If you want to go from the UK, you best book flights now, its peak holiday season and those birds aint cheep. Flights from the UK are now top price and few bargains to be had. Flights are coming in at around £700 + for direct flights, if you don’t mind a connecting flight, they come in at around £650 via Amsterdam KLM (that’s if you can avoid the temptation of a schmoke and a pancake, cigar and a waffle?)
American Airlines via local stops comes in at around £670.00
British Airways comes in for direct flights at £690.00
Virgin comes in at around £700, but interestingly on the UK site they displayed prices in USD, its probably me doing something “computer says no!”

You could do a route I did in reverse if you have time, fly to New York and get the train to Boston, its one beautiful train journey and hugs the coast en route, making your trip to Affiliate Summit that much more interesting. Trains are pretty cool in the US and you meet a bunch of people and some even end up becoming friends. Amtrak as an alternative to the car or plane, I love it and if you dont mind freight having right of way, its my only way to travel around the US, food sucks definately like the stuff you used to get on olden days brithish rail and for the record Amtrak, not a bad cup of coffee but next time hold the cheese!

Back on task, few tips for Affiliate Summit.
Collect business cards, you may have no use for them now but some where down the line I guarantee you wont regret it. Have a plan in mind, this event is action packed with too many companies and people to meet over two days, can’t be done (or can it?), so stay focused during the day and stick to your ,reason for going, path. Don’t be embarrassed by starring at the badges around people’s necks before you speak to them. It’s a little unnerving at first, but time is not on your side, trust me they will get just as twitchy as you (could be the start of a beautiful friendship) but it is one way in ensuring you are meeting the right people in your sector. It was noted last time that a short ass like me, no one could see my badge without developing back pain or doing some break dancing moves. Would help if all could maybe where their name badges on their foreheads :0) But definitely do keep those badges where every one can see them. Above all have big fun and look forward to reading the blogs posts after.

I wont be going to Boston as Im required on the other side of the US.
We hope to get to New York Affiliate Summit. We hope to have an APA rep, this is still being worked through. Look out for Peter Bordes and posse from Advaliant, they have some exciting times a ahead of them.

Registration for Affiliate Summit East, Boston Seaport Hotel

My last morning at Affiliate Summit started off with the “Ask the Experts” session. 15 Experts in various elements of Affiliate Marketing each hosted a table where attendees could sit down and pose their questions to that expert and the other attendees there. It was a great way to be exposed not only to the ideas of the experts but to get feedback from others at each table. Three of the most popular tables were “Leveraging Video to Boost you Affiliate Program” hosted by Jonathan Stefansky of Qoof.com, “Affiliate Program Launch and Management” hosted by Heather Paulson of Paulson Management Group and “PPC Search Engines” hosted by Affiliate John Hasson

My other morning session was entitled “Super Affiliate Strategies that Work”. The panel consisted of Kristopher Jones (left) of Pepperjam.com, John Chow of TTZ Media, Zac Johnson of MoneyReign, Inc., and Amit Mehta of SuperAffiliateMindset.com. After brief backgrounds, it was mostly Q&A between the panelists and attendees. There weren’t many issues that hadn’t come up in other sessions but a few key point here were made. Amit noted that in his experience, it’s best to stay with Google, Yahoo and MSN for PPC. He feels Google has a lower conversion rate due to it’s users being a bit more web-savvy than Yahoo or MSN. Kristopher stresses the importance of putting at least 350 words of good, relavant content on your landing page so Google will spot keywords quickly. Everyone in the panel seemed to agree once again that good relationships and communication with Affiliate Managers, and building quality websites correctly from the start are keys to maximizing revenues while also creating the best user experience.
After lunch, my last session was a lively panel hosting “Social Media Strategies in Affiliate Marketing”. Sam Harrelson of OnCard Marketing, Stephanie Agresta of The Conversation Group, Justine Ezarik Tris Hussey of b5media.com and Deborah Schultz made up the panel. The session was packed with standing room only as the buzz this Affiliate Summit seemed to be about social networking and blogging. Most of the Q&A seemed to be blog related and the panel shared their varying experiences. All agreed the best way to introduce your blog or idea is to have an interest and a point of view but not to force it into the conversation. It’s best to post complimentary thoughts on other related blogs to get your idea noticed. Social networks like Dig, StumbleUpon, Facebook, MySpace were cited but most of the panel advocate Twitter as the preferred communication network, especially in the blogging community.

For some great photos from this Affiliate Summit West 2008, go see Tris Hussey’s Flickr album.

“Get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure and what ever comes my way…” Im on the road to AffiliateSummit.com, as Im driving my thoughts are very much on what will I find when I get there. So with a fist full of dollars and a few dollars more, some trepidation … here I come!

The weather is chilly, rainy and windy…that’s Vegas baby…(at least in February) Good thing we are indoors. There was an Affiliate Manager training class yesterday which I did not get to, but by all accounts it was informative and people attending seemed pretty pleased.

Today, the meet market was buzzing and was walking around dazed like a deer in the headlights. This is the first time I have been to an Affiliate Summit and took a while to get my bearings.It’s certainly busy and the atmosphere is very laid back and casual.

I manage to chat with Peter Ettenborough briefly. He was excited about Affiliate Marketing in 2008 and spoke about Advaliant.com (a MediaTrust company) as a “one-stop shop” for planning, implementing, and marketing affiliate programs. ad:tech named Advaliant the “Best Affiliate Marketing Campaign” in 2007. They can already boast an impressive client list and you can see a case study from their site about one of their clients playphone.

With three offices and a move to enter the UK space sometime this year, certainly they are one company to watch in 2008. Advaliant.com has been aggressively active in networking and Peter Bordes CEO certainly has been putting him self about, he is all over facebook. With Pepperjam and Advaliant coming into the UK space this year, is this evidence that companies have finally woken up to the fact that ecommerce is or should be global? Jess and I have often chatted about the UK Affiliate Network space and is it not already crowded?. I think Jess and I would agree that the affiliate network who really does facilitate cross border affiliates and merchants would be niche enough to thrive but knowing the ins and outs will be tricky, educating Merchants/Advertisers should be part of the process as there are a few merchants that have accommodated affiliate marketing in terms of their website and currency.
The other little chat I managed was with Anik Singal, CEO of AffiliateClassroom.com. He and Affiliate Manager Evelyn Grazini gave me the quick summary of the advantages of their online training courses geared toward individuals who wanted to start, or further their careers as Affiliate Managers, or to Merchants who want to properly train their in-house Affiliate Managers. You can even sign up for a 2 day trial for $1. I can’t really comment on how good this is as I have never used it, but for $1.00 I could be tempted. Anik is one of the speakers on Tues re “Getting free Editorial Coverage”. Well he seems to know his stuff… he gets a mention on affiliateprogramadvice.com
Cant wait for Monday and Tuesday Mike Blumenkrantz

Do you seriously think I would ignore A4uexpo or any other industry event? What part of the word “Independent” did you not understand? And no, I don’t do public speaking and the reason why… I am the first to put my hand up and say, I’m rubbish…seriously crap :0)
The AffiliateSummit UK was talking about the US and the UK, I know far less about the US then I do about the UK, why on earth would I want to talk about something Im still learning about re US aff marketing? Im not a US authority, which is why I have Mike Blumenkrantz in the US working for APA. Why am I going to talk to a bunch of UK and US folks about US aff marketing when Im still learning, where in the magna carter (or the American Constitution) of affiliate marketing does it say I have to know everything?

Here is the article … and if this is all you can criticise me for then it’s quite complimentary really. Bash away all you like and if this is the best you can do, then I must be doing something right.

Jess

By Bus (good luck) http://www.eco.co.uk/visitors/travel/bus/

Hope to see you either today or tomorrow.Jess