Final Thoughts On The Affiliate Convention
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Online Advertising, affiliate convention
Today was the closing day of the Affiliate Convention and I must say it was an absolutely great experience. Sitting with some of the top affiliate marketing people on the web the past few days along with some of the top SEO experts was absolutely great. And if you ever want to hear a person that is passionate about their business listen to the President of SEOmoz talk.
I am wore out so this post will be a bit random but here are some thoughts:
First off thanks to Victor Pitts from Moniker for interviewing both Morgan Linton from Domainvestors.tv and myself for future shows on WebmasterRadio.fm , the interview with Victor today hits on alot of the topics I have discussed on my blog lately so I hope you find it interesting.
One thing that was said over and over again as we talked to some of the convention promoters here and some of the top affiliates was how close our two industries are and how little we interact at this level. There is a lot both industries can learn from each other and the past couple days of interaction showed it over and over. If you want to learn more about monetizing your domains I would suggest going to the Affiliate Convention in Denver next year.
Today I spoke in the AM on a panel with Jamal Haque from Though Convergence, Victor Pitts from Moniker/Oversee, Jon Waterman of Findology (moderator), David Duckwitz from Citizen Hawk (and also a founder of CJ.com) the topic was New TLDs and Domain Asset Management. There were some good conversation with the audience after the talk as well.
There was an absolutely incredible discussion about Whitehat vs Blackhat SEO that was just simply amazing (have I emphasized that enough?). Listening to the discussion around what Google can and cannot do compared to they actually say was pretty nifty. And hearing someone that plays the pure Whitehat game go back an forth with people that are willing to go a bit more towards black or grey was very entertaining. One of the best lines ever was from Patrick Sexton of SEOish.com who said "I am a drunk lazy ba***** who just wants to wake up in the morning have more money." Basically he was explaining how doing SEO right will help drive continuous traffic to your site. I also saw him speak the day before concerning other examples of what he was done, he is absolutely great to watch and listen too.
I really think the free concept around the show was great, the sponsors want people there so it makes sense to offer the show to free for attendees to the sponsors get their value. Daron Babin who is Co-Founder of WebmasterRadio.FM said it best when he said that someone should not have to pay to get the information they need in a convention like this. Very cool.
I also want to give a shout out to Kevin McKim of DnUrls.com and Bob Olea who owns Oceanside.com , we all hung out and had a great time. Bob really led a lot of the questions in the last session of the show. He was asking what a lot of people were afraid too.
In the next couple days I will be posting some videos and pics of the Affiliate Bash after party where Morgan, Jason, Victor and I got to watch Digital Underground do the Humpty Dance. Awesome party!
Sounds like a great trip, I am going to see if I can make it out to the show next year.
Thanks
Bruce,
I was going to go and living in San Diego is 2 hours from LA and is where I grew up. However, my twin daughters turned 2 during the convention so of course that took priority.
I will be at DomainFest next month, and I think that may be the only domain conference I attend in 2010. Affiliate marketing is where I make good money at through my ForclosedHomes.com site and will be getting more involved down the line with other sites as well.
I love the free concept and I believe the cost of domain conferences have many people fed up. There need to be some changes and it would be great if there could be an affiliate/domain conference scheduled some time together. It’s great you and Morgan are getting the word out.
Thanks, Jim
It was a good show, and pretty enlighting on the affiliate side and some of the SEO talk. I picked up some good points on bettering the affiliate links I have, and signed up for a couple new ones. Had a good time hanging with you, Bob and Morgan. Look forward to doing it again at DomainFest next month.
Kevin, it was absolutely great to finally meet you and it was a great show as you said. It was interesting to talk to so many people who had tons of domains but their focus is purely on monetizing, seems that is where most domainers heads are these days too. Our industries share a lot.
Hey Bruce! It was good to meet up with you at AC, and Kevin and Morgan as well. I see a natural match and possible convergence of the domain/affiliate worlds, like we discussed.
Furthermore – I nominate you to lead the charge! But don’t worry – I’m right behind you!