Shawn Collins' Blog

Affiliate marketing and other stuff from Shawn Collins, co-founder of Affiliate Summit.

Archives for January 2014

Recruiting Non-Traditional Value Added Affiliates at Affiliate Summit West 2012

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This was a conference session titled Recruiting Non-Traditional Value Added Affiliates from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speakers:

  • Robert Glazer, Founder, Accelertion Partners (Moderator)
  • Angel Djambazov, OPM, Custom Tailored Marketing

Session description:

Getting low values affiliates to join you program is easy. We’ll give you examples of outside the box recruiting ideas to find non-traditional affiliates to add value and drive incremental sales.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Merchants/Advertisers
Niche/vertical: Recruiting

Session video:

Recruiting Non-Traditional Value Added Affiliates video

Session slides:

Recruiting Non-Traditional Value Added Affiliates slides

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Link Building – The Reality in Practice at Affiliate Summit West 2012

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This was a conference session titled Link Building – The Reality in Practice from Affiliate Summit West 2012, which took place January 8-10, 2012 in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace Las Vegas.

Affiliate Summit WestSession speaker:

  • Robert Adler, President, The Link Builders, LLC

Session description:

Link building concepts, ideas and methods from the traditional whitehat tactics to the dark shadows of blackhat.

Experience level: Intermediate
Target audience: Affiliates/Publishers
Niche/vertical: Link building

Session video:

Link Building – The Reality in Practice video

Session slides:

Link Building – The Reality in Practice slides

Note: the companies and positions listed above were current as of the time of the conference. Some of this information may have changed since then.

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit. The session videos aren’t made public until a year or more after each conference.

Don’t Forget Conference Follow-Up

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The time when a conference ends is not when it’s over – you still have to follow-up with all of the people you spent time with.

thank-you-noteHere is some advice I shared in my book, How to Get the Most Out of Attending a Conference…

You spent all of that time before and during the conference working out goals and objectives, and then achieving them, so don’t quit before you get to the finish line.

You have not finished until you’ve followed up with the people you chatted with during the conference.

Resist the temptation to do an email blast. Why, because it’s easy, impersonal, and that’s what every other half-ass will do (the complete asses won’t bother to follow up).

Instead, lead with a handwritten note. Get some of those little folding “thank you” cards and scratch out quick notes to your new contacts.

No novels – just a couple or three sentences to further your conversation and setup a phone call.

In some cases, you’ll also want to send out literature, brochures, sales kits, etc. Hopefully, you pulled together all of that stuff before the conference, and now it’s ready to go in the mail.

If you don’t hear back from that initial contact in a week, drop them an email or ring their phone to jumpstart the relationship.

Good luck with building on those relationships that you started at the last conference you attended.

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Day 3 Recap

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Tuesday, January 14, 2014 was the third and final day of Affiliate Summit West 2014 at Paris Las Vegas.

The day started with a series of educational sessions. This was followed by the 8th annual Affiliate Summit Pinnacle Awards, which recognize exemplary affiliate marketers.

pinnacle-awards

The following were the winners and runners-up for the 2014 Pinnacle Awards:

  • Affiliate of the Year: RetailMeNot (runners-up: Rae Hoffman, Eric Nagel)
  • Affiliate Manager of the Year: Khushbaht Abdulloev (runners-up: Greg Hoffman, Joe Sousa)
  • Exceptional Merchant: Fanatics.com (runners-up: Target.com, VMInnovations)
  • Affiliate Marketing Advocate: Brian Littleton (runners-up: Rae Hoffman, Tricia Meyer)
  • OPM/Agency of the Year: Greg Hoffman Consulting (runners-up: Acceleration Partners, All Inclusive Marketing)
  • Tool/Service of the Year: BrandVerity (runners-up: For Me To Coupon, Shareist)

After the awards, we got to hear a powerful keynote from Derek Flanzraich, Founder & CEO of Greatist.

Derek Flanzraich ASW14

The final day of Affiliate Summit West 2014 also featured a series of breakout sessions and lots of networking in the exhibit hall.

last day expo hall asw14

The exhibit hall closed out with a pub crawl, which was a fun way for the crowd to get in one last networking party.

pub crawl asw14

Thank you to everybody who came out to network, learn and have fun with us – Affiliate Summit West 2014 was the biggest Affiliate Summit ever with over 5,400 attendees!

maxbounty asw14

Register now for the early bird prices for Affiliate Summit East 2014, taking place August 10-12, 2014 in NYC.

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Day 2 Recap

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Monday, January 13, 2014 was the second day of Affiliate Summit West 2014 at Paris Las Vegas.

The day started with a tasty breakfast for VIP and All Access pass holders, followed by a series of educational sessions and the opening of the exhibit hall.

breakfast-1

breakfast-2

Later in the morning, we had brief announcements from Affiliate Summit West 2014 Emcee, Marty Fahncke, followed by a funny and data rich keynote address from Steve Denton, Vice President of Marketing Solutions at eBay Enterprise.

steve-denton-keynote-asw14

After the keynote, the action returned to the exhibit hall, where thousands of affiliate marketers descended on the booths.

exhibit hall at ASW14

One of the very popular attractions was the Hostamania booth, where Hulk Hogan posed for pictures with conference attendees.

Affiliate Summit and Hulk Hogan

In addition to all of the business talk in the exhibit hall, there were also educational sessions throughout the day at Affiliate Summit West 2014 on topics that included mobile, conversion rate optimization, affiliate management, WordPress, affiliate recruitment, coupons, and Google+.

tim-ash-session-asw14

After the education sessions, there were a series of Ask the Experts roundtables, where a number of interactive discussions were led by industry veterans.

roundtable-asw14

Day two of Affiliate Summit West 2014 wound up with the Affiliate Ball, which featured Flavor Flav, B Real from Cypress Hill, Too $hort, and more. They also gave out AFFY Awards, and Amy Rodriguez and Colleen Makel of Affiliate Summit were recipients.

Thanks to Darren Blatt for pulling together another epic Affiliate Ball.

Just one more day to go – Affiliate Summit always flies by too fast.

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Day 1 Recap

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Sunday, January 12, 2014 was the first day of Affiliate Summit West 2014 at Paris Las Vegas.

Registration check-in and set-up for the Meet Market kicked off the day at 8:00 AM.

day-1-registration

I gave my First Timers Orientation for Affiliate Summit West 2014 session at 10:00 AM, and I was glad to see a packed crowd of folks eager to learn how to optimize their time at the conference.

Orientation session at ASW14

This was followed by sixteen breakout sessions throughout the day that covered SEO, compliance, blogging, Facebook, coupons, international, video, and more topics.

The Meet Market opened at noon and ran through 6:00 PM with a steady stream of attendees meeting with the table exhibitors.

asw14-meet-market

During the day, exhibitors built out their booths in the exhibit hall for Monday and Tuesday.

asw14 014

The day wrapped up with a welcome talk from Emcee Marty Fahncke, followed by a series of elevator pitches where attendees were able to step up on stage to let the crowd know what they’re looking for at the conference.

The agenda finished up with a Lady Blogger meetup, as well as a get together of participants in the Newcomer Program.

There were lots of networking options in the evening for Affiliate Summit West 2014 attendees.

I checked out the ShareASale Under The Stars Super Heroes vs Super Villains Party at the Chateau Rooftop at Paris Las Vegas.

There were lots of entertaining costumes, on both the hero and villain sides. I was on the side of good as Beer Man

Mike Collins, Victoria Clark, and Shawn Collins

On to day two of Affiliate Summit West 2014.

Slides from Affiliate Summit West 2014

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The presentation slides from Affiliate Summit West 2014 have been posted.

affiliate-summit-session

The slides have options to share on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. You can also embed them into your own site or blog.

Please share with your friends and colleagues if you enjoy them.

Videos from Affiliate Summit West 2014 will be available in about a month.

Attendees of Affiliate Summit West 2014 who registered with Networking Plus, VIP, or All Access passes will receive an email with access information for the videos.

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Day 0 Recap

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Yesterday was day zero of Affiliate Summit West 2014, where we were hustling around behind the scenes to get things set, and a great many of the attendees arrived at Paris Las Vegas.

Getting set for the start of Affiliate Summit West 2014

The exhibit hall was being built out on Saturday, so exhibitors can move in today.

Building out the Affiliate Summit West 2014 exhibit hall

Attendees were also able to pick up their badges yesterday, and if you didn’t do it this time, you should definitely go to the check-in the night before at the next Affiliate Summit to avoid the lines and get familiar with the conference area.

If you have any problems or questions, go to the information desk in the convention area lobby or find one of the Affiliate Summit team in the black staff t-shirts.

Affiliate Summit West 2014 Information Desk

Affiliate Summit West 2014 staff shirts

And if you haven’t done it already, check out the agenda for Affiliate Summit West 2014, install the conference app, and join the conference Facebook group

Have a great day!

Where is Affiliate Marketing in this Marketing Technology Infographic?

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There is a neat, if not overwhelming, infographic that organizes marketing technology, but it’s missing a key sector… affiliate marketing.

marketing-technology-vendors

It’s awfully comprehensive with 947 different companies that provide software for marketers, and it is organized into 43 categories within 6 classes.

I scanned through it a few times, and figured I must be missing the familiar logos of the various affiliate networks and other vendors.

I Tweeted Scott Brinker, who created the infographic, to ask about it, and he replied that affiliate marketing should have been there.

tweet-scott-brinker

Hopefully there will be an updated version down the road – very neat resource nonetheless. Could make a cool poster.

Affiliate Summit East 2014 Booth and Table Registrations Now Open

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Registration is now open for Affiliate Summit East 2014 Meet Market tables and booths. The conference is taking place August 10-12, 2014 at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York, NY.

New York Marriott Marquis

Details and pricing are available at the Affiliate Summit East 2014 exhibitors page.

Reach the key affiliate marketing players in this landmark event.

Prices go up after February 21, 2014!

Exhibit hall booths and Meet Market tables sold out quickly for Affiliate Summit West 2014. Don’t put it off!

The sponsors at Affiliate Summit West 2014 have the first right of refusal on sponsorships for a period of time after Affiliate Summit West 2014 wraps up.

Meet Market and Exhibit Hall maps coming soon. Book a table or booth now – locations will be selected in the order that companies have registered.