17.5% of marketers that participated in the Marketing Sherpa survey use Pepperjam. Commission Junction still dominates the affiliate network market with over 50% of marketers surveyed using their service. But with the tremendous growth of Pepperjam, it’ll be interesting to see how those stats look in another 18 months.

Pepperjam Network already boasts over 165 top advertisers from Phat Farm, Sesame Street, Orange County Choppers, and even eBay who recently dropped Commission Junction. It’s very clear from the advertisers that Pepperjam is going to be around for the long haul and isn’t going to be another newbie network that is here today and gone tomorrow.

Currently, I’m a registered user at Commission Junction and Linkshare. I don’t normally waste time signing up for new affiliate networks. But just glancing through some of the featured advertisers over at the Pepperjam Network, I see a few deals that look like exclusives to me. I’m heading over to sign up right now.

Do you use Pepperjam Network? If so, leave me a comment and let me know what you think about their service.

Pepperjam Network Reaches Top 5 Status in 5 Short Months

Personal loans range from $10,000 – $150,000 and rates can be as little as 6.99%. Interest rates are set based on a number of factors including your credit score.

Getting approved for a personal loan from AFS consists of 4 easy steps.

Step #1 AFS will help you decide how much you want to borrow.

Step #2 Based on your qualifying factors, AFS will tell you what size loan you can expect.

Step #3 AFS will find the correct lenders based on your personal needs.

Step#4 Through the use of desktop conferencing, AFS will submit your loan application the same day!

If you need money for any reason, I’d recommend giving AFS a call. They have a quick 5 minute application, no upfront fees, and they offer a private consultation. They also have a quick 24 – 48 hour approval for most applications.

As home equity loans become harder to get, it is a perfect time to consider an unsecured personal loan from AFS. If you need money for vacation, furniture, or that home remodeling project, give AFS a try.

AFS Loans Online – Offer for Unsecured Personal Loans

A friend recently recommended I checkout a CPA company called Clickbooth. I was a little reluctant at first. I already have a CPA company I am working with. Why should I take the time to check out another company? The answer is simple. It is all about the dollars!

Clickbooth GUARANTEES the highest payouts for it’s publishers. When I compared Clickbooth payouts to the payouts of my current CPA company, it was clear Clickbooth was true to their word. Another good reason to check out Clickbooth is they have exclusive offers with top companies not available anywhere else. These two factors alone make Clickbooth worth considering.

An important consideration when deciding if you want to work with a CPA company is simple. Are you going to get paid? Nobody wants to spend money on PPC traffic generating sales for a CPA company that isn’t established and can fold at anytime. You don’t have this worry with Clickbooth.

Clickbooth has been around since 2002. Not only do they work with some of the top advertisers in the industry, they work with the top publishers too. Google, Yahoo, and MSN are all top Clickbooth publishers and running Clickbooth ads. My feeling, if Google trusts Clickbooth to make payment, then I do too.

Take the time and checkout Clickbooth today. If you do, you’ll be guaranteed to have higher payouts and exclusive offers not available at other CPA networks.

http://www.clickbooth.com

Monetizing Your Blog with Clickbooth CPA Network

The bloggers taking side with the “guerrilla bloggers” believe that it was high time somebody came online pointing fingers at those who have taken advantage at Internet and blogging newbies for some time now. Those who side with the so called A-listers in the industry call these guys a bunch of losers.

My question to you is, what do you believe in? Do you feel that the truth has to be spoken and if yes, on what grounds. Or do you feel this revolution is all just hot air and no substance?

Either way, most likely we are passionate about our beliefs and defend them, regardless of what’s to come. But here is the twist. What if the other party had some of their points correct? What if the lines were actually a lot more blurred than direct?

You see, sometimes regardless of what we believe in we have to stop and take a closer look at what our opposition says. Most of us don’t like to admit that we were wrong and the longer we try to drive a certain point home for the sake of defending our beliefs, the more we might fall into a trap that leads us further and further from the actual truth.

As it happens, in life not everything is black and white. So why should it be in the online world?

It seems to me we have forgotten to respect each other, regardless of our beliefs. This is strongly reflected in the ways we interact with each other cross culturally and also on different spectrums of online marketing.

I wonder how far we will take this and what will come out of it. The reason I’m writing this post is not to make any accusations against anybody, but merely trying to evoke a discussion on our different views.

Perhaps this will give a more detailed insight into why we act like we do and will allow us to learn a little bit more about our actual opposition, whoever they may be. In the end it all comes down to respecting each other, regardless of the views we have? Perhaps this is in some ways a rather realistic view/idea of how life should be and is hardly reflected in the world these days.

What do you do when you find yourself in the middle of a blogging war of politics?

• Are you merely an amused bystander, watching the action unfold?
• Are you taking sides, stating and defending your views, regardless of the outcome?
• Or do you choose to ignore the whole spectacle for the sake of your peace of mind?

I’d love to get your feedback on this to gain further insight into this phenomena.

The Politics Of Blogging

I bet you do. I think we all do and you know what happens? We end up with a bunch of worthless social networking accounts that lie dormant forever.

We sign up, login, note down our login details (if at all) and promptly forget about them again. LOL, does this sound like you? If it does and you just nodded your head, don’t worry as help is at hand right now.

I have a great tip that can save you hours of wasted time.

That tip is… drumroll please….

Stop wasting your time with every new social networking site that graces our email inbox! I’m dead serious here guys. You want to start learning to focus on two to three social networking sites max and become good at using them.

This will have two major effects:

1. You will become a well known user within your network and make way more useful connections and…
2. You stop wasting your valuable time doing bits and pieces here and there.

Trust me on this one. Since I have implemented this strategy, my days have gained a couple of hours which I now use to network with people instead of chasing my tail going in circles.

It doesn’t matter which social network you use either. It certainly does help, if this network is within your field of marketing. For example, if you are a Stumble Upon user, you probably like a good mixture of useful tips, tutorials, photography, fun and some blogging.

If you are a Digg user you are probably more into news, politics, gossip, gaming and some marketing.

If you are a Mixx user you are clearly into Internet marketing, tech, news, health and more.

If you are a MyBlogLog user, then blogging in all its variations is your thing.

Naturally there are way more social networking sites out there and if you are not sure, just do a Google search for them. In the end, it helps to join those sites that will help you to network with like minded people in your field of business.

This will not only make social networking a whole lot easier than trying to follow each latest trend, but also make you a lot of new friends and business contacts.

Let me know how you network.

Social Networking Made Easy

Factor one: is the headline of your latest post as this will show at the top of your blog. If the headline is weak, then traffic will be slow unless you already have tons of faithful readers. Most of us don’t have this luxury, so we have to make do with other attraction hooks that keep readers on our site.

Also, if the post is interesting enough to your readers, then the chances of them hanging around for more are much higher.

Factor two: is your blog design. The design doesn’t just incorporate the look of your blog, but also navigation, usability, functionality, interaction and feel.

Navigation is perhaps the most important part of the blog design as nothing is more frustrating than having to click around a blog to find relevant information. The easier we make this for our readers, the higher the chance of keeping them on your blog a little longer.

Usability is directly related to navigation and helps your reader to find his/her way around your blog with ease.

Functionality adds interactive interaction in the form of plugins and widgets.

The feel is really the feeling we get when we visit a blog for the first time. Does it look cluttered or too loud with too many bright colors? Or worse, is the blog stuck in the 1980s in terms of looks? All these and more can have a huge effect on how we perceive a blog to be and determines on whether we stay around or not.

Some bloggers spend hundreds of dollars to have a blog make over done by a professional designer. While this may sound like a lot of money, in terms of the potential payoff, it really isn’t. One of my friends bragged that her traffic increased tenfold after a re-design.

But before you freak out and say that you can’t afford an expensive make over, don’t worry. Most people can’t. So what do these guys do?

Well, if you are a little bit knowledgeable about coding you might want to take a shot at redesigning your blog theme and clear up your sidebar. Often small changes can have a huge effect. Changing a few colors, will sometimes be just enough to give your blog a brand new appearance.

For those that are interested in affordable custom designs, there are two blog designers that come to mind.

The first is Siah at BuyMeaBlog.com Siah does custom Wordpress templates for only $167. He just finished a project for me at my personal blog BrentCrouch.com.

Another designer that comes to mind is Garry Conn. In addition to providing excellent information on his blog, Garry creates some awesome WordPress blog designs. He doesn’t have prices listed on his site. My guess is he quotes prices based on what you are looking for.

Do you know of any other great designers? If so, leave a comment and let everyone know about them.

The Importance Of Your Blog Design

I met Garry after purchasing Blogrepreneur.com from it’s former owner Althaf Ahmed. Garry commented on my first post and asked me to provide some background information about myself. I visited Garry’s blog during our back and forth via email. It was clear from that first visit that I could learn a thing or two from Garry. I asked Garry for an interview and he quickly agreed. I hope you enjoy.

Brent: Are you a subscriber to Blogrepreneur.com?

Garry: Yes, I both recently subscribed and met Althaf. He seems to be a very thoughtful, caring and free spirited individual who unfortunately didn’t get dealt some of the best cards in life. I believe that a new hand has been dealt and they are all aces.

Brent: Tell me about GarryConn.com.

Garry: I started GarryConn.com in January of 2007. I wanted what everyone else wanted. I wanted to learn how to make money online. It has been a very long and hard battle. I don’t recommend it or endorse it as being something I would call freedom. In order to get where I have gotten today, I have made many sacrifices that normally wouldn’t have been made. However, business is finally starting to take off like a rocket and for that I am grateful.

Brent: I really like the theme. Did you design it yourself?

Garry: Yes. I have always wanted to design my own WordPress themes. I have been creating web sites long before blogging became mainstream. It was about 15 years ago when I designed and developed my first web site.

Brent: I noticed you have an impressive 800+ subscribers. What are your top methods for promoting your blog?

Garry: Marketing and promoting…. the only thing I haven’t done yet is spray paint Garry Conn dot Com in gigantic letters on the roof of my house for when the next time the satellite scans my property to make my appearance in Google Earth. Last time the satellite captured imagery of my home town was in 1997, so I believe we’re due anytime. Perhaps I should break out that ladder and head to the hardware store for that paint after all.

Brent: What are you favorite blogs to read?

Garry: I don’t want to sound like a jerk, but my favorite blog to read is my own. People might not always agree with my views and opinions, but one thing is for sure, people can trust that I speak my mind. You asked, and my answer is simple: I love reading my blog. My own blog is my favorite blog to read.

I enjoy people coming to my blog and interacting with me in the comments. I try to answer everyone. I enjoy the things I write and I enjoy knowing that when I pass out and wake up the next day with a keyboard impression on my forehead that I have helped many people.

Other than my own blog, there is a mile long list of blogs that I read on a daily basis. Here are some that I would like to mention:
www.ChristineSenter.com – Christine is a very hard worker and a very trustworthy friend. She is an extremely skilled professional writer and a mom with a very happy, healthy and loving family. Our families are very similar in lifestyle. We are typical working class individuals with older children active in sports.

www.MeAndMyDrum.com – Mark Sierra. What can I say? This guy shares the same family values as me and I believe that we have many of the same views in life. I understand that the year is 2008 and life isn’t what it was in say the 1950’s. However, my kids are expected to be very polite to others, expected to maintain near perfect grades in school, and expected to push themselves extremely hard to excel in this very cut throat and competitive world that is packed full of evil. They enjoy life very much, but have been taught that you can have more fun treating the world and people in it as you would want to be treated yourself.

www.cybercoder.net – David Cooley is a very skilled and what I call, “backwoods programmer”. I believe backwoods programmers are better than school taught programmers. David sees the big picture on code. If you have seen the movie The Matrix, it is kind of like that. David and I have a lot in common as we are both very smart and savvy individuals with regard to the Internet.

www.slickmania.com – Kyle Eslick is one of the first bloggers I paired up with and met online. We don’t always see eye to eye and we have branched apart quite a bit over the last two years. Even though we have different views on many things, I absolutely enjoy reading his blog and think he is a wonderful person. I never let views and opinions effect friendship and Kyle is a great online friend.

www.JoelComm.com – Joel Comm is a class act. He has helped me more than anyone would believe. For a person with his level of establishment to take the time to keep in touch with me by calling me on the phone, sending me hand written snail mail with an abundance of care packages is truly amazing. I believe that Jesus Christ is working through Joel Comm to help me be a better Christian and provider for my family. When it comes to friendship, money or materials are of no concern to Joel as I believe that he would give the shirt off his own back to someone in need. When choosing self learning products about making money online or Internet Marketing, I personally recommend buying anything that has the name Joel Comm written on the cover.

http://chris.pirillo.com/ – Chris Pirillo is a freak of nature. His operation and Internet presence / setup absolutely amaze me. Chris has amazing skills that only people can dream of having. He is very passionate about his work. He cares to help people and he is someone you can totally learn from and trust to get top grade advice from for free! Every night he opens up his personal telephone line and accepts calls from his viewers and answers their questions live on the Internet. Amazing… I have never seen anyone like him, nor will there be anyone else that can come CLOSE to following in his footsteps.

Brent: I noticed in your about me page you mentioned you have other blogs. How many blogs do you have?

Garry: I can’t count that high. I have quite a few. More than 100.

Brent: What was your first blog?

Garry: www.blogtheinternet.com was launched Sept. of 2005. After discovering that money could be made from using a blog, I decided to open up my personal blog (my second blog) www.garryconn.com on Jan. 01, 2007. The purpose of this blog, as mentioned above, was to create a place where people could learn more about the aspect of business blogging and making money online. My personal blog is a journal. It documents my adventures, my discoveries, my ideas, and my trials and errors.

Brent: How many hours a week do you spend blogging?

Garry: 40 hours +

Brent: What are your top three ways to monetize your blogs?

Garry: Google Adsense has been the number one method for making money online. I have found success with just about all the programs available. I have an active account with Amazon, Commission Junction, LinkShare, Yahoo Publisher, Bidvertiser and many more. Recently I joined PepperJam and their program is quickly climbing my income reporting ranks. Things are changes for me slowly over time. As the programs mentioned above work very well for me, I am slowly migrating into the private ad sales business and professional web site design and development business with a heavy focus on business Web 2.0 marketing and promotion.

Brent: What are the top three mistakes you see new bloggers making?

Garry: I’ll break bloggers into two labels and provide you with three reasons for each:

1. The Blogger Who Blogs For Fame: They think that can become popular and get tons of traffic overnight. They assume that no work is needed and things will just automatically and instantly fall into place. They resort to shady methods of scoring traffic because they fear the four letter word called, Work.

2. The Blogger Who Blogs To Make Money Online: They don’t value the power of organic search and their online activities cause their blog(s) to get deranked from free organic search. They are ignorant to believe that answers to their life’s dreams are found in a downloadable EBook. They fail to realize that online business strategies and tactics follow suit to common brick and mortar businesses.

That concludes my interview with Garry Conn. If you have any questions for Garry, please post your comments below. I’ll contact Garry and see if he will be willing to answer any questions.

Interview With Full Time Blogger Garry Conn

Althaf has done an excellent job of building and promoting this site. I plan to follow in his footsteps by continuing to provide excellent information and resources for those interested in starting and promoting an internet based business.

Althaf will not be a stranger around here. He is always welcome to post and plans to guest post when he has the opportunity.

If you are a subscriber, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me an email or even better, reply to this post.

Blogrepreneur.com Has a New Owner….

In short, Squidoo is Seth Godin’s fantastic contribution to the Internet World. Let me ask you, do you know how to Squidoo? Do you know how to build a simple yet perfect Squidoo lens for your business or personal need and rank them on the Search Engines?

I decided to give away a guide book to help you get started with Squidoo. The book is only about 30 pages and covers all the fundamentals you need to setup Squidoo and profit from it.

I don’t want to waste your time anymore. Go ahead and download the book below. Make sure to let me know of your experiences with Squidoo.

Download the Squidoo Guide

Recently, Google made certain key changes to Google Analytics. One of the most important was the ability to report real time statistics. In lieu of the changes, I have decided to release a second edition of my book, ABC of Google Analytics. I am yet to start on it, but rest assured, it will be done soon. I need to get a hold of my lower spine. If you haven’t downloaded the first edition, please do so here. It is free.

I sent a message today to all those who downloaded the book. I have moved my mailing list to Aweber. Since, I imported the mailing list, they require every subscriber to confirm again. Look forward to a mail from Aweber in a day or 2 and please make sure to click on the link. I assure you, your privacy won’t be abused.

So much for the week, take care all.

Sunday Blogbits – An Update to ABC of Google Analytics