Just 2 months and 5 days until Affiliate Summit West cranks up in Las Vegas. I know many of you that read this are already registered and I am looking forward to seeing you there. But there are some of you who are dragging your feed, riding the fence, and trying to make up your mind if you should go.
Yeah, Affiliate Summit is a pretty big investment. Between a hotel, conference registration, airfare, food, etc. you are probably looking at around $2000 or so to attend. Is it worth it? Will you be able to recoup that money with what you learn there? Well, let me start off by giving you some reasons why you should attend:
1. You will get to meet me – Well, not specifically me (although that is well worth it for a lot of you) but people like me. There will be around 4,500 attendees this year and the vast majority of them are in the affiliate industry. They are merchants, affiliates, networks, service providers, people from other branches of internet marketing, etc. And they are mostly people you can learn something from. Where else are you gonna find that many people interested in the affiliate and performance marketing industry together at the same time?
2. You can learn from some of the best minds in the business – Just looking down the agenda I can see that it is loaded with some of the people I respect most in this industry. As Affiliate Summit gets closer I will give a list of specific sessions I plan on attending but looking down the list there are about 10 sessions that interest me. Usually there are only 3 or 4 that catch my eye.
3. It’s in Vegas – Not much more needs to be said there
4. Monitize Summit – This year on the Sunday of Affiliate Summit there will be a special track specifically focused on monitizing your sites. Jeremy Schoemaker will be doing a 2 hour session mainly focused on novices about how to effectively monetize a site. Then Kim Rowley, Tricia Meyer, (both of whom are contributors to Suze Orman’s new MoneyMindedMoms site) and James Keating will talk about how to monetize pop culture trends. This will be an awesome session. After than Chris Pearson from DIYThemes.com will talk about increasing conversions. And it wraps up with Scott Jangro, Eric Nagel, and me talking about using datafeeds to monetize sites. All three of us have used datafeeds for years and all have a different approach to it. Should be interesting and informative. So if you are looking to learn how to make money from your site you won’t want to miss any of this.
5. The parties – Talk to your affiliate managers, talk to your affiliate networks, talk to your friends. There are usually quite a few different parties, charity event, and get togethers going on. Talk to the people you know and see how you can get invited to them. Some are open to everyone and some are more private. But they are great chances to meet people and talk.
6. Motivation – I am always super motivated when I get back from Affiliate Summit. My head is full of ideas and plans from talking with people and the month or two after Affiliate Summit’s are usually the most productive for me. If you are stuck in a rut a conference like this is a great place to find some motivation. Maybe you will find a new merchant to work with, maybe you will find someone to partner up with on a new site, maybe you will just get some ideas from talking to people.
7. You need to get started – People ask me all the time how to get started in affiliate marketing. That is such a tough question to give a specific answer to. I usually tell people to come to Affiliate Summit and see if they are still interested. If you come to Affiliate Summit you have the opportunity to talk to thousands of successful affiliates, people who are just starting out, people who have been doing it for 10+ years, merchants, networks, and more. Nearly everyone who attends is open to talking and would be happy to give you some starting points. After digesting all the information you will have a great idea if this is something you want to keep pursuing. If you are looking to learn about affiliate marketing there is no better venue than Affiliate Summit.
Everyone will have different reasons for attending and I am sure there are a few people who have attended that didn’t think it was worth it. I would also guess those people were just observers and not participaters. If you come to Affiliate Summit plan on getting out there and talking. Don’t just sit in the sessions and head back to your room. Find groups of people and join the conversation. Talk to the vendors in the Meet Market and Exhibit hall. Go up to people and start a conversation. Don’t be afraid. If you commit to this I am sure you will get something out of the conference.
What are some of your reasons for going? Leave a comment below and let me know why you go to Affiliate Summit or why you want to go.
Register today and look for me there. I will be happy to talk to anyone.
I just want to see you ride the mechanical bull again at Toby Keith's!
That reason was so obvious I didn't even need to put it.
Hey Joe,
I want another crack at you at the poker tables lol! Also, I'll be down in Vegas again for Affiliate Summit. I'm very excited as it's my first Affiliate Summit and I think that affiliate conferences are what I should have been going to all along (since that's how I make my money anyway…)
Oh, and you should probably invite me as your noobie ASW11 guest to any parties too.
See you there!
Awesome! I figured you had been to one before. I am sure you will enjoy it.
And we will have to figure out a way to hit the poker tables again.