From his previous appearance on the series, you’d have heard about how he extensively uses automation in his PPC campaigns. Together with outsourcing business tasks, John has given his affiliate marketing business more room to grow.

During our discussion, John mentioned:

• His strategies to test out keywords (as many as 30,000 at a time)
• Keyword research and harvesting and the tools he uses
• How you multiply and permutate your keyword list
• Live example of constructing a keyword list
• PPC campaign optimization tips
• His new Keyword Grouper tool and it’s “intelligent keyword grouping” features

Check out the podcast below:

Links:

• John Hasson’s blog
• Keyword Grouper
• Simple PPC
• John’s Twitter account

And the inertia of business and projects has kept my intended blogroll update moving forward for a couple of months (yes, months).

If you’re headed to the Affiliate Summit next month, do drop a note in the comments below and be sure to say “hi” especially if we meet up at one of the parties or at the booths.

Here’re some of my old friends and new friends I’ve made in the last year (and recently added to the blogroll).

Miles Baker: A work-at-home dad who’s tried just about everything on the internet, Miles is a successful affiliate who’s built a healthy number of profitable sites. He’s one of the panelists at the affiliate panel on the first day of the Affiliate Summit.

Check out Miles’ appearance on my Friday Podcast.

Miles’ Twitter account

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NickyCakes: Nick calls himself a “reformed blackhat” whose main focus is on pay per click-based affiliate marketing. He’s posted a number of innovative affiliate strategies on his blog (in between pointing out perceived pretentiousness among certain affiliates). Nick will also be one of the panelists on the affiliate panel at 1230pm on the first day of the summit.

Nick’s previous appearance on the Friday Podcast.

Nick’s Twitter account

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Geordie Carswell: Geordie’s the 3rd and final member of the affiliate panel. Though he doesn’t actively blog, he’s focused on building his new outfit, Diversion Marketing. Although he’s quite accomplished at PPC, he’s since started work on a couple of different projects and I might have him on a future episode of the Friday Podcast.

In the meantime, you can check out his previous appearance on the Friday Podcast where he talked about affiliate success strategies.

Geordie’s twitter account

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Chad Frederiksen: Better known as “CDF Networks”, Chad has the distinction of being one of the top 10 AzoogleAds affiliates early on. PPC is his forte and he shared a number of strategies during his time on the Friday Podcast.

Chad’s twitter account.

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John Hasson: John has a background as a programmer and has developed and sold his own software prior to becoming an affiliate. He’ll be presenting a session on automating your PPC campaigns at the Affiliate Summit. Meanwhile, you can check out his appearance on the Friday Podcast.

John’s Twitter account

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Kris Trujillo: Having taken over the CashTactics blog from founder Ralph “Ruck” Ruckman, Kris has a number of ongoing internet marketing projects, in addition to his search engine optimization (SEO) consulting services. He appeared on the Friday Podcast to talk about build a search engine-based business.

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Andrew Payne: Also blogging at CashTactics, Andrew is a PPC marketer and he has recently authored a PPC case study covering the fundamentals of niche selection and setting up your campaign. He also provided bonus material during the Friday Podcast.

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Todd Crawford: Todd is one of the co-founders of the Commission Junction affiliate network in 1998 and is currently working on his “secret project”. In the meantime, he posts pictures and comments about watches, t-shirts and other gizmos he’s either bought, is trying out or is in the process of buying, I guess his ToddTalks site is like a shopping blog for geeks? Check out his thoughts on affiliate management on the Friday Podcast.

Todd will be moderating a session on combating fraud in affiliate marketing at the Affiliate Summit.

Todd’s Twitter account.

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Joel Comm: Back when I first got started in internet marketing, Joel’s “Adsense Code” book was one of the first I’d read. I’m currently going through his “Click Here To Order” book which is a great narrative about the key players in internet marketing got their start and built their businesses. I met Joel in Vegas and he’ll be presenting a session on mobile marketing (direct marketing to cellphones) at the summit.

Joel’s twitter account

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If you’re interested in afttending the Affiliate Summit, it’s at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas from Jan 11-13.

Click here to book a place

Discount code: ASW09WHOISAW to save 10% off any type of pass

For a media pass, visit this link.

Next on the list would be the terrific networking events and parties, especially the near legendary ones hosted by the ShareASale affiliate network, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get to bring home a polaroid with SAS founder Brian Littleton in his trademark sweatervests.

This isn’t to say that the sessions are to be unrated. This upcoming summit will feature speakers like previous Friday Podcast guests – affiliates Geordie Carswell, Nickycakes, Miles Baker, Jeremy Palmer, John Hasson, Zac Johnson, Market Leverage CEO Mike Jenkins, Scott Jangro, Buy.com’s Melissa Salas, Amit Mehta, Anik Singal, as well as “Sugarrae” Rae Hoffman, Carolyn “CShel” Shelby, PartnerCentric CEO and founder Linda Woods, affiliate OPM Andy Rodriguez, ABestWeb founder Haiko de Poel Jr, FlamingoWorld CEO Connie Berg, Brian Littleton, SEER Interactive’s Wil Reynolds, Ros Gardner and Ian Fernando.

I think the upcoming summit boasts a stellar speakers lineup and it’ll be a hard decision to split my time between the educational sessions and panels vs time in the exhibit hall.

I managed to squeeze some details from Shawn Collins about the Affiliate Triathlon. He said “There will be three secret events of skill and dexterity and the competitor with the highest overall score wins.” – which translated means you’ll probably have to do something silly and likely mildly embarrass yourself, but will look pretty cool in pictures and do something great for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

The event which runs from Jan 11-13, currently still has tickets available, though Shawn has mentioned that the bulk of registrations come in 60 days before the event and are available now, though it’s hard to tell how long they’ll last.

The Affiliate Summit is held at the same time as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and adult industry’s AVN (Adult Video Network) awards at the Mandalay Bay. So catching a porn starlet might be a minor perk for some attending the summit? The affiliate networks and especially CPA networks are known for innovative events and mixers at these events, so maybe we’ll see Tila Tequila (former Playboy playmate Tila Ngyuen and star of the “A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila” reality show). Incidentally, Tila’s born in Singapore and if you think I’m pulling your leg, check out her Wikipedia entry. Obviously, since college students are submitting their senior essays based on Wikipedia, it’s as good as the Encyclopedia Brittanica, right?

But back to the Affiliate Summit…

WineLibrary.tv creator and presenter Gary “Bring the Thunder” Vaynerchuk who kicked butt at the “marketing with video” panel discussion at the last ASW will be delivering the keynote this time. It should be a great session with Gary’s trademark energy, candor and humor.

The deadline for getting your room at the summit group rate of $159/night is valid till Dec 9th, though it’s likely to run out before then. Check out the group reservation rate.

Jeremy Palmer mentioned a code “PKGR2CT” for a $0.02 Tuesday if you stay at least 2 nights. You may or may not be able to use the code in conjunction with the group rate.

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Lastly, get your tickets now if you haven’t yet, the summit reservation link is here. [Use discount code: ASW09WHOISAW to save 10% off any type of pass]

If you have an active affiliate blog or report on internet marketing news, you can apply for a media pass.

Viva Las Vegas.

This time round, the next Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas will feature an Affiliate Triathlon, billed as “designed for affiliate marketers by affiliate marketers”. As affiliate marketing gives most successful affiliates the option to eat and sleep as much as they can comfortably tolerate, the tendency is to put on a little weight around the waist, thighs, face, etc. (With the exception of a couple of notables like Shawn, Missy, Heather Paulson, Ros Gardner, Amit Mehta, Chad Frederiksen, John Hasson, Nickycakes – who are the healthier minority among the affiliate majority).

All proceeds from the event go to charity, which will include the National Breast Cancer Foundation. It’ll be a fun event for sure, though I’m hoping Shawn will give more details. Maybe this year, we’ll see Heather in her bikini at the Rio pool taking on all challengers?

Shawn Collins on his preferred mode of transport

Affiliate Summit West 2009 will be from Jan 11-13 in Las Vegas at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino.

Get your tickets early to avoid disappointment.

Tip: Use promo code ASW09WHOISAW to save 10% off any type of pass

The speakers for the workshop element of the Affiliate Summit have been selected, and I’ll be moderating a session “Affiliate Bloggers Speak Out: Tips on SEO, PPC and Sales Conversion” at the upcoming Affiliate Summit which is from Jan 11-13 in Las Vegas next year.

Together with me for the session will be the panelists:

Affiliate Bloggers Speak Out Panelists: (Left to Right)Nickycakes, Geordie Carswell, Miles Baker

This’ll be a great session not only because the three panels are highly skilled affiliate marketers, but they have very different strengths too. Although Nickycakes and Geordie (former affiliate network Revenuewire CEO turned affiliate) use PPC (pay per click) in their traffic generation efforts, there’s a number of differences in their methods, while Miles Baker uses powerful SEO techniques.

We’ll likely be collecting questions for the session a couple of weeks before the summit, so you can get your burning questions answered.

Stay tuned!

PS: I’ve also heard that the other speakers at the summit include affiliate management firm’s Paulson Management Group founder and president Heather Paulson will be presenting a session on “Advanced Affiliate Management Strategies”, while top affiliate John Hasson will be “Automating Websites and PPC Management” (a technical session which will provide you with massive leverage in your business).

The Affiliate Summit continues to grow by leaps and bounds. Be sure to check it out.

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If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out these Friday Podcast sessions:

• NickyCakes
• Miles Baker
• Geordie Carswell
• John Hasson

John spoke at the “Meet The Experts” session chairing a table on PPC affiliate marketing. At the recent Affiliate Summit East in Boston, John presented a session on PPC marketing.

During the course of our discussion, I was pretty amazed at how John’s brought his programming skills to automate and employ leverage in PPC campaigns.

We also talked about:

• How John got started as a programmer early on and his first experience at generating $600 a day through PPC arbitrage
• How he made his transition into affiliate marketing
• Tips to succeed in PPC affiliate marketing

You can access the Friday Podcast below:

Note: John was travelling as part of a project he’s working on and the line dropped a  number of times and the connection wasn’t the best. Listen in for some great tips though.

You can visit John’s blog at JohnHasson.com

Although I shouldn’t have been that surprised, still it’s quite amazing how different their approaches are from each other. Which goes to show that there are multiple avenues to achieve your goals with PPC and affiliate marketing.

Note: I’ll be painting in broad strokes here, so expect some generalizations.

(left-to-right) Jeremy Palmer, Amit Mehta, John Hasson

Jeremy Palmer is a name that comes up often, especially if you’re a Commission Junction (CJ) affiliate or if you attend the Affiliate Summit. I’ve found that Jeremy and I use a similar approach in looking at offline research avenues, including books, magazines and reports to research niches, and develop deep, content rich sites.

Given his experience as a web developer, I guess it’s not surprising that he tends to build sites from the ground up. Also, having presented and watched his Black Ink project unfold, I’ve seen how Jeremy uses a systematic approach to building his campaigns.

You can check out Jeremy’s appearance on the Friday Podcast.

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Amit Mehta has spoken at the past 3 Affiliate Summits, and given his background as a researcher at MIT’s Lincoln Labs, it’s not suprising how he has a rigorous process to set up keywords and test them. In particular, his PPC optimization process and use of statistics, as well as split-test are among his strongest competitive edge.

Not forgetting that Amit’s quite the “mindset” man in my book (You would not expect anything less from someone who blogs at the SuperAffiliateMindset.com blog). His mental attitude and “inner game” skills sets him apart from many affiliates. Also, his business acumen and ability to scale his business through team building and outsourcing are pretty impressive.

You can check out Amit’s recent appearance on the Friday Podcast.

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John Hasson might not be a name that you are familiar with, unless you’ve attended the last 2 Affiliate Summits where John has spoken at. With his background as a programmer/developer, I was very impressed at the level of automation and scripting that John uses in his PPC campaigns.

Having developed a number of shareware applications and his experience as a Microsoft .Net developer gives him an edge, especially when it comes to interfacing with merchant and affiliate networks APIs and backend systems.

John came out with a number of great insights, especially for new affiliates.

Stay tune for John’s appearance on this week’s Friday Podcast (coming out on Friday!)