I am proud to announce that Pepperjam Network (Pepperjam’s fast growing affiliate marketing network) launched today a weekly interview series called “Meet the Affiliates.” Each week a new affiliate will be interviewed, which will be posted to the Pepperjam Blog located at www.pepperjamnetwork.com/blog.

As mentioned in our official MTA logo, the purpose of the Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Weekly Interview Series is to entertain our readers and followers, while also sharing real world stories that we believe will be a great source of education and inspiration to affiliates of all sizes and levels of success. Nothing of this scale has ever been done to celebrate the many success stories, as well as trials and tribulations of being an affiliate marketer.

The first interview, which was published today on the PJN Blog, features super affiliate, blogger, and podcaster Sam Harrelson. READ MORE HERE!

I have always been a loyal reader of Revenue Magazine.

For those of you that have never heard of it, Revenue Magazine is the most comprehensive and relevant magazine to the affiliate marketing industry. The writers are experienced professionals that provide insight into everything from what’s hot right now in the affiliate marketing industry to affiliate marketing best practices.

I know I’m not the only one that has read literally every Revenue Magazine from cover to cover…usually without putting it down (it’s that good).

The point of this post is to thank Revenue Magazine for doing an extensive interview with me for the current issue that is on newstands right now.

The interview is titled “Small Town Big Man” and includes pictures of my dog Roxy, as well as footage of the Pepperplex and the Pepperjam Team.

I’d also like to thank Revenue for promoting and providing a brief review of my recently released book: Search-Engine Optimization - Your Visual Blueprint to Effective Internet Marketing!

I can’t find a link to pass on so that you can read the interview online; however, I’ve included a link below so that you can apply for a free subscription.

You can apply for a free subscription to Revenue HERE.

I typically speak about 25-30 times per year at various shows around (and sometimes outside of) the United States.

However, there is usually a week or two reprieve between each obligation. Since each presentation is unique and takes some significant preparation time (preparation met with opportunity equals success), it’s probably best that most presentations are spread out over the course of weeks, not hours…

Not this time!

I’ve been very busy over the last few days preparing for three separate speaking engagements - all within a 36 hour time period that starts tomorrow morning.

(1) First, I’ll be testifying in front of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Education Committee at 10:00am. I was asked to testify about the impact a certain economic development initiative (called the Keystone Innovation Zone Program) has had on the tremendous growth of Pepperjam. This speaking opportunity is especially exciting for me since my background prior to and during my law school years was working for a U.S. Congressman and the House Financial Services Committee in Washington, D.C.

(2) After I present to the PA House Education Committee I am off to New York City to present a one-hour speech on the “Future of Affiliate Marketing” at the Electronic Retailer Association (ERA) LIVE Conference. I’m staying at the London with Pepperjam’s VP of Search Ken Mohn, Jr. and Director of Client Relations Trevor Brennan. My presentation is scheduled for 5:15pm so I’m hoping to get into the city with enough time to check in at the London, get a bite to eat, and get over to the ERA conference. After my presentation we are looking forward to networking a bit at the official ERA cocktail hour / party.

(3) Thursday evening I will deliver a speech at the Annual Great Valley Technology Alliance (GVTA) Business Plan Competition. I went to the event last year and there were about 500 people in attendance, including the finalists for the competition. The finalists (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place) split over $125,000 in cash and prizes. Not to bad! I’m particularly excited to be part of this event, especially because I think these are the types of initiatives that really give budding entrepreneurs the opportunity to put their ideas on paper and to formulate a plan of attack in the form of a business plan.

So there it is - three (3) presentations in 36 hours…from Pennsylvania to New York to Pennsylvania. I sort of feel like a politician.

I am really looking forward to Thursday night around 7:00pm when it’s all over, even though I’m excited about being part of each event!

Brock Siegel (VP of Pepperjam Network), Aaron Baker (VP of Sales & Marketing), and I will be leaving Tuesday morning for New Orleans to attend the eCommerce Merchants Trade Association (ECMTA) Summit.

The event is being headed up by well-known internet marketing industry experts Cresta Pillsbury and JP Diaz - Cresta and JP formerly the faces of the internet marketing division of HackerSafe. Also involved in the planning of the ECMTA Summit is David Tomkins, e-commerce expert and founder of award winning shoe Web site - Gotham City Online.

I will speak on an affiliate marketing panel on Wednesday moderated by Cresta Pillsbury. I will be joined by JP Diaz.

Pepperjam will be sponsoring an invitation-only party Tuesday night after the intro cocktail party. Please contact aaron @ pepperjamsearch.com if you’d like to be considered for an invite.

In addition, during the conference Pepperjam Network and ECMTA will announce a marketing partnership to provide ECMTA members with exclusive discounts and access to Pepperjam Network. As part of the announcement, JP Diaz and Super Affiliate Management Services will provide ECMTA members that launch on Pepperjam Network with a professionally managed affiliate program.

If you’d like to learn more about the ECMTA please visit http://www.ecmta.org

eCommerce Merchants is a leading trade association of small and medium sized ecommerce businesses. The organization provides best practices guidance, technology & infrastructure advice and sourcing & supplies solutions to online merchants around the world who use the internet to sell or promote products and services. The organization works closely with the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (www.gopesa.org).

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.