Dear Staff of Shoemoney (SOSs), Shoemoney, and fellow Affiliate Americans –

Honestly you probably will not  and probably should not  choose me for the Shoemoney Affiliate Summit West Contest.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a pretty good guy, fun to hang out with, and fairly well informed.   Heck, I might even have a few tricks of the trade you haven’t heard about, although I’ve always been impressed with Shoemoney’s well informed, no-nonsense, experimental approaches to internet marketing, particularly his very clever experiments with Facebook advertising a few years back that were very cleverly written up in a powerpoint for, I think, an Affiliate Summit conference.

I also appreciate how Shoemoney and other world class search marketing fellows like Aaron Wall, Dave Naylor, and Todd Malicoat will share a lot of valuable insight and information both at conferences and online, even to those who don’t buy their stuff.    These are smart and clever guys and prospective internet marketing folks should listen to what they have to say, though they should also be aware that “hype” is very much a part of that business and very few people are able to make a good online living regardless of their approaches.   Most of the folks who do have been around a long, long time and benefit from old websites with high authority and the free Google traffic this provides to them.   Before you spend much money on advice you should read the free stuff, especially the single best source for search optimization and search penalties – Matt Cutts blog.   Matt is a great guy and is Google’s spam cop.   You  cross his search optimizing advice at your own peril.  Believe me, I know this from a lot of experience with many sites  over many years.

So even though I’m well aware of Shoe’s great personal success I’m generally skeptical that his good advice will transfers well to the degree others need to make enough money online to drop the day job.    You’ll be hard pressed to convince me otherwise which is probably the main reason I should NOT win this contest – however it shakes out I’ll blog the results honestly.

Another reason is that I’m already scheduled to fly to Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show – CES 2012 – on the 9th.   I’ll be reporting that conference for my tech blog ” Technology Report ” as I have been for several years.  Of course since I’ve never been to an Affiliate Summit I would change my flight to a bit earlier to hang with the Shoemoney Man.   I have a lot of questions for him about my modestly successful internet projects and some upcoming ones and how affilations (vs Google Adsense) might help improve our bottom line.

Another reason I’m a bad choice is that I’m already doing pretty well with my online ventures.  Nothing amazing yet, but we do OK with a US History website, US Travel site, and a really neat new Retirement planning project I’m finishing up right now.    As much as I’d like more advice from Shoe and his clever staff, it might be better used on somebody who is just starting out.

Oh, there is ONE reason you SHOULD choose me for the contest.  If I win I will consider Shoemoney’s expert advice enough reward for me and I will donate *all* the proceeds to my favorite charity “Room to Read“.  They build libraries and schools in poor countries and are simply an awesome way for those of us lucky enough to live here to give back a little and help make the world a better and safer place.

This donation will include any blackjack winnings.   All I’d ask from Shoe and the great Shoemoney gang would be to help me promote Room to Read however he sees fit.

So, there you have it!    Good luck to everybody with the Affiliate Summit Shoemoney contest and, win or lose, I hope to see you in Vegas baby!

Joe Duck / Joe Hunkins