Posts from — January 2008

I hope you'll get a chance to read the forum thread I referenced in part one of this two-part series regarding Internet writing and writing content for websites/blogs.

For affiliate marketing purposes, I would come down on the side of the "argument" mentioned in part one which says "content" on marketing websites must primarily be SALES content. As one of the longtime members at the forum I linked to in the previous post would say -- marketing is about selling, not about writing encyclopedia or library articles. If you want to share information regarding how a product works and how it would be of benefit to someone visiting your site, you really should emphasize the BENEFIT aspect, not the "how to" or some sort of "where to buy" feature.

If you aren't writing content that sells, you aren't doing affiliate marketing. Selling, making money, is the whole purpose of it.

So if you're writing content for your website or blog, you must be clear about what you want site/blog visitors to see and to do. If yours is an information site, go crazy writing content about the widgets, parakeets, sunflowers, or lawn chairs which are dear to your heart. If yours is a sales site, you need to tell me exactly how that lawn chair will benefit me -- then urge me to get it while it's hot and lead me directly to a "buy now" link.

So, think you can write 1,000 articles a month? Think you can make those articles a minimum of 400 words long? Think you can say something interesting, even compelling, in those articles?

I can't. I wouldn't even try it. I write fast, but even I don't write that fast. If you've been reading the forum thread I referenced in the first post in this series (here's the link again), you'll notice some of the numbers involved in that whole 1,000 article idea. The person who started the thread and says he could turn out 1,000 articles of 400+ words of quality content in a month makes reference to writing an article in 5-10 minutes. If we give him the benefit of the doubt and allow 10 minutes per article, that's 10,000 minutes per month -- which works out to 166 hours, give or take. That 166 hours per month represents 4.1 "full-time" work weeks of 40 hours per week.

Want a full-time job writing content articles for your website or blog? Good luck to you. Oh, and then after you've "succeeded" as the forum poster suggests by doing 1,000 articles in a month -- are you ready to do it again next month? And the next?

If you could do it, and if the content articles were written exactly right, you might generate enough traffic to your website/blog of BUYING customers that you could make sort of a living on the Internet.

If you're at that point with your writing, here's my humble plea: Please contact me and tell me exactly how to do it. I could use a shot at the big money myself.

Meanwhile, put your fingers on that keyboard and write something that'll make us all proud of you.

Technorati Tags: Internet writing, content v. sales, website content articles, writing articles, writing tips at garyspeer.com

(EDITOR'S NOTE: This post is the first of two I plan on doing related to writing Internet articles for marketing. I cannot do the concept justice in even one or two posts, but I have an approach in mind I want to share with you in this post and one later today. So consider this "Part 1 of 2.")

One of the forums I visit several times a day is about affiliate marketing. If you do any affiliate marketing you may already know there's an ongoing dispute within that world regarding "content v. sales." It goes something like this: Do sites loaded with lots of articles about content related to a product do best -- or do sites loaded with lots of products and sales copy do best?

Let's make up an example of what I mean. Let's say I want to market exterior lighting and I have a merchant who sells antique-style yard lights willing to give me 10% of every sale that comes to his website through a link on my site. Should I write a blog or a bunch of articles posted on static pages that talk about lighting, the history of outdoor lighting, the styles of Victorian lamp posts, the history of Tiffany lamps, the best way to position outdoor lights for maximum home security, etc., then put links to my merchant's various products in and around those articles? OR -- should I display the various outdoor lighting products with a paragraph or two telling about the features and benefits of each and a "buy" or "more information" link that takes a site visitor directly to the merchant's site via my affiliate code?

In reality the best idea is probably a combination of both. Affiliate marketing is certainly as much art as science. I personally know people who are VERY successful -- six-figure incomes and even more -- with BOTH approaches and all sorts of combinations of the two.

But given human nature, affiliate marketers tend to lean more toward one approach or the other, even as they try combinations of both: Writing is easy for some and harder for others. I have one friend who would rather pull his own teeth than write three paragraphs. He also would happily spend all day and night "coding" and developing websites that run off merchant product datafeeds with little or no "content."

Having said all that to set up the title of this post, here's the situation. Currently, at the forum I linked to above, there's quite a discussion going on about website marketing "content." A very experienced Internet marketer ("guru" maybe?) has said the way to be successful at affiliate marketing is to write 1,000 content articles -- which he further defined as 400+ words each -- every month for your website. He has discussed the importance of detailed, quality research, and articles that target both key words for the search engines and quality content for your site's visitors that will turn them into buyers.

So, I ask of you these questions: How do you approach content for your website or blog? Do you do any affiliate marketing, and what role does that play in relation to the content on your site/blog? And finally, do you think it's possible to research and write 1,000 articles a month for your site/blog -- and do you think YOU could do it or hire someone to do it?

I'll have more to say about all these matters and about that forum thread in my next post. You're certainly welcome to read the whole forum thread if you're interested.

Technorati Tags: Internet writing, content v. sales, website content articles, writing articles, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I've touched on the mechanics of where and how we write before, but I'm asking again that you share specifics from your experience that might be helpful to us all.

Do you use a computer when you write? That's almost a laughable question anymore. Many of you may never have used anything but some type of computer to do your writing. Some of us, however, date as far back as manual typewriters. Yes, manual, i.e., no need to plug the old dinosaur into an outlet -- just start typing and hit that carriage return at the end of each line.

Do you have a fine desk and office chair? Do you lean back in comfortable leather home theater seating or perhaps in a huge recliner and snuggle in with a laptop? Okay, if you know me, you'll no I don't "snuggle" well into anything. Snuggling ain't that easy for Old Fat Bald Guys. But I do enjoy a large recliner my wife bought me a couple of years ago. (She bought it with some freelance earnings, even.)

I've mentioned earlier here that I pull my trusty old Tablemate stand up to the recliner and click away on my Toshiba laptop for most of my writing.

Do you write much "by hand," as in use real paper and a pen or pencil? Many people do that, feeling that their writing "flows" more easily apart from a computer or keyboard of any sort. I can respect that, although an editor I once worked for slapped me around (metaphorically) about writing that way. "Why in the world take the extra time to write your copy then keyboard it in? Why not just go straight from the brain, through the fingers, to the keyboard?" He said something like that.

Do you write best when you're along or around others? Do you work in a solitary setting or in a coffee shop? If you have small children, chances are you don't have the luxury of much "alone time" for your writing. I learned to write quickly and with lots of noise around me when I worked in a newspaper newsroom. But in recent years, I've lost that edge and tend to let such chaos distract me. My preferred writing location now is mostly by myself -- perhaps with CNN playing very quietly in the background, perhaps with some great Oscar Peterson jazz piano instead of the talking heads.

What works for you? Come on, tell us.

Technorati Tags: writing habits, writing environment, writing space, writing tips at garyspeer.com

If you are a Christian writer, whether you target the "Christian" or religious market or not, you need a copy of Philip Yancey's 1997 book, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" Heck, if you're a writer, whether or not you consider yourself a Christian, I urge you to get a copy and read it.

As many of you know from reading my posts here and reading the "About Me" page for this blog, my faith has shaped and motivated most of my writing career. Yet it has made an immense difference in my outlook on life and writing picking up a copy of Yancey's book. I am starting to look at life in a renewed, refreshed way -- learning more about "grace" and how to both experience more grace in my life and to share more grace with others.

Through stories ranging from "down and out" people seeking help with poverty, addiction treatment for everything from alcohol abuse to drug use, and including good "church" people unknowingly failing to open their lives to grace, Yancey does a terrific job of showing what grace means by telling stories. He draws great word pictures of lives suddenly opened to grace.

If you pay attention to his excellent use of anecdotes in combination with his flawless prose, you'll learn some good things about writing. I hope you'll find a copy of the book, get it, read it, and reread it. Whether or not you're a religious writer, the book will be good for your soul, I guarantee.

Technorati Tags: "What's So Amazing About Grace?" religious writing, grace, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Do you know off the top of your head -- what color were Adolph Hitler's eyes? I ask because, until a few years ago, I didn't know either.

The answer is they were blue.

The question came up several years ago when I was reading a novel that made reference to Hitler's "intense stare with his piercing black eyes." It happened that earlier the same day, I was editing a manuscript for the magazine where I was working. A widely respected "religious celebrity" person had written an article and made an off-hand reference in the article to "Hitler's icy blue eyes."

Icy blue or piercing black?? Unless he were part Australian Shepherd dog, he probably didn't have one blue eye and one black eye. This bit of research took place in pre-Internet days, so I didn't have a resource as quick and able as Google. I've forgotten how where I found the answer, but I did discover Hitler's eyes were blue.

Would you call such an error in writing an anachronism? No. It had nothing to do with facts out of historic or chronological sequence. It was that simple writing goof up I like to call "an error."

The novelist got it wrong. (I can't even remember th e novel now, nor who wrote it. I recall it was on a best-seller list at the time.) My advice to you as a writer would be similar to what I said earlier about anachronisms: Be very careful when you create characters, describe clothing, create physical settings, come up with plot ideas, and do all the other "mechanics" needed to write your novel. Because, assuming you get it published, there'll always be someone somewhere out there who DOES know what color Hitler's eyes were. You can bet he'll read your book take great delight in letting you know about your error.

Don't make mistakes. Write everything perfectly. Okay, well, then do your best and settle for that. But make sure to do your best. Now get busy and write something to make us all proud of you.

Technorati Tags: Hitler's eye color, writing errors, attention to detail, accuracy in writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

In previous posts I've encouraged those of you who write fiction to remember your creative edge: If you don't know something, you have the liberty of making it up. I also have mentioned the need for realism in fiction.

Which brings up two related matters: Beware of anachronisms and be very careful with literary license.

I just finished a nice thriller-adventure novel by David Baldacci, "Stone Cold." I've read most of Baldacci's novels. I consider his first two or three to be the best written, although this one comes close. (My favorite of his novels is probably "The Winner.")

Near the beginning of the novel "Stone Cold," Baldacci has a character walking down a street "into the Edsel deli, going strong since 1954, the sign over the door says, making it far more popular than the dismal car after which it was named." Baldacci's opinion of the Edsel aside, he's got the timeline wrong. A small bit of Google research actually took me to a page devoted to the Edsel (which, by the way, was NOT that bad of a car), which tells me the first full-sized clay mockup of the Edsel was unveiled in August 1955, the car's official name was announced in November 1956, and the first 14 "pre-production" cars were actually built in 1957. Full-scale production of the Edsel's first model year -- 1958 -- began July 15, 1957.

You get my point here? Baldacci's comment about the deli name was an anachronism -- using an event, person, item, or name in a way it couldn't have existed. There were no Edsels in 1954 to be used in the deli's name.

But let's suppose, since the novel deals with top-secret CIA stuff and international intrigue ranging between the days of the Cold War and the present, that Baldacci made reference elsewhere to some top secret drug treatment used by one of the villains, and we were to discover the drug in question hadn't been invented until after the Cold War.

Would that be an anachronism or just "literary license," i.e., the author's right to make stuff up as he goes along. That would depend, of course, on how it was done. Since we're dealing with supposedly top-secret CIA stuff, it would be very easy to use the drug treatment reference and simply explain it as something CIA knew and did before the public found out about it.

But that doesn't exactly work with the naming of a deli in 1954 after a car not produced until 1957. My guess is this anachronism slipped into the manuscript simply through ignorance on Baldacci's part and carelessness or ignorance by the editorial staff at the publishing house. (Don't get me started on that. Mistakes happen, but many of those editorial people are getting paid really good money to catch those mistakes so they DON'T happen. My strictly unscientific opinion is that they are missing more stuff all the time at the editorial stage.)

I was intrigued by a page at the end of the novel. I won't give away anything about it, but it's a note by the author explaining his intentional use of literary license regarding part of the novel's timeline as it relates to "real" history. Hooray for Mr. Baldacci on that one.

So be careful when you're creating your characters, plots, and the physical settings of your novels. It's especially easy to get caught up in a good story and miss such anachronisms as Baldacci's Edsel deli. Unfortunately, if the editors miss 'em too, that only leaves us grumpy curmudgeons as your last line of defense.

Technorati Tags: anachronisms, literary license, accuracy in writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

It always amazes me the ways writers find to make a living while they pursue their craft. I've personally done everything from overnight parking lot attendant at the local airport to several stints as a security guard -- once at a bakery, once on the deck of a ship, more recently at a guard booth in a sewer pipe storage yard. I've pumped gas 50+ hours a week living on an Indian reservation. I've pastored a small church. I even took a one-day job as an appliance installer.

What sort of jobs have you done to get a paycheck so you could really pursue your first love of writing? What sort of jobs would you be willing to do?

If you've got some money to invest and you've ever thought about going into business, then here's a "Useful Site" offering that might work for you -- "RedHotFranchises.com." I don't know how really "red hot" their franchise opportunities are, but if you've considered going the franchise route, it would be a good place to look around. Their directory has a huge listing of franchises categorized by interests, which you can click on to find information about franchise fees, start-up costs, royalties, and earnings claims. They might have an investment you're looking for -- and certainly they offer a wealth of ideas to stimulate the old Writing Muse.

Technorati Tags: RedHotFranchises.com, business opportunities, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

The problem with adverbs is that once you open the door to one, his whole family and all of his buddies try to crowd through. Next thing you know, your whole office is filled with them, pushing and shoving to get into your keyboard and onto your computer screen. (Or maybe I should say "pushing zestfully" and "shoving mightily"?)

I was just reading an article I ran onto via Google that made the point well: "Publishable fiction writing must draw the reader into the story, not describe what is taking place. It is not an action sequence in a movie, it is an experience. (Emphasis added. The full article is found here.)

Don't neglect to use an adjective or adverb if it fits what you are trying to write. But don't rely on them. Strive to trim out the adverbs. Let your verbs speak. They are action words in their own right. The result will be clear, fast-paced writing that acts and involves your readers instead of just telling them something.

What do you think about it? How do you feel about adjectives and especially adverbs, I'm asking curiously.

Technorati Tags: eliminate adverbs, action words, action writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I have no idea what it would cost to become "certified" as a computer IT person through the various levels of Microsoft Certification, but I do know the certification "crash courses" I got through a recent job experience was one of the most useful things that's happened to me in recent years.

I mention that because I want you to consider this "Useful Website," whether you are the least bit interested in computer certification or not. The website is "QuickCert," and it offers a variety of instructor-led and individual study courses to prepare IT professionals for certification and big-money (hopefully) careers as computer professionals. But you, as a writer, should not ignore the benefits of picking up some training in the technical aspects of computers, networking, Internet access, servers, software, and all the rest.

I recently took a job to do "help desk" support work for a company under contract with HP computers. I got the job because I had taught myself to solve various computer problems on my own and liked to help friends and families. The really great benefit was the two-week long "crash course" the company gave me in Microsoft operating systems and various hardware/software issues. I by no means learned enough to be certified -- but I did learn enough that it has been immensely helpful to me as I sit here each day and work on my computer online.

That's why I would recommend you take a close look around the QuickCert website. In the first place, you may actually be seeking to get into the IT world and this would be one avenue you could take. But even if you aren't a "techie" person, you might find something here that would be of longterm value as you write and work on the Internet. I have no idea what their prices are, but taking a look around is free, and they even offer some free demos of their various courses.

Technorati Tags: QuickCert, Microsoft Certification, IT careers, Internet writing, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I posted a couple of excerpts from a novel manuscript I was working on a couple of years ago. Mostly I was hoping to get some comments, reactions, criticism, or something useful for me.

That hasn't happened yet, so let me use the content of those two posts to perhaps start some discussion on this topic: Where do you find story ideas? Do you find ideas from your personal life or family experiences? Do you get ideas watching or reading the news?

This particular story idea came about when I made a trip back to the small town where I grew up in southeastern Nebraska. It's a place of about 1,700 people. The main "industry" in town is a chicken processing plant located beside a railroad track that runs through the town. I left there when I was not quite 10 years old and never got back until I was 22. My wife and I live about 375 files from the town and once every year or two we drive up there to visit my mother's and grandparent's graves.

On a trip back there a couple of years ago, we were in town during library hours so we went by the public library they'd built the year before. Pretty fancy operation for the town and the county. I struck up a conversation with the librarian, told her I'd lived there as a kid, and she took out a bound volume of the town's weekly newspaper, which extended back to the early 1900s. Knowing I was a writer, the librarian told me some of her favorite newspaper stories and asked me if I'd ever heard about the mysterious murder that had happened in the early 1900s.

I was shocked. I had lived there from 1947-57 and never heard of any murder. I turned to the story, read it, and made a photocopy to take home and mull over. That event was the seed for this story idea. There actually was a man living outside town who had a well dug, then refused to let the well digger fill in the old well, insisting he wanted to do it himself. Two days later, the man left town. Several days after that, curious neighbors dug into the old well and discovered the bodies of his wife and young daughter.

Story ideas are everywhere. You just have to pay attention to what's happening all around you. When something catches your interest, look carefully at it and ask yourself, "What if ..." You've got a story idea. Now turn it into a best-selling novel and we'll applaud your efforts.
[tag]story ideas, writing and life, writing tips at garyspeer.com[/tags]

I've found another "Useful Website" for you geared especially to promotion -- "Gimmee.com," a site that sells promotional products to businesses or individuals that are personalized with the name and/or promotional message you want.

Admittedly, branded promotional products require a bit of an investment. And if you're a one-person "shop" as a freelance writer, they may be an overkill for you. But not necessarily.

You've probably got a ton of pens, pencils, magnets, cupholders, and other goodies that local businesses have sent you with their name on them. Think about this: How often have you used that pen, snugged the cup holder onto your mug, and for just an instant thought of the company that gave it to you -- or looked to see the logo? I've done that often. (In fact, I recently needed some handyman work done on my home. I actually got the name of a service we had used in the past by looking on a refrigerator magnet the guy gave me then.)

Take a look around "Gimme.com" (gotta love the name) and think about their promotional products in terms of your writing business. They've got some really interesting stuff, from coffee mugs to backpacks to ice scrapers. But whether "Gimme.com" is what you're looking for or not, think long and hard about ways you can promote your writing business.

Technorati Tags: promotional products, useful websites, writing as a business, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I have done professional writing and editing for several decades now. Yeah, makes me feel old, too, just thinking about it. My wife, who is a never-aging font of beauty -- though two years older than I -- has been a proofreader for just about as long as I've been a writer.

It makes both of us cringe when we see obvious typos in our local paper, or anywhere else for that matter. But mostly we notice the goofy mistakes in our local paper. We often have time to share some bagels and the paper for breakfast at a local coffee shop before she goes to work. Today, for instance, an editor at the local paper trimmed an Associated Press story regarding a recent murder down to a news brief. The editor then put a headline on the brief which used the word "safe" where the story used "unsafe." The headline said exactly the opposite of what the story was saying. (Which is why most newspapers are quick to run corrections; I expect one tomorrow.)

We all make mistakes. It's just that mistakes, typos, whatever, that make it into print become public and seem more embarrassing. It almost seems as though no one is proofreading their writing. Which, often, is the case.

Then there's the ambiguity surrounding usage. Matters such as punctuation, capitalization, and even spelling can vary, or at least allow for many exceptions, in the English language. I recently saw a phrase describing some really beautiful, expensive furniture written this way: "tv lift cabinets." I would insist that "TV" be capitalized. I've seen "T-shirt" used both that way and as "t-shirt" and I think even "Tshirt." Certainly we have many good dictionaries and style manuals out there to resolve such issues, but sometimes they disagree, and sometimes a usage is so new that no one has formally addressed it.

How do you resolve such matters as spelling, punctuation, and other usage issues? What's your favorite dictionary or style manual? For that matter, what are some of your favorite typos? Write a comment and share with us, please.

Technorati Tags: language usage, typos, punctuation errors, writing tips at garyspeer.com

I hope posting that novel excerpt earlier today was useful to some of you. I guess posting the next section of it is probably just vain.

Seriously, though, I hope some of you will comment and give me some feedback on what you think of it, whether it's interesting at all, whether you would pursue writing more of it if the thing was yours.

So here I go again:

"Damn your hide, woman," he had shouted. "Curse you and send you straight to hell."

Maddy remembers hearing her stepfather yell at her Momma. That wasn't anything so strange. He'd always yelled at her. Sometimes he hit her, hit Maddy, too. He was even worse than her real father had been.

Of course he was worse, she thought, as she began turning her head more upward. He killed Momma and me. He threw us down this hole. She sobs quietly, choking more dirt into her mouth.

Maddy remembers him yelling those awful words at Momma as he grabbed her hair in his huge left hand and punched her sharply square in the face with his right hand. Momma screamed, but it didn’t matter. As usual when he started punishing her for one thing or another -- his supper's colder than he likes it, the tea's too warm, the coffee's not hot enough, whatever -- there was no one near their small farm along the railroad at the edge of town to hear.

Momma tried to pull free so she could run off into the cornfield and maybe sneak back later, or go into town to her friend Sarah. But the monster only laughed at her struggles, slapped her this time, and pulled her close against him.

Maddy remembers again as she wiggles slightly upward in the old well, her feet pushing against Momma’s breast below her, how stiff and cold she felt plastering herself against the side of the house, too frightened to move as the deacon yanked Momma's hair, hugged her tightly, crushing her. She was too afraid to help Momma, too afraid even to run off.

The huge man released Momma and she fell silently into the dirt of the yard in front of him. He looked down at her and smiled. His smile is always so sweet and loving that, for just an instant, Maddy forgot he's the monster who just harmed her Momma. The smile had drawn Momma to him that day in church just after they first arrived in Frances. The smile kept Momma coming back to him no matter what he'd done.

Then she saw the monster spot the skillet with burnt breakfast eggs laying where it had come wobbling to a stop in the yard near the porch steps. Maddy's old terrier, Bosco, oblivious to the ruckus around him, was licking at the eggs and the grease puddled in the cast iron bottom. The monster walked over to the skillet, kicked the dog aside and picked it up.

He hefted it in his right hand. Maddy saw the smile turn wicked as a new idea rose to the surface of his mind.

“No! Please, no!” In her mind’s eye in the suffocating darkness of the well, Maddy hears herself screaming again, sees herself running around the side of the house again. Her legs weren't
paralyzed then, but even as she ran, the girl knew she was too late to save her Momma.
She watched in horror as the skillet descended, thudding against the top of Momma’s
head and cracking it open like a melon.

She remembers the monster turned toward her after he had killed her Momma. She wanted to hurt him, wanted to make him die for what he did to Momma. But he was too big and barely noticed that she was struggling as he picked her up by the arm, laughed, and shook her so hard the arm felt like it was coming loose. But just before the arm broke loose, he switched his hold to the other hand, wrapping it around Maddy's throat and holding her off the ground.

"All right, little witch," he whispered as he pulled her close to his face. "You can
join your Momma in hell." With that, he hoisted her Momma up using the same hand that had smashed her. He walked across the yard to the side of the house, enormously strong,
holding Maddy still by the throat in his left hand while he carried Momma's lifeless body
in his right.

He came to the old well. It was boarded over, but the boards had long since rotted and opened up a ragged hole in the center down into the deep shaft.

"Have a happy trip, Honey," he said as he laughed and tossed Momma into the shaft. He turned his full attention to Maddy then, using both hands lest she squirm away, held her over the well, laughed again, and dropped her into the bottomless hole.

Comments? Suggestions?

Technorati Tags: novel excerpt part 2, fiction writing, writing tips at garyspeer.com

Any others of you out there trying to make a few bucks online with "Affiliate Marketing"? Any of you interested in knowing more about affiliate marketing -- what it is, how you do it, etc.? I've been working at affiliate marketing and trying to learn how to "get it right" for the last few years.

In a nutshell: Affiliate marketing means I -- or you -- place links on a website or blog to a merchant I have an affiliate relationship with. When customers go to that merchant through links on my site and buy something, sign up for something, or do whatever action I and the merchant have agreed upon, I earn a small commission.

My "Useful Website" for you this morning is an affiliate marketing network called "Pepperjam Network," which I just found out about. Pepperjam offers a place for website "publishers," aka affiliate marketers, to hook up with merchants, find the necessary links and marketing tools, and make a fortune on the Internet.

Okay, you probably won't make a fortune, at least not right away, but Pepperjam Network offers you opportunities to make some steady income with your website or blog.

Pepperjam Network offers you the opportunity to affiliate with such merchants as Blockbuster, Jelly Belly, AeroGrow, Oscar de la Renta, BabyPhat, Rocawear, Ben Sherman, FlyCell, SinglesNet, SEOmoz Premium, and many more.

Here's a news release from the Pepperjam Network people. It gives you the whole lowdown. Read and learn more:

PRESS RELEASE:

Pepperjam Announces Launch of Next Generation Affiliate Marketing Network

Pepperjam, a two-time Inc. Magazine fastest growing company and industry leading full-service internet marketing agency, today announced the launch of Pepperjam Network, a proprietary next generation affiliate marketing network.

If you are an advertiser or affiliate and would like to sign-up for Pepperjam Network please visit www.pepperjamnetwork.com.

"Pepperjam Network represents an evolution in affiliate marketing. The creation of Pepperjam Network represents eight years of research and development and the combined ideas, feedback, and intelligence of hundreds of affiliate marketers and advertisers. Pepperjam Network will forever change the face of affiliate marketing by putting power back in the hands of affiliates and advertisers to build long-term, profitable partnerships through better communication tools and transparency," said Kristopher B. Jones, President & CEO of Pepperjam.

Among a variety of affiliate marketing enhancements, Pepperjam Network addresses the two primary shortcomings of other existing affiliate networks, namely (1) poor, unreliable communication tools and (2) lack of affiliate transparency. With Pepperjam Network, affiliates and advertisers can communicate in real-time via Pepperjam Chat™, thereby providing a reliable communication system to build stronger, more profitable partnerships. Pepperjam Network also provides advertisers with an unprecedented measure of affiliate transparency, which helps to establish trust, protect brand integrity, and lays the groundwork for open, long-term, profitable relationships.

Pepperjam Network also introduces pepperjamADS, which is a first-ever affiliate marketing widget that affiliates can use to serve customized contextual ads from one or multiple Pepperjam Network advertisers at the same time.

Pepperjam Network was designed to make the experience of affiliate marketing profitable and educational, with the goal of allowing affiliates and advertisers to truly understand and maximize the critical affiliate marketing channel.

Unlike the traditional networks, Pepperjam Network uses Web 2.0 technology to provide affiliates and advertisers with an easy-to-use, cutting-edge interface designed to facilitate and optimize the affiliate marketing process. For instance, Pepperjam Network offers industry leading source-level tracking and reporting -- this robust technology is especially beneficial to search marketing and sophisticated super affiliates that want to take advantage of the most up-to-date technology available to track commissions at the keyword level.

Here is just a sample of what many industry experts are saying about Pepperjam Network:

"Even after all these years using Commission Junction on the merchant and affiliate side, I still find it terribly clumsy to find what I want. With Pepperjam Network it is quick and easy. Pepperjam Network is what an affiliate network would look like if it were built from a wish list from both the affiliate and merchant perspective," said Shawn Collins, Cofounder of Affiliate Summit.

"As both an advertiser and a affiliate, I am on the lookout for affiliate marketing systems that meet all our company's needs. Pepperjam Network is without a doubt the most comprehensive, practical and useful affiliate marketing system I have seen to date. Pepperjam Network demonstrates that it is possible to combine style with substance in a network that provides site owners and advertisers with tools and resources to increase their bottom line," said Joel Comm, New York Times Best-Selling author and CEO, InfoMedia, Inc.

About Pepperjam:

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I've mentioned from time to time that I've got some novel manuscripts started and gathering dust on my hard drive shelves. Here's the opening scene of one. All criticisms, critiques, and suggestions welcome:

She tries to breathe, but only sucks in more dirt. She knows her eyes are open, but all she sees is darkness. It's darker than any night she remembers. It's so dark, she can't even tell the difference when she closes her eyes. She definitely knows her arms and legs are still there because her whole mind is focused on the intense pain from all four. She wants to be rid of the pain, to make it go away somehow, almost more than she wants to breath.

Happily, as she twists a bit trying to squirm away from the pain and darkness, she touches her arm with her head and knows there's an air pocket around her face. She thinks that air pocket might last if she takes just tiny breaths. She guesses she's alive, though just barely.

But, really, Maddy Rice knows she's the same as dead. The air trapped around her arm and face might keep her alive a little longer. But there's no life for very long down in this hole.

That thought suddenly reminds her of why and how and where she fell. With a firmness in her that she's never in her eight years of life felt before, Maddy knows she's got to get back to the air, got to get out of the dirt, got to live. Except, and she realizes this at the same time as she feels more pain from her arm, if she even gets out of this deep dirty hole somehow, the monster's still up there.

She takes even smaller breaths now, instinctively knowing the air pocket is getting empty. She tries again to squirm around slightly. The only lucky thing for her besides the air pocket around her mangled arm is that he threw her Momma down the old dry well first. She understands the only reason she has lived was that her poor Momma's dead body broke her fall into the hole.

Here's my number one question for you: Does it "grab" you and make you want to read more, to find out more about 8-year-old Maddy Rice and what happened to her? Your feedback and comments, please?

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