From Sam Harrelson, a recap of the link-buying debate between SEO Expert, Wil Reynolds and Mahalo CEO, Jason Calacanis, complete with video of the “throwdown.”

The question, should you buy links?

Click here to read the post and view more

Just a reminder…

Free Affiliate Summit Passes on June 11, 2008 | Affiliate Summit Blog: “We’ve got a special Affiliate Summit deal that’s only good for 24 hours - the day of June 11, 2008 EDT.

Everybody that is currently registered for Affiliate Summit 2008 East, taking place August 10-12 in Boston, is welcome to share the following coupon code with their friends and colleagues who are not yet registered:

ASE08JUNE11

This code is good for a free exhibit hall only pass (value $199).”

From the Affiliate Summit Blog Today:

Free Affiliate Summit Passes on June 11, 2008 | Affiliate Summit Blog: “We’ve got a special Affiliate Summit deal that’s only good for 24 hours - the day of June 11, 2008 EDT.

Everybody that is currently registered for Affiliate Summit 2008 East, taking place August 10-12 in Boston, is welcome to share the following coupon code with their friends and colleagues who are not yet registered:

ASE08JUNE11

This code is good for a free exhibit hall only pass (value $199).”

According to many sources, MSN will cease to give out the $50 credits for new account promotion on February 29th of this year! Previously they had said April 15. So, if you have not yet set up a new account for you…or your best friend…or dog (if you get my drift), NOW is the time!

Click here for the MSN $50 New Account Credit

I have been asked to contribute to this affiliate blog by those in charge at HometownQuotes. It is the least I can do.

Before I begin, I thought a short introduction might help.

I am Terry, Bartimus on here and several other forums and blogs. I do the SEO for HometownQuotes and it is thought that my experience and knowledge could be useful to the affiliates for HTQ. I am more than happy to answer any SEO related questions and will post any questions and my answers on this blog for the benefit of all.

I will also be posting regular SEO related information in the weeks and months ahead. So, make sure you keep visiting this blog and feel free to contact me at anytime.

Email me at terry [at] hometownquotes.com

On behalf of everyone at HometownQuotes, I want to wish all of you a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving.

I hope that each of you can back away from the computer and pull up to a great meal with family and friends!

Many of you have heard this I am sure, but man have things been busy. Anyway, I am back as much as possible!So Google is killing paid links. This is bad news for some of you and great news for others. Long story short, is this proves once again that Google is doing the right things and is out to get the best search results. WebProNews began speculating on it back in September (article here) and recently the “rumors” have been confirmed. Affiliate forums (like ABestWeb) , SEO forums, webmaster forums, probably even recipe forums, are buzzing about it!

For all the conspiracy theorists and those who feel like they got caught by surprise…

Google has never hid that this was inevitable. They even tell you here, here in their guidelines, here, and here.

That all being said, I do feel for those hurt by this but I hope the lesson learned is to follow the rules…there is no substitute for just being really good at doing things the way they tell you to!

SubmitYourArticle has come out with a duplicate content preventer of sorts called Article Leverage. I have no proof that this thing works but thought this was too cool and possibly helpful not to pass it on.

Have you tried it? Let us know by leaving a comment!

Check it out here

Seriously…they (and by they I mean Matt Cutts) want to know what you think of the webmaster guidelines and how to improve them.

Check out Matt Cutt’s post and the comments

On that note, if you have not read the Google Webmaster Guidelines, Do so! If you have not read them in the last 3 days, do so now. Believe it or not, Google actually does want to help you, if you are a legit site with a legit purpose. They want good sites to rank high.

So how do you rank high on Google? As you hopefully already know, there is no secret. But Google actually gives a pretty good idea on the webmaster tools section. Read up on it. I can only imagine if you follow their “rules” and suggestions, it just might actually work!

They will be offering the videos of the sessions for FREE!

Check it out here.

I still recommend trying to attend at all costs (or FREE if you win a ticket) as the experience is well worth it.

Are you going to Affiliate Summit this July? Do you WANT to? We have tickets and will be giving away tickets in a random drawing any affiliate that emails me at matt .at. hometownquotes.dot.com by June 18.

If this is your first time you should check out Shawn Collins webinar for first time visitors. Click here for more information.

Well just when I was beginning to really think I won the National Lottery

Spam King Arrested

Here are some tips to help you overcome…

From Andrea Coutu

1. Go for a walk. Get out every day.
2. Buy a light book. Reset your routines and perhaps your mood.
   
3. Create some routines. Buy a latte every morning at the nearest coffee shop. Go out for lunch. Take a lunchtime yoga class. Go for a jog. Incorporate some of the structure you’d have in an office setting.

Read the full article at the Consultant Journal web site

This is a great read for all of you who work from home, as I did once upon a time, and get a little stir crazy every now and then.

Congratulations to Loren G., who was our only affiliate to join the First Lead Club
Six affiliates had record weeks and many had significant ($500+) increases from their previous best week!

The top payouts last week were:

$19,823.00

$19,564.00

$16,339.56

$15,904.85

$9,047.60