I thought I would share with you the things I’m most thankful for in 2008. The list isn’t exhaustive; instead, these are some of the first things that come to my mind when I look back on an incredible 2008.

Things I’m Most Thankful for in 2008:

- The birth of my son, Kris Jr.
- The unfettered love and support I received from my wife, mother, extended family, and friends
- An all around incredible team of employees at Pepperjam
- Continued, extraordinary growth of Pepperjam’s Agency Business
- The opportunity to keynote Affiliate Dag and to speak at numerous conferences
- The opportunity to work with and speak to hundreds of high school and college kids in Northeastern, PA
- I published my first book, which has sold over 10,000 copies in its first 8-months and has been one of the best-selling books of 2008 on search marketing
- Pepperjam made #70 on the Inc. 500 List
- Being named a finalist for The Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year representing Pennsylvania
- Maintaining Pepperjam’s status as a privately-held company despite numerous opportunities to take on VC or be acquired
- The many new people I’ve met as I travelled around the United States and different parts of the globe
- The incredible success of Pepperjam Network – we launched in January and have nearly 700 advertisers and thousands upon thousands of affiliates. Oh ya – and we’ve generated millions of dollars in new revenue for Pepperjam
- The addition of numerous restaurants, bars, and coffee shops to downtown Wilkes-Barre (that’s where PJ is located)
- Being nominated and confirmed to the Board of Trustees of Misericordia University
- My health and happiness

Things I’m Most Looking Forward to in 2009:

- Turn around in the economy
- Continued growth and leadership position for Pepperjam and Pepperjam Network
- Obama taking over the Presidency
- An update to my book / addressing what I believe is a convergence between PPC & SEO
- Spending time with my family
- Moving into a new house
- Taking a vacation with my wife in February and my family during the summer
- Meeting new people and helping to open doors for them within the internet marketing industry
- Speaking at industry conferences and trade shows
- Involvement in my community

Less than two months ago we announced the release of Pepperjam Store Builder.

Pepperjam Store Builder is a next generation product feed technology that allows Pepperjam Network affiliates to quickly (less than 60 seconds) and easily create dynamic storefronts. The storefronts are created by selecting specific products or products categories from a list of several hundred Pepperjam Network advertisers – the affiliate has the ability to completely customize the look and the feel of the storefront.

As part of the kickoff of PJN Store Builder we launched a $2,000 contest. The contest provided $10 to any Pepperjam Network affiliate for simply submitting a Web site that integrated Pepperjam Store Builder (we received over 100 submissions!). The other part of the contest, which ends today at 5pm, is a $1,000 Grand Prize for the Web site / store that best integrates Pepperjam Store Builder.

The reason for this post is that the winner of the Grand Prize is voted on by YOU!

If you’d like to see our finalists and vote for the store that you think is best CLICK HERE TO VOTE NOW!

If you’d like to learn more about Pepperjam Store Builder CLICK HERE.

UPDATE – WINNER ANNOUNCED!

I was interview by Jeffrey L. Smith (President/CEO) of SEO Design Solutions as part of my speaking at SES – Chicago next week.

The interview includes questions about affiliate marketing, traffic monetization, traffic generation, PPC, and Quality Score Optimization so I thought I would share it.

CLICK HERE to read the entire interview.