Affiliate Summit

Handicapping the 2012 Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards

by Joe Sousa on January 2, 2012

in Affiliate Summit

I have handicapped the Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards for the previous two years so I figured I would give it a shot again this year. Just to refresh you here are the results from the previous two years:

2010:

  • Affiliate Of The Year: Nicholas Koscianski
  • Affiliate Manager Of The Year: Matt McWilliams
  • Exceptional Merchant: eBay Partner Network
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate: Angel Djambazov
  • Best Blogger: Jeremy Schoemaker
  • Affiliate Marketing Legend: Scott Jangro

I only went 2 for 6 on these picks getting it right with Scott Jangro and Matt McWilliams but missed on the rest.

2011:

  • Affiliate Of The Year: Deals.Woot.com
  • Affiliate Manager Of The Year: Carolyn Kmet
  • Exceptional Merchant: Zappos.com
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate: Lisa Picarille
  • Best Blogger: Eric Nagel
  • Affiliate Marketing Legend: Todd Farmer

I was 3 for 6 this year picking Carolyn Kmet, Eric Nagel, and Todd Farmer. Not too shabby.

Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards

Who will take home the hardware this year?

So lets get on to the picks for this year. And remember these are just my thoughts and opinions. And this is just for fun. And I am usually wrong.

Affiliate Of The Year

Coupon Cabin: Being one of the biggest coupon sites out there I am sure Coupon Cabin can drive some affiliate sales and some revenue. They recently raised $54 million worth of funding and in 2010 they generated more than $500,000,000 in sales for their merchants. So if you are looking for a David vs Goliath competition for one of the awards this surely is it.

Odds on Coupon Cabin winning: 2-1

Tricia Meyer: Tricia has a number of niche sites as well as Sunshine Rewards which is a cash back site. Tricia also has a blog at Tricia.me and maybe she will make a run at Blogger of the Year in the future but for now she is very well deserving of Affiliate Of The Year. And I really have to be careful what I say about her since she is also a lawyer and could sue me.

This is Tricia’s second straight nomination for Affiliate Of The Year and it is a well deserved honor.

Odds on Tricia winning: 5-1

Eric Nagel: Eric is trying to join the elite as a winner in multiple categories after winning Blogger of the Year last year. Only Angel Djambazov, Scott Jangro, and Brian Littleton have pulled off this feat so if he can get the victory here he will be in great company.

I think Eric was learning PHP programming while still in the womb and he has been honing his skills ever since. He has been able to take those programming skills, apply them to affiliate marketing, and has built and maintained many successful sites over the years.

Odds on Eric winning: 6-1

So who will win? The simplest bet would be to go for the big guy, Coupon Cabin. But I hate betting on the big guy. And last year I predicted Tricia would be walking home with some hardware soon so I will put my money on Tricia Meyer this year.

Affiliate Manager Of The Year

Carolyn Kmet: Nobody has ever pulled off back to back Pinnacle Award wins but if there is anyone who can do it Carolyn can. She is the affiliate manager for Groupon and has very successfully been able to balance the needs of a large, growing, public company like Groupon and the needs of affiliates big and small.

Carolyn has been around this industry as long as I can remember and year after year shows why she is one of the best people in this industry and is the favorite to repeat.

Odds on Carolyn winning: 2-1 

Amy Miller: Every year there are a couple nominees I have to claim ignorance on and this is one of them. I have to apologize to Amy but I don’t know who she is. I did some searching and the best I can guess is she is the affiliate manager for Ticketfly? Can someone correct me if I am wrong?

Odds on Amy winning: 10-1 (based only on my ignorance, not her competence)

Kim Salvino: Kim is one of the great AMs at Buy.at and head of publishers there. This is Kim’s third nomination for this award and if she doesn’t win she can join Jamie Birch with three nominations and no Pinnacle Award wins.

Kim has won many different awards over they years for her work and she is one of the best in the business.

Odds on Kim winning: 4-1 

So who will win? Sorry Kim, the third time isn’t a charm. Carolyn Kmet goes back to back for this award.

Exceptional Merchant

Amazon: I am guessing nearly every affiliate pushes at least a few sales through Amazon even if they are just from friends and family who use their link. Is the biggest the best? They won back in 2007 and are looking to regain their crown as Exceptional Merchant.

But they do have some marks against them in the affiliate community, primarily dumping affiliates who live in the “Amazon Tax” states. I know it is probably the right thing to do for them but this move has hurt many affiliates.

Odds on Winning: 4-1

Overstock: Have you ever bought anything through Overstock? I can’t remember the last time I made a purchase there let alone visited their site. But like with any large merchant I am sure their affiliate program generates some good sales and drives quality revenue.

Odds on Winning: 14-1

TinyPrints: TinyPrints is currently the #1 ranked merchant in the Shareasale Power Rank and you don’t get to that spot without being good. They sell stuff like wedding invitations, photo Christmas cards, custom birth announcements and all sorts of stuff like that. TinyPrints has been a top merchant for many years now and while they aren’t a giant retailer like Amazon or Overstock they are an awesome niche retailer that has carved out a nice market share for themselves.

Odds on winning: 4-1

So who will win? I am going to go with TinyPrints for this award. They aren’t as big as the other two nominees but their program is very well run by Acceleration Partners and I think the tax issues with Amazon and Overstock will hurt them.

Affiliate Marketing Advocate

Just like I do every year I am gonna pull a cop-out and say all three of these nominees deserve to win this award. Brian Littleton, Rebecca Madigan, and Tim Storm have all gone above and beyond this past year as voices for the industry and have done more than their share to fight issues like the Amazon Tax. I wish they would give out three awards here.

But if you make me pick a winner I am gonna go with Tim Storm, formerly of Fat Wallet. When the Amazon tax passed in Illinois he moved his whole multi-million dollar company across the border to Wisconsin. This was a good business decision for Fat Wallet but it was also a company standing up and showing a state that the Amazon tax will only hurt their revenue, not generate more revenue. Great job Tim!

Best Blogger

Mr. Green – Lorenzo Green blogs at MrGreen.am and I know I have always enjoyed his posts and seen a lot of practical tips there. He seems to focus mostly on the CPA side of things and does a lot with POF and other advertising of that sort.

The case studies he has done int he past give some great information and some step by steps affiliates can take with their advertising.

I don’t think I remember ever meeting Lorenzo but I do enjoy reading his blog even though I don’t really do much in the CPA, PPC, or display ad space. But some of the stuff he talks about is applicable to other forms of marketing as well.

Odds on Winning: 3-1

Sam Harrelson – There are few people who have worked on more affiliate blogs than Sam Harrelson. His latest blog is PayPerTrends.com and from what I can see he posts quite a few times per day.

Many of his posts are all original and many of them are commentary on other posts or news from the world of affiliate marketing or the online world in general. I have just started reading his posts and he gives some great information and pulls in other great information from a variety of sources.

Sam has had many blogs come and go over the years but I hope this one sticks around for a while.

Odds on Winning: 5-1

Tricia Meyer: This is Tricia’s second nomination of the year but it is a well deserved nomination. Tricia blogs at Tricia.me and she covers a variety of topics.  Her posts are mostly not technical stuff or how do to affiliate marketing type of information but all her posts are worth reading.

Her recent post on bad merchants that deserve lumps of coal was a great lesson for merchants who take advantage of their affiliates by changing the terms of service and she also regularly posts on how people can monitize their sites, helpful info for people attending Affiliate Summit, and some other day to day stuff as well.

Odds on winning: 6-1

So Who Will Win? I think I will go with the best odds here and take Mr Green. While I do like the other two blogs and read them regularly his probably has the most practical information which is what I like.

Affiliate Marketing Legend

Kim Rowley – Kim has been around this industry for many, many years and pretty much has all the credentials to be considered a legend. Kim runs many different sites, has spoken at many different conferences, has helped many other people in this industry, and gives back more than she gets.

Out of all three finalists for the Affiliate Marketing Legend award I know Kim better than any of the other nominees so it is easy for me to see why she is nominated here.

Odds on winning: 3-1

Brad Waller – This is Brad’s third straight Legend nomination and the third straight year I have to say I don’t really know Brad. I have met him a couple times but really don’t know much about him. He has been in the industry longer than anyone else I can think of though (since around 1994) and based on his longevity he definitely deserves this nomination.

Odds on winning: 4-1

Adam Weiss – I feel like an idiot saying this but this is the first I have ever heard about Adam Weiss. He is the VP of Network Development & Product Strategy at Linkshare currently and I really don’t do much of anything with Linkshare. I have only had bad experiences with Linkshare but that really is no reflection on Adam.

Odds on winning: 8-1

So Who Will Win? Gonna give this one to Kim Rowley mostly because she is the only nominee I really know much about although Brad will make a strong run at it.

Will I get more than three correct this year? I have no idea. What I do know is I will miss being in Vegas for Affiliate Summit this year and I will miss seeing the winners. What I am really hoping for is for Eric to pull a Kanye when Tricia wins the Affiliate Of The Year.

All of the nominees here are very deserving of these awards and it must be really hard to pick the winners. You could probably make an argument for everyone here to walk away with a trophy but there will be only 6 winners. Congratulations to you all!

What are your thoughts? Who do you think will win this year? Leave your comment below and let me know what you think.

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5 Things I Always Forget When Setting Up A WordPress Site

by Joe Sousa on October 14, 2011

in Affiliate Summit

On the conservative side of things I would guess I have about 100 WordPress installs on many different sites. So for the most part I am pretty experienced in setting up a WordPress site but there are still a couple things I seem to forget every time. If I would just remember these things when I get everything set up my life would be much easier.

1. Disallow comments after 14 days. Since most of the sites I build are affiliate sites and aren’t meant to generate many comments from users I see no reason to keep comments on. The only comments I ever seen on those sites are  spam comments and I hate logging into a WP install and seeing hundreds or thousands of spam comments. I know there are plugins that can help with that but it is usually just easier to turn off the comments after a certain amount of time. Or just turn them off all together.

2. Change permalinks. In most cases I like to set the permalinks on my sites to /%postname%/ but so often I forget this step. When I go back to the site at a later date or look at the logs and see Google spidering pages like /?p=1434 or whatever I then realize my mistake. I would much rather have the permalink contain the title of the page than just some ugly looking numbers.

3. Changing the footer links on a theme. On 99% of my sites I use either Studiopress or Thesis. Both these themes are fairly easy to customize and easy enough for a guy like me to use. But on the bottom of the page there is always a link that links back to the theme. On sites like this I don’t really care about it too much but if I am trying to sell someone something I don’t want anything on the page that will distract them. If nothing else I need to remember to change those links to affiliate links. But if you were to look at most of my sites those links are still sitting on the bottom of the page.

There are a couple plugins that even make this super easy to do and you won’t even need to edit any CSS or PHP files. But this is something I nearly always forget to do.

4. Add analytics code. For the most part I just use Google Analytics. I usually don’t need any super fancy stats or anything but it is usually a few months down the road that I remember to add the analytics code into my site. It is just a simple cut and paste job that takes maybe a minute to set up but I can never remember to do it while building the site.

5. Remove the default posts and pages. When you install WordPress you always get those default posts and pages. I don’t think it is a huge problem leaving them but I always find them annoying. Yet so often I don’t remember to delete them.

If you are absent minded like I am there are probably some of these things you forget. None of them will make or break an affiliate site but I like to do them on my sites. Maybe I need to develop a site building checklist I go through every time I build a site to make sure I remember these things.

Also if you are forgetful you might have forgotten to register for Affiliate Summit West in January in Las Vegas.  Well, consider this your reminder that will save you a ton of money. The earlybird registration ends on October 21st so you have a week to get registered. Silver passes are $99 right now and will jump to $249 after the 21st. Gold passes go from $279 to $549, Platinum passes (I recommend this one) will go from $879 to $1249, and Diamond passes go from $1879 to $2249. So you can save well over $300 on most of these passes. Don’t wait to register! I have done this in the past and have gotten stuck with a lower level pass because the prices went up. Register for Affiliate Summit now.
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Affiliate Summit East 2011 Recap

by Joe Sousa on August 25, 2011

in Affiliate Summit

I am guessing you will probably read a bunch of different Affiliate Summit recaps over the next few days so I guess you can just add this on to the pile.

I am pretty sure this is my 9th Affiliate Summit (maybe 8th but I am pretty sure it was #9) and as always it was a highlight of my year. I won’t get into too many of the specific sessions in this post. I have notes on a few of them and I will be putting those in seperate posts over the next few days but here I will just give you a rundown of the show from my perspective. As usual I brought my camera but it never left my suitcase so you won’t see any fancy pictures here. If you want pictures you can check out some of the galleries on Facebook and Flickr. For now you just have to read my stuff.

I got into New York on Friday at around 4:30 and had a very uneventful trip from the airport to the hotel which is a good thing. I had a car service reserved and after I got my bags I called and they were there in 5 minutes. There were no traffic problems so I got to the hotel before 6 PM. Once I got there I headed down to the Old Castle where I knew I would find people and had a pretty nasty burger. I know Vinny O’hare had about 4 or 5 of these burgers during the weekend but I though it was pretty nasty. Back to my room for a quick nap.

About 10:00 or so I headed back to the Old Castle, met up with a bunch of other friends, and hung out for a couple hours.

Saturday morning I woke up, went to take a shower, and found a tub filled with a bunch of backed up sewage. Not sure where that came from. But we called the front desk and the plumber was there in 5 minutes. I didn’t have time to wait for him to finish so I got a quick sink shower and then it was time for the standard pre-Summit 36 holes of golf. I liked the first course we played but the second wasn’t quite as good. I had some good shots including a chip-in to square up a match on the 18th hole of the first round. I had plenty of bad shots as well but at least I didn’t hit a condo. I did end up owing some street meat as a result of me sucking though.

After golf I got back to the hotel and rushed out to dinner at Nobu. I am only recently a sushi guy but this was the best sushi I have ever had. The plates of food just kept coming and coming and I think we ended up closing down the restaurant after about 3 hours and a few rounds of Liar’s Poker. Awesome time with some great people. Then it was back to the Old Castle for a bit.

Finally the official Affiliate Summit starts!!! I made it down to the Industry Clash: Balancing CPS and CPA Marketing session and then met up with a merchant to give them some help with their affiliate program. For some reason I do really like being able to help merchants out with stuff like this.

I took a quick walk through the Meet Market and then went to spend some time helping out at the Affiliate Summit Charity Table where we were selling All About the Cookies and some of Missy Ward’s Signorina wine. I really wanted to sell a bottle of wine while I was there but nobody was buying that. We did however sell about 25 cookbooks in the hour. So that was $500 that will be going towards breast cancer research.

For dinner I went to Ray’s Pizza with Eric Nagel, Mike Buchele, and Logan Thompson. The company and discussion was top notch but the pizza was very sub-par.

After this I took a little break, relaxed in my room, took a walk down to Times Square, and then came back to get ready for the Shareasale Barn Dance. This was yet another great party put on by the Shareasale crew. They had three rooms reserved. One was a quieter room with a couple bars, the next room had food, a photo booth, and another bar, and then the ballroom had a dance floor and a mechanical bull. The dance floor turned into a dodgeball court for a bit as well with Angry Birds flying everywhere. Had a great time.

Finally, after two nights in Vegas it was time for some Street Meat. Wade Tonkin, Shawn Collins and I, still in our cowboy hats from the SAS party, went across the street for some of the best food ever. I really wish I had a place like that near me.

Day two of Affiliate Summit began with the BEST keynote I have ever heard at Affiliate Summit or any other conference for that matter. Wil Reynolds did a great job and gave some of the most useful information I have ever heard in any session. Usually keynotes are more general, motivational, or big picture stuff but Wil did all that and also shared some awesome, specific techniques for building some awesome links to sites.

I popped my head into a session or two and then met with three more merchants to give them my thoughts on their affiliate programs, how they could improve them, and what a potential affiliate would be looking for. Then I walked around the exhibit hall trying to avoid eye contact with 95% of the people manning the booths.

Wade Tonkin and the Nunez’s were having a meetup of sports affiliates but I really wanted a good burger so I walked down to Shake Shack for one of the best burgers I have ever eaten. Then it was on to the Playwright Bar for a good time of networking with other affiliates working in different sports verticals.

Affiliate Karaoke was up next and I was a bit skeptical if it would go over well or not but it was a blast. There was a better turnout than the other karaoke events I have been at and there were some people that went all out. I even did a rendition of New York, New York by Sinatra. Then it was down to the hotel bar to hang out for a bit. And I would once again like to thank Todd Farmer for the fan.

Day three started with a good keynote by Bryan Eisenberg talking about testing and improving conversion. Good stuff. Then it was time for my session with Scott Jangro and Stephanie Lichtenstein where we talked about Social Media in Niche Markets. I think it went well but we had more information than we had time for. If any of you were there and have any other questions please contact one of us.

Now I am in the mood for some good pizza so I head down to Lombardi’s with Logan Thompson and eat way too much and top it off with some awesome rice pudding from Rice to Riches. Apparently there was an earthquake while we were eating but I didn’t feel anything.

On the way back I got a tweet that I had won something from Buy.at. Turns out I was the grand prize winner and won a Samsung Galaxy tablet. Pretty cool stuff.

Now it is off to the Yankee game. Shawn and Missy rented out a suite and there were probably 40 people or so there. The Yankees made a rally late but came up a bit short against the Yankees. Very fun time and a great experience.

The evening ended with Brian Littleton at the piano and some more street meat. Awesome way to cap off an awesome conference.

So why do I keep going to Affiliate Summits? Isn’t 9 enough?

As I was flying home I realized why I keep coming back. It isn’t necessarily for the keynotes (although I would have paid just to hear Wil Reynolds speak again), sessions, or exhibit hall. It isn’t because of the parties, the hangouts, the dinners, or anything like that even though they are all awesome.

I keep coming back for two primary reasons:

1. It is awesome hanging around people that are smarter than I am. Maybe it is a 40 minute talk, maybe it is talking over pizza, maybe it is just a couple minutes of chatting during the baseball game, or a discussion at the bar. Either way it is the conversations with people that keep me coming back. I can specifically think of about 5 or 6 conversations that will have a direct impact on my business. If you want to be smarter hang around smart people.

2. These people are my friends. I could rattle off a big long list of names but you know who you are. Over the years I have developed some awesome friendships with many people in the affiliate industry and I have an awesome time whenever I can see them and hang out with them. Many of them seem more like family than friends or even business acquaintences. Without these people I wouldn’t keep coming back.

If you are on the fence about going to Affiliate Summit West 2012 in Vegas jump off that fence and sign up today. You won’t regret it.

Thank you to Shawn and Missy for another great show and thank you to all my friends and all the people I talked to. You are all awesome.

Here are a few other recaps of Affiliate Summit East 2011

Affiliate Summit Day 1 Recap
Affiliate Summit Day 2 Recap
Affiliate Summit Day 3 Recap
Affiliate Summit East Recap by Eric Nagel
Affiliate Summit East Recap by MicroMediaMarketing
Affiliate Summit East 2011 Recap by Adam Riemer

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Meet Me At Affiliate Summit

by Joe Sousa on August 10, 2011

in Affiliate Stuff

In 9 days I will be getting on a plane and heading to NYC for Affiliate Summit East.  This will be my third Affiliate Summit in New York and I think my 9th Summit overall.

Affiliate Summit is one of my favorite times of the year and New York is one of my favorite cities so that makes this trip extra nice. I am really looking forward to connecting with old friends, eating some street meat, hanging out at the Old Castle, a Shake Shack burger, pizza from Lombardi’s, a stroll in Central Park, and talking some business with all of my affiliate friends.

Awesome new artwork by @JasonRubackyEvery year I say I am gonna take it kind of easy at these conferences but that never pans out. When you only get to be around so many great people for such a short period of time you don’t want to waste that time sleeping or sitting in your room. So for 5 days I expect to get very little sleep, eat too much food, talk with people until my voice is hoarse, and have a great time hanging out with friends. I can always sleep when I get home.

But I do want to make sure I make the time to talk with people so I am asking for your help. I want to meet with as many OPMs, affiliate managers, merchants, and affiliates as possible and do some quick interviews.

If you are a merchant or OPM or affiliate manager I want to get the details on your program, how affiliates can effectively promote your programs, any tips you might have for affiliates, and pretty much anything else you want to share about your programs. Most affiliates are always looking for new programs to work with and I want to help you spread the word. I will write up the important stuff from these meetings and do a post on this blog about your program.

Also I am always looking for new programs and products to build sites around so let me know what you have and how we can work together. If you have an affiliate program that is struggling maybe I will be able to give you some pointers and help as well.

If you are an affiliate I would love to talk shop, find ways to help each other, figure out if there is anything we can be doing better, share what is working for me, help you get started, orThe Affiliate Super Friends at #ASE10 whatever else you would want to chat about. If you would be good with it I would also be more than happy to post this information on the site here but if you want to keep it off the record that is just fine with me as well.

One of the more difficult things about meetings like this is actually scheduling them. So I have tried to make that easy. I set up a schedule at Schedule Once where you can go and set up a time to meet with me. I have time available Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday so if you want to meet with me you can visit http://meetme.so/joesousa and claim your time.  

I am hoping my schedule will start to fill up quickly so if you have a specific time you want to meet claim your time soon. I know all of you will be busy as well so if you have a time you want to meet outside the times I have available let me know what works for you and I will see if I can make it work.

So go to http://meetme.so/joesousa and let’s set something up!

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Two More Ways to Learn At Affiliate Summit East 2011

by Joe Sousa on June 13, 2011

in Affiliate Stuff

We are just over two months away from Affiliate Summit East 2011 and this year they have stepped their game up even more.

Of course there will be the regular sessions available being led by some of the most knowledgeable people in the affiliate industry.

Of course there will be the exhibit hall and meet market which blow away the exhibit halls at any of the other industry conferences.

Of course there is the great networking opportunities which in many ways are more valuable than the rest of the conference.

Of course there will be the thousands of attendees, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors.

Of course there will be the keynotes from people like Marc Ostrofsky, Jon Spoelstra, Bryan Eisenberg, and Wil Reynolds (don’t miss this one! Wil is almost always the best speaker at any event he speaks at).

Of course there will be all the late night strategy sessions (i.e. hanging out at the bar), dinners, long walks in the park, and everything else New York has to offer.

But in addition to all of that there will be two more extra day long seminars from two of the smartest people in the industry. These two events aren’t included in your Affiliate Summit pass and require their own registrations.

The first one: Full Day SEO Training Course with Rae “Sugarrae” Hoffman-Dolan

If you have been to Affiliate Summit’s before you might have heard Rae (also know as “Sugarrae”) do one of the great SEO Clinics where she breaks down sites from the audience members and let’s them know how they can improve their SEO. She will have that session again at ASE11 at 2:00 PM on Sunday but on Saturday before Affiliate Summit really kicks off she will be doing an all day SEO training course.

In this course Sugarrae will cover topics like basic on-site SEO and site arcitecture, overcoming common SEO issues created by datafeed driven websites, building quality links, tracking SEO efforts, and a bunch more. It won’t just be theory but she will be showing you the techniques she uses on her own very successful affiliate sites.

I have met Rae a couple times (I think Pubcon in Boston in 2003 was the first time) and from everything I have seen from her she is the definition of straight shooter. She will tell it like it is. If you have ever read her blog (Sugarrae.com) you will see that she tells it like it is and that is what I want from a speaker, especially if I am gonna pay to hear them talk.

There is little doubt in my mind that you will be able to take the information Rae will be teaching, implement it on your sites, and make your registration fee back. Register today (It will cost you $1299) and be ready to learn more about SEO for affiliate sites than you imagined possible.

And be sure to buy her a beer afterwards.

The second one: Local Affiliate Lead Generation Bootcamp with Jeremy “Shoemoney” Schoemaker

Jeremy Schoemaker is loved by many and hated by some. Pretty much everyone seems to have an opinion on him but you will rarely find anyone who will dispute the fact that the dude knows how to make money online. He has started many very successful web companies and projects and when it comes to local lead generation he really knows his stuff.

This one day, 8 hour bootcamp will teach you about local lead generation which is a very hot topic right now. You will learn what local affiliate marketing is, how you can get clients, what services to offer, how to upsell, and what kind of legal things you should worry about. Jeremy will show you some case studies on projects he worked with and show you how he generates local leads for many different types of customers.

There are only 200 seats available for this and all the net proceeds will go to AffiliateMarketersGiveBack.com. The cost of this bootcamp is only $295 and I know you can easily make that back (many times in a day) with just one successful local lead generation campaign. Register today.

Add those two events to the awesomeness of Affiliate Summit and you are sure to walk away from the conference with more information than you will know what to do with. If you are serious about making money online you NEED to be at Affiliate Summit and at one (or even both) of these great day long seminars. Register for Affiliate Summit in NYC today.

Also I will be there speaking (Tuesday, 11:30 in room 2) with Stephanie Lichtenstein and Lisa Picarille talking about utilizing social media in niche markets. I will also be there covering the whole conference as a member of the press so if you want to schedule and interview please get ahold of me and let me know.

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Affiliate Summit West Sessions I Wish I Had Gone To

by Joe Sousa on January 19, 2011

in Affiliate Stuff

In my last post I broke down the sessions I went to and what I took away from them: Affiliate Summit Sessions I Attended. In this post I will tell you about the sessions I wish I would have made it to. Luckily the videos of these sessions will be available shortly and I will be able to check them out. I didn’t plan on missing these but whenever I go to a conference there is always stuff that comes up (sleeping in, eating, meeting with people, conversations that take longer than expected, etc) that causes me to miss some of the sessions I wanted to go to.

Anyway here are the ones I wish I would have made it to and I am really looking forward to the videos:

Local Lead Generation – Heaven & Hell: Ad Hustler and Amanda Orson – I have met Ad Hustler a couple times and was briefly introduced to Amanda last year at Affiliate Summit and I have only heard good things about them from my friends. They both are very knowledgable in the local lead gen space and I was looking forward to learning a bit about it. Local lead generations has been something I have toyed with the past couple years but have never taken the next step and gone after any clients.

My wife works for a florist and I will be working on the website for the flower shop soon and I will need to do some local marketing and it is one of the areas where I need a lot of learning. I am really looking forward to seeing the videos and see how Ad Hustler and Amanda go about generating leads, what they do with them when they get them, and a lot of the basics.

Keynote by Drew Eric Whitman – I had a couple people recommend Whitman’s book Ca$hvertising to me and I bought it a while back but never read it. I was looking forward to hearing what he had to say but sleep got the better of me that morning so I will just have to wait for the video. I heard some great things about the keynote and some mediocre but I am still looking forward to seeing it.

The New SEO Toolset: Wil Reynolds – I heard Wil speak in New York and was very impressed with both his knowledge and his presentation. I was looking forward to this session more than pretty much any other and was sad to have missed it. Wil drops some serious knowledge whenever he is on stage so this will be a can’t miss video for anyone doing any sort of SEO work or looking to get more traffic for their site.

Inside the Minds of Affiliates: Greg Hoffman, Tricia Meyer, Kim Rowley, and Eric Nagel – I mostly wanted to go to this session because I am friends with pretty much everyone on the panel. I think their topic would have meshed well with my session on improving the affiliate/affiliate manager relationship so I wish I could have gone to see where they were coming from.

There are probably a few other videos I will check out like Profiting from Trendspotting and Why Affiliates Should Dominate Local Marketing as well. If you had a Gold, Platinum, or Diamond pass you will be able to watch the videos when they are released in a few weeks.

Are there any sessions you are sorry you missed? Any others I should be sure to check out on video when they are ready? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Affiliate Summit Sessions I Attended

January 14, 2011 Affiliate Stuff

TweetYet another Affiliate Summit in the books and I am back home ready to get back to work. Right now I am at that point where I have about 100 things I want to do and I just need to prioritize them and come up with a plan. I am usually not a fan of going [...]

6 comments You know you want to read more →

Handicapping the 2011 Pinnacle Awards

December 18, 2010 Affiliate Stuff

TweetLast year I handicapped the 2010 Pinnacle Awards and only got two picks right. Maybe I can improve on that this year. The Pinnacle Awards are given out by Affiliate Summit and recognize the best and brightest in the affiliate industry. There are 6 different categories and they accept nominations from the public and then [...]

7 comments You know you want to read more →

7 Reasons to Attend Affiliate Summit West 2011

November 4, 2010 Affiliate Stuff

TweetJust 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 [...]

5 comments You know you want to read more →

Vote for ASW11 Sessions

October 1, 2010 Affiliate Stuff

TweetWell, that shows you how much I have blogged recently. My last post was about Affiliate Summit East and this is about Affiliate Summit West.  Maybe I need to step my game up. Anyway, the voting is open for sessions for Affiliate Summit East. Overall the lineup of potential speakers and sessions seems to be [...]

6 comments You know you want to read more →

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