I just watched the Next Internet Millionaire (episode #7). It was a continuation of last week’s challenge and yes, someone does go home after a pathetic showing in the attempt to sell goods on eBay.

The good news is that the claws are coming out a little more and some people are definitely playing the game more strategically (a la Survivor) than others.

This week’s Affiliate Thing was all about the ladies. Stephanie Agresta, a 12-year veteran of the affiliate marketing space, who recently merged her consulting business to become one of the founders of the Conversation Group, stood in as co-host for Shawn Collins. Thanks Stephanie. You did a great job.

Shawn was busy co-hosting (with Missy Ward) the first-ever (sold old!) Affiliate Summit London. Stephanie and I talked about the glut of online marketing trade shows, events and conferences this fall. Stephanie is on a panel at BlogWorld Expo that will focus on affiliate strategies (from both a publisher and merchant perspective) in a Web 2.0 world. Meanwhile, I’m moderating a panel at Online Market World about e-commerce innovation and if there is a silver bullet for online marketers.

Today’s Wall St. Journal has an article about what Jay Berkowitz, CEO of Ten Golden Rules, an Internet marketing agency based in Boca Raton, Fla., is reading and listening to. Guess what? Jay apparently is a fan of the Affiliate Thing podcast hosted by Shawn Collins and myself. Check out what else has captured Jay’s attention.

I’ll be hosting the Affiliate Thing solo this week (and have a very special surprise guest) as Shawn Collins heads to jolly ole England for the first ever Affiliate Summit UK this week.

With the long weekend behind me now I can focus on the long weekend ahead of me.
That’s because I’m taking Friday off to drive down to Santa Barbara for CJU, which kicks off on Sunday.

I’m not sure which part of the trip I’m more excited about - the gorgeous drive down the California coast or the actual Commission Junction event. I’ve done this trip a handful of times and had memorable experiences each and every time.

Again, I feel hopelessly behind. I’ve let the blogging slide in favor of my obsession with Twitter and Facebook. Plus, I spent most of the week at Search Engine Strategies in San Jose. That means this entry will be another fabulous compilation of what’s been happening around the industry and in my little world.

I nearly forgot about blogging all week. I’d love to blame it on this huge deadline I’ve been facing, but I think it might be more about all the time I’ve been spending on Twitter and Facebook. I’m constantly sending and receiving information via both of those applications - as well as IM and email - so I’ve felt like I’ve already communicated most of my thoughts for the week (well, at least those that are PG or work-related).

But I guess if I dig deep there is still a little bit of relevant stuff to share:

I’m cleaning, organizing, emptying out the inbox, dealing with things that I’ve put off for weeks. So, today is the day that I put everything out on the virtual blog curb and hope someone picks it up…

On yesterday’s Affiliate Thing podcast my co-host Shawn Collins and I talked about all the new podcasts that debuted this week. There’s The Jeff and Sam Talk about Marketing, Tech, TeH Internets and Other Stuff (Beta) Show (with Sam Harrelson and Jeff Doak) as well as Video Ninjas (with Jim Kukral and Steve Rosenthal). Very exciting stuff.

Here’s the quick wrap up on day one of the Affiliate Summit’s full-day conference program. The keynote with Ze Frank was entertaining. There was definitely a message to be taken away from the speech that applies to this community but it was a little subtler than the average conference keynote. I enjoyed Ze very much and from my unscientific poll so did everyone else.

Things are full steam ahead over here at Revenue. We are sending the magazine to the printer today and at the same time gearing up for the Affiliate Summit show in Miami. It’s going to be hot, hot, hot – literally.

We’ve got some fun things planned for the show. So, be sure to drop by our booth. It’s lucky no. 62.