The Blog – Pepperjam Network creates mutually beneficial relationships between affiliates and advertisers. Their Pepperjam Network Blog is loaded with helpful tools for the affiliates – free internet marketing advice, money making tips, and the latest news about Pepperjam Network.

The Blogger – Kris Jones, a search-engine and affiliate marketing expert, is President and CEO of Pepperjam.

A Post We Luv – BlogsWeLuv contributor Garry Conn was interviewed as part of Pepperjam Network’s “Meet the Affiliates” series.

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
I’ve been blogging on and off for several years now on a range of subjects from mountain biking to network marketing, but I’ve never been fully focused and persistent. I’m engaged to be married next year and have a 3 month mountain bike tour planned as our honeymoon, so I needed to consolidate my businesses. I decided to start this blog as a way to focus my energies and ideas, and to share what I have learned about online business over the past 6 years. I discuss and teach marketing, business, and web design and although my blog is quite young, the feedback I’m getting is awesome!

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Using WordPress to Build Websites as a CMS
I’m trying to give as much pure content as I can with this blog. I’ve been designing websites commercially since 1999, so I’m hoping to give back a lot of the knowledge I’ve picked up from the online community.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
There are plenty of bloggers in the Internet marketing niche, and there are plenty of very techie developers blogging out there, but I hope that I manage to bridge that gap. Although there are certainly technical elements to some of my posts, I try not to assume too much technical background and always try to appeal to newbies while still giving content with real depth to it.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
I honestly can’t remember when I first discovered blogging. I guess my first blog was of a 900 mile solo cycle trip I did in 2002, but I didn’t use a blogging platform – just updated the HTML each day! Can’t imagine doing that now. Life without Wordpress wouldn’t be the same at all!

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
It’s amazing to me how many people still spam out there, same with forums. You can be sure that every single day you get single one line comments or forum posts from people you never hear from again, just looking for that quick link rather than engage in the conversation.

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Soooo many to choose from. I certainly wouldn’t want to be without Askimet, Simple tags is great (and simple just like it says!) but my number one would have to be WP_CodeShield which is such a help on a blog like mine which includes sample code from time to time.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
I guess it would have to be Larry Page – so much of what I read on blogs is speculation about Google and their algorithms. It would be great to hear it ’straight from the horses mouth’!

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
Blogging has definitely given me a new focus and commitment. I try to be consistent with my posts, and plan ahead – something I need to do more of with the rest of my business and life!

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
Engage in a conversation – encourage and reply to comments, get inside your reader’s heads and find out what they want. If you can deliver content that is exactly what your visitors want, you’ll be a massive success!

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Internet Business Mastery
OK so I know it’s a podcast primarily but these guys put out such great content and are the only ones in my niche who really focus on mindset and goals… plus they are genuinley funny – that’s important too!

This is the blog of Rae Hoffman, affectionately known in the blogging and SEO world as SugarRae. Or maybe you know her better as the queen of SEO. She has proven herself in a mostly male industry and she kicked all their a$$es at what she does.

I first met Rae way back in 2001 when I started working from home. Yes, we met at WAHM.com ~ crazy, right? We used to hang out in the chat room with a few other work at home regulars and we would all bounce ideas off of each other every Wednesday night. I miss those Wednesday night chats, but we’ve all come so far since then and I think we all manage to stay pretty busy. Rae has definitely gone far, and learned a lot and most of it self taught. She’s my internet success hero!

So, what are you going to find at SugarRae? Well you’ll hear tidbits about SEO and on the very same blog you’ll hear endless rants about things like the online poker ban and Rae’s extreme dislike, okay hatred and loathing, for Bob Saget.

And that’s just the tip of the blog-berg. (Coined a new blogosphere phrase there maybe? -lol-) Anyhow, if you’re interested in what goes on inside a serious SEO expert’s mind then check out SugarRae. I am convinced she is one of the few sane SEO experts out there, and I know she is not going to try to sell you a ton of useless crap. I’d trust her with my very tiny marketing budget any day.

10 Questions with Corey of Diligent Design

1. Describe your blog in five sentences or less.
Diligent Design is not a blog about making money online or about beating out Digg and search engines. Diligent Design is a blog for newbies, professionals, and internet enthusiasts who started blogging for a reason: to have fun. While there are definitely professional “on-topic” posts at the blog, I also try to include posts that really bring back the human element to blogging, such as “why bloggers are like rugs” or “how to kick a habit by blogging.” It’s all about the fun and the community.

2. Link us to one post from your blog that best defines who you are.
Who Are You? or Designing Your Portfolio
I think this post shows a lot about my character just because it’s about making mistakes and getting frustrated with designer’s block and trying to overcome that. I feel like I constantly have these random attacks of “Murphy’s Law” (what can go wrong will go wrong!) and so this is just another example of my pushing through.

3. What sets you apart from other bloggers?
Aside from being super young (16) I also manage to find connections that other bloggers just don’t think about, and I try to write with the idea of really affecting someone in my readership. In essence, I “blog to move someone.” My favorite (and one of the blog’s most popular) post which got annihilated in the server crash was “Why Bloggers Are Like Pregnant Women.” It was fun to write and it really got people thinking.

4. When and how did you first discover blogging?
The word was being thrown around on television a lot about celebrity blogs and myspace blogs and so I setup a LiveJournal account and started talking about my 8th grade life. It really was quite fascinating, especially when me and my friends had a war over AIM. The community ate that up. After realizing that people actually enjoy the way I write, I figured, why not try self-hosting?

5. What is your biggest pet peeve related to blogging or the internet?
Everybody is into “niche blogging” and “making money online” and my personal favorite, “digg worthy posts.” I’m getting pretty sick of lists that don’t really innovate! Of posts that are nothing but ad fodder. What happened to blogging for fun and connection and the profit was just kind of on the side?

6. Name one plugin, blogging widget, or service that you can’t live without.
Feedburner, definitely. RSS and XML and other associated acronyms confuse the heck out of me, and it’s nice to just copy and paste and let people connect with Diligent Design.

7. If you could choose anyone, living or dead, to write a guest post for your blog, who would it be and why?
Douglas Adams (author of HitchHiker’s Guide to the Universe) because I absolutely love his writing style and how he subtly critiques the world around us. I’d really love to see what he thinks about blogging or what connections he might make.

8. How has blogging made you a better person?
It’s definitely taught me to be patient. I remember I would start internet projects and think that they would go off in a weekend. (I was like 12, but still) I learned that things take time, even something as simple as trying to put up a favicon.

Another thing I learned, which goes hand in hand with patience, is how to talk to and deal with people. Asking for interviews can be kind of scary, but at the same time, in real life I’ve got to meet new people and I’ve got to deal with people who will criticize me and handle it smoothly, because of the groups I belong to and the commitments I’ve made, as an honor student and a band officer and just a good kid.

9. What are your tips for becoming a better blogger?
When people review your blog, consider their opinions! I know way too many defensive webmasters.

Also, take the time to use Google, because aside from slowly taking over the world, they actually do give you search results. Lookup CSS references and grammar references and wikipedia and whatever else interests you. You wouldn’t believe how annoying it is to have a PM box full of requests to fix little problems with CSS on a free template.

Finally, remember that it doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or if you’re 13 or 53, it’s about how you write, and what you bring to the table. If you’ve got super awesome writing skills, use them. For example, I can define antidisestablishmentarianism. I don’t need to, but I can do it.

10. Name one great blog that you read on a regular basis. What makes it unique?
Atomic Robo definitely. It used to be a story blog, I think? Now it’s a comic. All I know is I woke up one day and checked it at random and there was a hilarious post about frogs, and I just kept coming back for more. I don’t actually read the comic, but the post themselves are really entertaining. I think it’s just one of those blogs where the writing style hooks you, even if you aren’t part of the group.

One thing that has always really endeared me to Mark’s blog is the fact that he’s active within his own community and is very welcoming of new readers. I think those are two very important traits to have as a blogger. You can write stellar content but if you rarely respond to your readers or go out of your way to make them feel welcome, I think it’s less likely that you’ll find success with your blog, or it will at least take longer. With MeAndMyDrum you’ll not only find a friendly author in Mark, but the stellar content as well.

As a blogger, I think I would probably best describe Mark as a jack of all trades. He has a knack for being able to write about a little bit of everything on MeAndMyDrum. While you’ll most often find posts related to blogging tips and software, it’s not out of the ordinary to catch Mark writing about current events and topics which he’s passionate about. Throw in a little humor here and there and more than his share of link love, and it’s easy to see Mark has a great blog.

Since I’ve been reading MeAndMyDrum for so long, I thought I’d take a look back at some of my favorite posts Mark has written over the past year.

Twas My Blog Before Christmas – This is a classic and definitely one of the most creative blog posts I’ve read. Mark takes a Christmas favorite and gives it a blogworthy spin.

Buh-Bye Blog Rush – Mark bids a somber good-bye to BlogRush, the blogging widget we all hardly knew.

How I Accessed Your Technorati Account – Mark broke a story about a little security breach at Technorati which would allow others to access your account. Surprisingly it took nearly a week for Technorati to respond. Maybe that shouldn’t be such a surprise actually.

A Future Me, A Future Interview – Mark conducts an interview with himself in response to a great meme created by the Baron of Brown Thoughts.

I’m hoping by now I’ve convinced you stop by MeAndDrum, grab the feed and become a regular reader, just as I am. Chances are you’ll discover that’s it not only an excellent blog, but also make a great new friend in Mark.

Here is a newer blog that I stumbled into a few weeks ago. It is called, MasonWorld.com. The site is owned and authored by Mark Mason, an individual who is inspired to learn more about Internet marketing. Recently I was asked by Mark if I would help redesign his blog and naturally, I was very happy to help him with that. The end result as absolutely amazing.

Mark has been having a lot of fun with his new blog, I believe that it actually has motivated him to be more active with publishing on it and with reaching out and meeting more friends online. Mark is an excellent writer who can capture your attention real quick. Upon completion of his new blog design and with him being more active, his readership has grown quite a bit.

Mark is making great use of many of the social networking sites available. He particularity enjoys using StumbleUpon. In a more recent post about finding a prank within the Gmail system during April Fools day, he received a few thousands visit to his blog. People seem to be flocking in on a regular basis and it doesn’t surprise me to see people actively interacting with him as he harbors such a very smooth and laid back environment.

MasonWorld.com is becoming one of my favorite blogs to read and I believe if you’re into the whole Internet Marketing scene, you’ll agree too. Take a moment to visit www.masonworld.com and see for yourself. Mark is an easy going guy who is running a very easy going blog.

It’s not the type of blog that you might think of when you think of “blog” because it’s not a journal, self-help, pictorial, or actually anything else of the sort. It’s a tag blog!

Each Friday, Fridays Feast posts a series of questions in feast-style. Such as a question each for an 1) appetizer 2) soup 3) salad 4) main dish and 5) dessert.

You copy the questions onto your blog, answer them and post, then submit a comment on their post to let them know you’re entered into Fridays Feast this week, and to link your blog to their site. An example of their questions is this week’s sampling:

Appetizer
What does the color dark green make you think of?

Soup

How many cousins do you have?

Salad

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how honest are you?

Main Course

Name something that is truly free.

Dessert

Using the letters in the word SPRING, write a sentence.

I love this idea! If done each Friday, what a great way to let your readers get to know a little more about you in a fun and different way. We’ve all had tags before but this is new and fun! Try it out!

www.fridaysfeast.com

Where to begin? Lori, the author of this blog wears many hats. Wife, mother, rancher, crafter, cook, blogger. Oh yes, I said rancher. Lori, her husband and their 3 boys live on a ranch in the middle of the nowhere. The closest town to them is 2 hours away. With all this going on Lori still manages to stay on top of what’s working and not working in the blogosphere.

Blogging with Cents gives practical blogging and internet marketing advice in plain English. No fancy jargon. No tricky techniques. Just great advice about making money on the internet. The information you’ll find and learn is going to be of value on every single page of this blog. Lori points us towards tools to build a better blog. There are so many things out there for bloggers these days it’s hard to know what’s helpful and will save you time versus what’s just taking up your valuable virtual real estate.