We are proud to announce the launch of the foreclosure.com Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network!

We encourage you to log-in to your affiliate account at www.pepperjamnetwork.com and create banners, text links, and pepperjamADS right away for the foreclosure.com program and the other 200+ programs available on PJN.

HIGHLIGHT: foreclosure.com pays $7 per lead for a FREE TRIAL sign-up. You also get an additional $31 per lead once a free trial turns into a paid subscription.

About the foreclosure.com Affiliate Program:

Foreclosure.com is America’s largest provider of distressed properties, with more than 1.2 million foreclosure, preforeclosure, bankruptcy, FSBO and tax lien listings across the United States located conveniently in one place.

Commissions (Per Lead): $7.00 for Free Trial Sign-up; Additional $31 when a Free Trial turns into a Subscription!
Cookie Duration: 45 days

One of the things I like to do periodically throughout the day and on weekends is communicate with friends and followers through social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and MyBlogLog.

Currently, I’m really enjoying Twitter because it is a lot less contrived than the other social networks – Twitter is a form of “Micro-Blogging,” which creates a sort of impromptu way of communicating that is not only fun, but also very useful in that by following others in your particular industry or profession you stay updated in real-time to what those individuals are thinking, hearing, and doing. For instance, I was able to find out about 15 minutes before an official press release went out that Steve Denton resigned from Linkshare – I knew this because one of the people I follow (shout out to Steph Agresta) twittered it.

Anyway, if you are a follower of Pepperjam, Pepperjam Network, or think I’m an OK guy, I’d encourage you to reach out via one or all of the following networks:

Twitter – CLICK HERE
Facebook (Personal Page) – CLICK HERE
Facebook (Pepperjam Page) – CLICK HERE
Facebook (Pepperjam Network Page) – CLICK HERE
MyBlogLog – CLICK HERE
StumbleUpon – CLICK HERE
LinkedIn – CLICK HERE (send invite to kris @ pepperjamsearch .com)
YouTube – CLICK HERE
Digg – CLICK HERE

These aren’t all the networks I’m involved with but the ones I use most.

If you think I should be using something that isn’t listed above tell me why and maybe I’ll join.

Today’s session with Jason Calacanis was a bit surprising. Jason started off by addressing his past comments about search engine optimization at previous SES events. In short, Jason admitted that his “SEO is BS” statement was never meant to be a position statement, and was just an offhanded comment. He claims he still thinks that Black Hat SEO is a waste of time, and is polluting the web. However, he says he has come to understand White Hat SEO practices through talking to people such as Neil Patel, Bruce Clay, and Michael Gray. He then acknowledged that he is in fact a White Hat SEO.

After addressing his previous comments, Jason went in to discussing the progress of Mahalo.com thus far, and what is coming up in the future. To start, he addressed some of the most common questions he has received about Mahalo, and its business model. Some of them included:

Isn’t this just another DMOZ?

Jason responds to this by acknowledging that the directory structure that is fairly similar to DMOZ and YHOO! Directory was intentional. He then went on to speculate that those directories failed because of accepting paid listings, or because of lack of attention from owners.

How will it scale?

Jason responded to this question by explaining that they now have over 400 people working from home creating Mahalo pages at a rate of more than 1,000 per week. He also pointed out that each page is relevant for multiple search terms, so each page is actually addressing over a dozen queries in one shot.

How will it be kept up to date?

In order to keep the website updated, as well as reduce costs, Mahalo has released Mahalo Social. This service has grown to over 17,000 members, and will allow people to submit links on the fly. Links can also be submitted though the Mahalo Toolbar. According to Jason, there are currently three fll time employees that are dedicated to reviewing link submissions.

After the most common questions, Jason addressed where the site is going. He then sowed screenshots of new and upcoming Mahalo features which included recommendations from friends that are embedded into the search results pages. He explained that he feels as though this approach is significantly more useful than having a list of interests buried within a Facebook profile because it allows you to see what your friends do and do not like during the searching process.

Jason also explained that the Mahalo Toolbar will allow users to export their Mahalo data (such as reviews) to other services, as well as syncing the information from other services into Mahalo. One of the more surprising features of the toolbar was its remixing of the Google search results page. In the example that was shown, there were indications next to results that are also included in pages on mahalo.com that are present as a sign of trust. More interesting was the friend recommendations that appeared along the right column, in place of the Google Adwords Ads. I have to wonder how Google will respond to the Mahalo Toolbar removing Adwords Ads, considering Mahalo uses Adsense to monetize pages. Jason seemed to be under the impression that Google will not be concerned since they haven’t actively spoken out against the multiple AdBlocker browser extensions. He also said that assuming it is allowed, the toolbar will have a similar presence on the Yahoo results pages as well.

All in all it was interesting to see someone that has been referred to as enemy number one of the SEO industry embrace more ethical SEO and affiliate marketing. However, it does make sense. Jason has baited the industry several times (intentionally, or not) and he’s fully aware that if it is over-done, it will become a permanent part of his reputation. It seems Calacanis is ready to call it a day with the baiting, and play nice with the industry.

This morning, Andrew Goodman, Principal for Page Zero Media moderated a session on Quality Score and its effects on PPC marketing. The panelists included Joel Lapp, VP of Account Services for Reprise Media, Jon Kelly, President of SureHits, David Pann, VP of Network Monetization for Yahoo! Inc, and Frederick Vallaeys, Google AdWords Evangelist from Google.

The session included a few fairly basic tips on campaign structure and relevancy, and was eally more of a Quality Score 101. The basic points that all the panelists hit on were the following:

1) Structure your campaigns into specific ad groups that contain very closely related keywords.
2) Create ad copy that is highly targeted to each ad group. This should increase both your Quality Score, as well as your click through rates.
3) CTR is a very important factor. However, the CTRs are compared to the averages on a per position basis. So, your .5% CTR in position 5 may be very good compared to all of the other advertisers.
4) Align your keyword, ad copy, and landing page very closely.
5) Poor performing keywords and ads can drag down the Quality Score of the entire ad group.

Aside from the basic and pretty standard tips for increasing your Quality Score, the panel also recapped the factors that are involved in calculating Quality Score. Those boiled down to:

1) Account history
2) Relative click through rate (on a per position basis)
3) Relationship and relevancy of the keyword/ad copy/landing page combination.
4) Quality of landing page, as well as the speed of the page’s loading time.

All in all, the tips were very insightful if you have not been exposed to Quality Score at all, or have seen it inside your Adwords account but weren’t really sure what to make of the obscure ratings. It will be interesting to see how panels like these evolve as more and more testing is done with Quality Score and its factors.

I was surprised to find out today that Steve Denton, long-time President of Affiliate Marketing Network Linkshare has officially resigned.

Here is the official press release.

There has been no mention of why Steve decided to leave or exactly what Steve’s next career move will be.

Ironically, I was involved in a conference call with Steve just yesterday morning and at that time he was still acting President and it didn’t appear that that would change anytime soon.

I have known Steve for about five or six years and have always thought that he was one of the most likeable and accessible people in the affiliate marketing industry.

I wish Steve nothing but the best in his personal life and with his next career move.

SES Day 2 started off with an interesting morning keynote by Nick Carr, the author of The Big Switch: Rewriting the Word, From Edison to Google. Nick’s morning session was focused more on computing, and how businesses have evolved with the rise of the personal computer system.

Much of Nick’s presentation revolved around drawing parallels between the electrification of industry to the modern day world of IT. Before modern electrical grid systems, businesses had to develop and manage their own sources of power. However, over the span of a few decades, massive AC grid systems were developed, and businesses had the option of plugging into a ready power source instead of having to create their own. According to Nick, this is what is happening in the world of IT. On this point, Nick points out that with the rise of Web 2.0, consumers are moving away from purchasing and installing software, and moving towards plugging into networks over the web. He also claims that more and more, businesses will be moving towards a web based cloud-computing format, rather than running multiple servers on-site.

Overall, Nick’s presentation was very interesting, and definitely thought provoking. Over the next few years, we’ll see if Carr’s predictions on cloud-computing and the power of networks continue their current trends.

We are proud to announce the launch of the Realty Trac Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network – www.pepperjamnetwork.com

HIGHLIGHTS: Earn $7.00 for a FREE 7-day trial, plus $31.00 if the user purchases our monthly subscription.

About the Realty Trac Affiliate Program:

“RealtyTrac is a subscription-based, one-stop shop for people looking to find a property. With over 650,000 foreclosure properties and over 1,000,000 total properties updated daily, RealtyTrac is the #1 source for up-to-date pre-foreclosure, bank foreclosures, for sale by owner (FSBO), foreclosed homes via auction, new homes and MLS property listings.

Commissions: Earn $7.00 for a free 7-day trial, plus $31.00 if the user purchases our monthly subscription — a total payout of $38.00; or earn $40.00 when a user signs up for the monthly subscription right away.”

Commissions (Per Lead): $7.00 – $40.00 (see above)
Cookie Duration: 45 days
Acceptance Method: Automatic

Hey everyone – I’m Ian Howells, the Director of SEO here at Pepperjam. I’m out at SES NY, and just got out of a workshop titled “Web Analytics: Measuring Success”. The session was moderated by Yosi Herber, the Founder and President of Oxford Hill Partners, LLC. Yosi kicked things off by doing a brief intro of the panel, and giving an overview of the focus of the workshop. The main intention of the session was to dig into how to interpret the data that is collected from your website analytics package. There are countless different analytics packages available, but without knowing what to do with the information they provide, they’re all completely useless. The goal of the panel was to give the audience some actionable ways to take the data provided by their analytics package, and turn them into a strategic plan for optimization.

First up from the panel of speakers was Avinash Kaushik, the author of “Web Analytics – One Hour A Day”. His time was spent on giving a small handful of simple, but very actionable tips.

Tip 1 – Integrate. Using Google Analytics as an example, as a site owner, webmaster, or search marketer, you can view multiple levels of stats including visits, time on site, etc. More importantly, you can assign macro and micro conversions. Macro conversions would include purchases or completed leads. A micro conversion could be anything from an email list signup to a catalog request.

Tip 2 – Bounce rates. Your bounce rate is an extremely important statistic, however it must be segmented. By segmenting your data, you can analyze the success or failure of various traffic streams.

Tip 3 – Experimentation. Using your analytics package to do split testing, you can pinpoint any issues in the landing page design, and potentially problems with ad copy. You do not want to create ads that write checks your website can’t cash. Ensure that your landing page delivers on the promises made by your ad copy, as well as your keyword selection. Use continuous split testing to increase conversion rates, and resolve any issues with usability and design.

Next up was Lauren Vaccarello, the Director of Publishing from FXCM.  Her presentation was very entertaining and focused around a few simple steps, and was filled with references to Glengarry Glenn Ross. The first step according to Lauren is to figure out who you are in terms of your website. Do you do lead generation? Are you an information resource? Do you run an ecommerce site that’s focused on making direct sales? It’s extremely hard to do any optimizing without keeping in mind who you are, and what your specific goals include.

Her next step was to follow Gordon Gekko’s 3 Rules to Glengarry Leads. The first rule is to Always Be Converting. If the main point of your website is to make money, don’t stray from that goal. Her next rules focused around making sure you can turn your analytics information into an actionable plan, specifically revolving around separating your buyers from browsers. Once you have your visitors segmented, you can market to each type differently. For example, if through your analytics reports you find that most of your sales occur 5 – 7 days after the initial visit, try collecting email addresses on your website and sending out an email 3 days after the user’s visit. If they get to day 10 and still haven’t returned, try marketing a bit more aggressively.

Akin Arikan, a Senior Internet Marketing Manager from the Unica Corporation gave his presentation through a hypothetical situation at an ecommerce site. The story was meant to stress one main point – without any segmentation, your data is useless. The example from his presentation centered on a dropping conversion rate. However, through segmenting data, we are able to see that conversion rate had decreased due to a massive influx of traffic from an email marketing campaign. Even while site-wide conversion rate was down, the PPC conversion rate was actually increasing. Without properly segmenting the data, this company may have rashly decided to cut their PPC spend, which would have been disastrous for the bottom line.

Finally, an Omniture SEM Consultant named Jason Bishop took to the podium. His time was focused around a small handful of tips, the most interesting of which included using geo-segmented data to develop your PPC campaign budgets. Jason suggested using your website analytics to identify where your visitors are coming from, and then building geo-targeted campaigns catering to those areas with the high traffic areas receiving high budgets. Jason also strongly encourages the use of analytics to examine the conversion path of visitors. When you are able to pinpoint the actions that take place between the click and the conversion, you can truly begin to optimize.

Overall, the panelists provided some simple, but extremely valuable tips that we can sometimes overlook. The standout tip that nearly everyone mentioned was to ensure you properly segment your data. By segmenting, you can make much more educated decisions about every aspect of your website or landing pages. Proper segmentation will also prevent you from making ill-informed decisions that could negatively impact your site performance.

Tomorrow is set to be pretty busy, so expect to see more session recaps throughout the day.

Sorry to post this in “press release” form.

My weekend is packed after a pretty wild week at the Pepperplex…not to mention that I’m leaving in the morning for New York.

If any of you happen to be going to SES New York please stop by our exhibit booth, Hilton bar, or anywhere else you see me or a fellow Pepperjammer and say hello.

PRESS RELEASE:

Pepperjam, the fastest growing full-service internet marketing agency in the United States, announced today that the company will attend, exhibit, speak, moderate, blog and celebrate the recent launch of Pepperjam Network during Search-Engine Strategies (SES) New York.

SES New York will take place March 17-20, 2008 at the New York Hilton.

“Pepperjam is excited to be an active participant in the Search-Engine Strategies (SES) conference. SES New York represents the largest gathering of search engine marketing professionals and vendors in the world and Pepperjam is honored to be attending, exhibiting, speaking, moderating, and blogging the event. Moreover, we are thrilled to use this event as yet another celebration of the recent successful launch of Pepperjam Network, a next generation affiliate marketing network,” said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Eight (8) members of the Pepperjam Team will be present at SES New York, including (1) company president & CEO, Kristopher Jones, (2) VP of Search-Engine Marketing, Ken Mohn, Jr., (3) VP of Sales and Marketing, Aaron Baker, (4) Director of Pay-Per-Click, Brian Watkins, (5) Director of Sales & Marketing, (5) Quinn Kavanaugh, Director of Search-Engine Optimization, (6) Ian Howells, (7) Lauren Barge and (8) Audrey Yedlock, both Senior Sales Executives.

Please visit the Pepperjam Exhibit Booth on Tuesday, March 18 between 10:00am – 7:00pm or Wednesday, March 19 from 9:45am – 4:00pm to learn more about Pepperjam’s full line of professional marketing services, as well as Pepperjam Network, the next generation affiliate marketing network.

Kristopher Jones will moderate two panels on Tuesday, March 18th, including (1) Domaining & Address Bar-Driven Traffic from 11:00am-12:15pm and (2) Ad Copy & Landing Page Clinic from 4:45pm-6:00pm. In addition, Jones will speak on the “Dealing with Affiliates” panel on Wednesday from 4:00pm-5:15pm.

Pepperjam will be posting exclusive real-time summaries and reviews of numerous SES panels and speeches on the Pepperjam Blog.

Learn more about attending SES New York at www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/

We are thrilled to announce the launch of several popular entertainment brands on Pepperjam Network – www.pepperjamnetwork.com.

In addition to our announcement yesterday that Cartoon Network launched an affiliate program on Pepperjam Network, today we announce the launch of New Line Cinema Shop, MGM Store, WB Shop, and WB TV Shop!

Here’s a brief summary of each program:

New Line Cinema Shop – Semi-Pro starring Will Farrell is in theatres now – it’s hilarious – I saw it last Saturday. Why not promote Semi-Pro and dozens of other box office hits such as Lord of the Rings, The Golden Compass, House of Horror, Hairspray, Austin Powers, ELF, and many more, while making up to 10% commission?

MGM Store – With millions upon millions of fans around the world and blockbuster movie titles such as Rocky, Pink Panther, and Stargate, promote MGMstore.com and make up to 10% for every sale you refer!

WB TV Shop – With hit shows like Gilmore Girls, Smallville, Supernatural, the OC, and many more, the WB TV Shop offers your visitors great products from top WB shows. Get up to 10% commission on allyour referrals.

Here are more details for each program:

About New Line Cinema Shop:

“The NewLineShop.com affiliate program gives you the tools to sell jewelry, toys, DVDs, clothing, posters and more from New Line movies like Lord of the Rings, Hairspray, & The Golden Compass! It’s free and easy – sign up for the program, place banners, product images and/or text links on your site and we do everything else.
Here are a few other reasons to join our affiliate program:
• Earn money! We will pay you up to a 10% commission on all sales generated at NewLineShop.com! Generating sales is easy with our great assortment of Collectibles and Gifts for the whole family.
• NewLineShop.com has earned a solid reputation for bringing fun to the whole family. Your site visitors know and trust us which results in increased conversions.
• It’s simple! Apply today and you can be up and running with the latest creative in no time. We update our creative on a regular basis and do our best to give you the support you need to sell our products.
• Monthly Newsletter – access the best offers and promos
• Weekly updated Data Feed

By joining our program, you will work with a 45 day cookie and a commission structure that makes it easy for you to earn large amounts:
7% Less than $250 in monthly sales revenue
8% $251 – $499 in monthly sales revenue
9% $500 – $999 in monthly sales revenue
10% More than $1,000 in monthly sales revenue

Commissions (Percentage of Sales): Up to 10.00%!
Cookie Duration: 45 days

About MGM Store:

“The MGM Shop affiliate program gives you the tools to sell clothing, Toys & Games, Jewelry and more from MGM titles Rocky, Stargate and Pink Panther. It’s free and easy – you sign up for the program then place banners, product images and/or text links on your site and we do everything else.

Here are a few other reasons to join our affiliate program:

• Earn money! We will pay you up to a 10% commission on all sales generated at MGMStore.com! Generating sales is easy with our great assortment of Collectibles and Gifts for the whole family.
• Partner with the best! MGMStore.com has earned a solid reputation for bringing fun to the whole family. Your site visitors know and trust us which results in increased conversions.
• It’s simple! Apply today and you can be up and running with the latest creative in no time. We update our creative on a regular basis and do our best to give you the support you need to sell our products.
• Monthly Newsletter – access the best offers and promos
• Weekly updated Data Feed

By joining our program, you will work with a 45 day cookie and a great commission structure that makes it easy for you to earn large amounts:

7% Less than $250 in monthly sales revenue
8% $251 – $499 in monthly sales revenue
9% $500 – $999 in monthly sales revenue
10% More than $1,000 in monthly sales revenue

Commissions (Percentage of Sale): up to 10.00%!
Cookie Duration: 45 days

About WB Shop Affiliate Program:

“The WBShop.com affiliate program gives you the tools to sell toys, games, clothing, posters and more from your favorite Warner Bros. characters like Tweety & Superman and from your favorite WB movies like Harry Potter. It’s free and easy – you sign up for the program, place banners, product images and/or text links on your site and we do everything else.
A few other reasons to join our affiliate program:
• We will pay you up to a 10% commission on all sales generated at WBShop.com! Generating sales is easy with our great assortment of Collectibles and Gifts for the whole family.
• WBShop.com has earned a solid reputation for bringing fun to the whole family. Your visitors know and trust us which results in increased conversions.
• Apply today and you can be up and running with the latest creative in no time. We update our creative on a regular basis and do our best to give you the support you need to sell our products.
• Monthly Newsletter – access the best offers and promos
• Weekly updated Data Feed

By joining our program, you will work with a 45 day cookie and a great commission structure that makes it easy for you to earn large amounts:
7% Less than $250 in monthly sales revenue
8% $251 – $499 in monthly sales revenue
9% $500 – $999 in monthly sales revenue
10% More than $1,000 in monthly sales revenue”

Commissions (Percentage of Sales): Up to 10.00%!
Cookie Duration: 45 days

About the WB TV Shop:

“The WBTVShop.com affiliate program gives you the tools to sell clothing, DVDs and more from the hit shows Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, The O.C., Veronica Mars, Supernatural and Nip/Tuck. It’s free and easy – you sign up for the program then place banners, product images and/or text links on your site and we do everything else.

A few other reasons to join our affiliate program:

• Earn money! We will pay you up to a 10% commission on all sales generated at WBTVShop.com! Generating sales is easy with our great assortment of Collectibles and Gifts for the whole family.
• WBTVShop.com has earned a solid reputation for bringing fun to the whole family. Your site visitors know and trust us which results in increased conversions.
• It’s simple! Apply today and you can be up and running with the latest creative in no time. We update our creative on a regular basis and do our best to give you the support you need to sell our products.
• Monthly Newsletter – access the best offers and promos
• Weekly updated Data Feed

By joining our program, you will work with a 45 day cookie and a great commission structure that makes it easy for you to earn large amounts:
7% Less than $250 in monthly sales revenue
8% $251 – $499 in monthly sales revenue
9% $500 – $999 in monthly sales revenue
10% More than $1,000 in monthly sales revenue”

Commissions (Percentage of Sales): Up to 10.00%!
Cookie Duration: 45 days

If you are not already a member, Join Pepperjam Network Today!