Niche Blog Network

The folks at the new generation affiliate network, PepperJam, have a new series on their blog, “Meet The Affiliates”. The first interviewee is established affiliate marketer, Sam Harrelson.

I enjoy these types of interviews, as they provide good insight and sometimes a juicy marketing nugget is revealed:

affiliate marketers are going to have to engage with the new paradigms of marketing that are being created around more social sites (I’m not a big fan of the term “social media” because I think the web is inherently social). Social networks, niche community sites and highly customizable platforms like Twitter are going to demand more from marketers than just posting up a banner or bidding on a click. So, as affiliate marketers, we are going to have to engage increasingly niche and fragmented audiences in order to stay relevant and profitable.

To read more of the Sam Harrelson interview, head on over to the PJ blog.

One of our network blogs, Groovy Vegetarian, has regained the infamous Google Pagerank.  The blog lost it sometime back in December, and just regained it on or about March 11th. I’m late (as usual) in reporting news, but better late than never.

The blog initially was at PR 4, then down to 0, now sits at PR 2.  Pagerank is pretty much like a roller coaster ride, up and down, and side to side. Regardless i’m happy with the current status of the blog, and as i’m being ever more vigilant of what i slap on it, the rank should only get better.

So its a celebration, but a small and cautious one. To read what is the latest in the vegetarian lifestyle, head on over to the blog.

Till next update,

Missy.

Do you use photos on every blog post? If so, then PhotoDropper, a new wordpress plugin, is going to be a big time saver for you.

Essentially with the wordpress plugin PhotoDropper, you are able to search and add FLICKR photos right from your Wordpress dashboard. It searches (via keyword) within the Creative Commons licensed photos, the ones made available for shared use. Then with 1-click you are able to add the photo (complete with attribution link) to your blog post. See sample photo below, keyword = wordpress.

photo credit: Titanas

PhotoDropper is extremely handy for those of us bloggers, who use photos in every blog post, and/ or who have several blogs to photo-rize. Simply download, activate as usual in your Wordpress dashboard, and that’s pretty much it. The plugin is free and if you use photos alot, this is a must have blog tool for you.

Visit the photodropper plugin page here.

Missy.

Below is an update on 5 of our flagship properties. Next Update: 03/12/2008.

Groovy Vegetarian

• Alexa Rank - 328,677
• Backlinks - 30,053
• PR - 0 (recently penalized by big G, but under re-consideration)

Groovy Chicago

• Alexa Rank - 827,379
• Backlinks - 58,377
• PR - 2

Groovy Entrepreneur

• Alexa - 850,138
• Backlinks - 58,502
• PR - 2

Image Host

• Alexa - 4,000,600
• Backlinks - 319
• PR - 2

Woody’s Old Town Grill

• PR - 1

Yellow Sweaters

• new blog - no significant data yet available

All data as of 2/12/2008. We plan on creating a series of campaigns to improve our stats and overrall standing in the blogsphere. Look for fun contests, viral memes, and some other strategies in the coming weeks.

NOTE: We are seeking to do sidebar spot exchanges with similar topic blogs, if you run a blog on a niche we cover, please shoot us an email, and let’s exchange sidebar spots.

Till next time,

Missy.

For those that aren’t familiar with Digital Point, it is a forum aimed at net marketers and online entrepreneurs. It is a very active web-based community, with thousands of daily visitors and interactions.

my avatar on digital point - (can you spot me?) 

I am a member, you can find me there regularly creating and or joining in on different discussions. My favorite spots are the Marketplace, Programming, and Design spots.

What is DP good for? Here 8 Reasons to Join Up:

1. design work: such as banners, wordpress themes, or programming stuff
2. freebies: they have a freebie section, where you can ask for stumbles, digg votes, technorati site exchanges, and lots more
3. networking: meet other net marketers, writers, programmers, designers, etc
4. selling: you can sell your site, themes, scripts, ebooks, a variety of things
5. content: you can recruit bloggers and writers, or you can list yourself as a content provider
6. knowledge: ask questions about SEO, PPC, Blogging, Making Money Online
7. community: make friends, share, learn, participate
8. money: i have made money through DP, and you can too. How? by selling advertising space on your site or blog, writing for others, placing an affiliate ad on your signature, by selling your sig space, it goes on and on. (lol)

Why am i telling YOU about Digital Point Forums?

Because it’s a valuable place, plain and simple. There is no cost to be a member (or post) actually it is completely free. So head on over to DP, and join.

Till the next update,

Missy.