Affiliate News at IMToday.com

Live Fights at ClickBooth’s Affiliate Fight Night at Affiliate Summit West 2012

A couple weeks ago I gave a little teaser about a sweet looking party that ClickBooth is throwing during Affiliate Summit West 2012 in Las Vegas. While other parties might be dying down as the night comes to a close, Affiliate Fight Night is just beginning, and live fights will go on all through the wee morning hours!

The party will take place at the Xtreme Couture MMA with Randy Couture on Monday, January 9, 2012 from 10:00pm until 3:00am.

TheĀ RSVP process for the party has just opened up, so make sure you get on the list asap!

In addition to getting access to some premium fights and rubbing shoulders with Randy Couture, you will also be in good company along side some of the best marketers in the game. Through ClickBooth and their awesome line up of sponsors (including myself), you can expect to leave the party not only with killer entertainment, but also some new business contacts and deals to fatten your wallet during the new year!

Join in on the action at the Affiliate Fight Night Facebook Fan Page and RSVP now!

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Affiliate Fight Night with Randy Couture

When it comes to affiliate marketing conference parties, it seems like ClickBooth‘s job is never done. This time around they are putting everything on the line and they are ready to fight for it!

In what other industry can self made millionaires, nerds, gurus and everyone alike mingle with the likes of Randy Couture and have one of the best networks around flip the bill for it! Simply priceless!

Here’s everything you need to know.

Monday, January 9, 2012 / Time 10:00pm until 3:00am

  • Affiliate Fight Night at Xtreme Couture MMA with Randy Couture
  • Live Fights!
  • Meet UFC Champions
  • VIP Open Bar-Go Go Dancers
  • Hot DJ
  • *Transportation provided to and from!

Join in on the action at the Affiliate Fight Night Facebook Fan Page!

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Affiliate Summit Parties

It’s always great to meet up with familiar faces at Affiliate Summit and conferences. One of the biggest attractions is the mega parties that affiliate networks throw during big events like Affiliate Summit, which starts this weekend (August 21-23st, 2011) in New York City! Outside of the sessions and exhibit hall, the parties are one of the best places to meet up with new contacts and rubs elbows with some of the big names and movers in the industry.

With that said, there are two big parties Monday night that I recommend you try to attend. Last year was the Apocalypse… this year is the Affiliate Awakening. “The Future is Now!“. ClickBooth always does a good job at throwing parties, in addition to making some really cool and movie like trailers for their parties. There is a RSVP list, so sign up now to get into the party, or you will be turned away at the door. Get on the list!

Time: Monday, August 22, 10 til close at Arena
135 West 41st Street, New York, NY

The next party on my list is also on Monday night, at the Greenhouse and thrown together by some big names in the industry; EngageBDR, Ads4Dought and DirectResponse.net. My good friend Rich Gorman has a nice write up on his blog about how you can attend and meet up with three of the top online direct marketers in the world. Rich is a great friend of mine, and he only works with the biggest and best in the biz. Get on the list!

Time: Monday, August 22, 9 PM til 1 AM at Arena
Greenhouse, 150 Varick Street, NY 10013

No matter which party you attend, or even if you manage to hit both up (which I highly recommend), you will be sure to gain some new contacts and meet some big name players in the industry. Conference sessions are for the beginners, the real networking is done in the exhibit hall and after parties. Be there!

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Must See Speakers at Affiliate Summit NY 2010

We are just a few short weeks away from Affiliate Summit East 2010 in New York City at the fabulous Hilton. The NY Hilton is well known in the affiliate industry for hosting large events like AdTech.

There’s an elite crowd of affiliate marketer veterans who can proudly say they have attend nearly every Affiliate Summit. I remember being at the first Affiliate Summit conference in NY way back in 2004, which also included a short three day cruise to Halifax, Canada. The majority of attendees all knew each other very well, and there were probably less than 200 people in attendance. Jump ahead to 2010 and Affiliate Summit is still growing in size year after years… now with THOUSANDS of attendees.

After attending so many Affiliate Summit conferences, some of the speakers would focus on the same topics year after year. If you’ve attended Affiliate Summit for several years, or a veteran in this game, the sessions could get tedious and slow. I was glad to see Affiliate Summit change the speaker setup this year and allow for a voting platform and bring in some new faces.

Going to Affiliate Summit East and not sure which sessions to attend? Here are a few sessions and speakers I am looking forward.

Sunday, August 15

Fast Track Your Business with Outsourcing
- James Martell, President, Net Guides Publishing Inc. (Twitter @jamesmartell)
Session 1b – Location: Murray Hill Suite – Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm

Zac’s Thoughts: I’ve never personally met James Martell, or purchased any of his products, but this guy is all over the place. His name and face should be familiar to most of you if you have a year or more under your belt in the internet marketing world. I’d also like to see what James has to say about outsourcing and his personal experiences.

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New Lead Generation Models: Social-Mobile-Viral
- Declan Dunn, CEO, Dunn Direct Media (Twitter @declandunn)
Session 2b – Location: Murray Hill Suite – Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Zac’s Thoughts: I’ll tell you right now, Declan Dunn is one of the hidden gems at Affiliate Summit this year. I first met Declan back at CJU in 2000 and have been close friends with him since. Whatever Declan touches turns to gold, and he is one of the smartest guys I know. I’m sure Declan will have some great case studies with numbers that will blow your mind. After this session you won’t be able to wait to get back to your computer and start killing it with new ad campaigns. You can not miss this session!

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Affiliate Tactics, Opportunities, and Traffic Comparisons
- Kim Kaplan, Vice President, Plentyoffish
Session 3d – Location: Sutton Complex (South & Regent) – Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm

Zac’s Thoughts: PlentyOfFish is finally getting the recognition it deserves, but at the same time that means more advertisers and affiliates will flow on it’s ad network. If you got in early when Facebook was “the new ad platform”, PoF has given many affiliates a flash to the past with that same type of success. It would have been great to see Markus Frind (PoF Founder) speak at the event, but it’s good to see the company making an apperance. Maybe next year Markus?

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Monday, August 16

Turn Website & Social Media Traffic Into Gold
- Jay Berkowitz, CEO, Ten Golden Rules (Twitter @JayBerkowitz)
Session 4b – Location: Murray Hill Suite – Time: 11:30am-12:30pm

Zac’s Thoughts: Jay Berkowitz is another great success story, however one of my favorite things about Jay is how he creates his slide presentations. Unlike other speakers that have a lot of text and dead time going from topic to topic, Jay really knows how to hit all of his points and get your brain going. Don’t be surprised if Jay shows up with a killer presentation and 70+ slides!

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Facebook Advertising From Soup To Nuts
- Jeremy Schoemaker, Marketer, ShoeMoney Capital INC (Twitter @shoemoney)
Session 5a – Location: Gramercy Suite – Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

Zac’s Thoughts: Jeremy is like the “Kevin Bacon” of internet marketing… it seems everyone is connected to him in some way or another. You are either promoting his latest coaching program, or he introduced you to that new contact that just might help get you to that next level. Love him or hate him, Jeremy is a great guy and will probably end up with a “standing room” only session. Get to this one early!

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Crowdsource Your Success
- Matt Mickiewicz, Co-Founder, 99designs, Flippa & SitePoint (Twitter @sitepointmatt)
Session 6b – Location: Murray Hill Suite – Time: 3:30pm-4:30pm

Zac’s Thoughts: If you are hesitant about skipping this session, just look at the resume after Matt’s name. Here you have the co-founder of 99Designs, Flippa and Sitepoint. “Nuff Said!”… Three amazing sites that I still use today, and I’m sure many of you do as well.

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How Bloggers Can Successfully Connect with Audiences
Session 9b – Location: Murray Hill Suite – Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm

* Kristopher B. Jones, Founder & President, KrisJones.com (Twitter @krisjonescom) (Moderator)
* Drew Bennett, Blogger/Photographer, BenSpark.com (Twitter @BenSpark)
* Tim Jones, Co-Owner, Destinations To Explore, Inc. (Twitter @TheRealTimJones)
* Murray Newlands, Co-Founder, Influence People (Twitter @murraynewlands)
* Eric Schechter, Social Media Manager, Clickbooth (Twitter @EricSchechter)

Zac’s Thoughts: Here’s a good panel for any bloggers out there. Besides from the fact that everyone on this panel is a good friend of mine, they all have established a name for themselves through blogging and making the right connections. Panels usually swing both ways on whether they provide decent content, so make sure to stick around and talk to these guys after the event for future business.

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All in all, this coming Affiliate Summit in New York City should be another great event. Make the right connections and bring your business to another level.

- Register for Affiliate Summit East NYC 2010

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Stop Wasting Good Money on Bad Branding

Let’s be honest… no one loves your company and logo more than yourself! And that’s the way it should be… but how can companies better brand themselves and save money on wasted schwag. With Affiliate Summit coming to a close, and a massive load of money spent on promotional schwag and tshirts, it’s a good time to look back and at the good the bad and the ugly. How many times were you given a tshirt from a network that is just hideous and will only be used as a rag or night shirt? It happens all the time. As bad as some tshirts might be, they are still not as bad as half of the schwag handed out that is immediately tossed.

If you are going to order 10,000 shirts, stickers, mousepads or anything else… make sure you spend a lot of time doing research that it’s something people will actually wear/use and not just toss it into the trash after they pass your booth.

Over the past several Affiliate Summits and marketing conferences, I usually end up tossing all of the schwag and promotional items into a box in my office room closet. Below you can see just a portion of what’s been collected over the years.

Mouse pads, high quality pens and USB plugs are always good items for keeps, but the same can’t be said about most of what is handed out. Tshirts can also be a good use of promotion, if they are done nicely. Go for the higher quality shirt, stay away from white and try to make something people would like to wear in public. As much as you want people to know your domain name, slapping your huge logo in the middle might not create a shirt that many people want to wear.

One example of a tshirt that was done effectively was Affiliate.com. The tshirts below were handed out during Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas. Not only did they create a tshirt for both men and women, but the front of it doesn’t look like an affiliate / branded shirt at all. The back view is where the branding is at, and it’s not completely in your face, but still gets the message across.

Billionaire Marc Cuban says the following about schwag: NEVER EVER EVER buy swag. A sure sign of failure for a startup is when someone sends me logo polo shirts. If your people are at shows and in public, its ok to buy for your own folks, but if you really think someone is going to wear your Yobaby.com polo you sent them in public, you are mistaken and have no idea how to spend your money.”

While I agree with Marc Cuban for the most part, it’s still a lot of fun to have product with your name and company on them. Don’t stop buying shirts and schwag to hand out, just make sure it’s actually something people will want to take home.

What are some of the BEST and WORST tshirts/schwag you’ve seen from affiliate and internet marketing companies?

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