Affiliate Summit Archives ⋆ Affiliate Marketing Blog

Affiliate Summit Goes Remote for the First Time

June 5, 2020 by Shawn Collins

Affiliate Summit has had events in a museum, college, taco joint, cruise ship, and library, but never online. That’s all changing with Affiliate Summit Europe 2020: Remote.

Affiliate Summit Europe 2020: Remote is taking place from June 30 to July 2 and it will be completely digital.

Speakers at Affiliate Summit Europe: REMOTE will be sharing how they’ve survived and thrived during the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the strategies that they’re implementing to navigate tomorrow. But the content goes way deeper than that like at any Affiliate Summit.

There will be sessions, keynotes, roundtables, meetups, drop-in clinics, virtual matchmaking, and, of course, plenty of networking.

Get more details and register for free at the Affiliate Summit site.

Affiliate Summit – The Family We Chose

February 3, 2020 by Shawn Collins

We just celebrated the 50th Affiliate Summit event over 17 years and I am still trying to process all of this.

Back when we started all of this in 2003, I don’t think Missy and I could have imagined what it would become. We just wanted a place for the industry to get together to learn and network. Also, we thought most of the conferences out there were lame, so we wanted to create something that didn’t suck.

Missy and I were conference friends for a couple of years before Affiliate Summit, but still, we didn’t know each other that well, and we didn’t have any money or knowledge of running events.

But we believed in it and we were sure we could create something useful, fun, and different.

Along the way, we met more and more amazing people in the space. Over time I recognized that these people weren’t just colleagues, they were friends… and family.

Our family, that we discovered at Affiliate Summit, would often remark that attending was like going to a family reunion, but one where we got to pick the family.

I felt the same, but I never had my heart swell up with love as I did at Affiliate Summit West 2020 when so many people came together to recognize Missy and me. Two different events with so many awesome people and drinks and cake and awards and pictures and cards and videos and hugs. I was so overwhelmed that I was speechless.

Affiliate Summit is such a family that it’s where my brother came and introduced me to his wife Victoria for the first time and they’ve been to lots of Easts and Wests.

It was amazing and I’m still on a high from it.

Deb Carney, Warren Corpus, Angel Djambazov, Liz Fogg, Bhavik Modi, and everyone else who made those days so special – I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It was amazing and perfect.

And so great to end it all with drinks at Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill – something that started small in the days we were doing Affiliate Summit at Bally’s (2006 maybe?) and grew to a grand goodbye party for all of us.

Poet Rod McKuen once wrote…

We come into the world alone. We go away the same. We’re meant to spend the interlude between in closeness or so we tell ourselves. But it’s a long way from the morning to the evening.

That reminds me of all of us – so many of us were living in places where other people didn’t get us. Then we’d get together and all speak the same language. We made sense to each other and we liked being with one another. We didn’t just share the latest tips and tricks. We shared our lives.

This was supposed to be a business thing, but yet I would always be so excited to see everybody and I had this sad feeling in my heart when it would end each time.

That closeness we all shared was just a couple of times a year, but when it happened it sure was awesome. Thanks to all y’all for all of these years, and cheers to the times ahead.

The First Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas was a Little Bumpy

December 2, 2019 by Shawn Collins

The first Affiliate Summit West took place on June 13-14, 2005 at the long-gone Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas, NV. But we didn’t call it Affiliate Summit West back then because it was our only event that year.

Before arriving in Las Vegas for this show I’d never been there before, and we were still pretty new to organizing conferences. That plus not a whole lot of money in the bank meant we were handling everything ourselves – the outsourcing of things didn’t happen until later.

So the day before the conference check-in was opening we enlisted the help of a bunch of friends to stuff the bags for the 550 or so attendees. We were in a suite at the Riviera all day with drinks and an assembly line going.

One of my favorite pictures from that conference was Missy laying on the hundreds of bags after we’d finished up.

After the last bag was stuffed, I went on an odyssey in Las Vegas that included taking a nap on the Strip and various versions of how I ended up back in my room at some late hour. You can hear the gory details in my video recap of the conference.

The check-in process was way more primitive back then, but we had smaller crowds and it worked.

Affiliate Summit West 2005 was the first time we had an exhibit hall, but that may be too generous of a term for what was going on there – we had 15 booths in a room. You can see the “exhibit hall” and other entertaining Affiliate Summit relics in the Affiliate Summit West 2005 program, which was lovingly created in Microsoft Word.

While we were at the Riviera there was also a group of rugby fans, and one of the things many people remember from that conference was that a boozer from the rugby crowd threw up in the pool and it had to be closed.

Towards the end of Affiliate Summit West 2005, there was a big scare after a panel on blogging. One of the panelists, Wayne Porter, collapsed and had to be hospitalized shortly after the panel.

Thankfully, Wayne recovered from that fall and was later anointed as the first Affiliate Summit Legend.

It’s hard to believe Affiliate Summit West 2020 will be the 16th year in a row that Affiliate Summit is in Las Vegas. Looking forward to seeing lots of the old-timers who were there at the start, as well as the youngbloods.

Check out the pictures from Affiliate Summit West 2005.

James Martell is a Legend in Affiliate Marketing

August 14, 2019 by Shawn Collins

It was an honor to say some words about James Martell as we honored him as an Industry Legend at Affiliate Summit East 2019. Accepting the award were Arlene Martell, Justin Martell, and Kimberly Juchnowski.

I had a hard time getting the words out that I’d written about James. Here they are for anybody who couldn’t be there…

There are lots of awesome accomplishments and distinctions we can talk about when it comes to James Martell.

He taught tens of thousands of business owners how to effectively market their businesses online through his books, courses, live trainings, webinars, podcasts, and speaking engagements.

He was a true Internet pioneer, thought leader, and influencer who knew how to bring success online.

James had more than twenty years of online business experience, and was successful in online marketing, blogging, podcasting, coaching, outsourcing, and video creation. He authored several business books, and developed twelve popular marketing courses.

He also authored of one of the first and best-selling eBooks on affiliate marketing, and was a host of the longest running affiliate marketing podcast, starting in 2003, with listeners in more than one hundred countries. That is crazy to me – I got into podcasting in 2006 and thought I was breaking new ground – the reality is that James was there and so many other places first.

I think this testimonial I gave to James for his site many years ago does a good job to say what I thought of him…

“James is a one of a kind – an Internet marketing rock star. When he has spoken at Affiliate Summit, his sessions always receive a 10 out of 10. In a space with many imitators and pretenders, James is the real deal.”

But James was more than an awesome business guy – he was a husband, father, grandfather, and so much more.

James had a giant personality and an even bigger heart.

His presence, guidance, and stewardship to so many in affiliate marketing and the in the real world will forever be missed.

James was a big Elvis fan, and I was going to try and pick out an Elvis song and sing a little bit in his honor. I came across a song by the King called Memories, and that choked me up:

“Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind
Memories, sweetened through the ages just like wine
Quiet thoughts come floating down
And settle softly to the ground
Like golden autumn leaves around my feet
I touched them and they burst apart with sweet memories
Sweet memories”

Goodbye, James – you’re a legend.

Thank you to Liz Fogg for recording the award ceremony for James.

Remembering Jim Bouton and His Keynote at Affiliate Summit

July 22, 2019 by Shawn Collins

Jim Bouton, former New York Yankees pitcher, author of Ball Four, creator of Big League Chew, sportscaster, activist, and a bunch of other things, passed away on July 10, 2019, at 80 years old.

I discovered his book, Ball Four, in the 1990s, and I just loved the book. So much that one of my first affiliate sites was BallFourBook.com, which I started in 2000 to promote the book with Amazon links. Jim’s site still has me listed as one of the fansites.

In the late 1990’s I interviewed Jim for a zine I was publishing at the time called Velocity NYC. The interview also ran on NJ.com, the online version of the Newark Star-Ledger, where I was the weekend sports editor for years for the online edition.

Bouton updated Ball Four every decade, and in the 2000 update, he mentioned my affiliate site in his book. I was out of my mind excited.

So anyway, I was in touch with him over the years and as Affiliate Summit was taking off I thought he’d make an awesome keynote speaker. We had him come in and keynote Affiliate Summit East 2006 in Orlando.

I loved his keynote, but even better we chatted for a couple of hours before the keynote and he had me in stitches with his old baseball stories. It was amazing to hear first-person accounts of times with Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and other legends from the 60s.

It was one of my favorite days, and I will always cherish it.

RIP Jim.

“A ballplayer spends a good piece of his life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.” – Jim Bouton

3 Reasons Blogs & Influencers Avoid Your Affiliate Program from Affiliate Summit East 2017

July 1, 2019 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled 3 Reasons Blogs & Influencers Avoid Your Affiliate Program at Affiliate Summit East 2017, which took place July 30 – August 1, 2017, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Session speaker(s):

Mike Nunez, CEO, AffiliateManager.com

Session description:
Learn the three biggest mistakes advertisers are making with their affiliate program with regards to content sites, bloggers, and influencers, and how to fix those issues.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher, Merchant/Advertiser, Network
Niche/Vertical: Influencers

Slides: 3 Reasons Blogs & Influencers Avoid Your Affiliate Program

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

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.

Managing Micro-Influencers on a Performance Plus Basis from Affiliate Summit East 2017

June 24, 2019 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Managing Micro-Influencers on a Performance Plus Basis at Affiliate Summit East 2017, which took place July 30 – August 1, 2017, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Session speaker(s):

Alison Chew, Global Director, Strategic Partners, Acceleration Partners

Session description:
Alison Chew will review strategies for identifying the best influencers for your brand and will demonstrate new payment models that close the loop on tracking engagement to clicks, orders and sales.

Experience Level: Beginner
Target Audience: Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: Micro-Influencers

Slides: Managing Micro-Influencers on a Performance Plus Basis

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

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.

Double Your Blog Traffic In 90 Days… and Monetize It! from Affiliate Summit East 2017

June 17, 2019 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Double Your Blog Traffic In 90 Days… and Monetize It! at Affiliate Summit East 2017, which took place July 30 – August 1, 2017, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Session speaker(s):

Anne Parris, Owner, Midlife Boulevard
Debbie Bookstaber, Owner, Element Associates
Kelby Carr, President, Type-A Parent

Session description:
We’ll go beyond editorial calendars and SEO to show you the techniques and tools bloggers use to grow their traffic using Facebook, Pinterest and more. Plus best practices for monetizing!

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Affiliate/Publisher
Niche/Vertical: Blogging

Slides: Double Your Blog Traffic In 90 Days… and Monetize It!

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

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.

Size Matters (But Not in the Way You Think) from Affiliate Summit East 2017

June 10, 2019 by Shawn Collins

This was a conference session titled Size Matters (But Not in the Way You Think) at Affiliate Summit East 2017, which took place July 30 – August 1, 2017, at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City.

Session speaker(s):

Christen Evans, Owner, Blogger, Consultant, Bourbon & Sparkle
Jennifer Myers Ward, CEO, ebove & beyond

Session description:
Sometimes the smaller guys pack a bigger punch and are able to maneuver a little differently, creating unique opportunities and benefits for the affiliate, merchant and agency.

Experience Level: Intermediate
Target Audience: Merchant/Advertiser
Niche/Vertical: Relationships

Slides: Size Matters (But Not in the Way You Think)

If you liked this video, be sure to register for the next Affiliate Summit.

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.

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