Performance marketing technology provider Impact Radius announced the publication of a “Top 25 Performance Marketing Influencers” list.  Here is the infographic they provided in their press release:

According to their release,

“Designed to help advertisers, agencies and media companies seeking expert guidance in improving their revenue from performance marketing, the list, based on an Impact Radius independent analysis of the influence of more than 400 prominent performance marketing thought leaders, identifies the top people whose blogs, tweets and social metrics provide the most influential insights and advice for the industry.”

While I appreciate being included in the list, I’d like to go on record with my thoughts about this list, and lists such as this. This is not meant to be disrespectful to the folks at Impact Radius (and I know that they won’t take it as such) but in my opinion, it’s lists such as these which can lead to confusion, especially to those outside of the performance marketing/affiliate marketing industry, as well as to folks new to the industry itself. And, the last thing we need is more confusion.

Heck, we still can’t even agree on what we call ourselves in our own industry.

As I’ve been an affiliate marketer since the late ’90′s, I’ve been around the block a few times, so I’d like to share some points that I strongly believe should be taken into consideration when interpreting this list.

Caveat Emptor When it Comes to Folks that have “Made the List”.

I do not mean this as an insult, but there are people on this list that are simply NOT influential in the affiliate marketing/performance marketing space. They know who they are and they are likely wondering to themselves why they’ve been included.  That does not mean to say that they are not impressive in their respective areas of expertise; it’s just not affiliate marketing.  Just do your due diligence. OK?

Ranking People Using Social Scoring Does Not Give You the Whole Picture

Sadly, this list only used online social metrics to determine authority ranking.  Big mistake for many reasons:

1. Using social scoring immediately discounts the long term effects that the truly influential people have had for many years before Twitter, Klout and Peer Index existed.  And trust me, when these leaders do speak, their message is not only heard, it’s respected.
2. This list does not take into account a person’s offline influence or authority in alternative online sharing platforms, such as forums.  Just because these people do not choose to participate in Twitter, etc. does not mean that their influence is any less powerful.  
3. Klout, Twitter and PeerIndex can all be manipulated — easily. [Bots, frequency of posting instead of quality of posting, etc.)
4. Social scoring does not segment a person’s ability to influence within an industry, but rather provides just a single number to rank them across the board. So folks with large Twitter followings, high Klout Scores and PeerIndex scores in general, will likely outrank people that are truly influential in a specific industry.

For the reasons above, I’d like to recognize a few people who should have been included in this “Top 25″ list, as they actually have driven action and continue to drive the affiliate marketing / performance marketing industry.

• Brian Littleton, ShareASale.com
• Kellie Stevens, AffiliateFairPlay.com
• Todd Farmer, AffiliateMarketingPlan.com
• Scott Jangro, MechMedia.com
• Pat Grady, RhinoFish.com
• Eric Nagel, EricNagel.com
• Todd Crawford, ImpactRadius.com  (Yes, the Co-Founder of the company that put this list out, who has propelled this industry for many years, didn’t even make the list.)

Who do you think is missing from this list?

There was a fundraising contest going on during the 2010 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer in Chicago in which for every $250 that a walker raised between May 1 – May 10, they received a chance to win a 20-minute “Ask Suze” phone conversation with financial expert, Suze Orman. Additionally, the Top 5 fundraisers of that walk would appear in a short video with Suze that would be filmed during the Closing Ceremonies.

After winning last year’s fundraising contest and having a blast meeting Patrick Dempsey, I knew there was no way I was going to pass up the exciting opportunity to meet Suze.

So, being the extremely competitive, and thick-headed gal that I am, I hustled my butt off and won both contests, coming in just 2-spots away from Suze and our Team Affiliate Marketers Give Back coming in 5th overall.

During Day One of the walk, my fellow teammates were subjected to my excitement of meeting her for 26 miles. I’m fairly certain they wanted me to meet her as much as I wanted to so that I’d finally shut up.

Unfortunately, around mile 7 of Day Two’s walk, I got a phone call alerting me to the fact that Suze was in the hospital and was undergoing an emergency appendectomy. 

I have to admit, I was kind of disheartened that I wasn’t going to get to meet her, even though it was a pretty damn good excuse.

But being the class-act that she is, Suze Orman recorded a special message for me which immediately brought a smile to my face.

I’m glad to see that she’s feeling better from her surgery and I’m truly looking forward to my phone call with her.

http://www.savevid.com/video/a-special-message-from-suze-orman-to-missy-ward.html

To all my friends, family and business associates:

In 39 days, I will walk 39 miles in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer – Chicago. I will be walking with many women and men who want to do their part to help the fight against breast cancer, including the rest of my teammates on Team Affiliate Marketers Give Back.

As part of my commitment, I have agreed to raise $1,800, but being that I’m never happy doing anything at just the minimum, I’ve agreed to raise $20,000 personally and have set my team goal at $50,000.

I’m doing great, but could still use your help.  As of today, I’ve raised $10,106.00 and am more than half way to my goal.

Now – more than ever – I need you to support this important cause. Did you know that the Avon Foundation has helped more than one million women in the United States receive a mammogram? More than two-thirds of these women were uninsured, and more than half were from minority populations.

Please do your part by supporting me and helping me meet and exceed my fundraising goal. You can make a donation by visiting http://IWalkForBoobies.com.

Thank you for all of your support in the past, currently and in the future.  Together we can stomp out this horrible disease that affects so many.

On Sunday, January 10th, I will turn 43.

Am I freaked out that I’m “that old”?  Yeah, a little.

But, I’m also pretty darn appreciative that I have the chance to live another year. (Because seriously, having too many candles on one’s cake really is a good problem to have.)

To celebrate this year’s birthday, I decided to declare the American Cancer Society as my official birthday cause and try to raise some money to help those that have been affected by cancer.

So, if you had any thoughts on buying me a birthday card or balloon, please don’t.  Instead, why don’t you consider donating a couple of bucks on my  Birthday Donation Page that I’ve set up with the American Cancer Society?

Together, we can help create a world with a whole lot less cancer and a whole lot more birthdays.

And, if you do make a donation, I promise to include you in my wishes that I get when I blow out the candles this year

Shawn Collins and I will be manning the Affiliate Summit booth (#1455) during ad:tech New York on November 4-5 at Javits Center.

In addition, we’ve partnered with Murray Newlands of MurrayNewlands.com (interviewer extraordinaire) to conduct video interviews during the event that we will host on the Affiliate Summit Blog as well as on GeekCast.fm.

Murray will be roaming the ad:tech floor looking for folks to talk about affiliate marketing, social media, search marketing and more and would love to interview you. So, if you see him, flag him down!

Additionally, you can swing by the Affiliate Summit booth to pick up some Purell®, eat some of our leftover Halloween candy and schedule a time to interview with Murray.

This is a great opportunity to share your insights on the industry with the rest of the Affiliate Summit audience.

We look forward to seeing you. Oh… and this is Murray. He’s not hard to miss.

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My guest today is Brian Littleton, one of the sharpest and most humble online marketers that I know. He is the CEO of ShareASale, a Chicago-based provider of e-commerce tracking and affiliate management solutions.

Brian is known for being a crusader of fair affiliate practices for many years; he’ll tickle the ivories to entertain friends and business associates on command; and has to be one of the top ten most eligible bachelors in the affiliate marketing industry.

In this podcast, Brian talks about:

What he would be doing if he wasn’t doing what he’s doing now

Listen to BigMouthStrikesAgain.fm above, on GeekCast.fm, or download to iTunes.

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Listen above or download to iTunes.

Missy Ward (@missyward) of Affiliate Summit moderated this week with panelists:

• Lisa Picarille (@lisap), a consultant focusing on online marketing, social media and content creation

• Lisa Riolo (@LisaRiolo), Internet Marketing Consultant
  • Women in Power. Is it possible to command power without reference to her gender?
  • Web Thinking vs. Step Thinking. Will it be the female species that ultimately solves our healthcare crisis, saves our planet and stops poverty?
  • Advertisers Still Don’t Get It. How to market to the 40+ female crowd.

The topics that were spewed today were:

Additionally, there is a reference to Aunt Bee, a fictional character from the 1960′s sitcom, the Andy Griffith Show. After further investigation, it turns out she was as old as she looked. However, Lucille Ball was only 40 years old when I Love Lucy first aired and she sure looked a lot older than that. Just sayin’.

Podcast Warning:

There is a whole lot of 40+ estrogen flowing throughout this podcast. This is not for the faint-hearted, nor those who prefer to hide from the truth

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I am delighted to announce the launch of
TweetForBoobies.com,
powered by MillionTweets.

MillionTweets is a site owned by Udoogoo, a social technology company based in Galway and Dublin. Anton Mannering, the CEO of Udoogoo and Andrew Clarke, the CTO developed MillionTweets as a way to raise money for charities and I can’t be more thrilled that they have partnered with AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com to raise money for breast cancer.

TweetForBoobies.com, is a fun and painless way to help fight breast cancer. Simply type in your message and click “Tweet To Give Back”. You will be taken to PayPal where you can donate $1.00 or more. Net proceeds will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation on behalf of AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com.

Our goal is to raise $194,280* by December 31, 2009.

Please show your support by sending a Tweet and help us raise money to fight this terrible disease.

The auction is now over.  A great big thank you to TattoMedia for the awesome $4,250.00 donation bid that won my boobies!  I promise I won’t disappoint!

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Tomorrow at midnight EST, is your final opportunity to place your bids on the Silent Auction taking place on AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com, to raise funds to fight breast cancer.

I am offering up the unusual opportunity below. At the time of this post, the current bid is $4,000.00.

Please consider bidding on my auction or the other fantastic opportunities available to help Team Affiliate Marketers Give Back kick breast cancer’s butt.

Missy Ward Will Let You Brand Her Boobies during BlogWorld

Donated by Missy Ward

Details:

Missy Ward is the co-founder of Affiliate Summit, FeedFront Magazine, GeekCast.fm, and more. She is also the founder of Affiliate Marketers Give Back and an active fundraiser for charities that support research and treatment to put and end to breast cancer.

Missy speaks at a number of marketing conferences throughout the year and wants to spread the word about your brand.

This auction is for Missy to wear your branded shirt (t-shirt, tank top, tuxedo shirt, whatever you want) during BlogWorld in Las Vegas (October 15-17).  (She will be speaking on a panel and manning the Affiliate Summit booth during BlogWorld.)

Additionally, Missy will also run your 125×125 banner for 30 days on MissyWard.com and mention your company as the winner on her podcasts, TheSpew.fm and BigMouthStrikesAgain.fm.

Winner must provide Missy with 3 shirts to wear during the conference.

Missy is not shy, so not only will folks walking around these two conferences notice your brand, but she will gladly hop in every picture or video that she can, sporting your shirt.

This is an excellent branding opportunity for merchants, affiliate networks, CPA networks, OPM’s, affiliates or anyone else that wants to get their brand out there.. or just make Missy look weird.

Retail value: Beyond Comprehension

Auction ends at 11:59pm EST on Friday, August 28, 2009.

Click Here to bid on the auction.

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My guest today was Jen Goode, the Founder and Illustrator (the doodler in charge if you will) of JGoode Designs, a company offering unique art featured on apparel, gifts and handmade goodies.

Jen has taken hold of the excitement surrounding new media; combining the fast-paced worlds of print-on-demand, social media and performance marketing, as a means to promote herself and her work.

In this podcast, Jen talks about:

Now, this is classic Jen…

She couldn’t think of an answer for one of the questions that I had for her on the podcast. But, being the perfectionist that she is, she emailed me her answer, so that no stone is left unturned.

Missy: What is one thing about you that not many people know, but you’d like more people to know about you.

Jen: I’ve created every aspect of my business from the design to the programming to the advertising and marketing and everything in between. I also hand make a number of items associated with my online products/designs which I sell in a retail shop – The only thing I don’t do is run my own server to host my sites. What others can do with that info? Hmm.. Remind me I don’t need to do it all myself all the time, even when I say I like to.

Listen to BigMouthStrikesAgain.fm above, on GeekCast.fm, or download to iTunes.