Affiliate Summit East 2010 Wrap-Up

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Josh Todd

I just got back and all caught up from the trip to New York, so now it’s time for the obligatory wrap-up post. For those of you that were not able to make it, you should definitely put it on your calendar for next year. For pure value, contacts gained, and networking, this was the best show of the year for me so far. Ad-Tech in November would have to be pretty spectacular to beat it.

I flew in on Saturday night, and got to The London at about 10:00 pm. I scoped out the room for a minute, which was very nice, then headed out to dinner at Maison with some friends. Then we walked around Midtown looking for a convenience store that was open to get some essentials that we forgot to pack. I didn’t want to get too beat up the first night, so after that I just went to bed.

The London

My Room

On Sunday morning I had breakfast with HeavyT and then headed over to the Hilton to pickup our passes. The ASE Meet Market was the main event for the day, which runs from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm. Once it opened, the Meet Market was totally packed. You could barely walk through the aisles because there were people so packed in between the small tables. I made the rounds and talked to people until about 4:00, then it was time for the PPV Playbook meetup at the Hilton bar. It was an excellent little gathering. There were lots of people excited about PPV and life in general, and it was cool to meet some of the regulars from the forums. David (the owner) and Corey (from Affportal) couldn’t make it to the show, but they were attending it virtually through webcams on two MacBooks that were set up so they could talk to people. I thought that was a pretty cool idea.

At 6:00 I headed over to Touch for the NYC Meetup202 group. There was a huge turnout there as well, and I ended up taking several affiliates out for Steaks with Mike and Laura from GetAds. After dinner we tried to get into the ShareASale party, because there was nothing else going on. Unfortunately by the time we got there they had packed out the rooftop of the Empire Hotel so they weren’t letting any more people in until other people left. And people weren’t leaving. So we just went back to the London bar and had a couple drinks there. I didn’t stay up very late since I had to work the GetAds booth at the Exhibit Hall first thing on Monday.

Meetup202 @ Touch

More Meetup202

Both days of the Exhibit Hall flew bye, which is definitely not the norm when you are working a booth. I talked to so many affiliates (new and old) that it was really enjoyable for once. We had a great spot for our booth right at the door for the 2nd floor, so we got a steady stream of traffic on both days.

Our Corner Booth Spot

There were lots of parties on Monday night, so I decided to try the Neverblue Underground Party first. I thought that would be the best spot but honestly it was kind of lame. The venue was in the sub sub sub basement of the Hudson Hotel, and there was no open bar. Seriously? Both Neverblue and CPX Interactive were listed as sponsors and nobody sprung for the open bar? What exactly did they pay for? Fail. I had acquired a pass to the invite-only AdKnowledge party earlier in the day, which was at Covet Lounge. I decided to check that out and it was way better. Open bar, good peeps and awesome atmosphere. I stayed there the rest of the night until closing time, then took a very roundabout cab ride back to the hotel because the driver didn’t know where the London was (really?). I eventually just had to pull it up on my iPhone and tell him directions.

Tuesday after the show I was pretty exhausted, and it was time to head home. Took a cab straight to the airport and jumped on my flight back to Denver. The flight was terrible and the landing was super rough, but I survived. PRO TIP: Don’t fly JetBlue if you can avoid it. They suck.

All in all this was an excellent show, big props to Shawn and Missy for putting on another winner!

The Shoe Has Spoken

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Josh Todd

I wanted to give a shout out to Shoemoney for letting me guest post on his blog. It was a lot of fun and I hope I will be able to do it again in the future. It’s amazing how many new readers have discovered my humble little blog from the post!

I wanted to return the favor as much as possible, and turn some of my readers on to what Jeremy has been working on recently. His new and updated Version 2.0 of the Shoemoney System is looking even better than the first one so far. Just watching the free intro video he gives out some pretty good tips. If you’ve got a spare 30 minutes to check it out, I told him I’d let you guys know about it.

You can watch the video here.

Shoemoney's pool is freaking epic.

If you ever get the chance to meet Shoemoney at a conference or industry event, you definitely should take the time to introduce yourself. He’s not a big ego type of guy, even though he has every right to be. It’s always fun to chat with him since he is so down to earth and really passionate about internet marketing.

On that note, if anybody is going to Affiliate Summit East this year, be sure to get in touch with me so we can meet up.

Ad-Tech SF 2010: I Can Has Traffics?

Posted on April 23, 2010 by Josh Todd

As I walked through the Exhibit Hall of Moscone Center West for Ad-Tech San Francisco 2010, I got the feeling that I was one of many. Many affiliates and advertisers that have been scorned by Google and, most recently, Facebook. Many people that were looking for the next big thing, or even better, the traffic source with killer ROI that nobody knows about. You probably won’t hear a lot of people blogging or tweeting about what they found, but based on my experience I would say that most people got their money’s worth. Especially if they knew what they were looking for.

For me, the real value was in the three events that I attended on Tuesday. First was the AffBuzz meetup at ‘Wichcraft, an excellent sandwich shop just a couple blocks from the convention center. This was a great event because there was nobody sponsoring it, it was just affiliates and bloggers chilling and talking shop over lunch (that we paid for ourselves). I hope Justin decides to continue the meetup at future shows.

The second event was the Meetup202 event put on by Bloosky / Tracking202. Say what you will about Bloosky and their nefarious schemes to make money off the of 202 users, they do know how to throw a good event. I’m not just saying that because I walked away with a free iPad either, although it rocks (I’m sure I’ll post about that later). All of the Meetup202 events I have been to at conferences have been the highlight. I would travel just to go to the meetup, because the caliber of the people there is second to none.

I got to chat with Jon Shugart, the creator of Keyword Rockstar. He’s a cool guy, really sharp and excited about his product. I use it myself and I would definitely recommend checking it out. I’ve been meaning to do a review, maybe I’ll get around to it next month.

Finally, the PPC.bz / EWA Network party was definitely real. They chose to have it at a full on concert venue instead of the typical tiny club or packed out hotel suite. I personally liked this approach, as it gave everyone a little bit more room to spread out, mix, and mingle.

There wasn’t really anything spectacular or memorable that stuck out to me about the Exhibit Hall. However, I did leave with the feeling that this was a good show and that I am going to make more money because of it. And that’s all these things are really about, right?

Affiliate Convention FAILS After 1 Year

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Josh Todd

UPDATE: As several commentors have pointed out, it looks like what really happened is the partnership that created Affiliate Convention did split up, but Webmaster Radio is going to keep it going. The new site is live at AffCon2010.com (which I’m not going to link to). False alarm on the convention being shut down, but I do still feel that it was a terrible show last year and they had better do something drastically different to steer the fail boat ashore this year.

10 Reasons That #ASW10 Was The Best One Yet

Posted on January 21, 2010 by Josh Todd

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: Day 1 is for Posers

Posted on November 11, 2009 by Josh Todd

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

Affiliate Conferences – Are They Worth It?

Posted on December 10, 2008 by Josh Todd

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!

2008 Breakaway Conference – Affiliate.com Announcement

Posted on August 9, 2008 by Josh Todd

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…

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