I’ve only been home from Affiliate Summit for 8 hours and it’s already time to start thinking about next steps. I’ve brought in the luggage, spent time with my kids, ate a regular meal at the kitchen table, and read through all of my emails, Tweets, and Facebook posts since Saturday. At the same time, a thousand new ideas are running through my mind and I am trying to channel what is left of my energy into capitalizing on the education and networking I took away from the conference. With so many things to do, it can be daunting to figure out how to make up the work you missed while also making the most of the new opportunities that you have because of the conference. Here’s my take on an action plan. Not everything will apply to you, and you may need to change up the order, but hopefully it will help you get on the right track.

• Business Priorities. Make your way through anything that is an absolute priority for your business that you missed in the last few days. This may be running reports, responding to customer service emails, or something else. Essentially, it’s anything that absolutely cannot wait another 24 hours. Do that first so that you can feel comfortable continuing to focus on the Affiliate Summit follow-ups for another day.
• Sort the Physical “Stuff.” Pull out everything that you brought home and separate out business cards, notes, and swag to deal with later.
• Make Immediate Connections. One of the fastest things you can do is run through your whole stack of business cards (even the people who you do not intend to work with any time soon), and add everyone as a contact on LinkedIn or follow them on Twitter. This is just to get through everyone while you still remember who they are and where you met them. Don’t expect conversations or deals this week because everyone is busy.
• Create Prioritized Task List. Sit down for an hour and go through all of the business cards and notes that you took and make a list of everything that you would like to do as a result. Which merchants do you want to schedule follow-up meetings with? Which programs do you need to join? What SEO changes do you want to make to your sites? Make a list of everything that you would like to DO as a result of what you learned at Affiliate Summit and who you met and then prioritize them with a system like red, yellow, green or 1, 2, 3. Anything that will then help you start going down the list in order of importance as time allows.
• Start Looking at Affiliate Summit West. Incredibly, it’s only 5 months away. Think about whether you will attend, how you need to budget it now, and what you want to accomplish between now and then.

It goes without saying that things like catching up on sleep will have to be a part of the plan the next couple of days, but hopefully this will help you get started mapping out what you need to do for your business. What other tips do you have for people who are feeling overwhelmed after Affiliate Summit?

As I am preparing to leave for New York this weekend to attend Affiliate Summit, I am reading through all of the planning and packing and party posts. I’m going through my usual motions of getting a hair cut, picking out some new clothes, and figuring out where I left my Poken again. It all of a sudden occurred to me that I am not sure why I am going to Affiliate Summit this time. I don’t mean to suggest that I don’t know what the benefits are. It’s the one conference that I never miss. Rather, I need to figure out why I personally am attending this particular Affiliate Summit.

When I first started going back in 2006-2007, I was attending in large part to educate myself. I visited almost every single booth and attended sessions all day every day. I was also starting to network but was so overwhelmed with the basics that I didn’t do as much networking as I would have liked.

From 2008 to 2009, I stopped attending as many sessions and started focusing more on building and strengthening my network. The “parties” (mainly non-conference activities) became more important for me because I spent time caring more about the people involved in the business. I’ve found that even if someone isn’t a “business partner,” some type of business eventually comes out of most of the connections I have made at Affiliate Summit. Even if it doesn’t, my network of affiliate marketing friends is such a huge support to me in life in general that they are a priority to me now.

In the last year, I’ve spent more time on establishing my own place in affiliate marketing. Writing some articles for Feedfront, speaking at Affiliate Summit, and being a part of the mentor/newcomer program have allowed me to get my name out. In fact, I spent a good part of my time at the last few Summits just focusing on trying to be helpful to everyone else in the hopes that good karma would come back to me at some point.

Now it’s time for Affiliate Summit East 2010. I need to go into the conference with a purpose so that I can come out of it with a feeling of whether or not I achieved that purpose. My first instinct is that I need to do a little bit of everything that I have done in the past–attend some sessions to learn to be better at what I do, network with new people to expand my business, and strengthen my relationships with current friends and business partners. Maybe I have finally gotten to the point where I can take advantage of the full potential of Affiliate Summit?

What’s your purpose in attending Affiliate Summit? Is there anything that I am missing?

Affiliate Summit is almost here again and many affiliates and merchants are getting prepared. From clothes to business cards to travel plans, a lot goes into preparing for the conference. I’ve been attending Affiliate Summits regularly since 2007 and am finally starting to get the hang of it without too much stress. Here is a basic time frame of what you should be doing if you are serious about making the most out of the Summit:

Anytime: Start following the #ase10 hash tag on Twitter. In addition to seeing who else is attending, you will get good tips about transportation, sessions, parties, and more. Also join the Affiliate Summit Social Network to begin your networking.

One month out: Finalize your travel plans. You’ve missed the Early Bird rate to stay at the conference hotel, but you may still be able to get rooms at the Hilton at regular prices. You should also be nailing down your flights so that you are sure to get in and out at the dates and times that are most convenient for you.

Three weeks out: Order business cards, a Poken, or both. Decide how much information you want to share with everyone, including cell phone, email, and address. There are pros and cons to all of the above! I tend to only share my Twitter, email, and blogs with everyone and give out my phone number more sparingly.

Two weeks out: Read through the agenda on the website and determine which sessions you would like to attend. Read the various posts on blogs (you’ll likely see them on Twitter) that give more information about the sessions and the speakers. You’ll even find podcasts that may give you information that you won’t find anywhere else or give you a sneak peek into hearing more from the speakers. Determine your sessions first so that you know when you will have free time. (I’ll post my thoughts on sessions next week). Then start contacting your merchants and setting up individual meetings with any of them that you will not see at the Meet Market or in the Exhibit Hall. You should also start seeing a lot of information about parties at about this time. Many of them will overlap, so you will have some tough decisions to make! Order electronic items that you need like a backup battery for your laptop or cell phone.

One week out: Start gathering up your clothes, shoes, and jewelry. Shop for things like mints, gum, and eye drops as well. Read my previous post “Real Scoop on Preparing for Affiliate Summit” to see what I think about packing.

Final days: Make a list of all of the merchants and networks that you want to be sure to meet up with, including ones that you already have relationships with and ones that you want to meet. Set your business on auto-pilot or delegate as much as possible because you will want to spend every minute possible taking advantage of the conference and not doing your normal work.

I love Affiliate Summit and always get so much out of it. I hope that you will, too! Are you planning on attending? I’d love to meet you. Do you have other tips for those preparing to attend?

Over the past few years I have been lucky enough to serve on the Affiliate Summit Advisory Board and see submissions for Affiliate Summit sessions in advance. I always considered it a preview of sorts for the upcoming conference and would jump in and start reading them as soon as they were posted.

This year everyone is being given the opportunity to give their feedback on the sessions for New York. Over 100 speaker proposals were submitted. These will be narrowed down through visitor voting, the Advisory Board feedback, and the conference itself.

Although I have seen a number of posts and Tweets about the voting (including great posts by TrishaLyn Fawver and Adam Reimer), there are not all that many people voting. It’s incredibly easy to vote. You create an account on Slinkset (if you do not already have one) and then simply click on the arrow to the left of the session to turn it blue if you want to vote for it. You can also leave comments.

I won’t say what I voted for, but I do find it interesting that there are quite a few in the top 10 that I did NOT vote for (for various reasons). Maybe I don’t find the same things interesting as other people do? Or maybe my personal preferences for speakers (or against) can sometimes get in the way? At any rate, that is why we need more people in there voting–we need the feedback from as many people as possible to truly represent the variety of people who will attend the conference. I’ve seen people complaining after Affiliate Summit before that there were not any sessions that interested them or they didn’t understand why X, Y, or Z topic were left out. Now is the time to give your feedback.

Click here to visit the voting site. If you are so inclined, here are my two sessions:

Podcasting 101

Strategies for Marketing to Women

I initially got into running because of the Race for the Cure. After walking it for a number of years, I decided to start running it. I didn’t run fast, but I could run a 5K. After a couple of those, I decided to run my first half marathon last May. For some crazy reason, I signed up for it again this year. Just as I was starting to tire of my training, a great new opportunity came along to turn my runs into money for charity.

Affiliate Summit has started a Nike+ Challenge in which they will donate $1 to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade for each mile run in the challenge (up to $5,000). When I saw this, I immediately hit my local running store to buy a Nike+ tracking sensor and wristband. I then visited the Affiliate Summit East 2010 Challenge page on Nike’s website and set up my account.

Now when I run, I have a higher purpose. I logged a little over 13 miles last week interspersed with my Zumba days. During each run I kept telling myself that each mile was more money being donated to help fight breast cancer. Hopefully this challenge will keep me running well past the Indy Mini and into the summer up through Affiliate Summit in New York in August. If you are an affiliate marketer and are up for a little fitness challenge (whether you walk or run, the sensor works the same), you should definitely check it out. If nothing else, help cheer the rest of us on!

Although I’m usually considered to be an outgoing person, I actually get nervous when I have to introduce myself to other people cold. I’m always self-conscious and afraid they will give me one of those looks like “who are you and why are you talking to me?” I challenged myself this Affiliate Summit and was pleasantly surprised to find how responsive everyone was to meeting.

I didn’t really set out to meet anyone in particular this trip. That made it a little bit more challenging because I had to introduce myself on the spur of the moment when I had the opportunity to meet someone. Here were some of my tactics:

• Be where the people are. Well, no kidding? Except not where ALL the people are. Introducing myself in a crowded exhibit hall didn’t lead to a good introduction. Instead, I took the opportunity to meet people in quiet places like the Blogger’s Lounge or the Trivia TweetUp.
• Introduce myself clearly but not make it a sale pitch. I didn’t even mention Sunshine Rewards to most of the people that I met. The goal wasn’t to introduce my business, it was to introduce MYSELF.
• Wait for an opportune time. But not too long. If you wait for someone to be totally by themselves to make an introduction, you may never get the chance. Don’t interrupt a conversation but at the same time don’t be afraid to step in when you see a break.
• Don’t act starstruck, even if you are. Some of the people you have the chance to meet at Affiliate Summit are great at what they do an almost “stars” in their own right. I took Chris Brogan’s advice and approached them like an equal (but with just a little deference).

As a result of the above, I finally got to talk to people like HeatherinBC, Murray Newlands, and Peter Shankman. I also had some great conversations with people I already knew but had never really “talked shop” with before (like Connie Berg from Flamingo World.) No matter what else comes out of this conference, I will consider it a personal success because of that.

After months of build up, my presentation at Affiliate Summit is now complete. I was lucky enough to have two great speakers with me (Carolyn Tang and Kristen Kinsey) along with a seasoned moderator (Marty Fahncke). For those of you who missed it (which was all but about 60 people!), we spoke about Monetizing Blogs. It was a true introductory session on affiliate marketing, including definitions and real life examples. We even walked through a couple of audience members’ blogs live and gave suggestions. Here are a few of my takeaways:

• It always helps to have your mom in the front row cheering you on.
• My fellow panelists are some of the smartest women in affiliate marketing and can answer just about any question on the spot.
• My favorite part of the presentation was the end. Not just because I had been so nervous but because I loved the chance to talk to the people who came to the session and exchange ideas with them.
• Speaking at Affiliate Summit is both an uplifting and a humbling experience. You realize both what you know and what you do NOT know.
• The best way to figure out how well you really know how to do something is to try to explain it to someone else.

For those of you who didn’t attend, I forgot to mention one really important Wordpress plugin that you should be using. If you want to use the php includes options of sites like GoldenCan and PopShops (and you should for SEO purposes), you’re going to need to be able to insert php into your Wordpress posts and pages. Check out the Exec-PHP plugin for that.

I hope to be lucky enough to be chosen to speak again in the future. More importantly, I hope to learn enough between now and then to be sure that I can continue to provide helpful information to others in my industry.

I’ve had the privilege of serving as a mentor at the last two Affiliate Summits. Each time I was paired with an affiliate who was very new to the industry. In both cases I was able to see Affiliate Summit through their eyes and remember back to my first time, when I was so new to affiliate marketing that I didn’t know CPA from CPS or a toolbar from a network. It can be confusing and overwhelming, especially when you are a blogger and do something else full-time.

Last summer I participated in a panel at Blog Indiana with two women who are both educated about and instrumental in affiliate marketing– Carolyn Tang and Kristen Kinsey. We were lucky enough to be chosen to give a similar presentation at Affiliate Summit West. If you are relatively new to monetizing your blog or affiliate marketing in general, here is a little taste of what you can learn from our presentation:

• Affiliate marketing basic terminology such as “merchant,” “network,” and “affiliate”
• Ways to evaluate potential merchants for your site
• How to use PayPerCall technology
• Different ad types including banners, text links, and specific products
• Widgets and plugins that help add content to your site while monetizing it
• How best to work with your affiliate manager
• General resources for affiliate marketing

As I said, this is meant to be a basic session geared to those who are new to affiliate marketing and/or monetizing their blogs. We’ll show you some examples and also give you an opportunity to have your blog looked at by the panel live for feedback on how you can better monetize it. If you are interested, our session is at 3:00 on Sunday and is titled Start Monetizing Your Blog Today. If you are already a seasoned affiliate marketing veteran, please help spread the word to those who might be interested and would find it valuable.

Thanks to Marty Fahncke for moderating for us!

Now that almost 24 hours has passed since I left New York City, I am finally getting around to decompressing and reflecting on Affiliate Summit East. When I tell people that I have been to 7 Affiliate Summits, they always ask me if it is still worth it every time. “Don’t you just see the same people and hear the same things over and over?” Yes, and no. I see the people that I like to network with again to touch base and find out what is new with them. But I also meet new people each time and learn more than I can every imagine.

I could blog about all of the great friends I met with, the merchants that I now want to add to my site, and the swag I brought back for my members. I could drop in a few digital pictures (even video!) or complain about my feet hurting. But I would rather step back and give you the big picture that I ended up with.

Every Affiliate Summit turns out to be a different experience depending upon where I am in my career and what my goals for the conference are. In the beginning, I learned about affiliate marketing in general. Then I started making connections. After a few more, I started working on getting out the name of my business. Last time, I worked on getting out my personal brand.

For ASE09, my biggest takeaway way in getting up the courage to introduce myself to more of the “heavy hitters” and learning by their examples. For the first time ever, I introduced myself to the keynote speakers. I actually met and chatted with Chris Brogan, Julien Smith, and Peter Shankman (HARO). I even introduced myself to Ted Murphy (CEO of IZEA) at an after party and managed to get a couple of pictures with him. Each of them was engaging and conversational and made me feel like he was pleased to meet ME.

As I clean up my email and start sorting through business cards, I can’t help but keep peeking at Trust Agents (by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith). It really sums up my experience at Affiliate Summit this year. I trust some industry professionals because of the way that they act and the information that they provide. I do NOT trust some of the people in my industry because I see how they act when they think no one is looking (at least not the people who are important to them). I want to build a business that people trust because I treat people right and give them something of value in some way. Thanks to ASE09, I’ve got more tools to accomplish just that.

I’ve been reading a lot of really great blog posts on how to get ready for Affiliate Summit. There are some great tips out there from people like Shawn Collins and Ayako Bingham about things like business cards, networking, and reviewing the agenda. But as a 7-time-returner to Affiliate Summit, I wanted to share a few tips that are NOT talked about so much but still essential (in my mind).

• Shoes. This is important because you may be walking a lot. If you plan on hitting the Meet Market, a couple of parties, and the Exhibit Hall, be sure that you are comfortable in your shoes. I usually plan on starting the trip with my sassy strappies but then moving into the second/third days of the conference with my sensibles. This tip especially applies to women who are packing all of their cute shoes that they never get to wear at home because they are usually barefoot or in slippers while they work.
• Eye drops. This is mainly for the contact wearers but also for those who may like to stay out a little later than usual. Unless you want to look like you have been on a 3 day bender by day 3, bring eye drops. They help with both the dry air of the hotel rooms as well as the nights where you get less than your normal 8 hours (ha!) of sleep.
• Gum or breath mints. This isn’t so much a tip to help YOU as it is to help those around you. Y0u’ll be doing a lot of talking and some of it is very close up. Whether you’re whispering to someone in a session next to you, leaning across a Meet Market table, or yelling in someone’s ear at party, you will be up close and personal. Bring some gum…or breath mints…or both….
• Plan not to work. At least your normal work. I know some of us are used to eating and breathing affiliate marketing. And you will be while you are there. But know that even the best plan to “come back to the room early to get a little work in” can be foiled by a networking opportunity. Just expect that you will not spend much time in your room. Then if you get some free time, it’s like a bonus.
• Pack light. And not because of the airline charges (well…that, too). Be sure to leave room in your suitcase for all of the great things that you get to bring home with you. You’ll get samples of products to try that you might want to promote. If you have a blog or community site, you can bring home some great things to use as giveaways to thank people for being patient while you were away from your site. You may even score some free souvenirs for your kids. (Thanks to my mom, Cindy, for this reminder!)

So there it is. My top Affiliate Summit tips. I’ve got a lot more, but you’ll have to ask me privately for the rest (*cough* good deodorant *cough*).

Update for Vegas Affiliate Summit.  One more big one! WATER. Start drinking water before you fly to Vegas and drink it the whole time that you are there. Between the chances of getting sick (flight, shaking hands, close quarters), the alcohol you are likely to consume (be honest with yourself), and the dry air, you will need to increase the water that you drink. Try to follow that old rule of drinking at least one glass of water for every glass of something else that you drink. People don’t realize until it’s too late that they are dehydrated and you don’t want to end up feeling terrible when you head home.