Inside Affiliate

Archive for the ‘Industry Events’ Category

1. I finally got to meet the legendary Andrew Wee.  Wee is my brother from an Asian mother.  One of my favorite moments from the show was in the elevator at the Palms.  It was me, Wee, and Boone, and some random dude gets into the elevator and starts screaming, “All I wanna know is, Who the F*** is Andrew Wee?!?”.  It was hilarious.

2. The parties were off the hook. From PPC.bz & Nickycakes Paper Clique Jump Off to CX’s Billionaire Party, there were some awesome shindigs at this conference.  There were affiliate nerd-core freestyle rap battles, a dance routine featuring a live python, and even some very tasty cheesecake desserts.

3. The check-in lines were super fast. Actually when Boone and I checked in there was no line.  That was a big improvement from last year’s hour long lines.

4. The Meet Market was packed. There were 2 rooms this year, and there were bodies from end to end with tables somewhere in the middle.  If you are a network or other exhibitor, the Meet Market is some of the best bang for your buck you can get.  It’s only 6 hours long, but there is serious networking to be done at this part of the event.

5. The high-caliber affiliates were out in force. I’m sure that there are always ballers at ASW, but the sheer amount of them and time I was able to spend chatting & networking with affiliates at this conference was way above average.  Definitely higher than at any of the shows I went to in 2009.

6. Time-wasters were at a bare minimum. With a couple of rare exceptions, the people that I talked to didn’t waste my time.  I’m not sure if I was just better at spotting them from a distance and avoiding them this time or what, but usually I have an entire stack of cards to put in the “Do Not Follow Up” file when I get home.  Not so this year.

7. Rooms were cheap and excellent this year. I paid way too much money for a really terrible crappy room for Ad-Tech NY last year, so my expectations were already pretty low.  However, we stayed at the Gold Coast and it was awesome.  Sure, the average age of the people in the casino was 55, and the place has not been a hot spot for years, but it was about $60 a night, and it was an ideal location because it is sandwiched right between the Rio (where the convention is) and the Palms (where most of the parties were at).  No taxis needed, everything was within walking distance.

8. I didn’t have to stand at a booth all day long. Having a booth can be worth it sometimes, but also it is a major pain.  You have to get up early, be at the convention all day for both days so your feet are killing you, and worst of all you have to talk to every single person that comes by your booth (i.e. time-wasters).  Not having a booth this year was nice, since I got to cruise around and network more freely.

9. Meetup202 was EPIC. It would have been worth flying out to Vegas just for the Meetup202 event alone.  It was that good.  The attendance was huge (several hundred people), Wes & the Bloosky guys put on a great presentation, and the tips at the end from the individual Meetup202 organizers from various cities were really good.  I am super proud of Wes, Steven, and the whole 202 gang for chasing their dreams and making them a reality, and super thankful for all of the hard work they have put into their software and the affiliate community as a whole.

10. The wrap-up post was easy to write. I usually avoid writing these posts after a show, but this one practically wrote itself.  Affiliate Summit West is officially my favorite show of the year, and you are cheating yourself out of growing your business and having a great time doing it if you don’t go in 2011.

Ad-Tech NY 2009 has come and gone, and I had the pleasure of flying out to NYC from sunny CO to check it out.  This was the first Ad-Tech show to take place at the Javits Convention Center, since their contract with the hotel ran out.  This was a good thing, since the entire Exhibit Hall could be on one floor and it felt very alive for the entire show.

My partner and I were joking that “Day 1 is for Posers”, because we got so much quality networking done on Day 2, without the massive registration lines and aisle blockage that you typically get on Day 1.  For me and my company, it was a very successful trip and we are very excited about the next few months.

We even got to enjoy some time off at a live taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and a great afterparty at Pacha NYC. and a cool stop at the top of 30 Rockefeller Plaza (including the weird/trippy/geeky/awesome Breezeway Interactive Light Display room).  Instead of showing you boring pics of the Exhibit Hall and close-ups of the food we ate, here are some of the highlights of the trip for me:

Times Square from roof of 30 Rock

More NYC Skyline from 30 Rock

Blue Panel in the Breezeway Room (30 Rock)

Breezeway: The Coolest Room EVER

Breezeway Control Panel

Outside NBC Studios

Stilt-walking Clown at Pacha NYC

Dance Floor at Pacha NYC (Yankees on TV)

More Pacha NYC Madness

If you have anything to do with the internet marketing or affiliate marketing industries, then you know that Affiliate Summit West is coming up very soon in January.  Thousands of affiliate marketers, networks, advertisers, merchants, and vendors are going to be heading to the Rio in sunny Las Vegas to meet up.

What you may not know is how big of an effect going to Affiliate Summit or one of the other large conferences (like ad:tech) could have on your business.  Is it worth it to shell out your hard-earned bucks for a plane ticket, hotel room, plus the price of the ticket (which could run anywhere from $350 to $2,000+)?

The answer is yes! These events are absolutely priceless when measured in the amount of opportunities you have to network & expand your horizons.  That might sound a little vague, but consider the following…

Affiliate marketing is more and more about relationships.  With 300+ ad networks out there competing for your business, there is bound to be some overlap, and there are going to be a few (if not many) offers shared between the networks.  So what do you do?  Is it better to bounce around from network to network chasing an extra $0.25 per lead?  Or should you stick with one network and give 100% of your traffic to them no matter what the other guys are doing?

I would say neither.  A good affiliate marketer must always be on the lookout for the next big thing, but at the same time it is essential that you develop strong relationships in the industry.  This is what will give you the upper edge.  Imagine if you had been able to jump into the Acai or Ringtones markets a good 3-6 months before the competition.  You would already have found the profitable keywords, you would have your campaigns going full tilt, and at that point the new guys coming in will have to go through or over you before they can get a piece of the market.  That is a very good position to be in.

So how does this tie into going to a conference?  Simple.  You will have the opportunity to meet with network reps, AMs, and advertisers in person.  This is so much better than trying to chase someone down over the phone or email.  You will leave a much longer-lasting impression on the people you meet, and a good friendship/connection in this business could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.  Also, a lot of the big networks and advertisers use the events to unveil their new products/campaigns/announcements to the affiliates.  You will have a leg up on the competition because you will be there and get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Finally, if you are at the conference and staying at the hotel where it is being held, hanging around at the hotel bar can be an excellent way to network with people.  I would even say that if you are within driving distance of the conference, it might be worth it to take a drive over to the hotel, just to hang out there and network.  After a couple of drinks, you would be surprised what kind of information will come out of the mouths of “super affiliates”.

So there you have it.  If you haven’t been to one of these yet, you need to be there and experience it.  And if you have already been to one, I have little doubt you won’t miss one again.  If anyone is going to Affiliate Summit West in January, drop me a line and let me know if you’d like to meet up for drinks or drop by the affiliate.com booth and introduce yourself.  See you all there!

Here are the videos that Jeremy “ShoeMoney” Shoemaker filmed and put together while he was out here in August for the 2008 CPA Empire Breakaway conference.

Media Breakaway Behind The Scenes (short)Part 1 from shoemoney on Vimeo.

Media Breakaway Behind The Scenes (short)Part 2 from shoemoney on Vimeo.

The 2008 CPA Empire Breakaway Conference took place on Thursday and Friday in Denver.  There was quite a turnout of top affiliates from all over the country, as well as special guests Declan Dunn, Jeremy “Shoemoney” Shoemaker and Jon Fisher.

The big news of the conference was the announcement, given during the opening banquet on Thursday night, that CPA Empire is changing to Affiliate.com.  Along with this change are going to come some welcome improvements to the network, including a brand new in-house tracking system.

If you’ve never been to an event thrown by Scott Richter, put it on your to-do list.  He knows how to have a good time, and we had a good time over the 2 days and 2 nights of the conference with after-hours events at 5 Degrees and Theorie Nightclub, as well as the Mountain Ranch Club at Coors Field for the Friday Rockies / Padres Game.

Anyone can qualify to come to the Breakaway next year, it’s just a matter of being active on CPA Empire, running offers with us, and making a bunch of money!  That’s all for now, I’ve got a stack of emails to get through and a crazy 2 days to recover from…