I recently spoke on the “Affiliate Marketing Blogging Secrets” panel, part of the Monetization track at Blogworld Expo in Las Vegas with….

Jim Kukral, Moderator
Brian Littleton, President of Shareasale (shown in pic with me)
Angel Djambazov, Managing Editor of Revenews.com
and Todd Sawicki, stepping in for Ben Huh from ICanHasCheezburger.com.

I’ve had several people since then ask me for a list of the “tools” I mentioned that I personally use on my sites.

Many of my websites use the WordPress platform, therefore I incorporate a lot of WP-Plugins (as I haven’t taken the time to convert to Thesis Theme yet).

Link Cloaking – I use this to mask my affiliate links, and it automatically adds the “nofollow” attritube. There is also NinjaAffiliate which is more robust, but is not free. Someone also mentioned SkimLinks.com, but I haven’t had time to experiment with them yet.

I also like to import content from my other sites that aren’t powered by WordPress and my Twitter status updates into the sidebars of my blogs, therefore I use the Aggregate Plug-In and Twitter Tools. More recommended WordPress Plug-Ins.

Speaking on monetizing my blogs, my main source of income is generated through affiliate programs, but I also generate revenue through additional sources, such as…

Chitika – The organic traffic visitors that I receive via Google Images generally aren’t looking to buy anything, so Chitika is cool in that it only shows relevant ads to the keywords they used to search with that pay per click.

List Building – Collect email addresses on individual post pages. I use AWeber to create hover pop-overs (usually unblockable), sign them up to receive the RSS feed via email, and set the thank you to a CPA offer (ie MarketLeverage Email Submit).

Affilistore – I have played around with this free downloadable script to make datafeed stores. If I can make a website with it in under an a hour, I’m presuming most others can as well. I downloaded datafeeds pertaining to my niche from ShareASale, changing my user id and re-uploaded to my new site. The only “marketing” I’ve done is adding the website and it’s sitemap to Google Overview and watched the sales come in.

Banner Ads – Since most people do not actually click through a banner, I prefer to shy away from CPA and CPC offers, but instead sell banner space or use a banner network such as Glam Media or TodayShow Network that pay per impression.

Google Adsense I presume everyone already knows about Google Adsense? Chloe Spencer from NeopetsFanatic.com fully monetizes her website with only Google Adsense.

Chloe was on the panel before mine “Are You Getting the Most Money Out of Your Blog as You Can?” with Dave Taylor, Tim Jones and Chris Pirillo, which was similar to our panel.

Some people wrote blog reviews about our panel, including Ms. Babble and Lisa Barone of Outspoken Media. I think our session was too “basic” for them and aimed more towards newbies.  Can’t please ‘em all.

Saturday

Didn’t get into NYC until evening, but when you stay up until 4 a.m. in the morning, you can still pack in a lot of fun!  First stop was the Buy.at party atop the Empire Hotel followed by pizza, pubs and private parties.

Ken O'Donovan, Jon Levine, Kim Rowley, Pat Grady, Adam Reimer at Quality Meats

Sunday

Luckily I got to sleep in for a bit to heal my self-induced headache. I bounced back in time to hit the first session: Getting Noticed FAST Session. The panelists (Lisa Picarille, Michael Buechele, Trisha Lyn Fawver, Jen Goode and Stephanie Lichtenstein) did a great job, even if they did use some embarrassing pictures of me in their slideshow.

The afternoon was spent carousing the Meet Market. I was happy to volunteer my time at the Affiliate Marketers Give Back booth to raise money for breast cancer awareness.

Kim Rowley & Melissa Salas - Photo courtesy of Warren Corpus

Next up was the Market Leverage Yacht Party which ran us late getting to the ShareASale “Under the Stars” Party.  Brian Littleton always plans the perfect parties! I actually hit the bed early at 1:30 a.m. knowing I needed some beauty sleep.

Monday

I enjoyed the keynote with Chris Brogan and Julien Smith. I wish I would have brought along my copy of their new book Trust Agents: Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust to have it autographed.

My favorite session (as in most notes taken and I’m smitten by the guy) was with Wil Reynolds. He was kind enough to type up his presentation with links for us all: SEO Tools You Can Use Today.

There were so many parties scheduled Monday night that I couldn’t possibly hit them all. But I couldn’t miss MarketLeverage’s Pizza Party as pizza is my absolute favorite food!  I also made appearances at Linkshare’s Unofficial Affiliate Summit East After Party at Johnny Utah’s (I did not ride the mechanical bull this time), the Drop.io Party at the SoHo House, and the GTO Management Bowling Party.

Bowling & Beers with GTO Management! Photo courtesy of Karen Garcia.

Tuesday

I was anxious to see the keynote with Peter Shankman as I’ve always been a fan of his HARO – Help A Reporter Out newsletter.  He proved to be just as motivational live in person.

I skipped the afternoon sessions to take a subway to Canal Street in Chinatown. I considered this “work” as well since my main sites are shopping related!

I missed going to the Yankees game (thanks for the invite Jason Rubacky) in the new stadium as I had to fly out Tuesday night.

I got to meet a lot of internet celebrities that I had never personally met (ie Gary Vaynerchuck and Ted Murphy) that I plan to blog about individually in upcoming posts.  I also met several non-internet celebrities that you can read about here.

Thanks to Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for putting on yet another phenomenal Affiliate Summit! Can’t wait for #asw10 in Vegas!

ShareASale outdid everyone again this year at Affiliate Summit in Vegas, not only with their 80′s Under the Stars Party (have you seen my party pics yet?), but at their exhibit hall booth as well.  The had a carnival theme complete with a photo booth (check out the mug shots of Brian Littleton and me) and ski ball machine!  I won the cute, cuddly ShareASale panda bear.  And got their signature star tshirt.  They obviously didn’t use my suggestion to make yellow shirts (hint, hint, maybe New York…), but still cool shirts nonetheless.  Thanks for the fun guys!

P.S. Shoemoney suggests publishing your Amazon Wish List.  So, since Valentine’s Day is coming up, and everyone knows a girl loves gifts, who am I to argue?! I made Kim Rowley’s Amazon Wish List

P.P.S. Speaking of lists, I fell for the hype on Facebook… 25 Random Things About Me

Pinnacle Awards Finalists at Affiliate Summit West 2009 …
Scott Aiken; Mike Allen; Kim Rowley. Affiliate Manager of the Year. Angel Djambazov; Stephanie Harris; Kim Salvino. Exceptional Merchant. 4Checks.com; Amazon; CelebrateExpress.com. Affiliate Marketing Advocate …
Affiliate Marketing Blog by Shawn… – http://blog.affiliatetip.com/

You can read the Shawn’s full article above, or read about it on Missy’s blog (as hers is better looking).  I was nominated as a Pinnacle Awards Finalist for Affiliate of the Year, along with Scott Aikin and Mike Allen.  The only thing I have on those guys is that I have more hair, ha.  They are both exceptional affiliates, and I am privileged to be considered among them.  In fact, every finalist is a respected authority in the affiliate community, and I’m glad to call them all my friends.  Congratulations! And see you all in Vegas!

Another Google Web Alert I received…

Who has the most Followers on Twitter? (Top 100) (Nebraska, USA …
Kim Rowley (kimarketing), Nebraska, http://kimarketing.com, 399, 302, 531, 232 days ago. 9. Anne Good (AGOutLoud), Nebraska, http://www.agoutloud.com …

I didn’t know that a hundred people in Nebraska actually used Twitter!  I even made the Top Ten. Are you following me yet?  And if you aren’t using Google Alerts yet, I highly suggest it to see who’s talking about you!

Today’s Tshirt is brought to you by Sauza Tequila! Click on the link for some nice background music while you read on.

I’ve never been a big fan of tequila.  I prefer daiquiris over margaritas, but this last weekend I think I discovered my new favorite shot that involves Tequila Rose and butterscotch schnapps (the recipe name is inappropriate for this blog).

Anyhoo, Sauza Tequila is also the maker of Hornitos.  If you haven’t seen the billboards for this, then you live in a more remote area than I do!  I should probably now show my gratitude for the tshirt by test-tasting some Sauza Tequila… let’s just hope tequila doesn’t make my clothes fall off. 

Off to the Pierce County Fair now…

Want me to wear your shirt in exchange for some free link love? 
Send to: Kim Rowley, Key Internet Marketing, Inc., PO Box 12, Pierce NE 68767-0012

I was anxious to meet Andrew Wee for the first time in person at the last Affiliate Summit in Vegas, as he is a brilliant man.  If there weren’t a 13 hour time difference between us (he’s in Singapore), I think I’d be bugging him even more via AIM, as he inspires and motivates me every time I chat with him.  I felt honored when he asked to interview me for his Friday podcast show.  So honored in fact that I gave up my Skype virginity to him.  My interview aired last week.  (Um, can you count how many times I said “um”?).  I suggest you check out all of Andrew’s podcasts, as he has interviewed many intelligent internet marketers. And I’m flattered he considered me part of that list!  Thanks for everything, Andrew!