It took me about two years to actually give Webmaster Radio a try, but when I did I was really impressed by some of the shows–particularly Shoemoney’s show (Net Income) and SEO Rockstars.

As far as I can tell from the archives, I’ve listened to every single episode of Net Income several times (it’s good commuting material :)). The other day I was on a plane with my iPod and didn’t feel like listening to music, so I started up an old episode of Net Income; more specifically, the July 18th show with Kris Jones, CEO of Pepperjamsearch.com. Shoemoney and Kris discuss PPC and affiliate strategies.

While this is the second installment of a two part-series, you should be able to understand everything without listening to the preceding episode (although if you have time, I’d definitely recommend it). Kris really puts forward some quality, fundamental advice that applies to everyone from the total newbie to the super affiliate. My favorite segment is one I agree with wholeheartedly and that really screams to me “This guy GETS IT!” When asked about starting out on a limited budget (as an affiliate), Kris responds:

This is IT! This is all there is to it, and Kris does a great job laying it out. I really love and passionately relate to / support his thought process when he remembers his reaction to his first paycheck: “WOW, if I could make a $100… I knew at that time this was back you know 5 or 6 years ago I knew at that time there were more than 1,000 merchants who had affiliate programs, so I figured if I could make $50 or $100 per merchant program, per month, you know, you’re talking about a lot of money.”

Later Kris reiterates this concept:

Once you could perfect a concept that makes you money…. You know, take it back to my initial philosophy. If you could figure out how to make $100 doing one thing, why not try to replicate that 500 or 1,000 times? Right?

Anyway, I won’t repeat the whole thing here, and I know it’s an old episode, but I just listened to it again and was really struck by how good Kris’ advice is. I’m really looking forward to hearing him speak at Affiliate Summit West.

Tags: kris, jones,, pepperjam,, pepper, jam,, affiliate, marketing,, affiliates,, tips,, net, income,, webmaster, radio,, shoemoney,, affiliate, summit,, affiliate, summit, west

  

I’ll cut to the chase: Monday, the 18^th of this month, Google made a post on the AdSense Blog stating: “We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads.”

This has, by the majority of publishers, been assumed for some time. However, it was also long rumored (and seen in practice) that Google would tolerate images next to AdSense ads, so long as there was a line or some other divide segregating the images. In theory, this safeguard allowed publishers to be ‘resourceful’ in their placement of images next to ads without violating AdSense Terms of Service. In fact, Shoemoney even went so far as to develop a really cool php-based tool that uses the Yahoo! Image API to locate and resize relevant (hopefully) / unique images on the fly.

I’m sure most of my readers have seen the image-by-ads tactic many times before, but just in case I’ve been unclear, here’s the (very typical) example posted on the AdSense blog:

Google addressed this notion with an uncharacteristically direct response:

Here’s an idea for Google: Why not allow advertisers to upload small, pertinent images when they create their ads? Publishers obviously wouldn’t object—many of them are already doing it now in violation of AdSense TOS. Furthermore, the images would be more relevant if they were controlled by the advertisers and they would also provide a visual reinforcement to the message delivered by standard AdSense ads (after all, the advertiser would have the option of uploading a small image with each ad, and these images would go through an approval process just like ad copy).

And let’s do some thinking… Why are publishers putting these images next to the ads? Because for some reason these images increase the CTR. Whoa! That’s what advertisers want, too! A high CTR.

If Google took control and allowed unique ad formats that included small images like these, everyone would win: the publishers (higher CTR), the advertisers (higher CTR) and Google (higher CTR). My guess is it’s just a matter of time—at least it should be.

  

Tags: adsense,, google,, seo,, shoemoney,, images,, adsense, ads,, ctr,, search, engine, optimization

  

DOH! It was just a tease. I loaded up Shoemoney’s blog this morning and what did I see? A picture of myself at PubCon (I’m on the right hand side, the guy in the middle is my friend from home, Eder Callejas)! Hmmm…. ‘He must be posting something about my SEO Loser blog!’, I thought. After taking a deep breath I started to read the post and saw that it’s about “Hot Chicks at Search Engine Conferences.”

Okay, the irony is too overwhelming: I create a blog about how I learned I am an SEO Loser… the blog’s main post talks quite a bit about Shoemoney. Several weeks later, Shoemoney posts a picture of me on his homepage. It turns out Shoemoney doesn’t know the picture is me (duh, I’m a loser), and he made the post ‘cause I happen to be standing next to a hot chick.

Does this remind anyone else of waving back at someone and then realizing they were actually waving at the person behind you?

  

  

As I’ve said in a couple of my previous posts here, the SEO Loser experience has opened my eyes to the blogging world. I recently set up a Bloglines account I could use to keep track of which blogs had new posts without actually loading them all up. It seems to work very well, but the most interesting thing about it is that I’ve basically got 10-15 popular search engine related feeds side-by-side. What this means is that as I go down my list, even if only at a subconscious level, the qualities that differentiate each blog become clearly apparent. I’ve always noticed that a fresh perspective can sometimes be interesting, and often times those fresh perspectives come from the untainted or unbiased newbies.

In addition to attaining a “fresh perspective” from outsiders, a business technique I’ve found to be very helpful is simply looking at what the historically successful players are doing (for the business-school-ites we can call this benchmarking). Don’t go out and copy them or you’ll just be competing with someone who’s better than you. Instead, look at what they do and why it works. Then find out how you can ‘borrow’ principles from their strategy that would compliment or improve your own.

The specific example that inspired this post was Search Engine Land—Danny Sullivan’s new undertaking. I also think that because I am new to the blogging world I have a fairly objective opinion and assessment as I go from page to page on my Bloglines list. But when I’m comparing Danny’s Search Engine Land—which I approached thinking “Oh God, let’s come up with something more creative than ‘Land’”—I’m really, really impressed. This guy is a machine. Looking more carefully, I see that he has a few other, skilled posters helping out, but regardless–Search Engine Land is pumping out the posts (7 new posts today by the time I was eating lunch, and looking back a week or so this doesn’t seem to be out of the ordinary).

First of all, with that kind of output, it would be hard not to get links. Second, these don’t seem to be mass-produced posts. Granted, a large number cover industry news that you can read about elsewhere, but most of these topics include a unique perspective. More intriguingly, however, is the fact that among these copious posts some really good linkbait is hidden. Yesterday, for example, Danny blogged about Search Engine Land’s stats. It was fun to read his review, particularly because it was so personal and comes from a guy who has spent years working with established, authority sites. What do his stats have to do with linkbait? Well, he posted his referrals for December in a tabular format with a link to each. The top referrer (Google) had sent a mere 1229 visits and the last-mentioned referrer only sent 88. What does this tell me as an SEO-minded blogger reading his post? Whoa, if I send him even 88 visitors I might get a link from his blog next time he does this! Maybe that wasn’t the goal of his post, but I bet I’m not the only one who had that thought as I read.

Let’s assume I was alone in this; I was the post’s only link-baited blogger. Big deal! There are another six posts to read and it’s only four and a half hours into the work day! The volume of content they’re producing will eventually hit a nerve with just about everyone. And with blogging today, hitting a nerve means getting links. The lesson I hope to take away from this is simply that while link baiting works and is a great technique, it’s not the only technique. You don’t have to wait a week between each post trying to come up with something people will just have to link to. Sure, those posts are awesome. But so are a lot of others.

  

  

I thought it would be useful to have a calendar covering all the SEO related events / conferences for the upcoming year. So far, I’ve included (to the best of my knowledge) all the SES (Search Engine Strategies), Ad Tech and Affiliate Summit events, in addition to the Elite Retreat which is just a few weeks away. This is, of course, a work in progress, and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions for other events to include. Just post a comment and I’ll look into it ASAP. Hopefully this is helpful , and if others contribute I’m sure we can make it pretty comprehensive. I should also note that I’ve never attended an Ad Tech event and am not all that familiar with them. I included the Ad Tech series because they have been recommended by several friends and I will probably attend one shortly… if people feel these conferences aren’t “SEO related” let me know by commenting. The calendar will be permanently located in the pages section of my sidebar.

  

  

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to attend SES Chicago but it sounds like it was a great event–and, at least from what I can tell, the Rockstars got a little wild ;).

I mentioned earlier that I’ll be attending the Affiliate Summit West in January. Today I reviewed the agenda and was really surprised by how different this conference appears to be as compared to PubCon–Search Engine Optimization and search engines in general seem to represent just a footnote of this event.

I’ve been making a little money from affiliate sites for several years, but it’s always been a relatively small part of my repertoire. Lately, however, a couple of my old sites have really picked up and surprised me with their profitability (lead generation in particular). I look forward to hearing some of the affiliate marketing gurus speak and am anxious to see if I learn anything new I can apply to my sites. I will post live session reviews from the event as frequently as possible and hopefully share some tips I pick up as well.

Below is my list of the sessions I plan to attend and a few comments for each–if you have any recommendations or think I’m missing an important session, please comment and let me know

Maybe this will be interesting to those of you also attending—and if you will be there, I’d love to say hi at the show.

Sunday, January 21^st

I have between the hours of 11:00AM and 8:00 PM to register on Sunday—after experiencing the incredibly long registration line at PubCon, I will definitely take advantage of this early registration period.

2:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Meet Market and Vendor Show Case

As I understand it, this is basically a chance to wander around the expo hall, ask questions and network.

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Ice Breakers Networking Session

Some games, or ‘activities,’ that will help us nerds start meeting people. I wonder if we get to play dodge ball…

9:30 PM - ?, Affiliate Jam Session and Sing-a-Long

Monday, January 22^nd

9:45 AM – 10:45 AM, Opening Remarks & Keynote

The Keynote Speaker is Michael Sanchez, CEO and Co-founder of ClubMom. I’m looking forward to this, just because the founder of “Club Mom” is named “Michael Sanchez”—God I love the internet

10:45 AM – 11:00 AM, Announcements on Industry Initiatives

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Marketing Your Affiliate Site – Outside of the Box

Scott Hazard, CEO of Cooperative Affiliates Inc will discuss ideas and strategies for gaining new customers, building a brand and creating a buzz… in other words: the usual :). But hopefully he has some unique insight to share.

12:30 PM – 1:45 PM, Lunch

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Anatomy of a Viral Video – Maximum ROI

This was a tough one—the session led by Jake Bailey, an Affiliate Program Manager at overstock.com was tempting, however I think online video is really the new, new thing at the moment and I can’t afford to miss a panel on the subject, particularly when it is so foreign to me.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, Ask the Experts: Super Affiliates

This one is a no-brainer for me. If I have the opportunity to listen to guys that do the same things as me, but better, I’ll be there—and that’s what this panel appears to be. I also like the idea of an unscripted Q & A format. I have high hopes for this session and I hope the audience asks good questions.

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM, Bingo Networking

This sounded silly to me at first, but it might actually be pretty cool. We’ll see. Basically you exchange cards with 24 other people and make a bingo box out of the cards. Then the hosts will draw cards from a box and the first person to get bingo wins… I’m not sure what they win, but it sounds kind of fun any way

Evening: oneNetwork Pure Imagination Party

Tuesday, January 23^rd

9:45 AM – 11:00 AM, Remarks and Rotating Roundtables

This sounds pretty cool—there are four consecutive 10-minute roundtable sessions running simultaneously, and groups of attendees move from table to table to have brief discussions with many different people.

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM, Bloggers – The New Super Affiliates

Since I’m enjoying blogging and also interested in affiliate marketing, this is another no brainer. Has the potential to be a great session.

12:30 PM – 1:45 PM, Lunch

2:00 PM – 3:00 PM, Search Affiliates: Partners or Parasites?

The title didn’t really draw me in but the description says the session will cover improving ROI for search affiliates which is something I’m very interested in. This is another panel that could go either way.

3:30 PM – 4:30 PM, The Confluence of Search and Affiliate Marketing

I’ll attend this one just to hear Kristopher B. Jones, President and CEO of Pepperjam—a company I’ve been hearing more and more about.

5:00 PM – 6:00 PM, Affiliate Summit Lessons Learned

These are just the sessions I’m planning to attend based on a brief review of the agenda. One again, if any of you have suggestions or recommendations I’d love to hear them. I hope to get a lot out of this conference and maybe even meet some other SEO Losers!

  

Tags: seo, loser,, seo,, affiliate, summit,, affiliate, summit, west,, affiliate,, summit