Thursday

Christmas Affiliate Programs

I'm willing to bet it's not too late to start creating an affiliate site dedicated to selling Christmas items. As a matter of fact, now is the time you can capitalize on some great deals by affiliate programs looking to hook holiday buyers early. According to industry analysts this will be a down year for Christmas and holiday sales, so the longer you wait, the less of the pie you will get.

I've broken down a few great Christmas Affiliates that I'm using through PepperJamNetwork.


ChristmasTreesGalore.com has a great affiliate program setup through PJN that is currently offering 10% revenue sharing.


ChristmasLights.com is also offering a program that pays out 5% revenue sharing.


WreathsGalore.com is currently paying out 8% revenue sharing on all purchases.

Now, these may not be the highest paying affiliate programs available right now, but they are certainly the most targeted for a quickly approaching major holiday. I'm not too up on affiliating for Thanksgiving or even Halloween, but this Christmas I will be ready with the previous affiliate offers.

Pepperjam Network Special Offer

Sign Up for Pepperjam Network and Get a $10 Sign On Bonus

Tuesday

Start Generating an Email List With Your WordPress Blog


WordPress is one of the greatest blogging platforms on the planet.(Yes I feel that way even though I use Blogger for this blog.) One of the best features of WordPress is it's use of Plugins or addons that allow you to modify and use the blogging software as you see fit. The latest gem I will be adding to my arsenal is a little plugin that helps you create a double opt-in email list.

WP Double Opt-In List Management
is one of the strongest tools in any web marketers arsenal. Not because it creates something completely new and unheard of, but because it simplifies the process and streamlines it for consumption. Using software to build the list is the most difficult part, but this plugin automates the sending of confirmation emails so that you remain within the Can Spam act.

Not just a normal subscriber, but also list management, check out the features:

  • users can subscribe to your mailing list from your blog;
  • users can update their subscription details and unsubscribe;
  • sends a subscription confirmation email to the user;
  • sends a welcome email to each new subscriber (optional);
  • sends an unsubscribe notification to the user (optional);
  • saves the subscriber’s details to your internal WordPress database;
  • you can customize the signup form as you like (add fields, remove fields, re-order fields);
  • you can build own in-house permission based email list using a double opt-in subscription method;
  • you can manage your opt-in mailing list inside WordPress (unsubscribe or delete users);
  • you can export your mailing list from WordPress
The plugin is free to download and a breeze to install, but there is a lot of configuring to do once it's ready to roll. All the emails are configurable and can be tailored to the receiver with simple commands. After building your list your marketing campaign can be as simple or extravagant as you want and that's the beauty of the WP Double Opt-In List Management plugin.

Affiliate Network Referrals

What's better than finding a great affiliate network full of great programs? Well being paid to tell your friends about them, of course. The majority of networks out there will offer commissions in some manner for other affiliates you refer to their network. Furthermore, the payout for referring other merchants is even higher, but I'm just going to focus on the affiliate referrals for now.

PepperJamNetwork - Pays $7 USD per affiliate you refer to their network.

Revolution

MaxBounty - Earn 5% commission on every affiliate you refer for up to 1 year.




ShareASale - Earn $1 per referred affiliate.



AffiliateFuture - Pays 5% commission on every affiliate you refer.




I currently or have used in the past all the networks mentioned above. Through my sites I've earned comparable income from all and had no issues in receiving payments through their programs or referrals.

This post was not a paid for post, however the banners do contain my affiliate link, so any support is appreciated.

Monday

Do Not Submit To Directories, Says Google



It looks like Google has went through and updated their Webmaster Guidelines and omitted a few key elements. One of which at one point encouraged the submission of your site to relevant directories, that line has now been removed.

Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to other industry-specific expert sites.
Unlike other Search Engines Google has always been down on paid link placements and other unnatural link building techniques. This type of behavior circumvents their own efforts to remove sites that attempt to game the system. Apparently they now feel that directories are a direct threat to their algorithm.