Welcome to Week #4 of the Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Interview Series!

This week I interview Colin McDougall.  Colin is one of the most passionate, motivated, and talented affiliate marketers in the industry.  If you have ever had the opportunity to meet Colin you will remember him - not only because he is a pretty large guy, but because his enthusiasm for affiliate marketing and more importantly - life - is infectious!

I am confident that you will find Colin to be a remarkable affiliate marketer, person, and businessman…just like we do here at Pepperjam!

Here are the rules… 

The Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Interview Series will feature an original up-close interview with an affiliate marketer every Friday.  Priority will be given to Pepperjam Network affiliates, but that is not a requirement to share your story.  If you’d be interested in being interviewed please submit your request here - please make sure to tell us why you think your story is especially entertaining or educational and worth sharing with our readers.

As the series progresses we will do our best to ask questions that both entertain and educate!  We encourage you to comment on each of the interviews, as well as ask follow-up questions of the interviewee.

Lastly, if you are a blogger or just someone with a network of likeminded affiliate marketing friends, we encourage you to share our interviews series with anyone who you think may benefit. Also, since you won’t want to miss an interview once it’s published I encourage you to join the Feedburner Pepperjam Network RSS Feed, which is located at the top of this page or by clicking here.

Well…let’s get on to the interview!

Meet the Affiliates: Interview #4 

Colin McDougall
ConstantConversation.com/

Question #1

KRIS: When did you first get involved in affiliate marketing? Tell us the story of how you got started…

COLIN: I first got started when my hockey buddy, Chuck Anderson who was partnered with James Martell, asked me to work for them to create a content management system. In exchange for coding for free they taught my some aspects of making money online.

That was in 2001 and within about 6 months of starting my affiliate income had exceeded my techie job income by 3 fold. I knew the “real job” wouldn’t around much longer!

Question #2

KRIS: Where do you live?  Are you married?  Any children? Animals?

COLIN: I am married to my lovely wife Wendy and live in the Vancouver suburb of Langley with my 2 daughters (ages 5 & 7) and our cat Stanley named after the holy grail of hockey, the Stanley Cup.

Question #3

KRIS: When and how did you get started in the affiliate marketing industry?  Tell us the story…

COLIN: Before I talk about getting started, I would like to share my past career path with you.

I graduated from BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) in 1993 from their Electronics Engineering specializing in Telecommunications.

Thanks to nepotism (my father was in senior management) I got my first “real job” as a UNIX and Database systems analyst. After working like a slave (18 hour days) at a thankless job that required me to drop what I was doing on a moments notice to respond to systems calls at all hours of the night I had enough and applied at the power company here in British Columbia (BC Hydro).

At the time I thought it was fantastic working at the new job because I received a whopping $10,000 / year increase in salary. With the increased salary I thought I could afford to finally purchase a house, so I did.

At the same time, my first daughter was born and I had not fully realized the cost of baby stuff such as diapers so I always seemed to be $50 shy of paying the bills every month. Working at a real job was too much of a slippery slope, I simply could not afford to make ends meet. I had recognized that “this new internet thing” had huge potential for making some extra cash to pay the bills so I was actively researching how the internet could make money when, while at work, I received an email from my buddy Chuck asking for help in his internet business.

I responded to Chuck’s email within seconds after he sent it out to his friends and family email list. Chuck was working with James Martell teaching a system of making money online and boy did I nail it. Within only a few months my income from affiliate programs was at $15,000 / month and quickly shot up to $60,000 / month. I couldn’t stay at the “real job” any longer…

With that kind of money pouring in every month, I fired my boss!

Question #4

KRIS: I know that you are an avid writer, speaker, and Super Affiliate.  One of your most successful projects is “the VEO Report: A Comprehensive Guide to Building Stable Search  Engine Results.”  Can you tell us more about this project?

COLIN: The onslaught of requests to speak at industry events such as Affiliate Summit and The System Seminar (which I will be presenting at this week-end) has been overwhelming and flattering!

The VEO Report was created shortly after I attended a Search Engine Strategies conference in New York City.

As I previously mentioned, I was following James Martell’s system and my sites got completely obliterated from the search engines. My massive amounts of income were literally wiped out over night. It was a Google update dubbed “Florida” that destroyed my entire traffic flow.

I was faced with a choice, either go back to a real job or persevere and find out what Google actually really wanted. Since I am now un-employable, the real job was not an option so it was off to SES with the goal of meeting a Google engineer to hear from the horse’s mouth what Google really wanted for websites to rank.

I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got lots of one to one time with an incredibly nice Google engineer, Matt Cutts.

I went through the Martell system with Matt, every step of the way Matt cringed and shook his head. During the course of the conference I made notes about the conversations I had with Matt.

By the end of the conference I had a huge stack of notes which I transcribed into a Word document and mailed it to my friends that had been using the Martell system and saw their income vanish at the same time I suffered my downturn. One of my friends called with immense enthusiasm about the notes I sent her.

My friend said, “Oh my Colin! Do you realize you have an information product here.”

Since then I have had the joy of helping others succeed. Helping others is my core mission in everything I pursue whether it is in business or in personal life.

Please take a moment to grab a copy of my complimentary internet marketing report right now.

Get Constant Conversation here - http://www.constantconversation.com

Question #5

KRIS: Can you share with us what a day-in-the-life of Colin McDougall is like?

COLIN: My days go something like this:

(1) Wake up
(2) Put coffee on
(3) Look at my “action board” listing my current project
(4) Put a task list together of stuff I need done today and then “just do it” (or outsource it)
(5) Stop work after about 2 hours and play with my kids.

Question #6

KRIS: If you could trade shoes with anyone in the world who would it be and why?

COLIN: There is nobody I would trade places with in this world because I like my life way too much!

Question #7

KRIS: Share with us your most embarrassing moment…

COLIN: Hmmm, embarrassing moments….There’s lots of those but I would say that it was at the first conference I presented at. I saw hundreds of eyes looking at me and lots of cameras pointing at me. My mind went blank from the stage and I said “Sorry folks I am incredibly nervous and don’t have a clue as to where I am at in my presentation.”

I managed to save myself by saying “Hey, you guys spent tons of money to come to this conference and you don’t need me talking at you. Do you want to do question and answer time?”

That is exactly what they wanted and I performed really well after that. I could see people’s eyes light up as they experience “ah ha” moments.

Question #8

KRIS: You’ve been in affiliate marketing for many years now.  Can you share with us one or three secrets that have been shared with you (or discovered by you) that may help our readers take their affiliate marketing business to the next level?

COLIN: The biggest secret to creating a successful online business is begin by removing the search engines from your thoughts.

Begin by establishing a USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Use your personal experiences and creativity to establish a USP.

Once you have created your unique angle into an industry register a domain that can be branded. If you are confused about what that means, there is a simple rule I have for this:

If your domain name can be placed on a hat for marketing purposes, then it is “brandable.”

When it comes to creating content for your website, again, proceed as though the search engines don’t exist. Write your copy first, then refine and edit for search engines. This is a key element for creating a VEO website. Visitor’s first and search engines second, really focus on what you can do to build a relationship with your visitors.

A good way to think about establishing a relationship with your visitors is to take a lesson from the music industry. You want to create a base of enthusiastic fans that will devour whatever you put out there.

An example of this is my admiration for the legendary rock band Rush. After attending the System Seminar in Chicago, I am flying to Denver to meet with my Mastermind group and I spent MAJOR cash on row 2 center stage tickets.

Why did I drop so much cash?

Because Rush has built a relationship with me. I know that when they put out an album or go on tour they are going to deliver to my expectations. I am a loyal follower and always will be.

Think about how you can create your fan base in your industry.

I reveal all my secrets in my business mentorship club to help people create the foundation that will serve to build your fan base.

Question #9

KRIS: Tell us why Canada is the most beautiful place in the world to live and work…

COLIN: I love British Columbia in particular because of the amazing natural beauty. I purchase a 27 foot travel trailer a few years ago so I could enjoy the mountains, lakes and rivers of BC.

Run a search at Google for British Columbia stuff and check out some of the pictures you see and you will realize why I love it here!

Question #10

KRIS: Name one person in the affiliate industry you admire and tell us why?

COLIN: There are lots of people that have helped me and I admire in this business. There are 2 people that I must publicly thank though.

The 2 people I admire most in this industry are:

(1) Rosalind Gardner
(2) Michael Campbell

Why?

Both Rosalind Gardner (click here to check out Rosalind’s “Meet the Affiliates” Interview here on PJN) and Michael Campbell returned my phone calls after my earnings plummeted to help me understand the right way to run an online business.

Ros and Michael have become very good friends of mine and I am eternally grateful to both. Both of these amazing people are down-to-earth people that are willing to take the time to help folks that need it.

Thanks Ros and Michael!

Next on deck for Meet the Affiliates: Super Affiliate and Blogger Zac Johnson

Zac’s interview will be published here on the Pepperjam Network Blog next Friday, June 6, 2008.

Make sure you don’t miss it!  Click Here to subscribe to the PJN Blog and have each interview delivered to your e-mail box.

___________________________________

Read Previous “Meet the Affiliates” Interviews:

Week #1 - Sam Harrelson
Week #2 - Scott Hazard
Week #3 - Rosalind Gardner

Affiliate Interviews affiliate marketing Colin McDougall Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Transparency UncategorizedAffiliate Interviews affiliate marketing Colin McDougall Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Transparency Uncategorized

We are proud to announce that Pepperjam has officially partnered with the eBay Partner Network to bring eBay’s links and graphics to Pepperjam’s affiliates at www.pepperjamnetwork.com

This program is in partnership with eBay and is supplemental to eBay’s recently launched partner network.

HIGHLIGHTS: Make up to 75% of all the transactions and up to an additional $35 for every new active user you send to eBay. Pepperjam has in place a dedicated eBay affiliate management team to work with you in real-time to maximize your eBay revenue. Learn more about our aggressive commission structure by logging-in to your Pepperjam Network account!

Your complete satisfaction and success as an eBay affiliate through the Pepperjam Network is our main priority!

About the eBay Partner Network and Pepperjam Partnership:

It will come as no surprise that eBay is The World’s Online Marketplace®, enabling trade on a local, national and international basis. With a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses, eBay offers an online platform where millions of items are traded each day. Founded in 1995, eBay Inc. connects hundreds of millions of people around the world every day, empowering them to explore new opportunities and innovate together. eBay Inc. does this by providing the Internet platforms of choice for global commerce, payments and communications. Since its inception, eBay Inc. has expanded to include some of the strongest brands in the world, including eBay, PayPal, Skype, Shopping.com, and others.

Coupling access to the unparalleled scope of eBay’s global marketplace with industry-leading tools and a dedicated support staff, the eBay Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network offers success to all types of publishers, from the casual blogger to the experienced Internet entrepreneur. The eBay Partner Network is one of the most profitable affiliate programs in existence today, paying affiliates up to $35 per active new user, and 75% of its revenue on hundreds of categories of products.

COMMISSIONS: Up to $35 per active user, and 75% of its revenue on hundreds of categories of products.
ACCEPTANCE: Manual; Special consideration and attention is given to 3, 4, and 5 (transparency) bar Pepperjam Network affiliates.
QUALIFYING TRANSACTIONS: An end user completes a bid or BIN that results in a successful transaction on Participating Sites and Content within 7 days after clicking your Link. An end user (a) registers on the Participating Sites and Content for the first time within 30 days of clicking on a Link (b) confirms his or her registration and (c) visits Participating Sites and Content and places a bid or BIN to purchase an item within 30 days of the original registration.

To join the eBay Affiliate Program through the Pepperjam Network visit www.pepperjamnetwork.com

affiliate marketing eBay ebay Affiliate Program Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Uncategorizedaffiliate marketing eBay ebay Affiliate Program Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Uncategorized

10.) Offer to devote an entire website to their products only using their product catalog/data feed.
9.) Flash one of your big checks from Google in their face.
8.) Try and persuade the merchant to give you the higher payout because even if you don’t generate sales, they haven’t lost any money!
7.) Tell them you are a super affiliate. Almost.
6.)Tell the merchant you are looking to prioritize certain relationships and you’ve chosen them!
5.) Prove your worth. Offer to run PPC campaigns for merchants that do not manage their own PPC campaigns. Tell
the merchant your ads will occupy the real estate on the search engines, thus, bringing in more sales. Since you need to front your own money, you need a higher payout.
4.) Beg. Don’t be surprised when the affiliate manager blocks you on AIM.
3.) Offer to switch out competitors’ ads on your site or in your PPC campaigns and replace them with the merchant’s.
2.) Offer to give the merchant featured placement for the duration of the increased payout aka homepage placement. Or offer permanent newsletter placement.

If points 10 through 2 don’t get you a higher paying offer, maybe you should…..
1.) Just ASK!!! Some merchants knowingly have wiggle room for increased payouts and are just waiting for affiliates to ask!

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1&1 Internet affiliate marketing New Program Launch Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Transparency1&1 Internet affiliate marketing New Program Launch Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Transparency

We are proud to announce the launch of the Angie’s List, Cash Angels Online, and Elite Fixtures Affiliate Programs on Pepperjam Network - www.pepperjamnetwork.com

About the Angie’s List Affiliate Program:

“Angie’s List is a growing collection of homeowners’ real-life
experiences with local service companies. The people who join
Angie’s List are like you — looking for a way to find trustworthy
companies that perform high-quality work.

Receive $10 for every new monthly plan subscriber and $20 for every new annual plan subscriber you refer!”

Commission: Up to $20 per lead
Cookie Duration: 45 days

_______________________________________________

About the Cash Angels Online Affiliate Program:

“Need cash quick but caught between paydays? We have the solution!

By filling out this 2-minute application, our customers may qualify for a cash advance for up to $500 with a participating lender!

Once they have filled out the online application, on the final page of the application, they will be given directions that they must follow to complete the process.

Once approved, their cash is usually deposited in their bank account that evening by a participating lender.

When due, their cash advance plus fees are automatically deducted from their bank account by the lender.

Getting The Cash They Need Is That Easy!! Sign up today and earn $50 for every qualifed lead.”

Commission: Up to $50 per lead
Cookie Duration: 45 days

_______________________________________________

About the Elite Fixtures Affiliate Program:

“EliteFixtures.com is comprised of a group of talented individuals bringing together the best products at affordable prices while offering a one stop resource to meet all of your luxury home fixture needs. EliteFixtures.com believes that every item inside or outside of your home is considered a fixture and that’s why it’s in our name!”

Commission: 5%
Cookie Duration: 45 days

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Welcome to Week #3 of the Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Interview Series!

This week I interview Rosalind Gardner.  Rosalind is one of the most recognized super affiliates in the world and has been sharing her secrets through best-selling books, blogging, and public speaking for years.  If you don’t know or haven’t followed Rosalind’s work you are in store for a treasure trove of great content.

I know you will enjoy Rosalind’s interview and we hope that you bookmark the Pepperjam Network Blog (do people still do that?) or simply click here to receive future “Meet the Affiliates” interviews via e-mail.

Here are the rules… 

The Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Interview Series will feature an original up-close interview with an affiliate marketer every Friday.  Priority will be given to Pepperjam Network affiliates, but that is not a requirement to share your story.  If you’d be interested in being interviewed please submit your request here - please make sure to tell us why you think your story is especially entertaining or educational and worth sharing with our readers.

As the series progresses we will do our best to ask questions that both entertain and educate!  We encourage you to comment on each of the interviews, as well as ask follow-up questions of the interviewee.

Lastly, if you are a blogger or just someone with a network of likeminded affiliate marketing friends, we encourage you to share our interviews series with anyone who you think may benefit. Also, since you won’t want to miss an interview once it’s published I encourage you to join the Feedburner Pepperjam Network RSS Feed, which is located at the top of this page or by clicking here.

Well…let’s get on to the interview!

Meet the Affiliates: Interview #3

ROSALIND: I am happily single, child-free and live in Perfection… um, Penticton, British Columbia which is located in Canada’s peaches and beaches playground - the Okanagan Valley. In 2006, I convinced my (unofficially) adopted brother Ed to move into my way-too-big-for-one house, previously shared only with my very large, diabetic cat, Vic.

Question #2

KRIS: When and how did you first get involved in affiliate marketing.  Please share your story…

ROSALIND: Sometime back the dark ages of late 1997, I happened upon a banner ad that read “Webmasters Make Money” which was too enticing (and at the time, quite unusual) to ignore, so I clicked on it and found myself on the affiliate program signup page for the One and Only dating service network which included a cursory explanation about affiliate marketing.  Recurring commissions of fifty percent of the monthly membership fee sounded like a decent prospect, so I started a little dating service review site for singles called Sage-Hearts.com. The site is still my primary affiliate breadmaker.

Question #3

KRIS: What are some of your favorite online resources for learning more about affiliate marketing?

ROSALIND: There are SO many writers sharing good information about affiliate marketing that one could easily spend all day perusing blogs rather than working, so I limit my reading to just one or two on any given workday.

For staying on top of industry news, my favorites include Linda Buquet’s “5 Star Affiliate Programs Blog” and Revenews.com. My best source of commission-increasing information comes from phone chats with my Super Affiliate friends and colleagues, however.

Question #4

KRIS: What are your top two (2) favorite books of all time and top three (3) favorite musical groups?

ROSALIND: I’ve consumed copious quantities of books in nearly 5 decades, so my ‘favorites’ tend to be those that left a significant impression in recent months and years. In that vein, I’d have to say Thomas L. Friedman’s “The World is Flat” and Al Gore’s “Assault on Reason” are my recent favorites.

With thousands of tunes plugged into the iPod, I’m even more loathe to name favorite music. Basically, crank the volume on any Irish jig or 40’s swing to get me dancin’.

Question #5

KRIS: What is a day-in-the-life of Rosalind Gardner like?

ROSALIND: Because the opportunity to make money is virtually limitless, and time spent with family and friends doing the fun stuff is not, I try to structure my work so as to make the most of the latter.

To that end, I start each day by appreciating the beautiful view from either my hot tub or pool (or both) and usually cap them off in the same manner.

Once every couple of weeks I put in one to three long ‘working’ days during which I spend several hours writing blog posts, articles and product reviews; days that are followed by long stretches of primarily free time for travel, gardening, hiking and otherwise having fun.

Even on the ‘off’ days, however, I often make time to respond to blog commentary and support tickets that can not otherwise be handled by my assistant. Because I like what I do and do what I like (topical blogging), attending to business on my free-time days never feels like work.

Question #6

KRIS: Among other regular contributions to the affiliate marketing industry, you are a regular columnist for Revenue Magazine (BTW - I always look forward to reading your piece every issue!).  Can you share with our readers what you feel is the best advice you’ve ever given as part of your column in Revenue Magazine?

ROSALIND: Thanks very much for the kind words about my Affiliate’s Corner column, Kris. I appreciate having YOU as a reader!

Of the 19 articles that I’ve written for Revenue in the last 3 years, I’d have to say that my “Entrepreneur Sees the Light” piece (click here to read article) in the March/April 2006 issue offers critical advice that is too often over-looked by new affiliates - that having passion for your topic is essential to success in business and affiliate blogging.

I see way too many bloggers start sites around topics that they determine to be potentially lucrative, yet about which they know little or nothing. They end up frustrated and burnt-out  trying to research and produce regular content, while their earnings remain commensurate with their knowledge, i.e. little to nothing.

Ergo, starting with subject matter about which one you very keen and enjoy sharing information is integral to making the big bucks.

Question #7

KRIS: You authored the book “Make a Fortune Promoting Other People’s Stuff Online.” Can you share with us a few tips from that book? Wait…you’re not done yet. You’ve also authored one of the best-selling and successful e-books of all time called “The Super Affiliate Handbook: How I Made $436797 in One Year Selling Other People’s Stuff Online.” Is there an additional tip or two from that book that you can share?

ROSALIND: Published in 2007 by McGraw-Hill, “Make a Fortune…”  is actually a digest version of the “Super Affiliate Handbook”, which was originally self-published in 2003 and has gone through umpteen revisions in order to remain current in our ever-evolving industry.

One tip from the Super Affiliate Handbook that has generated loads of favorable reader response is about negotiating commission increases. Apparently, even some Super Affiliates didn’t realize that commission rates aren’t written in stone.

I suggest that affiliates who consistently send copious amounts of sales-producing traffic to their merchant partners’ sites have every right to request a percentage or fee-based increase.

I also recommend that they keep an alternate program in their back pocket to use as leverage just in case their request is denied. Pulling the first program and vigorously promoting the second often encourages the merchant of the first program to change their decision when that Super Affiliate is no longer contributing to their bottom line.

Question #8

KRIS: My guess is that as an accomplished author, international speaker, and uber successful affiliate marketer you’ve traveled the world many times. Tell us about the most amazing place you’ve ever been to around the world. Tell us about your experience there…

ROSALIND: You guess correctly, Kris, and the world is so full of amazing places that once again it’s difficult to choose a single location. I do, however, have a preference for traveling to countries where the people are primarily Buddhist and the aggressive ‘me-first’ mind-set is practically non-existent.

Imagine any major roadway in North America and you know you’d be dead meat in mere moments for simply having the audacity to believe that you had a right to walk to the other side without benefit of a traffic light to limit homicidal tendences.

Yet in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) I can casually and without fear, cross a 6-lane roadway teaming with hundreds of motorists, knowing each will veer slightly to give way to pedestrians and whatever else might be in their projected path.

Such co-operation and respect is a beautiful thing to experience. I also appreciate that they serve my favorite breakfast food, Pho.

Question #9

KRIS: Name one person in the affiliate industry you admire and tell us why?

ROSALIND: Name just ONE person? Impossible.

With all the b.s. affiliate marketing info sold by wannabe’s and pretenders, I most admire those Super Affiliates who worked hard to achieve success in the industry and continue to work as affiliate marketers, while honestly and openly sharing their knowledge and good information with others who may just be starting out. Among those people, Anik Singal and Jeremy Palmer are two of the best examples.

At the top of my list, I put my good friend Colin McDougall, who not only recovered from business-busting bad advice to build a highly successful affiliate business, but whose generosity for sharing information is unparalleled. If we all had 1/10th Colin’s tenacity, everyone would be uber-successful.

Thanks Rosalind!

To read Rosalind Gardner’s previous Revenue Magazine Columns visit here.

Next on deck for Meet the Affiliates: Super Affiliate Colin McDougall

Colin’s interview will be published here on the Pepperjam Network Blog next Friday, May 30, 2008.

Make sure you don’t miss it!  Click Here to subscribe to the PJN Blog and have each interview delivered to your e-mail box.

Read Previous “Meet the Affiliates” Interviews:

Week #1 - Sam Harrelson
Week #2 - Scott Hazard

Affiliate Interviews affiliate marketing Anik Singal Colin McDougall Jeremy Palmer Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Rosalind Gardner TransparencyAffiliate Interviews affiliate marketing Anik Singal Colin McDougall Jeremy Palmer Meet the Affiliates Next Generation Affiliate Marketing pepperjam Pepperjam Chat Pepperjam Network pepperjamADS Rosalind Gardner Transparency

In my last post, “Launching a Simple Affiliate Site – Part 1” we covered selecting a topic, as well as making sure we had multiple ways to potentially monetize the site. This week, we’re going to cover keyword research, buying a domain, and getting hosting.

There are plenty of premium keyword research tools out there that come with a monthly fee. However, one of the goals with this guide is to keep costs as low as possible. With that in mind, my first stop for keyword research was the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. In the text field for “descriptive word or phrases” I enter a few of my base keywords. Since the site topic is “Philadelphia Eagles Jerseys”, my initial keywords are: Philadelphia Eagles jerseys, Eagles jersey, Eagles jerseys. I also added in the phrase “New Jersey” in the filter options to keep out a million New Jersey keywords.

Once the results are returned, at the bottom of the list there is a link to export the result to .csv for Excel. Now that I have my keywords in excel, I sort by average search volume, then weed through the list by hand and remove any keywords that wouldn’t make sense in my site. In this example, I got some keywords like “nba jerseys” and “hockey jerseys”. After trimming my list down, I’m left with 25 or so keywords. These will serve as the focus for the pages of my site. Any of the more generic keywords like “authentic jerseys” will be modified to fit my site topic. So, “authentic jerseys” becomes “Eagles authentic jerseys”. Once I get my keywords more targeted to my topic, I break them down into relevant groups. This step is really similar to what you would want to do if you were creating a PPC campaign. The keywords get broken down into tight, relevant groups. I already have my keywords sorted by search volume, so it’s easy to identify what the most important words in each group are. The groups ended up breaking down into the following areas: General, Authentic, Cheap, Custom, Replica, Throwback, Kids, and Players. These will serve as the main categories for my site, with the general keywords being the used on the home page.

click to enlarge

By this point I have both my topic, and a list of keywords to target broken down into relevant groups – now it’s time to find a domain name. Glancing over this list, the phrase “Eagles jerseys” appears an awful lot, and for good reason – it’s the main focus of the site. So, let’s see if EaglesJerseys.com is available…

Well, EaglesJerseys.com is taken already, and is currently the home of a junk parked page, complete with a pop up. However - EaglesJerseys.org is available for $10. At this point, I can do a few things. I can either email the owner of eaglesjerseys.com and make an offer on the domain, I can pick up one of the other TLD’s for a very minimal cost, or I can continue my hunt for a better .com name.

In this case, I’m going to go with the .org. I think I can safely assume the current owner is going to be asking way more than the domain is worth, especially for our purposes. My main goal for the site will be to get it to rank for the base keywords “Eagles jerseys” and “Philadelphia Eagles jerseys” - so EaglesJerseys.org will work just fine. Using the coupon code OYH1, I get 10% off my GoDaddy purchase, and we have ourselves a domain name. Now, it’s time to shop for hosting.

Because we’re really only looking to make a simple affiliate site, a small shared hosting package should suite our purpose. No need to go and drop $200 a month on a dedicated box to serve up 25 pages and some banners. For budget hosting, I have had good experiences with CyberWurx.com and SuperbHosting.net. Both can have you up and running for less than $7 a month. The Superb Hosting blog plan is $42 for a year, and comes with a $25 credit for Yahoo’s PPC program. Either of these two hosts will provide us with everything we need to get a Wordpress site up and running, without any issue at all. As a side note, when shopping for a host keep in mind there is no such thing as “unlimited bandwidth”. I’d be cautious with any hosts who promise this. They’re going to cap you at some point – try not to buy the sizzle. As I mentioned, I can personally recommend either of the two hosts I mentioned, but feel free to try out any on your own.

Once you pick your host and purchase your plan, we’re finished with phase two. At this point we have our topic, a list of potential monetization methods, our keyword list, a domain, and a hosting account. Next week we’ll cover installing Wordpress, setting up our plugins, and adding pages to our site.

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We are proud to announce the launch of the BetterCables.com, BeautyChoice.com, and Display Well Affiliate Programs on Pepperjam Network - www.pepperjamnetwork.com

About the Better Cables Affiliate Program:

HIGHLIGHTS: Earn 15% commission on every sale! Open Search Policy. Trademark bidding is allowed.

“BetterCables.com, is arguably the first online direct manufacturer of high-performance component video cable, DVI cable, HDMI cable, svideo cable, speaker cable and more - SINCE 1999. Satisfied customers, high-performance, and quick shipping on all of our cables have been our mainstay since the beginning. Whether your are connecting the latest DVD player, cable/satellite HDTV settop box or high-end video scaler, BetterCables.com has the best audio cables, video cables, DVI and HDMI cables ready to ship today.”

Commissions: 15.00%
Cookie Duration: 45 days
Promotions: Free Shipping on All U.S. Orders. No minimum purchase required!

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About the BeautyChoice.com Affiliate Program:

“BeautyChoice.com is a leading online retailer in the Personal Care/Beauty category. We currently feature over 11,000 name brand items for your hair, nails, skin, and body. We also feature more than 5,000 name-brand fragrances all at great prices.”

Commission: Up to 10%
Cookie Duration: 45 days

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About the Display Well Affiliate Program:

“Display Well creates high-impact, high-quality, custom-designed portable displays and exhibits. Our online design center lets you build and customize displays via the internet, which simplifies and expedites the process. We specialize in light-weight, free-standing, mobile signage. We are the only company that offers full service, professional display design and development all in one place. From concept to delivery we provide marketing, graphic design, printing and production.”

Commissions: $5.00 per lead
Cookie Duration: 45 days

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Are you thinking to yourself - how come I’m not a member of this network?  It’s like the best network ever.

Yeahhhhhhh. Sign-up for Pepperjam Network @ www.pepperjamnetwork.com

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I am sitting here in my hotel room at the InterContinental Amstel in Amsterdam.

I just arrived back from giving the keynote presentation at Affiliate Dag, which was held about 30 minutes from here in a town called Utrecht.

Affiliate Dag is the largest affiliate marketing conference ever held in Europe and it was an absolute honor to deliver the keynote address.

Sooooooooooooo….I’ve been holding out for a few weeks to make this post because I wanted to actually deliver the presentation and get some feedback before I spilled the beans on what I believe is the future of affiliate marketing.

This is my first post in a multi-part series that I’ll call - “the Future of Affiliate Marketing.”

While it may seem that my thoughts are a bit advertiser-focused, in reality I don’t see it that way.  I actually believe (in a nutshell) that the future of affiliate marketing will empower both affiliates and advertisers in a way they are not used to.  In contrast to the past where I believe affiliate networks really have controlled the conversation, I believe that the future includes a MUCH larger voice for affiliates and advertisers alike.

With the above said, here’s my first thought on the future of affiliate marketing says Kris Jones…

Quality over Quantity

In the past, if you asked an advertiser how successful their affiliate program was one of the first questions would be: How many affiliates do you have?

Well, that is a silly question, especially considering that 95% of affiliate marketing sales are driven by less than 5% of the affiliates.

The 5% of affiliates are actually the ones that control the industry - all advertisers vie for the attention of the top performing affiliates - right?

Clearly, there is a strong argument that in aggregate (total) smaller affiliates can make a tremendous impact on an affiliate program - I agree with this and I believe they deserve some of your attention, but despite this your affiliate program will be more successful by focusing on the quality instead of the quantity of affiliates.

Another primary reason I am advocating for advertisers to focus more on quality over quantity is because it will provide you with more control over your affiliate program, which has become a primary concern for many advertisers.

Control is very important in affiliate marketing, especially as it relates to controlling your marketing message and managing your brand and reputation.

The goal of this series is not to put down other affiliate networks.  However, this is one area that Pepperjam Network is superior to other affiliate networks, including Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Performics.

Pepperjam Network was built on the premise of providing advertisers with the tools to focus on Quality affiliates, rather than large Quantities of affiliates - that’s what our transparency system is all about - we give you the tools to know who your affiliates are, what promotional methods they use, and what type of impact you can expect them to make in your affiliate program.

The other networks were built on scale…meaning that wanted to provide with the technology to recruit as many affiliates as possible.  Not saying that a bad thing, I’m just saying it is not the future of affiliate marketing.

If you don’t believe me that the affiliate marketing industry is moving to more of a quality marketplace (versus quantity), just take the example of online retailer Zappos.

My understanding is that until relatively recently the Zappos affiliate program on Commission Junction was one of the largest (both in revenues and # of affiliates) affiliate programs in the United States. BTW - I am a major fan of Zappos and consider it one of the best (if not the best) run companies in the United States.

Well, guess what Zappos supposedly did recently - expired about 95% (my guess) of their affiliates.

Without starting a controversy over why they did it (or what the exact percentage was), it’s my guess that they did it for more control over their brand with a central focus on managing higher “quality” affiliates.  In effect, this enhanced affiliate transparency makes the program much more managable and allows Zappos to grow their program even more.

Well - there you have it.

The Future of Affiliate Marketing includes the notion that quality is much, much more important than quantity.

If you have an follow-up questions or would like to challenge my reasoning - let me have it.

Comments are open and log-in is not required.

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