CAM Blog Podcast #2 with Rob Gettemy of 1M4JC.com - a new Christian t shirt company with a mission focus. [14:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (86)


I had the chance to sit down with Rob Gettemy of 1M4JC.com today to discuss the launch of their new Christian apparel line, and the affiliate program that goes with it.

1M4JC (One Million 4 Jesus Christ) is interesting in that they are mission minded and have a heart for supporting Christian non profits and churches, both by tithing on their gross sales, as well as making a special offer to Christian non profits in their affiliate program that designates the tithe to that organization - making for a 20% total commission earned on sales. For profit affiliates can earn 10% commission on sales.

The flagship product at 1M4JC.com is a serial numbered (on a tag on the sleeve) t shirt in men’s, women’s and kids sizes, although polo style shirts are also available.

The affiliate program is built into the cart and is still a bit of a work in progress with more banners and link types to come.

For more info on the affiliate opportunity, please visit http://www.1m4jc.com/Affiliate.aspx

I was just watching some of the videos from the pre-launch of the Blog Classroom.   I really like that they are up to here with this pre-launch.  They are literally taking people from nothing, to having a functional blog with traffic incoming.

I’m  a relatively advanced blogger with a couple of years of experience and good traffic coming to my blogs, but I never fall into the trap of thinking I know all that there is to know.

I get questions all the time on how to get started as an affiliate and I truly  believe that blogging is a  good way to do this.  There are a few reasons why:

1. Blogging is EASY - you don’t have to be a programmer or an artist.  Just write baby
2. Blogging is Google friendly - if you set your WordPress up right,  and you write well, your blog has a great chance of getting noticed by the search engines.
3. Extending your blog is easy- there are THOUSANDS of plugins and themes out there that other folks have created to give your blog added capabilies and different looks and feels.

If you are looking to get started in affiliate marketing and would like to follow my advice to get started by blogging, your best bet is to check out this pre-launch course from Blog Classroom.   They will take you through the basics, and get you blogging with easy to follow videos from industry pro’s like Rosalind Gardner.

Lesson 2 is a good one as well as it shows you how to prepare your blog for the search engines as well.

One thing you may want to do in advance is get a domain registered with a domain host that uses the CPanel control panel like Bluehost.  Bluehost is the host that Blog Classroom uses in the “how to” videos and it’s startling how easy they have made blog installation.   They have some well priced packages as well that will give you all you need to blog away.

Be aware that there is going to be an attempt to make money from you at the end of all this free “how to” content from Blog Classroom.    It may be right for you or it may not.  I do heartily recommend that you at least give the free lessons they are offering your attention as they are really good stuff.

The folks at Blog Classroom have put together a course that will get you through all of the  growing pains that I have  had over the last couple of years of blogging.  Check them out and save yourself some time.

God Bless,

Wade

I just wrapped up recording a podcast with Rob Gettemy of 1M4JC.com - a cool Christian t shirt retailer that just launched both their site, a social network and an affiliate program in the last couple weeks. Editing this evening for post late night tonight.

We’ll be giving away a free tshirt from 1M4JC.com each week through mid June through the CAM Blog Podcast Giveaway.

If you’d like updates (like when the site is updated, or when you can win free stuff) you should follow the CAM Blog on Twitter at www.twitter.com/camblog

I am really excited with recent developments on the blog here and I want to take maximum advantage to help promote good Christian affiliate offers. Do you have a Christian affiliate offer program you’d like to get the word out on?

I’d like to talk with you on the podcast about it.   I want to get beyond program details, I want to talk about the ministry aspect of what you do and maybe even get into your Testimony.  Let’s turn this up a notch

If you’d like to be on the CAM Blog Podcast, here is what I’ll need from you:

1. Send me your name and contact number, company name, website address, and either your statement of faith or a description of what makes your offer a “christian” offer.
2. Your Skype address - we’ll record the podcast on Skype
3. A day and time that work well for you
4. I’d like to see some product from your site available to give away via our CAM Blog Twitter Giveaway
5. Details on your affiliate offering

Each merchant profiled will have a blog post laying out details of their affiliate program for the CAM Blog Viewers to peruse before and after your padcast.

So - do you want to get the word out on your Christian affiliate offer?   I Get in touch; I’ll make you famous.

God Bless,

Wade

 

 Joel Comm Adsense Secrets Controversy Interview [7:35m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (100)


I had the chance to sit down on Skype with Joel Comm last Friday and chat with him about the new Adsense Secrets 4 launch and the controversy that sprung up around the “continuity program” associated with the $9.95 ebook offer.

I let him address the concerns posed by some other bloggers and he addressed the way the “re-bill” worked as well as what value the continuity program would deliver in terms of value and the unsubscribe process.

Since we chatted, Joel has made some substantial changes to the way the offer is presented to address the concerns posed in the blogosphere and through consumer feedback. You can read up on the details of what he did to address the situation here.

The question today comes from our sister site at ChristianAffiliateNews.com from Al:

Are there specific networks of Christian affiliates that you would recommend?

The answer is yes, with one fewer option recently. In the past year, 2 Christian focused networks were launched. Manna Marketing was launched by my business partners Joel and Karen Garcia, and sadly was closed up last month. The other network is actually a former employer of mine. The United Sharing Network is a “Faith and Family” focused network with traditional cost per sale and CPA offers that are either Christian or family friendly secular offers. Check them out.

If you’d like to sign up for the USN, you can do so here.

John Porricolo and Jack Cain, the two guys behind the USN are definitely Men of Faith and deserve the support of believers in the affiliate industry.

God Bless,

Wade

There was quite a bit of controversy at the end of last week on the continuity program that Joel Comm was offering with his $9.95 deal for his newly updated AdSense Secrets 4.

Mark of 45N5.com pointed out that there was a continuity program that he felt buyers were being opted in for without sufficient mention up front.

I took a look at the sales page and the continuity program was mentioned in plain text. I think there could have been a little more highlighting of this, but compared to some continuity programs I have seen in the past where there is no mention or tiny print mention after the fact.

I got on Skype with Joel and we spoke about how things worked. He indicated that he was working to make some changes to make the process more transparent and to give the user a choice of whether to buy the ebook alone or the bundled ebook with the continuity program with his 1% Report. He pointed out that the 1% Report is actually a physical product that the user would get a free month of, accompanied by a letter with instructions on unsubscribing if they were interested so a recurring charge would most likely not be billed.

Well - yesterday, Joel posted an apology on his site that I think is worth mentioning and reading. He’s now tweaked the shopping cart to allow for easy selection of the solo ebook or bundled package. He’s also pledged to give 2 weeks of the revenue from direct sales of the AdSense Secrets ebook to a charity .

I think the apology is sincere and I commend Joel for stepping back and admitting he’d made a mistake. I think there are many marketers who wouldn’t have reared their head at all, and definitely wouldn’t have apologized, corrected the issue, and made any kind of move to make something good of the situation by donating proceeds to charity.

One request for Joel, or anyone else who is going to make an offer like this to affiliates where there is a really aggressively priced “lead offer” to get people on a continuity program (other than to be as clear as possible with consumers) PLEASE TELL YOUR AFFILIATES WHAT’S UP.

The affiliates can then make a call as to how they promote the product.

Would I have still promoted the ebook offer? YES

I think the content is good stuff and I like to promote offers from fellow believers.

I would however, have made mention in my copy of the continuity program so my referrals were educated and would go into the deal knowing what is up. The benefit would have been mutual.

God Bless,

Wade

I’m pretty excited to be off to see the new Ben Stein movie Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed

It looks like about 15 kids from our youth group are going and I am chaperoning - which should be all kinds of fun. Pray for me

If you’d like to check out the trailer - here you go:

Will definitely follow on this post after the movie.

Have a great weekend!

Wade

I just got off of Skype with Joel - recorded a podcast that I will post here shortly where he talks about Adsense Secrets 4 and the controversy that seems to have sprung up around it.

At issue is the bonus item mentioned in this paragraph on Joel’s sales page:

Fast Action Bonus #3 ($59 Value - Yours Free!)

FREE Trial Membership - You’ll receive a free copy of the information packed newsletter on Internet marketing in the world, “The Top 1% Report”! You won’t find any of this information on the Internet…it’s too powerful. We’ll ship it right to your door along with an additional bonus CD exclusive to my readers.

If after the free report you decide it’s not worth ten times the subscription cost (which won’t happen because you will be blown away by the content in this report!), simply contact us and cancel your subscription at any time! Otherwise, you may continue to be in the Top 1% for the discount rate of just $29.95 every 30 days. Wait until you see the bonus that comes with your first edition! (Italics mine - WT)

I chatted with Joel on this and he is adamant that they not only will make it possible to opt out of this in the sale process, but also will prominently display the link to cancel the report subscription and kill the monthly billing on the credit card in the reports that are delivered.

Joel has corrected me on this - the “Top 1% Report” is a physical product . The initial copy of which will come with a cover letter that re-emphasizes the subscription details and provides details on how to terminate the subscription and re-bill if the subscriber desires.

I have asked Joel to kick me over as copy of the report/newsletter that will be sent to subscribers so I can see how the unsubscription process is handled.

More to come

God Bless,

Wade

I was just chatting with Jim Kukral about some of the recent happenings in the online marketing world and he directed me to the 45N5 Blog by Mark Wielgus where he pointed out some interesting facts about the new Adsense Secrets launch from Joel Comm.

I wanted everyone to have a heads up because I promoted the opportunity on this blog. Apparently, there is a $29.95 monthly automatic rebill that happens unless you opt out. I’m hoping that Joel is delivering access to some awesome content for that extra money. The content is great in the book for $9.95 - just know going into it that if that is all you want, you’ll need to let them know.

I’d love to have Joel on a podcast as soon as possible to chat on this.

God Bless,

Wade