Every now and again, I get wind of a good promotional that's either fairly priced or absolutely free.

Today I got a phone call from my friend Ed who's going to be offering all newbie affiliates a totally free training for thirty days. Since I'm all about training and especially the free stuff like I have at the Affiliate Guild, I wanted to blog about this right away.

The training is called the 30 Day Challenge, and here's the skinny, right from his homepage:

"In a nutshell… The Thirty Day Challenge is about making your first $10 online. For a full 30 days we are going to be showing you exactly how to start your own Internet business and generate your first income online without spending a dime.

"That's right, this is going to cost zip, diddly, nothing, nada, ziltch. The entire training program is free, and you won't have to spend a thing to get your business started and begin making money. No credit card required."

Actually, I signed up for it too, and I'm not a newbie as you know. So, there's no hard and fast rule that it's just for newbies, but it is designed to teach the basics from what I understand. I'm really looking forward to this training. It will be interesting to see how it compares to James Martell's Affiliate Marketing Bootcamp training.

The training starts August 1st! So, don't delay in reserving your spot. I think space is limited, but I didn't ask by how many. I do know the training is going to use a lot of videos, so that's good because it means it's more flexiblity with your time schedule.

So, if you want the free training go to Ed's website, sign up, get into his forums and read his blog. Reserve your spot in his free class before it fills up!

30 Day Challenge - see you there!

I just posted to my Webmaster Blog about the sale of vBulletin to Internet Brands.

I'm not looking to double post on this topic, so I'll just direct you to the post … Webmaster Blog.

Debra Rabin has written a new article for AffiliateClassroom that outlines the features of the Perfect Affiliate.

Some of the qualities discussed in the article include profitability, an eye for success, research, relationships and communications … amoung other attributes.

It's a good read and represents the point-of-view of the Merchant. Affiliates might get a better understanding of what the Merchants wants in their relationship with you. I think any time, the two sides can get a better understanding of each other, the better this business is. Feel free to add your thoughts on it too!

I'm SO tagged!

I didn't even see it coming … suddenly there she was! Linda Buquet with that smile of hers, politely pinging me to let me know that I should consider myself tagged. Wicked wench! LOL

So, here's the deal. There's a tag game going around where bloggers have to share five things about themselves that most readers wouldn't know, and then tag five other bloggers mercilessly. 

5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bobbie Grennier

1) Like Linda Buquet, my dad wanted to name me Linda Loo after his favorite gravel truck too! Thankfully the buoy industry was doing better than gravel that year, and so "Bob"-bie was the agreed upon name.

2) I'm very allergic to all alcohol. I love the taste of beer, so besides being a big bummer, it also makes attending affiliate events not so much fun as the others guys seem to be having.

3) I used to be a school teacher and I love helping people learn new things, but you probably know that last bit since I created the Affiliate Guild to help affiliates learn the ropes.

4) If you phone me you're very likely to hear birdies chriping and doggies barking from time to time. I've got a full on zoo in my office and feeding the animals is required … Starbucks for their trainer.

5) I live near the coastal redwoods of California, so my favorite past time is hiking in the woods. I never weary of just how special and beautiful these giant trees are.

Here are my blog tag predecessors. I was tagged by Linda Buquet who was tagged by Anik Singal who was tagged by Rosalind Gardner, who was tagged by Jeremy Palmer, who was tagged by Scott Jangro.

Now I'm passing the torch to Ros Phillips of LinkConnector, Arlene & James Martell of Affiliate Bootcamp, Tom Avery of RevenueSource Affiliate Forums, Stephen Ralph of Top-Affiliate.com and Marifer Vergara from the queenofcheap.com.

I was reading a few relevant tips from Darren at ProBlogger about some Do's and Dont's for professional business blogs. I wanted to pass on his wisdoms because I think that they're right on the money, no pun intended.

These are the same strategies I use on my blogs Affiliate Blogger, Affiliate Marketers and Affiliate Blog.

The topic was about what to do if you have viewers coming to your blog, but they never buy anything through you. The advice is sage:

Product relevancy and quality - unless the products you're promoting relate to the content/topic of your blogging you're wasting your time. Not only should they be relevant - they should be quality affiliate products. Don't get sucked into promoting something just because it relates to your site. Test it for yourself and if it's rubbish - stay clear. You can hurt your own reputation by recommending second rate products.

Traffic - the more people that see the promotions you run the better. While traffic isn't the only factor, it is certainly a big one. Work at drawing people to your blog and particularly to the pages that you are featuring affiliate promotions on.

Placement - affiliate links IN content tend to out perform promotions that you run in sidebars or banner ads. One genuine review of the product (see next point) seen by a handful of readers can be much more powerful than a banner at the top of your blog seen by many readers.

Your reputation and 'Sales Pitch' - I find that affiliate products work best for me on sites where I have a loyal readership of people who respect what I say and when I give genuine recommendation that show not only the positives of a product but the weaknesses in it. The way you promote the product is as influencial as almost anything else. Don't hype, don't lie and don't spin it.