjam can spread some additional buzz about why we are the leader in online marketing.

FYI - all videos will also be posted to YouTube. If you think what we are doing is outside-the-box and interesting please blog about it and share the story with the world.

Our previous videos include:

Maura Goodwin
Tara Lou
Dean Karasinski
Kim Noler (dated YouTube founder)
Stephanie Yachim
Roxy (Pepperjam’s English Bulldog)
Kris Jones
Katharine Dempsey
Ken Mohn Jr.
Mandy Foley
Tara DeGiusto
Robyn Martin
Kate Sarnak
Aaron Baker
Michelle Foley
Mike Jones
Maggie Oldziejewski
Daehee Park
Leslie Stewart
Trevor Brennan
Brock Siegel
Sarah Hohol
Matt Bradley
Chris Thomas
Nick Jurista
Derek Traver
Amber Sansky
Pepperjam All-Stars (Kris Jones, Mike Jones, Shoemoney, Mediadonis)

Other fun Pepperjam Vids:
“What would you do for a One Year Supply of Energy Drink”
Naked Crazy Man Video
Pepperjam Adds Ping Pong Table to Pepperplex
Roxy with the Tony Robbins Beach Ball

Meet the Pepperjam Team UncategorizedMeet the Pepperjam Team Uncategorized

FINALLY!

This is a half hour candid interview with Kris Jones, Michael Jones, Shoemoney and Mediadonis (aka Marcus). It took some video manipulation to cut the thing down to youtube size, but it is done. WOO!

I had the pleasure of interviewing these guys last Friday. This video takes place a day before Kris Jones’ wedding so any reference to “this weekend” really means this past weekend. I wanted to ask them questions ranging from the serious to the insane, so watch as KJones and company answer questions regarding affiliate marketing, favorite food and drink and other very important questions.

Meet The Pepperjam All-Star Team:

For those of you who don’t know the “rules” behind the Meet the Pepperjam Video Series, here they are:

Every Friday Pepperjam will post a new video interview of a member of our staff - everyone will be included - affiliates managers, executives, search-engine marketing managers, directors, software engineers, assistants, online media buyers, and interns. The person being interviewed won’t know he / she has been chosen until about 30 seconds before the interview - this way you’ll get an unrehearsed, real world look at the employee…hopefully, this will make it interesting and non-corporate, which is what we are known and respected for across the internet marketing industry.

Why are we doing this? Well, I am proud of our team and I think you’ll find them as interesting and intelligent as I do. Also, I’m a student of viral video and the social media space and I want to test the waters as it relates to what corporate america is doing (and not doing) to spread buzz and build next generation work places.

Finally, I just thought it would be cool to put some people in front of a video camera that have never done so before, have a little bit of fun, and see if Pepperjam can spread some additional buzz about why we are the leader in online marketing.

FYI - all videos will also be posted to YouTube. If you think what we are doing is outside-the-box and interesting please blog about it and share the story with the world.

Our previous videos include:

Maura Goodwin
Tara Lou
Dean Karasinski
Kim Noler (dated YouTube founder)
Stephanie Yachim
Roxy (Pepperjam’s English Bulldog)
Kris Jones
Katharine Dempsey
Ken Mohn Jr.
Mandy Foley
Tara DeGiusto
Robyn Martin
Kate Sarnak
Aaron Baker
Michelle Foley
Mike Jones
Maggie Oldziejewski
Daehee Park
Leslie Stewart
Trevor Brennan
Brock Siegel
Sarah Hohol
Matt Bradley
Chris Thomas
Nick Jurista
Derek Traver
Amber Sansky

Other fun Pepperjam Vids:
“What would you do for a One Year Supply of Energy Drink”
Naked Crazy Man Video
Pepperjam Adds Ping Pong Table to Pepperplex
Roxy with the Tony Robbins Beach Ball

affiliate marketing affiliate summit auctionads blogging elite retreat funny interview google Guest Bloggers hidden talent internet marketing interviews marketing media donis mediadonis Meet the Pepperjam Team new marketing technology pepperjam rapping search engine marketing shoe money shoemoney Video Blogsaffiliate marketing affiliate summit auctionads blogging elite retreat funny interview google Guest Bloggers hidden talent internet marketing interviews marketing media donis mediadonis Meet the Pepperjam Team new marketing technology pepperjam rapping search engine marketing shoe money shoemoney Video Blogs