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Darren Rowse…power blogger, author, and next week’s “Meet the Affiliates” Interview just posted an interview with ME on his blog that I believe is worth sharing with you.

Here is a link to the interview - this is probably the most in-depth and candid interview I’ve ever given online and I’m honored that Darren decided to interview me about Pepperjam Network and share it with the 50,000+ readers of his very popular blog.

BTW - in the interview I share the formula I used when I started in affiliate marketing some 9 years ago to become a leading super affiliate at the time.  Hope you enjoy.

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Welcome to Week #9 of the Pepperjam Network “Meet the Affiliates” Interview Series!

This week I interview super affiliate, conference speaker, and outspoken affiliate marketing advocate Scott Jangro.  Scott Jangro is the co-founder of MechMedia, Inc. (http://www.mechmedia.com), a web publishing and affiliate marketing company that focuses on social media and retail products.  He frequently writes about the stuff that keeps him up at night on his blog, Jangro.com.

Read on to learn more about Scott Jangro.

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 #9 

Scott Jangro
Jangro.com / MechMedia.com

Question #1

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

SCOTT: My first exposure to affiliate marketing was in 1998 when I had just registered the jangro.com domain.  I put some Barnesandnoble.com affiliate links on there hoping for some beer money.  I didn’t get any.

A year later, as fate would have it, I joined Be Free as employee #88.  I was at Be Free for about five years as a product manager for the BFAST affiliate platform, one of the first affiliate service provider solutions, though we didn’t consider it a network.  During those years, I went through an IPO, and acquisition, and a merger with a competitor.  It was an interesting run to say the least.  But I always loved doing web development and wished that I could be doing the work that publishers and affiliates do.  So I finally made the jump in 2004 and haven’t looked back.

Question #2

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

SCOTT: I live in Stow, MA, a very small town about 25 miles west of Boston.  Stow’s got about 6000 people, 4 golf courses, and maybe a dozen apple orchards.  I’ve got an 11 year old daughter, Sarah, from a previous marriage and my lovely wife Kristin and I have a two year old son, Alex, and another boy on the way in August.

Question #3

KRIS: Can you share a few success tips for affiliates who are new to affiliate marketing?

SCOTT: Don’t look for the quick buck or fall for the guys selling their “make money” secrets.  There are lots of different ways to make money in affiliate marketing, paid search and SEO through many different types of sites, or no site at all.  Do a lot of research.  Find people to talk to on forums and conferences.  more on that in a second.

Focus on something you enjoy.  If you’re going to start a blog, pick a topic that you’re interested in.  If you love analytics, statistics, and spreadsheets, try paid search.  Doing something that you like will increases the odds that you’ll stick with it.  I’ve lost count of the great money making website ideas that I’ve started but lost interest in a few weeks.

Make friends.  The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is to find some smart people who you can bounce ideas off of, get feedback, and learn from.  Affiliate Marketing can be as cutthroat as any business, so it can be hard to share ideas with people for fear of someone running with them.  This takes a long time and some effort, but good friends are golden.  That’s my number one tip.

Question #4

KRIS: If you were not a successful, full-time affiliate marketer what would you be doing and why?

SCOTT: Had I not left the corporate world to become an affiliate marketer, it is very possible that I’d still be working for Commission Junction.  At the very least, I’d be working for some software company as I have a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, or pursuing my secret desire to become a teacher.  While I hope to never ever again be making others rich working at some company, I haven’t given up on the idea of teaching.

Question #5

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

SCOTT: While I like to think that I know everything, you can never stop learning.  The space changes so rapidly that you really need to keep on top of the affiliate networks, the search engines, other issues that are affecting our business, and the trends that shape consumer behavior.  I read a lot of blogs of other affiliate marketers, search experts, and social media folks.  There are several forums out there, but the one I’ve stuck with forever is ABestWeb.com.  I also participate in a lot of private discussions with some industry friends on IM, email, and private forums.  That gets back to finding some friends in the industry that you can share with. The absolute best resource is some smart people you can trust.

Question #6

KRIS: Personally, I’m a pretty big NFL fan (Go E.A.G.L.E.S!!!).  What about you?  Do you follow college or professional sports?  If so, who are your favorite teams?

SCOTT: C’mon Kris, I’m born and raised in Boston and have been here my whole life. You say “Go Eagles!” and I’m thinking B.C.

I’m a huge Boston sports fan, and of course it’s a great time to be one. I really don’t like to gloat about it. Well, ok, I do but it’s getting tiring.  My favorite sport is hockey, which I grew up playing, but unfortunately the Bruins aren’t participating in the championship glut.

Question #7

KRIS: Affiliate Classroom recently launched an initiative to launch an affiliate marketing trade association called the Performance Marketing Alliance (PMA). What are your thoughts on PMA and the need for an affiliate marketing trade association in general.  Feel free to share with us what you think a trade association for affiliate marketers looks like?

SCOTT: I’ve made no secret about my skepticism surrounding any industry organization effort.  Our industry is quite divided due to differing business models of performance marketers.  Add in the entrepreneurial and even lone-wolf nature of many people who work in online marketing and that’s a tough group to get to agree on anything.

That said, I think that our industry does have some serious image issues with the rest of the online and offline worlds.  An industry organization that’s well funded can help with that and other big issues that we face.

The PMA is not the first to attempt this, and I do hope they succeed.  I have been voted onto their Foundation Advisory Board, so I’ll have a part in shaping how this organization takes its initial form.

Question #8

KRIS: If you were to be one of the following characters, which one would you be and why: A. Dirk Diggler, B. Homer Simpson, or C. Tony Robbins?

SCOTT: Seriously, these three are who you come up with?  A porn star.  A middle-aged loser cartoon character.  A squeaky clean self-help guru.  I’m starting to feel like I’m getting Punk’d here.

If I have to pick one, I’ll say Tony Robbins.  He’s an optimistic family guy with a great outlook on life.  He’s self-made and a self-starter.  Plus he’s got great hair and teeth.  I could do worse than be Tony Robbins.

Question #9

KRIS: In 200 words or less, what is the future of affiliate marketing?

SCOTT: Just in the past few months, we’ve entered some really interesting times for our industry, from events like New York State putting their sights on affiliate marketing as a taxable source of income to the biggest Internet company there is rebranding Performics to the Google Affiliate Network.  The latter, I think, lends more credibility to our industry than any single event in our past. We’re going to get much more visible, both for good and bad.  Affiliate Marketers are an adaptive bunch, to say the least, and we’ll keep rolling with the punches and as an industry continue to succeed.

Question #10

KRIS: If the “Big Three” Affiliate Networks (CJ, Linkshare, Google Affiliate Network) were to all do one thing that would make a positive impact on the affiliate marketing industry, what would that one thing be?

SCOTT: I think the most effective or influential thing that the “big three” could do is take a good hard look at the channel conflict in our industry.  There are many models that affiliate marketers use for generating traffic, PPC, loyalty programs, content sites and blogs to name a few and they can all very easily step on each other in the process of a consumer going through a commissionable action.  I’m not even talking about the “bad guys” who intercede maliciously, which is a whole subject of it’s own.

The degree to which this happens is simply not measured.  A huge step would be for the networks to measure and share the information required for their merchants to understand how much or how little these different types of affiliates bring value to their program.  They don’t even have to take a stance on the issues.  Just provide the information to the merchants who are paying the commissions.

_____________________________________

Next on deck for Meet the Affiliates: Pro Blogger Darren Rowse

Find out how Darren went from just an ordinary guy just a few years ago to one of the most successful and influential bloggers and online money makers in the world.  We will talk about Darren’s recently published book - ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income (which I read and highly recommend), as well as what makes Darren Darren. This exclusive interview will be published here on the Pepperjam Network Blog next Friday, July 18, 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
Week #4 - Colin McDougal
Week #5 - Zac Johnson
Week #6 - Harrison Gevirtz
Week #7 - “Uber Affiliate” Paul Bourque
Week #8 - John Chow

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PRESS RELEASE:

Wilkes Barre, PA - July 10, 2008 - Pepperjam, the fastest growing full-service internet marketing agency in the United States, announced today that Pepperjam Network, the company’s celebrated next generation affiliate marketing network, added 177 new advertisers during the second quarter of 2008, including eBay, NetQuote, Auto Parts Warehouse, FRS Health Energy, HomeGain, 1&1 Internet, VistaPrint, and Angie’s List, among others.

The addition of nearly 200 new advertisers comes off of an announcement in the first quarter of 2008 that Pepperjam Network closed 175 new advertiser contracts.

Most recently, Pepperjam Network was recognized in a study published by MarketingSherpa for having very quickly positioned itself as one of the top 5 affiliate marketing networks in the United States. The MarketingSherpa study suggests “rapid growth” of Pepperjam Network and points to the fact that the next generation network has been able to penetrate 17.5% of the market since launching the network only 5 1/2 months ago (based on study data).

 “Pepperjam Network shows no sign of slowing down.  We couldn’t be more excited about the support we are receiving from the advertiser community.  Expect more of the same moving forward with continued advertiser acquisition, rapid growth, and significant technology innovation,” said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Pepperjam Network launched in January 2008 and is considered the most significant affiliate network launch of the last 10 years (Electronic Retailer Magazine, June 2008). Pepperjam Network addresses the two primary shortcomings of other affiliate networks, namely (1) poor, unreliable communication tools and (2) lack of affiliate transparency. In short, with Pepperjam Network advertisers are empowered to better manage brand and minimize fraud through full and unfettered affiliate transparency, while also building stronger, more strategic affiliate marketing relationships through real-time communication tools such as Pepperjam Chat.

About Pepperjam Network:
Pepperjam Network is a next generation affiliate marketing network that provides advertisers and publishers with industry leading pay-for-performance tracking, reporting, communication, and payment solutions. Pepperjam Network is a division of Pepperjam, a full-service internet marketing agency recognized by Inc. Magazine for the last two consecutive years as one of the fastest growing businesses in the United States. Learn more at www.pepperjamnetwork.com
About Pepperjam:
Pepperjam offers a full range of professional marketing management services in the areas of pay-per-click, search-engine optimization, affiliate marketing, and online media planning and buying. Since 1999 Pepperjam has developed a reputation for being one of the most innovative, aggressive, and effective internet marketing agencies in the business. Learn more at www.pepperjam.com

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In light of the fact that we recently launched the Pepperjam Network Blogger Incentive Program, we thought it made sense to profile one of our most successful Pepperjam Network advertisers - SEOmoz.

SEOmoz represents one of the most successful blogs and informational sources available online for individuals interested in learning more about search-engine marketing (pay per click, SEO), and internet marketing in general.

In short, if you are looking to generate more traffic to your Web site (aka, increase search-engine rankings) as an e-commerce property, affiliate marketer, or content portal, SEOmoz provides a breadth of free and paid content to assist you.

I will also mention that SEOmoz is run by an incredible team of internet marketing experts, including Rand Fishkin, one of the top and most respected search-engine marketing experts in the known world.

Let me talk a little more about he SEOmoz Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network…

SEOmoz has long been recognized for providing free content. The free content is solid and I strongly encourage you to sign-up to the SEOmoz RSS Feed and take advantage of the free content.

However, if you (and your Web site visitors, of course) are interested in taking the process of traffic generation and improved search-engine rankings to the next level you will want to join / promote the SEOmoz Affiliate Program, which allows you to promote exclusive, premium content that is not available for free.  Check out the SEOmoz Store HERE.

In return for promoting SEOmoz Premium Content as an affiliate of the SEOmoz Affiliate Program (exclusive to Pepperjam Network ), you can earn up to $50 per lead.

I strongly encourage you to log-in to your Pepperjam Network publisher account and incorporate the SEOmoz Affiliate Program into your marketing efforts.

While your at it, you should click your own link and join SEOmoz Pro as a member!

TIP: If you are a “make money online” blogger there may be no better program to promote on Pepperjam Network than SEOmoz!

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We are proud to announce the launch of the College Finder, AMC TV Shop, and LandRiderBikes.com Launch Affiliate Programs on Pepperjam Network - www.pepperjamnetwork.com

About the CollegeFinder Affiliate Program:

“At CollegeFinder, students can browse and compare colleges, schools & degrees. Discover your future college today with our help.”

Commissions: $12.00
Cookie Duration: 45 days

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When I began working at Pepperjam, I was hired as an affiliate manager…the 3rd one on staff actually.  My career at Pepperjam has always been focused on Affiliate Marketing and I grew very fond of the industry.  From building relationships with affiliates to actively growing my accounts, I loved my job. My progression through the ranks is as follows…Affiliate Manager-Assistant Director of Affiliate Marketing-Director of Affiliate Marketing-and now, finally Senior Director of Pepperjam Network.

The reason for the brief look into my life here at Pepperjam is to let you all know that I truly enjoyed managing affiliate programs.  In my current role, I oversee program management, but am not in the trenches every day as I used to be. :(

The one program that I do have a lot of oversight on though, is the Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program!

This PJN Publisher (aka, affiliate) Referral Program is our referral based, pay per lead, program that gives you the opportunity to make some money by promoting what I believe is the best and most next generation affiliate network in the industry - Pepperjam Network!

OK - enough of the personal stuff! The point of this post is to share some interesting promotions for the month of July, including our much talked about Blogger Incentive Program, and I hope you all take advantage of them. 

Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program News

Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program Increases Payout, Offers $10 Sign-up Bonus for New Affiliates, and Introduces Blogger Incentive Program

(1) Commission Payout Increase - For the entire month of July the Pepperjam Network Publisher Referral Program will pay publishers (aka, affiliates) a flat $7 for every new publisher referral. That’s a 40% increase from our baseline payout!

(2) $10 New Publisher Sign-Up Bonus - To assist you with recruiting new publishers to Pepperjam Network we are going to allow you to provide them with a $10 Sign-Up Bonus. This means that any new publisher that you refer will be eligible for a $10 bonus just for signing-up for Pepperjam Network. Keep in mind, in order for your referrals to get the sign-up bonus they must become an approved PJN publisher, not have an existing PJN account (spamming will not be tolerated*), and click-through one of the special “$10 Bonus” banners or text links provided to you within the generate links section of the PJN Publisher Referral Program. Referrals sent in from any links other than the special PJN $10 Bonus banners or text links will not be given the bonus.

(3) Blogger Incentive Program - Bloggers are the lifeblood of the PJN Publisher Referral program and tend to be our biggest supporters and closet friends. As a result, we thought we’d create a sort of “Pay Per Post” incentive program where any PJN publisher / blogger will receive $10 for each post you make (up to 5 per month) that promotes Pepperjam Network or any Pepperjam Network tool. If you are looking for blog ideas check out the Pepperjam Network blog - www.pepperjamnetwork.com/blog. So that our team can track your efforts and eliminate spam please e-mail bloggers@pepperjamnetwork.com prior to making your post to gain approval of the topic (i.e. I want to write about Pepperjam Chat or the launch of the PJN Blogger Incentive Program, etc.). BTW - of course you can use your PJN Referral Program affiliate links and make even more money every time you post about Pepperjam Network!

Thanks,

Robyn

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We are proud to announce the launch of the Trainz.com Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network - www.pepperjamnetwork.com

About the Trainz.com Affiliate Program:

“We are an authorized dealer for Lionel Trains, MTH, K-Line, Marklin, and most others. We also provide you with an unprecedented variety of thousands of pre-owned trains, available here and on eBay from great collections that we purchase all over the country. Our inventory changes dramatically every week. We service what we sell and are an authorized service center for Lionel and MTH, with thousands of parts in stock. Our secure shopping cart allows you to combine your purchases of new and pre-owned items from both our website and eBay to save on shipping. We provide you with the best and safest technology backed up with the best customer service in the business.”

Commission: Up to 6%
Cookie Duration: 45 Days
Affiliate Manager: The one, the only J.P. Diaz

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PRESS RELEASE: MarketingSherpa Study: Pepperjam Network Explodes onto the Affiliate Marketing Scene with Unprecedented Growth and Industry Support

 

WILKES BARRE, Pa., June 30 /PRNewswire/ — Pepperjam, the nation’s fastest growing full-service internet marketing agency (Inc. Magazine, 2006 — 2007), announced today that Pepperjam Network — the company’s next generation affiliate marketing network — is ranked among the top five affiliate marketing networks inthe United States according to a recent study released by MarketingSherpa. The MarketingSherpa study suggests “rapid growth” of Pepperjam Network and points to the fact that the next generation network has been able to penetrate 17.5% of the market since launching the network only 5 1/2 months ago (based on study data).

To see the MarketingSherpa study in its entirety please visit http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?ident=30684.

“The MarketingSherpa study not only validates the fast growth of Pepperjam Network, but also highlights the fact that Pepperjam’s next generation affiliate marketing technology is being embraced and celebrated by some of the internet’s leading affiliate marketers and retailers. We are honored by the support we have gotten from the affiliate marketing industry as documented by this study and we are equally excited about the prospects for Pepperjam Network’s continued rapid growth and acceptance,” said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Pepperjam Network launched in January 2008 and is considered the most significant affiliate network launch of the last 10 years (Electronic Retailer Magazine, June 2008). Pepperjam Network addresses the two primary shortcomings of other affiliate networks, namely (1) poor, unreliable communication tools and (2) lack of affiliate transparency. In short, with Pepperjam Network advertisers are empowered to better manage brand and minimize fraud through full and unfettered affiliate transparency, while also building stronger, more strategic affiliate marketing relationships through real-time communication tools such as Pepperjam Chat.

If you are an advertiser interested in joining Pepperjam Network please call 877-796-5700.

If you are an affiliate interested in joining Pepperjam Network please visit www.pepperjamnetwork.com

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