Pepperjam is the Network for Comic and SciFi Geeks

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Comics were a huge part of my dorky teen years (but I only read the cool comics that you had to ask for from behind the counter). I still have soft spot in my heart for all things Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse, etc.

So, I was excited to see that Pepperjam now has the Marvel affiliate program in their network. Pepperjam also has the Star Trek affiliate program, making it a nostalgic choice for fanboi’s and geeks who, like myself, appreciate the finer things from Jim Lee or Frank Miller. Come to think of it, they also have MGM (Stargate) and Warner Bro’s (DC merchandise, Batman, Harry Potter and 300). Lots of geek cred there.

The Marvel program has 45 day cookies and starts at 7% and works up to 10% with volume. There is supposedly a datafeed on the way as well.

I’ll definitely be checking that one out for Christmas since Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk were such big hits this year and there is always a crowd hungry for X Men and Spiderman goodness (plus there’s the upcoming Wolverine and Avengers movies in the works).

Good stuff.

Marvel Launches Affiliate Program on Pepperjam Network

Loa Power Tools: Haven’t Heard of It? You Will

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I frequently mention Loa Power Tools on podcasts, but I don’t think I’ve ever blogged about it.

I’ve been a subscriber for the last six months or so and I can’t tell you how frequently Loa saves my rear when trying to send an email from a wifi hotspot, airport, university building, etc that doesn’t want to work well with my email client.

Or if you have an AT&T DSL line at your office space like I do, you know the frustration of trying to send out through an SMTP other than AT&T’s designated one. Loa solves that.

Yes, I do love and use GMail, but there’s the whole business aspect of not looking professional when you have the “sent from GMail on behalf of CostPerNews.com” in the header. Sure, I could go with Google Apps, but I’ve got 4 years of mail archived in my personal GMail account. Loa solves a huge problem there as well (and there’s a special plan for GMail users).

And that’s why I like Loa Power Tools. It’s a problem solving application for power email users that you don’t notice running in the background because it does what it needs to do quietly.

Just thought I’d plug the service (no, this is not a paid advertisement, I’m just a fan) because it’s an unsung hero of my daily work flow. Go read more and give it a shot if you need this sort of a solution (and who doesn’t with the ubiquity of wifi hotspots these days?)…

Tell me more about Loa PowerTools: “Loa PowerTools is a tiny utility that lets you send email from any internet connection anywhere. Once it is installed, you don’t have to change your life at all. You can use whatever email software you prefer: Outlook, Mac Mail, Thunderbird 
 it doesn’t matter, but Loa PowerTools will send your mail out through the Internet in a way that can’t be stopped by any but the most aggressive firewalls. And by ‘aggressive’ we mean firewalls in secure places where you wouldn’t expect to be able to have much Internet contact with the outside world.

It’s particularly useful for laptops. Without Loa PowerTools, when you travel from connection to connection, you never know what mail server to use to send mail. You often have to spend a lot of time fumbling around to find the address of an SMTP server that will let you connect. Even if you can find one that would let you connect, more and more often these days the network you use won’t allow any mail at all. The provider of the connection deliberately blocks all outward-bound mail. The detective work you have to do is exhausting and often fruitless! You never know from one trip to the next whether you will be able to send email when you are at your destination hotel, in a conference room or an airport lounge or using some other publicly available network. And as the number of malicious exploits around the Web increases, the problem is only getting worse: network operators are being forced to become more and more protective of their networks.”

Plus, they take PayPal. Can’t beat that. Tell ’em uncle Sam sent ya.

GeekTo.Me 7: Essential Geek Skills

geektome

Episode Seven: Macbook's Kill Switch, Token iPhone Discussions and Essential Geek Skills (about an hour)

http://www.hipcast.com/playweb?audioid=Pb2e3acc9ba1f8b7cc1a808c9e1115191bF98QFREYmN8&buffer=5&shape=6&fc=FFFFFF&pc=CCFF33&kc=FFCC33&bc=FFFFFF&brand=1&player=ap24

MP3 File

Show Notes:

– Tethering
– More on iPhones and Blackberries
– Macbook Self Destruct Mode
50 Essential Geek Skills

In all honesty, this is the best GTM yet. Check it out and let us know what you think!

GeekTo.Me 7: Essential Geek Skills « GeekTo.Me

Brian Littleton on SAS’ PPC Policy

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Brian Littleton, head of ShareASale, was in NYC for Ad:Tech and sat down with Shawn Collins, Missy Ward and Connie Berg to discuss a few topics including the network’s interesting “3 Strikes” PPC policy on AffiliateThing…

ShareASale Blog » Blog Archive » Ad-Tech NYC, the Affiliate Thing Podcast, and the PPC “3 Strikes” policy: “I was also lucky to have the opportunity to speak with Shawn Collins on his ‘Affiliate Thing’ podcast at the Affiliate Summit booth. Also on board were co-Affiliate Summitter Missy Ward, and Connie Berg. We had a good time talking about some industry news, issues, and it gave me an opportunity to talk about our PPC ‘3 Strikes’ policy as well. Since September 1st when the policy became active, we’ve received a great amount of feedback and reports. I would also like to thank all of the affiliates who have really stepped up their efforts to make sure that they are in compliance with the rules at hand. I know how difficult it is to keep up with so many policies, and your effort is very much appreciated. We know there will always be mistakes, hiccups, etc
 and will continue to do our best to determine the difference between an honest mistake and a continued violation. So thank you
. “

The show really is a good listen.

Here’s the mp3 or head over to GeekCast.fm for the streaming version.

Gary V and the Example of Howard Stern

Gary Vaynerchuk uses Howard Stern’s bitterness to make a great point about cost-of-entry and the new paradigm on the web.

In other words, don’t be that guy when you make it to the top and web7.0 or whatever comes out 20 years from now…

http://www.viddler.com/player/9507943/

gary vaynerchuk » A reaction to Howard Sterns thought on Social networks, Social media and blogs. – my 2 minute take on life

Backlink Watch for Seeing Who Is Linking to You

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There are a number of tools (some free and some paid) that perform the same function as Backlink Watch, but if you need a quick and easy checker to see who is linking to you and with what anchor text, it’s not a bad little tool.

Regardless, you should be keeping an eye on these sorts of things for SEO purposes as well as reputation management. And if you’re running an affiliate site that is composed of more than just affiliate links, it’s always a good idea to see if anyone else is including you in their posts or blogrolls.

Backlink Watch with something like Google Alerts should get you to 99% of what you need in this realm.

Backlink Watch

GeekCast 43: Valley vs Affiliates

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GeekCast 43 is up and it’s a good listen. The entire gang of Shawn Collins, Jim Kukral, Lisa Picarille and myself chat about online marketing, gadgets, web2.0 and all-things-geek for 70 minutes.

If you’re new to the show, start with this one b/c it’s one of our best (in my opinion).

Here’s the mp3 or head over to GeekCast.fm for the stream if you’re of that persuasion.

Show Notes:

– Shawn Got a Blackberry Bold
– AT&T’s Marketing Woes

– Calacanis Redux: Affiliates v Silicon Valley
– Of Runways and Layoffs
– Ad:Tech’s Mood
– Examples of Good Businesses (FatWallet, Zac Johnson, Scott Jangro)

– Twitter Woes and Feature Complaints
– Revenue’s Marketing

– Ask500People.com
– More AdTech Talk

– Branding: affiliate.com, Izea and Coke
– Netbooks