Happy Fourth of July. If you’re anything like me, you’re looking forward to the four-day weekend and some much needed R&R. Then it’s just three days in the office before heading to Orlando for the nearly sold-out Affiliate Summit.

Revenue will be an exhibitor at the show. Hopefully, our new issue, which just went to the printer, will be drop shipped down to Florida on time so it can be displayed in the booth. Fingers crossed.

Regardless, our entire sales team will be on hand manning the booth and trying to spread some Revenue love. I try and avoid all that. Instead I’ll be in the sessions, educating myself on the latest issues impacting the affiliate space and listening to some great speakers.

But the show is not all work. There are some great networking opportunities and a little fun as well. It sounds like everyone is geared up for the big Pure Imagination Party on Monday night sponsored by oneNetwork, Direct Track, PartnerCentric and our very own Revenue Magazine. It should be a blast. Too bad I’ll have to use my imagination about the party - unless I crash - since I never even got an invite. Maybe I’ll host my own party in my hotel room – look for your tres exclusive invite via email.

Once again, my friends at ABestWeb.com have called into question the integrity of Revenue magazine and especially me. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I would never try and stop that. Just know there is a lot more to the story than what you’ll hear from the message boards. What Haiko neglected to reveal was that I called him for the story and he never responded. So, he had a chance to get his opinion on the record, but chose not to. And no matter what is said about Revenue on those boards, I will call Haiko again if it’s appropriate for a story. He might hang up on me or not respond, but, again, that’s his right.

And while, I disagree with much of what these folks are saying, they were absolutely right to call out the point about Richard Lewis. He is not someone that Revenue wants to hold up as an example of best practices. But what none of the ABW posters know is that the whole incident with Lewis blew up right as Revenue went to the printer and I could not pull the story or rewrite it. The best I could do was to change a few words to insure the story was factually incorrect. That included deleting a mention that Lewis was part of a mentoring program along with Shawn Collins and Beth Kirsch. I couldn’t pull the quotes from Lewis or add a something noting his recent transgressions.

Such are the problems with publishing a magazine that only comes out every other month. It’s often a very frustrating experience.

Anyone who thinks there is an agenda or general lack of ethics on the part of Revenue is misguided. My bet is that not one poster at ABW has a clue that I was willing to quit my job over an ad that was supposed to run in the issue that is due out in two weeks. I felt the ad was misleading, compromised the integrity of the magazine and could easily by misread by our readers.

I try not to get involved in the sales side at all, but this time I had to step in. I spent nearly two weeks battling over this issue, including being on a conference call from home and getting so heated that I’m sure I came off like a crazy person screaming out of the conference room squawk box.

I spent a huge amount of time trying (and lung power) to convince a bunch of sales people and other higher ups why our integrity is more valuable than whatever amount someone was willing to pay for ad space. To their credit, all involved finally got sick of listening to me and their better judgment prevailed. We did not accept the ad and refunded the money. It’s a small victory, but I’m proud of it. And, as much as those two weeks sucked for me (and believe me, they really did) I would do it all over again today if I had to and again tomorrow if necessary.

So, for the next few days I’d like my fireworks to be in the sky rather than related to work. Enjoy.lisap@revenuetoday.com

I’m totally scattered after a whirlwind month and there’s no rest in site. Here’s what’s happened over the several weeks and the important lessons taken from each event.

I had an emergency appendectomy.
*Hospitals are unlikely to send you home with your removed appendix, even if you bring your own Mason jar. Thanks for asking Jim!

Set foot in the wicked pisser (albeit very humid) state of Massachusetts for an overdue visit with the family.
*They are called Massholes for a reason.
*I may miss Dunkin Donuts regular coffee, but that Coolatta concoction nearly made me wretch. Stick with previous beverage plans - coffee hot; tea cold.

Hit the Big Apple for the LinkShare Symposium.
*Steve Denton is a very funny man and has the action poses to prove it.
*Company presidents should never, ever use the word luhvah – under any circumstance.
*Missy Ward’s 5-year old has a site with Google ads on it.
*More people were talking about the opportunities with ring tones than about doing business in Japan.
*I must get pens (or at least one pen) when attending an event.
*When someone in a tuxedo seems cool because they like the Pogues or used to scalp tickets at Grateful Dead shows, ask about their current musical tastes, which may have taken a turn. Yes, I mean you Shawnia. Oops, sorry, you only like the big boys of country that date Hollywood stars – Kenny Chesney and Keith Urban. What happened to you?
*When you pay more than $400 a night for a hotel in a major metropolitan city you should get free high-speed Net access and a pool. Not negotiable.
*When New Yorkers find out that you live in California they wonder why you haven’t got a tan. It’s not California; it’s San Francisco, duh!
*The folks at Rakuten are very smart.
*When in doubt wear a tux. Everyone looks handsome.
*Three words: Cantone, Cantone, Cantone.

The July/August issue of Revenue shipped to the printer yesterday.
*It’s really hard to close an issue that is jam packed with such topical information – the teen market, back to school, etc. Every time I thought I was done, a new wrinkle or new announcement pulled me back in to add to a story.
*Doing a redesign of a magazine and a website at the same time not recommended. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Stories for the September/October issue are already due to me and they’re coming in fast and furious.
*Social networking is a huge opportunity for online marketers.
*No one is neutral when it comes to Net Neutrality.

Came back to many loose ends that need tying up.
*A big box of Affiliate Classroom’s box of Affiliate Manager Boot Camp DVDs is way cool, but catching up on my TiVo is cooler.
*Don’t take a one-day old laptop on the road for 10 days. IT guy back at the home office not amused by the blizzard of tech support calls or time zone differences.
*Jury duty people have heard every excuse known to man. Don’t even try.
*Expense reports sucks.
*Expense checks rock.

Prepping for Affiliate Summit in Orlando in less than two weeks.
*It’s nearly sold out. 1,000 people +105 degree heat = tons of sweaty affiliate fun.
*Thinking about scalping Summit ticket on eBay and heading for cooler climes.

Squeezed into all that - somewhere way in the back - were friends, family, laundry and bill paying. So much for lazy days at the beach. Let me know how your summer is going. lisap@revenuetoday.com

I’m supposed to be enjoying a few days off in New York City, but before I can really forget about work (which never, ever happens) I need to give you the quick update from Wednesday’s LinkShare Symposium.

First, my two cents about the overall event and how it was run. BTW: I’ve been to hundreds and hundreds of conferences and tradeshows as a journalist over the last 17 plus years, so I consider myself somewhat of an expert.

I thought this one was very well organized and extremely well executed and I loved Chelsea Piers. My only complaint (you know I have to have at least one. Okay two. The chicken at lunch was dry and totally inedible) is that there was no working pressroom, which is a staple of most events. And this symposium could have used such a place for reporters to plug in a their laptops and file stories or blogs – especially since there was a fairly impressive amount of other media folks there covering the event.

Also I was thrilled there was no bulky bag to carry around all day and schlep back to the office. I always end up throwing those corporate bags away later anyway. Although, at one point I was wishing for a LinkShare pen – actually any pen would have done. Bad reporter. I should know better than to show up to cover something with just one pen.

The content of the event was good and informative. President Steve Denton provided a good, albeit brief, overview of LinkShare’s direction. And it was great to here from John Kim, the CEO of LinkShare and president of Rakuten USA about how LinkShare fits into the overall Rakuten strategy. Also, the Chairman and CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, took the stage to give some insight into Rakuten’s business and explain what a huge player the company is worldwide.

The keynote by former Fast Company editor, Alan Webber, was refreshing and enjoyable. It was not about the performance marketing space, but provided everyone with some food for thought on globalization and new ways of looking at thing. The rest of the sessions drilled down on more specific subject matter. The conversion session was totally fascinating and I learned some things that I’ll be using as we move along in the redesign of our own website.

This conference just whets my appetite for the Affiliate Summit. Many of the same people will be attending and I can’t wait. I’m blocking out the “Orlando in July part” and focusing on the great networking and education opportunities that await me in Florida in two weeks.

Let me know what you are looking forward to this summer. lisap@revenutoday.com

Last night I attended LinkShare’s Golden Link Awards, It was a classy and swanky evening filled with great guests, good food and a few chuckles (courtesy of host Mario Cantone, a stand up comedian who’s been on Broadway and also a regular on Sex and the City).

The venue – the Cipriani – was stunning and packed with affiliates and merchants in their full glam. So much for the notion that affiliates are all sitting home in their pajamas. These folks were in black tie and looking good. LinkShare really knows how to do it up right.

I’ll provide a full list of winners later today, but the final award of the night was my favorite. Shawn Collins took home the award for Performance Marketing’s Most Vocal Affiliate. Shawn’s competition was stiff – the wonderfully insightful David Lewis of 77 Blue and super affiliate/prolific message board poster Michael Coley of AmazingBargains.com. What a diverse and awesome group. It was great to see LinkShare embrace and recognize a group of nominees that have not always given glowing reviews to the company. The new inclusive attitude of LinkShare was refreshing.

I was pleased to see Shawn win for a lot of reasons – he’s done really great things for the industry with his conference; his blog is funny and spot on; he’s not afraid to tackle any issue; he loves the Pogues; and honestly, he’s just a nice guy who truly loves affiliate marketing. In the spirit of full disclosure I must admit that I was a judge for the awards.

Now, I’m off to the LinkShare Symposium event at Chelsea Piers for a day of education information and networking. I’m particularly looking forward to hearing the keynote speaker Alan Webber talk about Brazil, traveling to Austria and the joys of now being based in Santa Fe. Oh sorry. That was last night’s fascinating dinner conversation. Thanks Alan.

lisap@revenuetoday.com

I’ve been meaning to pull together something on CJ and it’s recent problems with people leaving. I never got to it in time and now it’s just been announced that ValueClick COO Jeff Pullen has resigned.

Jim Zarley, ValueClick’s chairman and CEO, will take over for Pullen along with Tom Vadnais, who was named as president. Vadnais is also currently the general manager of Commission Junction and Mediaplex, and a member of the board of directors. Vadnais joined ValueClick in 2001 through its acquisition of Mediaplex, where he was president and CEO.

Pullen, who joined ValueClick in 2003 when it bought Commission Junction where he was president and CEO, is among a string of execs to leave CJ recently. Elizabeth Cholawsky (SVP, marketing and product development) and Todd Crawford (VP of sales) left several months ago. Crawford recently resurfaced as VP of sales and business development at OneNetwork.

I’ll post more on this later today after I make some calls.

If you know anything, call or email me. lisap@revenuetoday.com

Sorry for the lapse in posting a new blog entry. I had an emergency appendectomy last week. I’m recovering very well and back to work at almost full speed. Too bad I need to be working at warp speed in order to catch up.

Anyway, I also wanted to apologize for some nasty side effects from my meds – the rampant and uncontrollable need to hit the delete key. In my pain killer induced haze this morning I inadvertently deleted two much-needed files as well as the last half dozen or so blog entries. Little did I know that I should treat blog creation software as “heavy machinery” or think of my keyboard as “heavy equipment.”

I have a team of high paid, Mensa people working feverishly to restore these entries. Actually, I just have a call into the company that makes the open source blogging software we currently use. The operative word here is “currently.” What I was actually attempting to delete was the massive spam trackbacks that appear in so many of the blog entries. Many of you have complained. I feel the pain. These trackbacks are annoying and need to go. Agreed.

Meanwhile, I need another nap. lisap@revenutoday.com