Alicia said it best… “Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re always doing something. This week, we’re rounding up our “Top 5″ posts.” And with that here we go- we are giving you our top 5 picks from our respected sites.

We will kick it off with Alicia at Mental Health Notes- She did her own take on the top picks…Top 5 Posts I had the most fun writing for Mental Health Notes

Kristen at Lively Women gave us Lively Women’s Top 5 Posts, 2007-2008- I’m joining the rest of the Health and Wellness bloggers in selecting my 5 favorite posts of all time since I started writing this blog. Who knew it would be so difficult??? Here are 5 of my all-time favorites (and picking just five was TORTURE):

Kristina at Autism Vox focused on one topic… About this vaccine issue- previous posts- With another round of vaccine court going on this week, the question of whether there’s a link between vaccines and autism is again getting a lot of discussion. Here’s five past posts on this blog that suggest how this one hypothesis about the cause of autism has become entwined…

Karen’s Pink Ribbon Review offered a wonderful idea- a look into her past blogging experience. A Blast From the Past: Five of My Favorite Posts From The Breast Blog… I started blogging about breast cancer on Wednesday, November 1, 2006. I know that for a fact, because I recently revisited The Breast Blog, my first breast cancer blog…

Gab at Fertility Notes has The Fabbest Five Pots From fertility Notes (so far)- …a combination of my favorite, your favorite, most commented, most viewed…

Gab also gives us Daily Tomorrow Looks Back At it’s Favorite Five Posts- The five most popular posts from the last few months…

Moving on, Angelique at Breaking the Mirror has a great twist on this idea- The post’s you’ve never seen... Instead of the usual round-up of favorite posts or highly regarded posts, I thought I’d pass along links to the five posts from 2008 that you probably never saw…

Grace and Kids Health Notes gave us Top 5 Posts at Kids Health Notes- So I pondered what the top 5 posts for Kids Health Notes would be.. and I realize it has to do with well-written posts that are relevant anytime of the year - and part of what makes a healthy childhood.

Liberty and Liz have been hard at work over at Healthbolt and just reached a milestone. With that they gave you My Pick- Healthbolt’s Top 5 Posts- I did some maths and five months working on ‘the Bolt’ equates to around 250 posts between us. That’s a whole lot of words. My choice for Top 5 Posts…

Mary Emma and Liz also had for us My Pick- To 5 Alzheimer’s Notes Posts- Sometimes it’s good to recap, so here’s a quick roundup of my favorite…

Scott at Health and Men gave us Health and Men’s Top Five of All Time

Mark at A Dozen Steps offered up Top Five All Time Posts… Theses entries have been, and remain, at the top of the statistics for most viewed every month here at A Dozen Steps…

Hope and Weighting Line- one of our newcomers but she has for us Weight Loss Blog Top 5 Pots For May… In case you’re new here, I’d like to share my top five posts for May (up to today). These posts are totally based on numbers. Here are my top five, most-viewed blog posts….read and enjoy!

Marijke and Help my Hurt gave us Top 5 Posts From Last Week- Here at the Health and Wellness Channel, we’re developing a regular tradition of weekly post round ups. Here are my top 5 posts for the past week…

Angela at Breastfeeding 123 gave us Friday Five: Top Five “Best”Breastfeeding 123 Blog Posts- …I think it’s the post of which I am most proud, the post into which I put extra effort and care. So I offer for your consideration, in no particular order…

And finally, Gloria at Cancer Commentary gave us her take on the top 5 with Top 5 Posts By Readership-…wanted to give you the most popular posts in the blog. Mostly read, mostly commented I guess.

Tags: 12 step, addiction, alzheimers disease, anxiety, breast cancer, breastfeeding, cancer, depression, Diabetes, Eco Friendly, fatblogging, fertility, green blog, health, healthbolt, heart-disease, lose weight, mental health, sex, treatment, wellness

Alicia said it best… “Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re always doing something. This week, we’re rounding up our “Top 5″ posts.” And with that here we go- we are giving you our top 5 picks from our respected sites.

We will kick it off with Alicia at Mental Health Notes- She did her own take on the top picks…Top 5 Posts I had the most fun writing for Mental Health Notes

Kristen at Lively Women gave us Lively Women’s Top 5 Posts, 2007-2008- I’m joining the rest of the Health and Wellness bloggers in selecting my 5 favorite posts of all time since I started writing this blog. Who knew it would be so difficult??? Here are 5 of my all-time favorites (and picking just five was TORTURE):

Kristina at Autism Vox focused on one topic… About this vaccine issue- previous posts- With another round of vaccine court going on this week, the question of whether there’s a link between vaccines and autism is again getting a lot of discussion. Here’s five past posts on this blog that suggest how this one hypothesis about the cause of autism has become entwined…

Karen’s Pink Ribbon Review offered a wonderful idea- a look into her past blogging experience. A Blast From the Past: Five of My Favorite Posts From The Breast Blog… I started blogging about breast cancer on Wednesday, November 1, 2006. I know that for a fact, because I recently revisited The Breast Blog, my first breast cancer blog…

Gab at Fertility Notes has The Fabbest Five Pots From fertility Notes (so far)- …a combination of my favorite, your favorite, most commented, most viewed…

Gab also gives us Daily Tomorrow Looks Back At it’s Favorite Five Posts- The five most popular posts from the last few months…

Moving on, Angelique at Breaking the Mirror has a great twist on this idea- The post’s you’ve never seen... Instead of the usual round-up of favorite posts or highly regarded posts, I thought I’d pass along links to the five posts from 2008 that you probably never saw…

Grace and Kids Health Notes gave us Top 5 Posts at Kids Health Notes- So I pondered what the top 5 posts for Kids Health Notes would be.. and I realize it has to do with well-written posts that are relevant anytime of the year - and part of what makes a healthy childhood.

Liberty and Liz have been hard at work over at Healthbolt and just reached a milestone. With that they gave you My Pick- Healthbolt’s Top 5 Posts- I did some maths and five months working on ‘the Bolt’ equates to around 250 posts between us. That’s a whole lot of words. My choice for Top 5 Posts…

Mary Emma and Liz also had for us My Pick- To 5 Alzheimer’s Notes Posts- Sometimes it’s good to recap, so here’s a quick roundup of my favorite…

Scott at Health and Men gave us Health and Men’s Top Five of All Time

Mark at A Dozen Steps offered up Top Five All Time Posts… Theses entries have been, and remain, at the top of the statistics for most viewed every month here at A Dozen Steps…

Hope and Weighting Line- one of our newcomers but she has for us Weight Loss Blog Top 5 Pots For May… In case you’re new here, I’d like to share my top five posts for May (up to today). These posts are totally based on numbers. Here are my top five, most-viewed blog posts….read and enjoy!

Marijke and Help my Hurt gave us Top 5 Posts From Last Week- Here at the Health and Wellness Channel, we’re developing a regular tradition of weekly post round ups. Here are my top 5 posts for the past week…

Angela at Breastfeeding 123 gave us Friday Five: Top Five “Best”Breastfeeding 123 Blog Posts- …I think it’s the post of which I am most proud, the post into which I put extra effort and care. So I offer for your consideration, in no particular order…

And finally, Gloria at Cancer Commentary gave us her take on the top 5 with Top 5 Posts By Readership-…wanted to give you the most popular posts in the blog. Mostly read, mostly commented I guess.

Tags: 12 step, addiction, alzheimers disease, anxiety, breast cancer, breastfeeding, cancer, depression, Diabetes, Eco Friendly, fatblogging, fertility, green blog, health, healthbolt, heart-disease, lose weight, mental health, sex, treatment, wellness

Alicia said it best… “Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re always doing something. This week, we’re rounding up our “Top 5″ posts.” And with that here we go- we are giving you our top 5 picks from our respected sites.

We will kick it off with Alicia at Mental Health Notes- She did her own take on the top picks…Top 5 Posts I had the most fun writing for Mental Health Notes

Kristen at Lively Women gave us Lively Women’s Top 5 Posts, 2007-2008- I’m joining the rest of the Health and Wellness bloggers in selecting my 5 favorite posts of all time since I started writing this blog. Who knew it would be so difficult??? Here are 5 of my all-time favorites (and picking just five was TORTURE):

Kristina at Autism Vox focused on one topic… About this vaccine issue- previous posts- With another round of vaccine court going on this week, the question of whether there’s a link between vaccines and autism is again getting a lot of discussion. Here’s five past posts on this blog that suggest how this one hypothesis about the cause of autism has become entwined…

Karen’s Pink Ribbon Review offered a wonderful idea- a look into her past blogging experience. A Blast From the Past: Five of My Favorite Posts From The Breast Blog… I started blogging about breast cancer on Wednesday, November 1, 2006. I know that for a fact, because I recently revisited The Breast Blog, my first breast cancer blog…

Gab at Fertility Notes has The Fabbest Five Pots From fertility Notes (so far)- …a combination of my favorite, your favorite, most commented, most viewed…

Gab also gives us Daily Tomorrow Looks Back At it’s Favorite Five Posts- The five most popular posts from the last few months…

Moving on, Angelique at Breaking the Mirror has a great twist on this idea- The post’s you’ve never seen... Instead of the usual round-up of favorite posts or highly regarded posts, I thought I’d pass along links to the five posts from 2008 that you probably never saw…

Grace and Kids Health Notes gave us Top 5 Posts at Kids Health Notes- So I pondered what the top 5 posts for Kids Health Notes would be.. and I realize it has to do with well-written posts that are relevant anytime of the year - and part of what makes a healthy childhood.

Liberty and Liz have been hard at work over at Healthbolt and just reached a milestone. With that they gave you My Pick- Healthbolt’s Top 5 Posts- I did some maths and five months working on ‘the Bolt’ equates to around 250 posts between us. That’s a whole lot of words. My choice for Top 5 Posts…

Mary Emma and Liz also had for us My Pick- To 5 Alzheimer’s Notes Posts- Sometimes it’s good to recap, so here’s a quick roundup of my favorite…

Scott at Health and Men gave us Health and Men’s Top Five of All Time

Mark at A Dozen Steps offered up Top Five All Time Posts… Theses entries have been, and remain, at the top of the statistics for most viewed every month here at A Dozen Steps…

Hope and Weighting Line- one of our newcomers but she has for us Weight Loss Blog Top 5 Pots For May… In case you’re new here, I’d like to share my top five posts for May (up to today). These posts are totally based on numbers. Here are my top five, most-viewed blog posts….read and enjoy!

Marijke and Help my Hurt gave us Top 5 Posts From Last Week- Here at the Health and Wellness Channel, we’re developing a regular tradition of weekly post round ups. Here are my top 5 posts for the past week…

Angela at Breastfeeding 123 gave us Friday Five: Top Five “Best”Breastfeeding 123 Blog Posts- …I think it’s the post of which I am most proud, the post into which I put extra effort and care. So I offer for your consideration, in no particular order…

And finally, Gloria at Cancer Commentary gave us her take on the top 5 with Top 5 Posts By Readership-…wanted to give you the most popular posts in the blog. Mostly read, mostly commented I guess.

Tags: 12 step, addiction, alzheimers disease, anxiety, breast cancer, breastfeeding, cancer, depression, Diabetes, Eco Friendly, fatblogging, fertility, green blog, health, healthbolt, heart-disease, lose weight, mental health, sex, treatment, wellness

My Condo’s almost empty, mover are here right now clearing it out.

My wife and I are moving to Coral Gables in Miami, Florida! For the next 6 months I’m going to be soaking in some sun in South Florida. We’re renting out a luxury penthouse apartment, it’s about 1400 sq ft and on the 17th floor.

Miami is VERY different than Boston, it’s more than just a change in scenery, it’s a whole different culture down there. Will be fun!

Now if I was a high level corporate stiff neck I could possibly make as much as I’m making now as super affiliate. However, not only would I be working 80 hrs a week, I’d be stuck living in ONE place. I wouldn’t be going to Miami, or anywhere else for that matter, unless the company decided to relocate me.

You see, there’s a lot more to this business than making a boat load of money (although I have to admit that’s a nice perk!) I don’t care how much money you make in your job, there’s nothing in the world better than having the freedom to do what you want, where you want, with whom you want.

Since I’ve been a full time super affiliate it seems that my wife and I have been traveling non stop and loving every minute of it! Paris, Alaska, Bermuda, London, Austin, India, Monoco, Miami,etc, etc… We spend 4 months in 2007 traveling.

Our travel schedule is actually light compared to several members of my super affiliate mastermind, who take frequent 2-4 month vacations!

I really don’t like using the term ‘vacation’, my wife and I don’t take vacations in the normal sense of the word, we’re just living & enjoying life in a different location. Vacations are what job people use to recover from the daily stress of being in the rat race.

Have you ever thought where you would live if you had NO restrictions? If you could run your whole business off your laptop, where would you live and what parts of the world would you travel to?

PS While I’m busy moving I’ll have several guest bloggers who will be filling in for me, including Anik Singal, founder of Affiliate Classroom and big time super affiliate. So stay tuned!

In our internal chat banter, we were looking for someone to host Green Day for our theme week. Well, after a few seconds of awkward silence, all fingers pointed to Hilary, our bubbly eco safe, eco friendly driver who writes our eco-friendly auto blog. Of course, she was more than willing to host this month’s theme day! Take it away, Hilary!

There’s been a huge surge in the last few years toward living “green”, being environmentally-friendly, and lessening our impact on the Earth. Purists may demand the key to this is by doing a cultural 180. Stop buying unnecessary things, use the things we do need until they are entirely worn and when we can no longer use them for what they were intended, find a way to turn them into something else. Rehome, Recycle, Reuse.

Unfortunately, that idea and technology don’t always go hand in hand. Our tools are constantly changing. Improving. Now we’re finding ways to improve on today’s gadgets for a cleaner, greener tomorrow. At Eco-Friendly Driver, this is on topic every single day, but this month it’s at the center of our Tech Channel theme. Green gadgets are popping up all over:

Lia at Gadgenista, found the <a href="http://www.gadgenista.com/2008/05/13/theme -day-post-go-green-with-baby-tree-mobile-charms/
">most adorable phone charms I’ve seen to date. What an ingenuitive way to show our support!

Tris Hussey’s asking the question, <a href="http://www.mapleleaftwo.com/is-web-20-really- green/
">“Is Web 2.0 Really Green?” and offers readers a surprising tip on something really easy we can do to cut back.

Juned’s talking green tech opportunities at A Feed is Born, including a few really great “green” feeds ;) and leading the search for the ultimate eco-ultraportable over at UltralightDelight.

Check out the <a href="http://www.ecofriendlydriver.com/2008/05/14/ theme-day-green-auto-accessories/
">green innovations for autos that work (and that don’t) today at EcoFriendlyDriver.

If you’d like to search for environmental topics of your own choosing, head to Search Engine Herald where Noel has a treat in store.

Jayvee at Cellphone9 is giving away a world’s first: the Iqua Solar Bluetooth headset! The contest is open till the end of the week — all you gotta do is leave a comment and you’re part of the raffle!

On a side note, the technology channel is offering a 15% discount promotion for Mobile Edge, a leading manufacturer of mobile accessories that include bags, sleeves and cases for your precious devices. All you need to do is enter the promo code B5Media at the checkout. Offer is valid till December 31 2008.

Tags: Eco Friendly, green

So you bust your butt for months and finally find a hot market and you’ve actually build a kick ass landing page/site that converts better than the merchant site.

You’re as happy as can be, raking in $350/day profit, then you discover some loser has not only ripped off your site, page for page, but is copying your Google ad and is bidding above you! Now you’re mad as hell, blowing smoke.

Ever happen to you?

It’s happened to me a couple times, and yes I was mad has hell!

Now if someone copies your site exactly, including your google ads, you can usually contact the affiliate manager and they’ll put a stop to it. In most cases the culprit will only change things around a little bit - they’re still ripping you off!

So how do you deal with affiliate rip off artists?

The best way to combat these losers is to have a killer system for continual improvement for your affiliate business, that should include :

1. Continually Split Testing Your Landing Page Copy and Google Ad Copy
2. Regularly Adding more and more Keywords to Your Campaigns
3. Systematically Adjusting and Optimizing Your Keyword Bids
4. Building Out a Substantial Value Added Site around Your Affiliate Offer

What you need to understand is that a copy cat affiliate is only copying a single snap shot in time of your site and campaign.

They can’t copy your system!

Think about it..

It’s unlikely they captured how you segmented your keywords and structured your campaigns, and even the most sophisticated scraping tool won’t get all your keywords.

Chances are the copycat will only make a small fraction of the profit you’re making, if any, since they really don’t understand what they’re doing.

Having a solid system for continually improvement is the only true competitive advantage in affiliate marketing and the best way to protect yourself against rip off artists.

There also one other big element that an affiliate copycat can never copy : your mindset and decision making process.

Without the right system, and the right mindset and decision making process to execute that system, no rip off artist can ever truly copy your affiliate campaigns. As long as you have a solid system in place and know what you’re actually doing.

Also ,Check out this awesome post Kirsty did about this same topic.

New this week on the Beauty & Style channel we have a gift buying guide for the glamorous among us - GlamourGiftGuide.com.  Written by Kori Ellis, our multipurpose beauty and fashion/sports maven, Glamour Gift Guide will cover gifts for female fashionistas of all ages. 

 

You can find Kori blogging all over b5media about shoes, fantasy football and she is also the driving force behind our Sports channel.  She is a reporter covering the San Antonio Spurs, runs a very popular Spurs forum and is an About.com guide for Accessories.   Are you worn out yet?  Whew.  She is one of the hardest working women I know, and she has a true passion for the topics she writes about, so I know you will enjoy Glamour Gift Guide as much as the rest of us do!

You can subscribe to the Glamour Gift Guide feed here, and if  you want to keep an eye on all 30 blogs in our amazing channel, the Beauty & Style Channel feed is here.  Don’t miss anything!

Tags: beauty & style, Kori Ellis

With Mother’s Day behind us and Father’s Day ahead, the b5media sports bloggers are looking back at our childhood sports memories.

Check out the childhood sports memories from:

David Kindervater at Every Morning Quarterback

Jodie Lynn Boduch at Gossip on Sports

Jeanne Dupuis at Hockey Beat

Sandy Mitchell at Green Posse and Light the Torch

Michael Sedor with a two part post at Jab and Grapple

Stephen Kersey at Knuckle Curve

Joe Ruiz at Ladies Court

Erica Beck at Rackets and Balls

Ankit Mishra at Six and Out

Kori Ellis at The Fantasy Kickoff

Jyle Dupuis at The Footie

Thanks for reading about our sports memories. If you have any great sports stories to tell, visit on of the blogs in the b5 sports channel and leave your comments.

Photo credit: Newscom

Tags: b5 sports, b5media, blogging, childhood memories, kids sports, sports blogs, sports memories

My Coaching Program :

A number of you have asked about joining my one-on-one coaching program. Here’s the thing, at the moment I only have ONE one-on-one coaching student, and he’s paying me $2k/month for 30 minutes of one-on-one time a week + email support & access to all of my training material.

Honestly, this is a beta test, and it’s going really well. I have a fantastic student who’s progressing very quickly, he already has 2 profitable campaigns!

I’m learning a lot about the process of teaching someone how to do ppc affiliate marketing. Using everything I learn from working with this student, a handful of other one on one students I’ve taken on in the past, and my super affiliate accelerator program, I plan on launching something BIG. I can’t reveal the details, however, you’ll hear more about it in the coming weeks and months.

Affiliate Summit :

I’m excited to announce I’ll be speaking at the Affiliate Summit Boston this year (August 10th-12th). My Session Title is : “PPC Super Affiliate Strategies You MUST Know.” Hope to see YOU there.

Has Your Amex Card Been Declined?

I got a call today from friend and former student of mine - he’s now a successful super affiliate in his own right. His Adwords account was put on hold, dude was making $1k/day profit!

Here’s what happened…

Amex has put his Gold Plus card on hold requesting tax returns for last year before they reinstate his card. It will take 7 business days before they can reinstate his card, OUCH!

Apparently Amex is cracking down right now. Check out this recent post on Amex-Black.com about this situation.

Have YOU been hit?

PS Check out this interview I did with Amex-Black.com! It’s a very cool site, great example how you can make money as an affiliate blogger.

I am currently training to run part of the Philadelphia Marathon in November.

That sounds impressive in the abstract but there are a few things you should know: I have never run a competitive race in my life. I am not an athlete. I will not be anywhere near the leader boards. In fact, it could be dark while I limp my way to the finish.

You see, I am a 30something year old mother of three small children. I’m a tax attorney and freelance writer. I enjoy cheese and wine and red meat and all of those things that aren’t supposed to be good for you. I am not a size 2 or 6 or… well, you get the picture.

And every year, I see the Broad Street Run or the Philadelphia Marathon and I think back to when I was younger and I used to love to run. I wasn’t fast, I wasn’t on any teams, I just ran because it made me feel good. And every year as an adult, I see those races and I say “maybe next year.”

But not this year. This year, I decided I wasn’t going to sit on the sidelines anymore. I was going to run part of that race. And so I signed up. And I have been, for weeks now, getting up every morning at 5:30am to train.

That is, I have decided, what life is all about. It is about taking risks and making stands. It is not about watching the world go by.

This is true in business just as it is in personal life. At the Business Channel, May is our “Taking Chances” month - each of us are striving to do something just a bit different. Like my efforts to run part of a marathon, we are taking risks and thinking outside of our comfort zones:

At taxgirl, Kelly offers her best tax advice - to make decisions regardless of the tax consequences. On a tax blog? Trust me, it makes sense.

Mary Emma offers a peek into what it’s like to make the leap into entrepreneurship by developing your home business at Home Biz Notes, while Yvonne offers tips for taking chances in your home business.

Are you willing to take candy from strangers? Our newest blogger, Jennifer at Everyday Networker, thinks that it’s okay despite the risk. Find out under what circumstances it makes sense.

At Brandcurve, Susan explores the challenges and rewards involved in taking chances with your brand. Are you game?

Personal investment is all about taking risks. Should you avoid investing in a shaky market? Miranda has the answer at Yielding Wealth.

Politicians take risks every day - whether it’s Hillary downing a shot with a beer chaser (really!) or Obama trying out his bowling chops, it’s about getting noticed. At One Vote Matters, Thursday reminds us what’s really at risk during election season.

Leadership Turn invites you to be part of a new leadership reality show on the web. Miki is looking for help producing So you think you can lead… lots of fun opportunities for involvement and good stuff for the volunteers. Why not take a chance yourself?

Speaking of, what’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken? What about being the standout in your niche because everyone else says it can’t be done? At Doing Biz Abroad, Chris discusses why choosing to practice law in Philadelphia was outside of the norm.

Kristen at Biz Chicks Rule also discusses taking career risks. Do you like what you do? Shouldn’t you?

Rachel discusses taking chances in another niche - digital marketing - at Behind the Buzz - have you tried Penguin yet?

At Talk Stock Trading, Tisa ventures out of stocks to commodities to find out who is to blame for the “Gas Face” - you can cast your vote here.

At Digital Money World, Moneypenny wonders what to do when your choices are limited by circumstances that feel out of your control.

And not just a post - but an overhaul - Buzz Networker has a new writer, a new feel and a completely different look. Colleen is anxious to know if the risk pays off.

Whew.

So it’s all about risks this month - and hopefully, rewards. We hope that you’re energized, enthused and inspired to think and act differently this month.

Tell us, what’s one risk you’re willing to take?

(Image source: newscom)

Tags: b5media, Business Channel, risky business