Companies or site owners:

Contact me if you’d like to send me some free stuff.. In return, I’ll take a picture of the item and make a post about it. Shirts, hats, bags, pens, mouse pads, plasma tvs, sports cars, whatever you’d like – We’re not that picky. Swag is good.

If your site address is not on the items you send, please enclose a separate note or card with your site or blog address on it. Thanks for your interest in Free Swag Sunday!

As we near April 15th, the question that keeps coming up is, “Do I have to pay taxes on my affiliate income?” Of course you do!!

This topic came up today on Shawn Collins blog, and was also covered by John Chow a few days ago. They both covered it in-depth, so I’ll spare you the rehash. The bottom line is this: If you’ve got a question, contact an accountant. A blog is treated like a business, and as such, you can take a number of deductions.. But no one is more well-versed in IRS deductions and loop holes than a certified tax accountant, so it’s definitely worth the expense to have a professional handle your taxes.

Should you setup an LLC or Corporation for your websites? Should you buy a Hummer H2 (like Zac Johnson or Shoemoney) for the Section 179 tax writeoff? (Did you know that the amount of that deduction changed, and might even be phased out this year?) Should you lease instead of buying a car? Should I be paying quarterly taxes? These questions can only be answered by an accountant that knows your current financial situation.

My accountant was able to save me $5000 last year compared to TurboTax or TaxCut. Considering his bill was only around $300, I’d say that was money well spent!

I’m being sarcastic.. Kudos to their marketing department, because it seems like EVERY Internet Marketing blog on Earth is talking about their affiliate network. Pepperjam is one of the true pioneers of affiliate marketing, having started out as an affiliate and then successfully building one of the largest, most respected and recognizable full-service internet marketing agencies in the United States.

So why all the hype about their affiliate network? Marcus Tandler says it best:

“Pepperjam has taken everything it knows about affiliate marketing and has created the ultimate affiliate network ever. Pepperjam Network provides affiliates with educational resources and tools to make lots of money – the reporting and tracking features are second to none and the interface is easy to use and clean. My guess is that this piece of software will revolutionize the affiliate industry – it will give both merchants and affiliates the tools they need to make more money with affiliate marketing.”

Pepperjam Network is completely free to join, and unlike other affiliate marketing networks, they don’t bombard you with a million questions on how you plan to promote them. Approval of new affiliates should take no more than 48 hours after you confirm your email address.

Unfortunately, they don’t have any products suitable for me to promote at the moment.. But I’m definitely going to keep an eye on these guys, as I know they’re definitely onto something here! Check ‘em out..

Sign Up For Pepperjam Network

I expected this annoucement last month during MacWorld, but better late than never.. I’ve been holding off on getting an iPhone, as I need more than 8GB of memory. But I sure as hell won’t spend $499 for the new 16GB version! And where’s the 3G support?!

The official press release:

Apple Inc. updated its iPhone and iPod Touch lineup Tuesday, doubling the memory and setting a new premium price for its high-end models.

The latest iPhone features 16 gigabytes of memory and retails for $499. The previously released 8 GB version of the hybrid cell phone, multimedia player and wireless Internet device costs $399.

The new iPod Touch comes with 32 GB of memory and retails for $499. The older 16 GB and 8 GB versions of the combination multimedia player wireless Internet gadget cost $399 and $299, respectively.

Apple said that all iPhone and iPod Touch models come with updated software that the company announced in January. It includes a new maps application and the ability to watch movies from the iTunes movie rental service.

Are you ready for an Entrecard Contest? Javier over at mrjavo.com is hosting another Entrecard Contest. The lucky winner will receive 1000 Entrecard Credits deposited directly into their account! In addition, he’ll write a recommendation about the winner’s blog on Entrecard.

How to enter to this contest:

1. Subscribing to his RSS feed. Doing this, you get 1 entry.
2. Subscribing to his RSS feed via Email. Doing this, you get 2 entries.
3. Subscribing to both feeds. If you subscribe to both feeds, you get 5 entries.
4. Writing a recommendation for him on Entrecard. I very appreciate this, if you do it you get 5 entries.
5. Writing this contest on your blog . If you do this, you get 5 entries for helping to broadcast his contest.
6. Dropping your E-card. This is obvious too right? if you do this you earn 1 entry to your contest.

The contest ends on February 16th, so don’t delay!

Just wanted to touch base, as I’m sitting here at the airport in Phoenix waiting to board my plane home.. I’ve been in Arizona since Thursday night, and I’ve had the time of my life.

First and foremost, a HUGE thanks goes out to Celebrity Seats, who hooked me up with GREAT tickets for the Super Bowl for FREE!

As their top-performing affiliate for 2007, they rewarded me with a pair of Super Bowl tickets.. Who does that?! Not StubHub, TicketsNow, or any of the other big guys, that’s for sure..

The fun started on Friday night at the Maxim Super Bowl Party, which was held at the Stone Rose Lounge in the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Hotel. The place was overflowing with stars – P.Diddy, Tom Petty, Nick Lachey, Chuck Lidell, Cindy Crawford, Jerry O’Connell, Kim Kardarshian, Heidi & Spencer (from The Hills), Ian Ziering, Stacy Kiebler, and the cast of HBO’s Entourage, just to name a few..

Saturday night was the Victoria’s Secret Super Bowl Party. This party had even more celebrities than the Maxim Party the night before! Stars included Adriana Lima, Adam Sandler, Donnie Wahlberg, LL Cool J, Tom Arnold, Randy Jackson (what’s up dog!), and Kathryn Heigl. There were also a lot of the same people I saw on Friday night.

Sunday was the big day! I woke up pretty worn out from the night before, but such is life.. We checked out the NFL Experience before the game. You could feel the excitement in the air, even with the miserable weather.. Made our way through the crowds, and got to our seats. We sat in the upper level, on the 20-yard line. Great view of the action.

The 1st quarter went by pretty quickly. Tom Brady looked strong on the field, and no noticable problems with his ankle. As much as I wanted the Giants to win, it looked like a lost cause. The 2nd and 3rd quarters were uneventful, with no points scored on either side. But things really came to life in the 4th quarter, and things became interesting again! Who’s going to win? Till the very end, it looked like the Patriots would finish off their perfect season. But then Eli Manning threw the perfect pass (the same play he did in practice just hours earlier), and the Giants came back to win it by 4!! Absolutely amazing..

I can tell it’s going to be a noisy flight home, as I’m flying with a bunch of Giants fans.. Signing off.

-Zander