Recently I got a interesting question:

Shoe – How come you see all these affiliate bloggers startup,  deliver awesome content,  then dissapear into the woodwork?  I am talking about sites like Nickycakes,  bluehatseo, seoblackhat, ppc.bz and the like.

That is a really good question.

There are several reasons why people stop.  I would say the average lifespan of an affiliate blog is about 1 year… or 200 posts on average.

When people start an affiliate blog they are super gung ho and want to show the world how smart they are.   And they are unbelievably smart… don’t get me wrong.

But how long can they maintain that sort of value?  Honestly?

Here at ShoeMoney this blog is about me and whatever interests me.  I talk about lots of random crap but occasionally some internet marketing stuff which people find valuable.  Someday maybe I will completely retire and just blog about life and my thoughts on other stuff… and nobody in the internet marketing industry will care.

I will still be here writing my average 1.2 posts a day.  I wrote for a long time when nobody read and when nobody reads again I will still be here.

Back to your question though.

I also believe their is a pyramid in the affiliate blogging space.  Let me try to visualize it:

So my point is that the more savvy the blogger becomes the less people he can actually help by sharing knowledge.

The blogs you see that are successful, make a lot of money, and continue to grow are ones that stay on that basic level that can relate to millions of people.

Sites like John Chow and Pro Blogger are very good at this. I believe its because a lot of their content is from guest others that are on that basic level and can deliver value (in john chows case he is just always on that basic level =P ).

So far this has all been thinking positively though. Sadly a lot of people who start blogs eventually get big enough that they just can’t handle the spotlight. The first time they get haters they crawl into a hole.

Anyway great question and I hope that answers it!

I leave this morning to head to Los Angeles for the Startups Uncensored Event

The morning of the event I am filming a 30 video series which will part of a free iPad/iPhone application. My section of the application is on affiliate marketing.

I have a pretty extensive list of questions that I think people have on affiliate marketing but would love to hear from you.

Please post what questions about affiliate marketing you would like to see in the series in the comments below.

Since we announced we were going to look for a partner for LinkControl.com to take it open source.

The main qualification is pretty simple.  We are just looking for someone who has managed an opensoure project before.

We have had a lot of people offer to do it but nobody has really maintained an opensource project.

Please let us know if you are interested. 

About 6 months ago we started a new division of ShoeMoney called Elite Internet Solutions. This is a full service internet marketing company for business in the 1 million to 100 million in gross revenue range.

We don’t solicit any business. Its all been word of mouth so far.

One thing that amazes me is how many businesses neglect email.

We divide emails into 2 things. Retention and Acquisition.

• The acquisition sequence is when a person gives their email directly on the site or the data was obtained by a 3rd party. We send them a series of emails which educate them about the company, demonstrate social proof, and offer incredible specials to get them to be a customer.
• The retention sequence goes to the existing customers to bring them back to make purchases. Its a long series of emails and also emails around specific dates with specials – Valentines day, 4th of July, Christmas, etc.

Some of the companies we have been working with have literally doubled their sales from the email sequences alone. If you are not currently doing this you are missing out big time on sales.

Obviously a huge part of this is knowing the sequence and copywriting. Anyone can do this but if you need help feel free to contact us.

All regular readers know I am a huge fan of the sport. Tonights UFC 143 event is so stacked with great fights. I am super pumped.

JOSH KOSCHECK (@joshkoscheck) VS. MIKE PIERCE (@mikepierce170)

I have known Josh going back to when we sponsored him in UFC 66. I have gone out with him a couple times in Las Vegas.

Mike Pierce is a really good up and coming fighter. He had a very close fight with Kos’s teammate Jon Fitch not to long ago. Usually Kos is a little worse than Fitch so this is going to be a really close fight.

I predict Josh Koscheck win by decision (lay and pray). Probably pretty boring fight.

I bet 3 units on Josh Koshcheck to win.

ROY NELSON (@roynelsonmma) VS. FABRICIO WERDUM (@FabricioWerdum)

This should be a great fight. I love me some Roy Nelson. This is Fabricio’s first fight in the UFC since he was cut a couple years ago. Roy Nelson I believe has Fabricio beat in ever aspect. He has superior striking, superior BJJ, and superior cardio.

I bet 6 units on Roy Nelson

CARLOS CONDIT (@carloscondit) VS. NICK DIAZ (@nickdiaz209)

This is for the interim 170lb title. This has all the ingredients to be fight of the year. Bother are also champions in other organizations where they vacated the belt to come to the UFC. Neither has ever lost a title fight.

I think Diaz is the superior fighter but Carlos posses a lot of “puncher’s chance” type moves… superman punches, flying knees. But I just don’t think its going to happen.

I am not betting on this fight. The odds are favoring so much to Diaz… I just don’t like it to bet on.

For non gamblers units is just a way of saying how much you like the fight. It could equal whatever value you want relatively. 2 units = $2 (or 20 or 2000). 5 units = $5 (50 or 5000) whatever. Make sense?

I hope everyone enjoys the fights! Should be awesome!!!

Internet Marketing Ninjas is a full service marketing company that uses their knowledge to turn their client’s website into a powerful lead generator and makes their client’s website stand out… which is actually the opposite of what an actual ninja wants to do.

It seems like everyone and their mom is starting a SEO agency now days. Its the hot thing… But 99% of the time its all outsourced to english as a second language (ESL) peeps who write tons of engrish and instead of your site going up in search engines… bad things happen.

I recently found a new service called GetLinksPro and its super dope. Unlike these sweat shops overseas, GetLinksPro has over over 85 employees 30 writing unique, quality content and the other 55 are developers and link builders.

The results for me have been nothing short of amazing. For each property we have tested them on they have soared in rankings. Since GetLinksPro uses nothing but whitehat techniques there is no risk of being penalized.

I have recommended them to friends and all I have heard was good results and at the same time its cut their costs dramatically.

My favorite thing about them is their self serve system. You don’t have to call and get some quote or go back in forth in emails.

Check it

Link Building:

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Guest Posts:

All reviews are extremely positive and convey a similar experience that I have shared above.

I highly recommend checking them out.