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Pepperjam: A Review

Affiliate marketing can be one of the most profitable ways to monetize your website or blog…usually second only to “direct sale” ads (where you and the sponsor communicate directly on the sale, with no network “middleman”). As with most monetization options, with affiliate marketing what you get out of it is in direct proportion to what you put into it in terms of time and effort, but with some networks you start the race with one foot in a bucket, no trainer and a blindfold on. Click here to register as a PepperJam Affiliate.

Today I’ll be looking at what is fast becoming one of the major affiliate marketing networks (primarily because they’re trying to minimize some of the problems with affiliate networks), PepperJam.

The System

When you see the system Pepperjam has in place for advertisers and website owners, you start to realize that Pepperjam does offer several improvements over a traditional affiliate marketing system. The highlight of these differences is the way the ads are delivered; with most affiliate networks, you select a product to market on your website, then place their ad on your site. Pepperjam, however, uses a proprietary system which allows for much more control over your adspace. In addition to the usual banner-ad style units, the PepperjamAds functionality allows you to build a custom ad for placement on your website, and also allows you to target your niche. Want an ad with four spots in it, all of which deal with financial advice? No problem. Simply log into your Pepperjam account and set it up. Just like that, you’re promoting four different affiliate programs in the same space you would have a Google Adsense box.

Also, one of the watchwords that Pepperjam is built around is “transparency”, or the ability of both affiliates and advertisers to see exactly what the other is doing for them. Pepperjam has a fairly detailed statistics system in place, allowing you to see exactly what’s working on your site and what’s not. Also, if you have any questions, you can chat with your affiliate program manager inside the Pepperjam interface, which allows misunderstandings to be cleared up with a minimum of trouble.

Show Me The Money

As I said at the beginning, affiliate marketing can be one of the most profitable methods of monetizing your website or blog, and Pepperjam makes it potentially more profitable than before. With the ability to target several affiliates without cluttering your site up with twenty ads, it gives you a much broader spectrum of offers for visitors to your site while reducing the ad clutter they have to be bombarded with.

Another thing that will ad to your potential earnings is the lineup of advertisers to choose from. With names like Baby Phat, Blockbuster and Oscar de la Renta, you can avoid the more traditional “Earn money now!” network marketing programs and promote programs with instant name-recognition. This alone sets Pepperjam apart from other affiliate marketing programs.

There are two types of payouts offered (depending on the advertiser you choose to promote), either a percentage commission on sales or CPA (Cost Per Action), which pay to the affiliate when the desired action is taken by someone that clicks on the advertiser’s ad on your site, whether it be signing up for a newsletter or mailing list, or becoming a member of the advertiser’s program or site.

In addition to all of this, Pepperjam also has its own affiliate program, paying you for every person you refer. With Pepperjam’s recent relaunch, this could add a decent amount to your earnings.

What’s The Catch?

There are only a few hitches in the program. While Pepperjam pays bi-monthly, your only two choices for payment at the moment are via check or direct deposit. That’s right…no PayPal, etc. Aside from that one quibble, the program looks solid.

The Conclusion

With a lineup of top-name advertisers to choose from, more frequent payments for affiliates, and the ability to have access to an affiliate marketing version of Adsense, Pepperjam looks like a winner. Just remember…to make the “big money” with affiliate marketing, it takes work, no matter what program you’re using.

Posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am in SEO and Marketing | rss feed for comments| Leave a response, or trackback