Tuesday

Free Wordpress Plugin - Ad Rotator


Being an affiliate and bring fresh banners to your visitors can be a time consuming process. WP Ads is a free Wordpress plugin that automates the rotation of any type of advertisement you wish. You simply add the code, which can be banners, adsense, whatever to a banner spot, then assign it to an ad zone. Code is then displayed to be added to your posts or to your Wordpress template files where you want the banners to be shown.

The ad rotator plugin provides a basic report of how many times a specific ad is shown. WP Ads also allows tweaking of weights, so some ads can be shown more often than others. As you ad banner spots they are displayed as a list in the 'Settings' section of your WP dashboard. It's an easy process to add, delete, or edit your ads at any time. All in all it's an amazing plugin that I should have been using years ago.

It's important to continously update your banners with promotions for affiliate programs. Stale banners increase visitor ad blindness and obviously lowers your clicks and conversions. This great wordpress plugin automates the entire process so you can spend more time updating your content, not your ads.

Why PepperJam Network


I've been a member of a number of affiliate networks, including but not limited to Commission Junction, ClickBank, Affiliatefuture, and Shareasale. All of these networks offer some great programs, interesting tools, and some sort of customer service. However, in the past 3 months I've been using PepperJam they have went above and behond in all aspects of what I look for in an affiliate network.

The Programs

Pepperjam network has so many great programs in their arsenal and seem to be adding 100's monthly. Each of these programs are a great way to diversify your affiliate income sources and even give you some great ideas. Program managers can also solicit you to be their affiliate partner, not just the other way around like on other networks.

Payout

Pepperjam pays me every 2 weeks via PayPal on locked commissions. Each affiliate program has it's own requirements for what means 'locked' but generally speaking I've been keeping my plate full and who can argue with fast immediate deposits in a PayPal account?

Ease of Use

Whether I'm searching for a new program to affiliate for, checking my reports, or just finding out what the latest news is, PJN navigation and use is top notch. Almost all aspects of my account are reachable from the main dashboard and affiliate programs I've already partnered with are readily available through one click, no need to filter results. Furthermore I'm treated with 4 very distinctive reports immediately, every time I login.

Affiliate Tools

Affiliates are only as good as the tools they are given, the more tools, the happier I am. PJN offers plenty of standard tools, like banner generation, text links, and advanced javascript ads for some programs, but in the past month they released a monster tool, Pepperjam Store Builder. This tool allows you to create mini-stores through a point and click interface, then simply copy the code generated into any standard web page environment. Also, don't forget their PepperJam Ads tool as well, which will create Adsense like ads to display on your website, though all or any programs you select.

Affiliate Customer Support

I just cannot speak highly enough about the support I've received from the employees of the PepperJam Network. There have been a number of issues, not necessarily problems, that have creeped up that have allowed me to speak through email and on the phone with my account rep. Every time has been a pleasant experience and messages have been promptly responded to. Unfortunately I can't say the same thing about other networks where human contact is required. Also, what other network allows you to meet the entire Pepperjam Network team, even the bulldog on YouTube?

Closing Statements

I'm not a huge affiliate with the Pepperjam Network, on average about $400 per month, but I'm working on expanding and moving over some of my sites and replacing some other network programs. Even though I'm not what would be considered a super affiliate, I can vouche for the kind of support I have received from them, it's phenomenal and a network I can feel good about recommending to anyone.

Monday

Protecting Your Inbox



Marketing your new affiliate landing page can be a daunting task that requires special tools to make it as painless as possible. The number one marketing method I enjoy doing requires me to have a membership on multiple forums. Furthermore each membership will generally have a unique name and password, but with the same email address.

Keep in mind I'm not spamming, but honestly contributing to the forums growth, only utilizing my signature links within the forums TOS. To remain as anonymous as possible though, I don't like using my personal email account or an account associated with my affiliate site. Most public free email accounts are not allowed to sign up with forums, so using Hotmail, Yahoo, and similar accounts goes out the window. This has created a problem for my mass marketing endeavors and need to keep accounts separate and that's when I found HushMail.

HushMail.com is a trusted email service that provides free limited access to an email inbox. They do not offer HUGE storage or a lot of extra inbox options, but it does provide a spam free working environment for handling my multiple forum marketing identities. Plus HushMail uses several spam protectors for signing up as well, so it's a trusted email while signing up to forums.

Hushmail provides a high level of security combined with total ease of use. All you need is a computer with an Internet connection and a current Web browser. Just sign up for a free Hushmail address, create a passphrase, and login to your account to begin. You'll immediately be able to communicate securely with other Hush users, and you can access your Hushmail account from anywhere in the world.

Conclusion

If you are looking for an email service that you can take with you on any computer and have a trusted spam free email provider, then HushMail.com is the service for you. As long as you don't plan on archiving a ton of messages, you'll find their service top notch and rarely any spam makes it through. That's why I use HushMail as my #1 email service provider for managing my marketing campaigns.