Must Attend Affiliate Marketing Events

One of the most important factors in making your online business succeed, is getting out there and networking. One of the best ways to market yourself and get the connections you need, are to attend trade show events, conferences and exhibit halls. Here are just a few of the premier conferences during 2008 that you should try and attend.

Affiliate Summit
Boston (August 10-12, 2008) & New York City (October 5, 2008)
Over the past several years, Affiliate Summit has continually been increasing in size and recognition in the affiliate marketing and internet advertising industry. This is one of the premier events and conferences you should try and attend every year. This year Affiliate Summit is adding a one day NY networking event in addition to their EAST and WEST conferences. I have always made it priority to attend every Affiliate Summit, and I haven’t missed one yet! ( Except for London… but that doesn’t count! )
- Affiliate Summit Information

Ad:TECH
SanFrancisco (April), Chicago (August) & New York (November)
One of my favorite shows to attend is Ad:Tech, and that’s strictly just for the exhibit halls. Over the past few years Ad:Tech NY has been covered THREE FLOORS of the NY Hilton. Ad:Tech San Fran was just last week, Chicago is next on the list and New York is in November. I always make sure to attend the NY show and will try and make it to San Fran one of these times.
- Ad:Tech Information

BlogWorld Expo
Las Vegas, NV - September 20-21
A new conference and expo show last year was BlogWorld. At first, I had no idea what to expect when attending BlogWorld, however it ended up being one of my favorite events I’ve had the joy of attending. Not only did I get to meet up with a whole new niche area of bloggers and marketers, but the event had an awesome line up of speakers. With the addition of Marc Cuban as the last day keynote speaker, this was simply a can not miss event. I’m looking forward to this year’s BlogWorld in September.
- BlogWorld Expo Information

EliteRetreat
April 3-4 in San Francisco, California (2009 TBD?)
I was fortunate enough to attend EliteRetreat this year. I’ve seen the even advertised for prior years and always wondered how it was and if it was worth the cost attendees were paying to be there. EliteRetreat is the premier learning experience. Jeremy puts together an awesome display of speakers with vast knowledge and during the whole event, all of the speakers make themselves available for you to ask anything, or just to chill and have a good time. EliteRetreat caters to all of it’s attendees is one of the best “learning experiences” available.
- EliteRetreat Information

IzeaFest
September 11-13, Grand Bohemian Hotel, Orland FL
I just heard about IzeaFest today and it looks to be a combination of fun times and learning from great marketers. With headliner names such as keynote Jeremy Shoemaker and many big name speakers such as John Chow and Brian Clark, this event looks to have some potential. The event it put together by Izea, formerly known as PayPerPost. I’m still deciding if I will be able to attend this event as there now seems to be a new event every other month, but I wouldn’t mind visiting Florida for a week and meeting up with some of the speakers, since I’m good friends with most of them.
- IzeaFest Information

These are just a few of the networking and conference events that I look forward to attending this year. In addition to the ones highlighted above, there are also SXSW, eComXpo, CJU (my first conference back in 2000!) and many other smaller conventions and networking events thrown by smaller companies. Have you attended any of these events or looking to make the visit later on this year?

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Jason Calacanis Doesn’t Understand Affiliate Marketers

Before any Affiliate Summit sessions even started, Jason Calacanis had set the stage for what would become one of the most controversial Affiliate Summit yet. From past reputation, it was expected that Jason Calacanis would provide a useful keynote, or take a hatchet to the industry and do whatever it takes to turn the event around and make it his own. While most of Calacanis’ keynote was on how spammy the affiliate marketing industry is (by his terms), it was also a bash fest on many well known figures in the affiliate industry such as Seth Godin, Shoemoney, myself and Ted Murphy. The keynote will also go down with some memorable quotes, such as “Affiliate marketing is bullshit. Thank you.” and “Anyone here from PayPerPost? You need to kill yourself. I’m kidding. Well, I wouldn’t mind it if you did.”.

I’m Not Hiding… I’m Happy with My Life and My “Pathetic” Six Figure Checks.

Love him or hate him… Calacanis made some valid points during his keynote… but how much will actually be done as a result of his keynote or commitment to the affiliate industry. Some of you may have thought his Affiliate Summit Keynote was simply amazing, and it’s about time someone stood up to the industry. However, his Affiliate Summit keynote really wasn’t that original at all. Just refer back to when Jason did his keynote at the Le Web conference. It’s almost like we are watching the Affiliate Summit keynote all over again… he even says the same exact things. I can only imagine Calacanis took a few hours to browse through the affiliate industry to pick out some new targets to liven up his multi-purpose keynote speech.

A new focus for his keynote this time was to point out “pathetic” top affiliates who posts large checks from affiliate earnings, such as Shoemoney and myself. Calacanis goes on to say “You guys think small. Holding up a 6 figure check is just pathetic. That’s your industry’s biggest success? Really?“. Yes, it may be pathetic to the boys in Silicon Valley who live and die with venture money and only count money in millions. However we are the “affiliate” industry, and more than not, we enjoy our “simple” lives of dedication and earning what we earn while working out of our homes. I would never trade my life or income levels to impress anyone or work outside of my current work ethic.

The whole intention of releasing my check post (which was less than 2 weeks ago), was to inspire and help others achieve that dream. Telling someone who is just starting out in the industry to go out there and make $25 million is just irrational. I am not a long sales page… I am trying to help and inspire. The Calacanis keynote at Affiliate Summit only angered, confused and discouraged any new life that was in the audience that day… it should be the other way around.

Whether it be WickedFire or ABestWeb, everyone seems to have a different opinion on the guy. If Calacanis’ intention was to come to Affiliate Summit and stir up some attention for himself, he has done a good job. Here are just a few of the blogs which have posted on his rants about affiliate marketing.

Blog Coverage:
You’re Not the Boss of Me | My Thoughts on Jason Calacanis | Jason Calacanis Keynote | Thank You Jason Calacanis | ASW08 Calacanis Keynote | Jason Calacanis Keynote Recap Affiliate Summit | Don’t Pollote the River, Affiliates Told | Keynote Jason Calacanis | Jason Calacanis at Affiliate Summit West 08 | Are You an Affiliate Marketer? You Suck! | Affiliate Summit Day 1 Speech | Affiliate Summit Day 2 | ASW 08 Looking Back | Why Mahalo will Fail and the Problems with General Search | Controversial Jason Calacanis Summit Keynote | Affiliate Marketers Pathetic | Jason Calacanis Insults Affiliate Summit Attendees | Jason Calacanis Embarrasing ShoeMoney

Revenews Coverage:
Live Blogging the Jason Calacanis Keynote at Affiliate Summit | Mahalo’s Missing DNA Back at You Jason Calacanis | Calacanis and the Real Hurdles of Affiliate Marketing | Four Thoughts from Affiliate Summit West 2008

The bottom line is, Calacanis came to Affiliate Summit with the intention to get attention and that’s what everyone gave him. Not to mention the awesome viral exposure it has given to Affiliate Summit itself. I agree there is a great deal of problems in the affiliate / marketing industry, but do you think the same people causing these problems are the ones paying $1500 a head to attend Affiliate Summit? As for the personal and industry attacks from Calacanis… (if you weren’t able to attend the UnKeynote at AffiliateSummit), it’s all water under the bridge. I’ve been pointed out before for my efforts and dedication to this industry and I’m still as motivated as ever… if not more!

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Super Affiliate Panel Recap

Weeks before AffiliateSummit even started, Kris Jones said this would be one of the most talked about and anticipated sessions of the event. He was right, the Super Affiliate panel with John Chow, Amit Mehta, Kris Jones and myself ended up being a full session with plenty of attendees left standing, as all seats were taken. To start the session off, each of us went through a quick intro then we went into a Q&A format for the session.

Each of the speakers had a different area that they specialize in. John Chow is a master in the blog area, Amit is the King of ppc marketing, Kris Jones is a legendary marketers and I have a pretty solid base over most marketing areas and focus on content sites and services. Almost all of the questions during the session were targeted towards pay per click and search marketing… since Amit is the master in this field, he was asked most of the questions, and always had a valuable answer.

Amit Mehta, John Chow, Myself & Kris Jones

The session was packed and many were left to stand during the session.

Since the session mainly focused on ppc marketing and search questions, here is a recap of a few of the topics / answers covered by Amit Mehta:

- Find something that works. Replicate the process and keep scaling it for better profits and volume.- Focus on one keyword per adgroup. Recommends using EfficientPPC. (Adwords Editor as Best Tool)

- Amit also recommends WinnerAlert, which helps with your adwords testing.

- When creating a landing page, include links to content pages at bottom. Make sure to have a Privacy Page and About Us page. The addition of a blog or actual content related to your product or keyword.

- Target long tail keywords for long term traffic and growth.

- Google Ad Spots 3-5 are most Recommended

- Quality Score and ad position are relative. CTR% will also be measured different based on position.

In the end, the session went well and I thank Kris Jones for pulling such an excellent panel together. I know everyone on the panel enjoyed the session and event, and are looking forward to what Affiliate Summit East in Boston has to offer. If you missed the event, what type of questions would you have asked the super affiliate panel?

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Affiliate Bash at the The Venetian’s Toa Night Club

I just returned to NJ and probably slept a mere 20 hours over the past week while in Vegas… so I still have a lot of updating and catching up to do on Affiliate Summit posts. I spent the final night in Vegas on the casino floor and catching up with some friends… there’s no sleeping in Vegas! So let’s go back a couple days and recap on Affiliate Bash.

One of the highlights of AffiliateSummit was the killer party that was thrown at the Toa night club. This was such a great party, that it took multiple sponsors to host it. The platinum sponsor list included PepperJam Network, RocketProfit, Forge and Blue Man Group. This was also the premier party for the Blue Man Group’s Affiliate Program to go live. In honor of the release of their new affiliate program, the Blue Man Group gave a special 15 minute performance. Unlike their other shows in Vegas, this was in a much smaller room and we were all just a few feet from the stage. You can visit John’s post for a video of the full performance.

The Blue Man Group were right in the crowd at some points.

Everyone on the floor getting ready for the show.

In addition to the live show, the food was amazing, and so were the private access rooms offered by the platinum sponsors. This was the event to attend that night and almost everyone was in attendance.

Once you enter the Toa, you are greeted with a ton of statues with candles.

Joel Comm, Myself and Kris Jones in the Private PepperJam Network Room.

In the end, this was a great networking party and place to have fun. The music was also low enough so you could actually interact with others and hold a conversation. This was the first of many Affiliate Bash parties to come, I’m looking forward to seeing what they might throw together for Affiliate Summit in Boston later this year.

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Shareasale Palms Affiliate Summit West Party

Once again, Brian has thrown together a party for the record books. This time around Brian Littleton held his Affiliate Summit West party at the Palms Casino. Everyone is is anyone in the industry was at the event. This party was so excellent, that Reena and I managed to stay there for nearly 5 hours. Here are just a few of the contacts I met at “the party” of Affiliate Summit West 2008.

My Good Friend & Evil Blogger, John Chow!

Man of the Hour, Brian Littleton and Marketing Genius Kris Jones.

Longtime Friend Brad Waller, of AdJungle.com.

Sam Harrelson of CostPerNews & Revenews.

A group picture with Reena, David Stack and Rosemary Zalewski.

With My Affiliate Summit Ticket Winner, Israel of FatManUnleashed!

The Affiliate Summit Veterans Gang!

The picture below was taken on the Palm’s suite balcony, which had an inground pool which extended outside of the hotel over over the side of the building. The Palms 2 story suite was simply amazing and you could see the complete strip and all of Vegas as you went through all of it’s luxorious rooms.

Every year I look forward to what Brian has in store for the Affiliate Summit Party, I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next year. It will be hard to top this one!

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