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Blogger and affiliate Ian Fernando has created a new site called AFFpinions, which is a sort of directory of affiliate and CPA networks.

Affiliates using the networks are able to submit their candid impressions and opinions of the networks, as well as rating them on five areas: overall, tracking, support, offers, payout.

He posted a funny video where he gets the pitch from a bunch of the networks, and that reminds of the problem he’s solving.

I’ve often heard as affiliates visit the booths of affiliate and CPA networks at conference that they all make the same claims - they’ve got the best payouts, unique offers, etc.

So this site should help clear that up and enable the affiliates themselves to explain the points of differentiation for the various networks.

The only peril is that some might post positive reviews about themselves or negative reviews of the competition. So hopefully, most reviewers identify themselves.

Check out AFFpinions at http://www.affpinions.com.

You know those stripe ads that are turning up on a lot of blogs these days? They don’ take up much space, but they catch your attention. At least, they do for me.

Anyhow, those Stripe Ads are available as a WordPress plugin from MaxBlogPress.

You can get a free version of the plugin, but it has a link on the right that reads “Powered by MaxBlogPress.” You can see an example of this stripe ad at The Real Tim Jones site.

I learned about these ads while sitting on a panel with Tim at BlogWorld Expo, as he talked about using them to monetize his site (thanks Tim).

I’ve got the paid version of the Stripe Ad plugin running on my blog and I’m rotating some different messages to see how it does.

I like this option for subtly running some affiliate links a whole lot more than banners all over the place.

One word of warning, though. I tried it on FeedFront.com, which uses a paid Revolution theme, and the stripe ad totally whacked out the tables in the theme.

I’m sure there is a tweak there, but try the free version to check compatibility before upgrading.

Q: Do you think $100 to $400 is enough to run a successful PPC campaign?

There are many variables missing with your question, which make it tough to gauge where you are with PPC.

I don’t know if that budget for you is daily, weekly, monthly, or some other period of time.

Also, it depends on how you define success. In my view, a positive return on investment for a PPC campaign is a success, but certainly I’d refer a 300% return over a 110% return.

So that ties into your ultimate goal. Do you want this to be a full-time job for you, or a hobby that nets you a few hundred dollars a month?

I would suggest that you start testing with a modest investment to get a feel for what works and play around with the systems a bit.

And then, just keep scaling up so long as it is profitable.

You could easily spend $400 a day with PPC, and if it’s returning a profit for you, that’s great.

You could do the same with $1,000 or $5,000 a day. It all comes down to whether you’re seeing positive returns, and perhaps how risk averse you are as you try to scale it.

Early bird pricing for Affiliate Summit West 2009, taking place January 11-13, 2009 in Las Vegas, ends next Sunday.

The Keynote Speaker will be Gary Vaynerchuk, star of Wine Library TV and Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ.

The Early Bird registration rates of $949 (Platinum Pass), $349 (Gold Pass), and $149 (Silver Pass) are going up after October 5. Starting October 6, the rates to register for Affiliate Summit will be $1,249 (Platinum Pass), $549 (Gold Pass), and $349 (Silver Pass).

For a description of the available pass types see http://www.affiliatesummit.com/09w_conference.php.

Pricing for exhibitor booths will also change after October 5. 10′ x 10′
booths will increase from $4,195 to $5,195 and 10′ x 20′ booths will increase from $6,295 to $7,795 starting on October 6. Pricing for other booths, as well as the Affiliate Meet Market and the Merchant Mart are also increasing after October 5.

Other Affiliate Summit sponsorships are also available. See http://www.affiliatesummit.com/09w_exhibitors.php for details.

Rooms at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino are available at an Affiliate Summit group rate of $159 a night until December 9 (or the block has reached capacity). After that, the hotel will charge the prevailing rate.

The third issue of FeedFront, the official magazine of Affiliate Summit, has been published and it will be hitting mailboxes over the coming weeks.

Issue three will also be distributed at Affiliate Summit Social Media 2008 on October 5 in NYC.

The cover features Cory Booker, who delivered the keynote address at Affiliate Summit East 2008, and the issue includes a transcript of his speech.

There are also articles on widgets, the effectiveness of long-form sales letters, a profile of Melissa Salas of Buy.com, time management, and more.

Plus, this issue features the program for Affiliate Summit Social Media 2008.

Issue 1 and Issue 2 of FeedFront Magazine can be downloaded as a pdf file or you can read the articles online at feedfront.com.

Get the FeedFront RSS if you’d like to get all of the articles as they are published to the feed.

If you haven’t subscribed, you can get the magazine for free at http://feedfront.com/free-subscription/.

Gary Vaynerchuk, star of Wine Library TV and Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, is going to be the keynote speaker at Affiliate Summit West 2009.

The conference is taking place January 11-13, 2009 in Las Vegas.

See a sample of Gary Vaynerchuk speaking at the recent Web 2.0 Expo in New York.

Register for Affiliate Summit West 2009.

I’ve been using the Flip Ultra camera for about a year to shoot home video and video blogs, and while it’s quick and easy to use, I think it’s time to retire it.

Recently, I got the Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder, so I can record video in HD.

It’s a great camera for longer videos, like family events, conferences, etc when I want some top notch quality.

I am also using the Casio Exilim EX-Z1200 12MP Digital Camera for snapshots and shooting bits of video.

When I was at the BlogWorld Expo conference last week, I wanted to take pictures and video. Since I didn’t feel like carrying the Casio and the Flip, I just stuck the Casio in my pocket.

And I got to wondering what problem the Flip solves for me. My Casio digital camera is about the same size, and takes better video than the Flip. Plus, it takes nice pictures.

Not to mention that the Flip has inferior sound to the other two cameras when recording video.

Granted, the Flip is cheaper than the other two, and easier to use, but if you’re concerned with quality for your video, you might want to retire your Flip, too.