Wiseaff

Are you in a conference rut, like me?

Since I've been in the performance marketing space I've been going to the same conferences year after year. Not that these are bad, most are very good.

The question I've been asking myself lately is this, "are there better ones I should be going to."

Let's face it, unless you just like traveling the reason for conferences is education and networking....driving more business. So where is the best return on my effort?

This year I'm going to be looking outside the box, at some new conferences to review. Today and tomorrow in New York, the founders of A4U are putting Performance Marketing Insights http://www.performancemarketinginsights.com

I took a look at the agenda and it appears to be filled with relevant topics, good speakers and sponsors.

This will be my first new event in years. i guess we will see how it works out.

New Conference for Affiliate Managers - Imwave CEO speaking

There is a new conference coming in March 2012 that is geared specifically toward affiliate managers who are responsible for their company’s affiliate marketing strategy, management and operations.

The conference is called Affiliate Management Days, hosted in San Francisco March 8-9, 2012.

This is an interesting premise as its focus is on the affiliate managers and how to run an successful and effective program.

Normally I leary of first year events, but there are some really great speakers lined up and the agenda seems pretty solid.   Also, I will be presenting a session titled:  Is your Affiliate Program an Afterthought? focused on how managers can fight for respect among the other sales channels within their organization and will also be also participating on a panel titled:  Inside the Mind of a Super Affiliate.  Not sure I know what a Super Affiliate really is, but we’re going go inside their mind ;-)

If you haven’t checked out the conference yet, take a look

http://www.affiliatemanagementdays.com/

…it may pique your interest. Early bird registration ends tomorrow!

If you are going, we’d love to see you there. If you are planning to go, let me know!

Thinking of going to Search Engine Strategies 2010 - New York

There seem to be more and more conferences that are focused on the Affiliate Industry.  Maybe too many.  Well at least too many for me.....

If you are like me there are just way to many to be able to go to them all.  We are, of course, in the business of Performance Marketing, not "Conference Attending."  Don't get me wrong, these conferences can be invaluable to your business.  It's a balance of attending the right ones. 

There are a few of these that I keep hearing good things about and yet have never attended.  I keep hearing great things about Search Engine Strategies.  So, I've been thinking lately that I need to go to SES and check it out for myself.

I know, the New York show is only weeks away and I probably should have made up my mind by now, but honestly it's a short drive for me and so I guess I can afford the procrastination on this one.

Anyway, I've been looking over the agenda for SES New York to see what looked interesting.   On Day 1 there are a number of sessions that looked interesting:

Achieving Success with Improved Ads Quality - By Google

10 Things To Supercharge Your SEM Campaigns in 2010

But what really caught my eye, this year, was Day 3.  There is an "Affiliate Track" that seems to be new this year.  This track will be led by Kris Jones of PepperJam Network.

From looking at the agenda, it appears that there are some good Round Table type discussions setup for Day 3.  

The link to the Affiliate Track is here: Affiliate Marketing Forum - Conference Day 3

 Also on Day 3 are some other very interesting looking items like:

PPC or SEO? The Ultimate Search Marketing Battle

Ads in a Quality Score World

There really seems to be some good opportunities here.  Based on that, I will probably end up going...if I do, I'll be sure to report back.  

How to Recruit Super Affiliates - From Affiliate Summit West 2007

Here is an old panel discussion I moderated in 2007 on how to Recruit Super Affiliates.  Enjoy!

Skyline from the Buy.at Party @ Affiliate Summit

Here is a short video clip I took with my Flip HD Mino video camera, the vegas skyline from the top of one of the Palms Towers on the deck of the Moon Night Club:

Shout out to Joel Comm!

I just wanted to send a quick shout out to Joel Comm, and say thanks for sending me this great picture of us at Affiliate Summit West 2008 in Vegas.  It was nice to finally get the chance to sit down and talk with you!

Good luck on those "JV" deals!

Adam

Heading to Affiliate Summit West 2008

Affiliate Summit West 2008 is almost here, and I think it is very interesting how social media seems to be at the forefront. Twitter appears to be the conference networking channel of choice, and I have heard rumors of a live twitter feed at the summit that will show any twitter containing ASW08 in it live on the big screen.

Converseon has a complicated social media contest going trying to turn affiliates into poperatzi hunting down convverseon employees to try and win a desk chair... Oh my! It is interesting how they are using flickr to allow anyone to send in pictures. I have already sent a dealzam logo and a shot of shawn collins in tuxedo from last year's vip event at the wynn.

Of course the days are already filled up with meeting requests and the nights with dinners and parties.

I think I might need a vegas vacation after this one.

I'm still waiting for SOMEONE to organize an affiliate texas holdem tournament. Not this year I guess. I am willing to donate ALPT.NET to the cause if someone is interested. (affiliate legends poker tournament?) anyone???

See you in vegas!

Adam

Quick Domain Research for the Affiliate Summit Live Domain Auction

At the affiliate summit in Vegas, there will be a live domain auction.  Here is a list of some of the premium names that will be auctioned off.  I ran the list quickly through my Domain Research Tool and pulled some facts for you.  Google PR values, Link Popularity values, Estimated Value (Note only based info it has, this is typically low and you can adjust what settings add what value).  DRT can pull a lot more, but I thought you would enjoy this information.

Domain Name	Auto-Appraised Value	Google LP	Yahoo LS	Wayback Age
911parts.com	$0.00	*	1	2000
affiliateadvertisingnetworks.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affiliateconsulting.com	$0.00	*	*	2002
affiliatelists.com	$0.00	*	1	1999
affiliatemarketingcompanies.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affiliatemarketingdirectories.com	$0.00	*	*	0
affiliatemarketingmagazines.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affiliatenetworkdirectories.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affiliatenetworkmerchants.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affiliatenetworksales.com	$0.00	*	*	0
affiliateprogramconsultant.com	$0.00	*	1	2003
affiliateprogramconsultants.com	$0.00	*	*	2003
affiliatetrafficrevenue.com	$0.00	*	0	0
affililate.com	$0.00	*	1	0
cancunflight.com	$1.00	0	*	2004
certifieddiamonds.com	$0.00	*	*	2001
cigaretteattorneys.com	$0.00	*	0	0
comedians.tv	$1.00	2	1	0
computer.us	$16,028.00	0	1	2002
con.com	$576.00	*	1	1998
consumerprotectionlawyer.com	$0.00	*	11	2001
consumerwarranty.com	$0.00	*	1	2004
corporateamerica.com	$100.00	*	*	0
countrymusicians.com	$0.00	*	2	2004
cpc.com	$626.00	7	1	1996
democrat.tv	$208.00	*	*	2007
dietcookbook.com	$0.00	*	1	2001
digitalmemory.com	$0.00	1	*	1998
directmailmanagement.com	$0.00	*	5	2001
fastshipping.com	$0.00	0	*	2001
filmlabs.com	$0.00	0	*	1999
findalender.com	$0.00	*	*	2002
fineapparel.com	$0.00	0	*	1999
freshvegetables.com	$0.00	0	*	1999
garagesales.com	$289.00	*	1	1999
greatdeals.com	$1,484.00	*	12	?
hotdatesonline.com	$31.00	776	87	2002
lm.com	$340.00	*	*	1996
mortgageprovider.org	$0.00	0	0	0
motoring.mobi	$22.00	*	*	0
musiciansforum.com	$0.00	*	15	2000
newswire.net	$10.00	0	1	2001
nytheater.com	$100.00	*	2	1999
onlinefinanceguide.com	$0.00	*	*	2004
onlinemedicalguide.com	$0.00	*	*	2004
ornament.com	$1,086.00	*	*	1998
overnightservice.com	$0.00	0	*	1999
passoverfoods.com	$0.00	*	0	?
pay.com	$123.00	6	*	2000
peru.tv	$746.00	*	*	2002
pianodealer.com	$0.00	0	*	1999
pitboss.com	$3.00	*	*	?
prospecting.com	$264.00	*	*	2000
publicityagent.com	$0.00	0	*	2001
racehorse.com	$132.00	*	1	1999
replicating.com	$1.00	*	0	2001
republican.tv	$228.00	*	*	0
restorations.com	$424.00	0	*	1999
revenueshareaffiliates.com	$0.00	*	0	0
senorita.net	$30.00	*	*	2004
sexeducationclasses.com	$0.00	*	*	0
sleighs.com	$0.00	0	*	2001
snowboardingequiptment.com	$0.00	*	0	0
staffingonline.com	$0.00	*	*	1999
temps.com	$174.00	*	3	1999
vintageairplanes.net	$0.00	*	0	?
watchbrokers.com	$0.00	*	1	2000
webmastersconference.com	$0.00	*	0	2005

If you have never tried D.R.T and you are into domain names, it's a must have tool.  Take it for a test drive sometime.

Wiseaff for Sale at Affiliate Summit

This year at the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, they have decided to create a Super Affiliate Auction to support the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities.   

Here are the details from the Summit site:

Super Affiliate Auction

Eight of the most eligible super affiliates will be up for grabs during Affiliate Summit’s First Annual Super Affiliate Auction to benefit the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation.

Merchants, affiliate networks, CPA networks, technology providers and more will bid for the opportunity to meet and dine with one or more elite, hand-picked super affiliates to discuss affiliate marketing during Affiliate Summit 2008 West.

I am honored to be on their list of eight and to participate for such a good cause.  So if your going to be in Vegas, and have always wanted to dine with a Wiseaff, bid away. 

See you in Vegas!

Other sites talking about the auction:

• AffiliateTip.com
• Jangro.com
• Affiliate Fortune Cookies
• RevenueToday
• eWorldwire

My 30 Minutes @ EcomXpo Fall 2007

I really hate to write this post because I love the folks at EcomXpo and I feel they are providing a unique and fun experience for the affiliate community as well as valuable educational content.

That being said, here was my 30 minute experience this year.  I missed the first day because I had some meetings and was traveling to our office in York, PA.

On the 2nd day, I logged on in the morning, went through each booth and joined all the prize drawings I could.  Left 2 emails, one to say hey to a partner of mine who was actually online in her both, and one to someone I wanted to follow up with from a conversation we had at CJU.  He changed companies and I didn't have his new contact info. (He wasn't actually online, I hope he get's it).

A brief stop in the education area to see if there was anything new and interesting I wanted to catch in today's sessions and in the on demand section.  Unfortunately I didn't see anything that I could say would be more valuable then continuing to work on other 4th quarter projects I have going on.

And that was it.  I feel sad, because I love EcomXpo, and don't want to see it go away.  I especially love the prizes I get every once in a while.  In the past I have won Ipods, PSPs, Luggage, and more!

My advice to exhibitors, is to find something that is easy to mail and give away a lot of prizes so more people feel like winners, and you can actually get some information into the hands of the drive by prize folks like myself.

I don't know of any other conference where you can visit each booth, register for all the prizes, and not even have to hand out business cards!  Fantastic!

I'm sure that's now what everyone wants to hear, but it was my experience this year.  In past years, I have spent more time watching the presentations, and have also presented a couple of times.  But, I always do the drive by prize registrations!