Although I’m suffering through a nasty cold and still behind on sleep, I couldn’t let the day go by without recapping the incredible experience that I had at Affiliate Summit West. Life’s about choices and here are some that I made in the last few days about which I am most happy.

Time With Friends

Affiliate Summit is about business, but for me that business is about working with friends. Whether we were chatting over a meal, bonding over sports teams, shaking it on the dance floor, singing along to karaoke, or just reconnecting in the hallways, the time that I spent with friends (both old and new!) at Affiliate Summit was invaluable to me. I especially enjoyed all of the time that I spent with my mom (Cindy Ballard) and Ashleigh both from a personal and a professional aspect. It’s always an adventure!

Meeting New People

It’s easy to get into a rut where you only talk to people you already know or work with people you have worked with before. Affiliate Summit is the place to refresh old relationships but also start new ones. I am busily sending LinkedIn connection requests, following people on Twitter, and friending people on Facebook today.

Mastermind Groups Presentation

Working with Eric Nagel and Todd Farmer was one of the best decisions that I made in all of 2011. I sincerely hope that came across in our presentation. My Mastermind group was at the root of much of my success this year, and I know that it can be the same for people who learned from us and try it on their own in 2012. I was grateful for the chance to share what we have learned with the people who attended our session. And I was especially grateful to be on a panel with two of my favorite people!

AWeber Session with Hunter Boyle

I don’t attend a lot of sessions because I figure that I can watch them later on video, but I wanted to attend this one because I know that I can’t wait for the video to come out to stop being lazy with my AWeber account. Hunter Boyle did not disappoint. He gave some great examples about how to make the most of my newsletter. If you have an AWeber account (and you should), you need to be sure to keep an eye on what he is saying because there isn’t any reason to do it if you aren’t going to do it right.

Newcomer Program

I consider the Affiliate Summit Newcomer program to be one of the best kept secrets at Affiliate Summit. Even though they publicize it a lot, not nearly enough people take advantage of it. I was teamed up with a great newcomer and enjoyed seeing Affiliate Summit through her eyes. I also enjoyed the meetup on Sunday where 80+ veterans and newcomers could get together in a laid-back atmosphere and talk about the conference and our industry as a whole. If you haven’t participated in this before, you need to add it to your list for Affiliate Summit East. Kudos to Daniel Clark in taking it over this time!

Using Available Technology

One great way to make the most of Affiliate Summit that people often overlook is to follow the hashtag on Twitter. I was able to see what was going on in other rooms, figure out who speakers were, and be more of a part of the whole conference by keeping my eye on it. You can now see everyone heading home and following up if you follow #asw12. When will we make the switch to #ase12?? Foursquare was also helpful because I could see where people were heading, who was in the same place as me, and who I needed to connect with.

Staying at Caesar’s

I know I have said it before, but I truly love staying at the conference hotel. I like being able to pop up to my room between sessions or meetings. I like being in the same place as the majority of the attendees. If you can get reservations in time and your budget permits, I definitely think it is worth it. Thankfully there were also some really good options right around Caesar’s this time, too.

Dancing Upstairs at the ShareASale Party

I’ve been to a lot of ShareASale parties, and I have to say that this one was definitely a classic. The view from upstairs while we were dancing was amazing! I heard that there were desserts somewhere, but I couldn’t bear to leave the dance floor long enough to find them. Thanks to Brian Littleton and his crew for again throwing a memorable event. And thanks to everyone who shared the dance floor with this midwest mom.

Leaving Time Open in My Schedule

At some Affiliate Summits past I have scheduled everything down to the minute. If anything ran over, I was thrown off track. This time I scheduled just enough to have a plan but also left myself time for setting up last-minute meetings and even just hanging out in the Blogger’s Lounge. I felt much less frenzied and was also able to talk to people that I might not otherwise have been able to.

Eric Thomas’s Keynote

I don’t usually attend a lot of keynotes, but I am glad that I went to this one (and not just because I received a Pinnacle Award!). Although I never faced the adversity that Eric Thomas did, I still appreciate his optimism and spirit. I love that he stressed that you have to visualize what you want and then work to achieve it because no one is just going to hand it to you.

Thanks on a very personal level go to Shawn and Missy for all that they have done for me (minus the country music). You truly make Affiliate Summit what it is, and my business and brand would not be what they are today without Affiliate Summit.

What did you do at Affiliate Summit that you are glad about in retrospect? Sessions, parties, presenting, people you met?

As a mentor for every Affiliate Summit since they started the program, the question I am most frequently asked is about what people wear to the conference. This is both an easy and a hard question because I have quite literally seen people wear everything from bikinis to tuxedos. I don’t really recommend either but rather something in between. I’ll try to break down the sessions and parties and throw in some pictures from my Facebook account as demonstrations. Because, after all, it’s most important what you want to look like on Facebook because you will be tagged in all of those pictures before the conference is even over. And then they will be on your Timeline for the rest of your life.

Sessions: Dress in something that is comfortable both physically and mentally. You’ll be doing a lot of walking through the halls so wear something that you are not constantly tugging at or that is too hot or too cold. I usually think it is cold in the conference rooms so most days I wear layers. From a mental perspective, wear something that is YOU because you want to focus on being yourself and not worrying what people are thinking of what you are wearing. If you are usually a casual person, dress casual. If you enjoy getting dressed up, dress up. I usually dress up a little bit more on days when I am speaking than when I am not.

I think this picture is a good illustration. Marty has on a jacket as the moderator. Carolyn has on a sleeveless dress as a speaker. Kristen and I both have on sweaters and slacks as speakers. You can see audience members in t-shirts, sweaters, and button down shirts. Really a mixture of different types of clothes.

Parties: This is where things can get a little tricky depending upon which parties you are attending. Some of the clubs in Vegas do have dress codes. You will want to check out individual events if you are going someplace like that. But for the most part if you are attending the Shareasale party and the Affiliate Summit Karaoke, your dress does not need to be much different than what you wear during the day.

This is from one of the evening events held at the hotel. Andrew is known for sporting the hip-by-being-un-hip t-shirts. Todd did the “casual shirt but dressy jacket” thing. My mom and I both wore the standard LBD (little black dress) with basic accessories. I actually think I take that dress to every Affiliate Summit just as a fall-back outfit. Others were wearing jeans and polos, slacks and jackets, and dresses.

A lot affiliates work from home so we do not have the standard “work clothes” that people in offices have. Although you can certainly use Affiliate Summit as an excuse to buy new clothes, you can work with what you have. Nice jeans, slacks, a couple of basic skirts. Church clothes. Or even just dress up what you have with a couple of new accessories to update classic outfits to be a little more contemporary. Just don’t bring too much with you or you won’t have any room in your suitcase for all the exhibit hall junk you want to take home.

If you are really worried about what to wear and fitting in, you can check out the Affiliate Summit photostream on flickr. There are thousands of pictures on there from all different types of events at the various Affiliate Summit conferences over the years. But what you will see is essentially this–wear what you like, what you feel confident in, and what you want others to see as representative of you. And what looks good on Facebook.

Last week we continued growing our Affiliate Summit Meetup Group in Indianapolis with a meeting held at the RAM Restaurant and Brewery in Fishers. We had about 15 attend, which was our biggest turnout so far.

Erich Stauffer Speaking

Thanks to Erich Stauffer for being our presenter. Erich runs a technology consulting business that offers marketing, web design, and computer support. He has been doing affiliate marketing since 2009. Here are some of the key takeaways from his presentation on How to Start an Affiliate Marketing Business:

• Start with Keyword Research and Analysis. Narrow down your keywords and then purchase a domain, set up WordPress, install a theme, and add plugins.
• Write strong content around your keywords with at least one page and five posts. Include at least one relevant picture per post and wrap the text around the picture.
• Sign up for affiliate networks including Amazon, Linkshare, ClickBank, Commission Junction, Google Affiliate Network, and ShareASale.
• Find the products you want to promote relative to your keywords and start writing content around them.
• Create backlinks including through social bookmarking sites.
• Establish a social presence.
• Measure and refine your site using Google Analytics.

Informal Networking and Q&A

After Erich spoke I made some announcements on behalf of Affiliate Summit include the Affiliate Summit Free Webinars, registration for Affiliate Summit West, and the Affiliate Summit West Scholarship program. I was also lucky enough to give out some prizes. Through a random name draw, Erich won an Affiliate Summit Gold Pass and Blake Ensign won a set of DVDs from Affiliate Summit East (which I have on good authority he has already started watching!)

Networking continued for quite a while and I think most of the group ended up being there 3-4 hours. We are looking forward to getting together in November in Castleton.

For more information about our group, visit the Indianapolis Affiliate Summit Meetup page.

(Thanks to Blake Ensign of Blaze Communications for the pictures!)

Last year I was lucky enough to participate in a panel at Affiliate Summit West with two industry veterans, Kristin Kinsey (affiliate manager and owner of MadHatter Consulting) and Carolyn Tang Kmet (now the affiliate manager for Groupon), and moderated by Marty Fahncke. Our presentation was entitled Start Monetizing Your Blog Today and is a great primer for new affiliate marketers. A few things have changed (Carolyn got married!) but the basics of the presentation are still solid.

Carolyn started the presentation with an introduction about the basics of affiliate marketing, who the players are, and how it all works. I then discussed ways that bloggers can use affiliate marketing including banner and text links. Kristin finished up by explaining the role of affiliate managers and Outsourced Program Managers (OPMs).

Areas Covered

• Affiliate Marketing 101
• Stakeholders
• Evaluating Merchants
• Types of Creative
• The Affiliate Site
• Extreme Site Makeover
• Resources
• Contact Info

Below you will find both the PowerPoint (via Slideshare) and the actual video of the presentation thanks to Affiliate Summit.

Registration for Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas is now taking place and I am lucky enough to be giving away a Gold Pass. Before we get to the details of entering, you have to understand why I am so passionate about this conference.

When I started my Internet business, I didn’t know anyone else that did it or the least bit about getting into it. Even once I started to learn the basics by reading books and piecing together blog and forum posts, I still wasn’t making much money. Once I started making enough money to quit my job, I took the plunge and went to Affiliate Summit. My revenue DOUBLED the next month. Doubled. I’m not even exaggerating. I went from just scraping by to hiring employees as a result of the education and connections that I received from ONE Affiliate Summit.

I’m not saying that happens to everyone. I took that conference very seriously and have every single one since. You’ll see an entire category of Affiliate Summit posts on my blog because I write about everything from my preparations to my attendance to my follow-ups. It’s that important to me.

If you are serious about your business and are ready to learn more than you even imagined, the time has come for you to attend Affiliate Summit. The official dates are January 8-10, 2012, but I always go a little early and stay a little late for extra networking.

The Prize: An Affiliate Summit Gold Pass (valued at $279 before October 21 and $549 after). The pass must be redeemed BEFORE Affiliate Summit sells out (and it will). You can also pay the difference in price between the Gold and another pass if you want to upgrade it.

The Rules: Click on the entry form below and fill out your name, email address, and why you want to attend Affiliate Summit.

Bonus Entry: Tweet about the contest and include my Twitter name (@sunshinetricia) so that I will be sure to see it and give you credit.

Click here to enter

Contest ends October 28, 2011 at midnight Eastern. One winner will be randomly chosen. Winner must accept within 48 hours or I will choose a new winner. Learn more about Affiliate Summit and why you need to be there.

Affiliate Summit Meetup Indianapolis

The September Affiliate Summit Indianapolis Meetup was held at Claddagh Irish Pub and was a terrific success! This was a restart of the group from a few months ago after I got some feedback that people were interested in trying it again.

Erika Crabtree and Haley Drummond from One Click Ventures were our speakers and came armed with great information as well as led us in some Q&A about their business, affiliate marketing, and SEO. Some of their brands you might recognize include Affordable Scarves and Handbag Heaven (affiliate program available on Shareasale). Here were some of the highlights of their presentation:

Conversion testing and Optimization

• “If you can test it, test it.”
• Figure out what metric you are trying to change (such as email sign ups, purchases, bounce rates) and find tools to help you measure and test.
• Use Google Analytics Event Tracking to track interactions with your site.
• A great low cost heat map tool is is http://www.feng-gui.com

Tips for Improving Your SEO

• Pat attention to URLs and Title Tags but do not keyword stuff. Get the keywords you want as close to the front of the URL as possible.
• A good tool for keyword search volume and competition is https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• Focus on unique content.
• Make sure your content is visible to search engines including alt tags on images, not using flash, and transcripts for videos.
• Use natural link building techniques that start with building relationships.
• For guest posts, check out http://www.bloggerlinkup.com
• Rankings are important but not everything, especially in light of personalized search.

The table discussions then went everywhere from how/when to develop niche sites to differences between the affiliate networks to the recent addition of Google +1 in search results.

Thanks to Erika, Haley, Erich, Ashleigh, Tracy, Blake, Donna, Tony, Jeff, Lori, Jeremy H., Jeremy Z., and anyone else that I may have missed! We are in the planning stages for an even bigger Affiliate Summit Indianapolis Meetup next month and would love any feedback, speaker suggestions, etc.

Another Affiliate Summit has come and gone, and I have finally had time to reflect on it and draw some conclusions about my experiences. Not surprisingly, I have a lot to say!

Affiliate Summit Spice Girls

Rave: I loved having the opportunity to see New York with some of my favorite affiliate marketing friends. Whether it was Madame Tussauds with Kim Salvino or Times Square with Ashleigh Ball, I loved every minute of the atmosphere. Being in New York itself is a great conversation starter.

Regret: I wish that I had more time to hang out at Old Castle and eat Street Meat. I’ve come to associate those with Affiliate Summit but there just wasn’t time this year.

Seasonality in Affiliate Marketing Panel

Raves: I was fortunate enough to participate in two different panels. It seems silly but I love preparing for Summit panels because I have to stretch myself to learn new things and learn even more about things I think I already know. I also love the opportunity to share what I know with others. Todd Farmer and Kristen Grace were nice enough to indulge me in some silliness in our Seasonality in Affiliate Marketing panel. I also got to meet Adhustler, whom I had never met before, for my How to Pitch Your Company panel.

Regrets: I wish that I had more time to attend other panels. I only attended the SEO Clinic, which was moderated by Rae Hoffman-Dolan (who I was excited to finally meet this time!). There were so many amazing presentations about everything from LinkedIn to Coupons to Branding. I am going to have a lot of videos to watch when they become available. It’s one of the reasons that getting the right pass is so important to me. I know that I will focus more on the meetups and relationship building while I am there and can catch those videos later (especially after I hear which sessions get great reviews!)

Affiliate Karaoke

Rave: The constructive social time. And I don’t just mean the free drinks. Although that helps. I mean the opportunity to truly have fun with friends and grow my circle of trust. Whether it was cocktails and conversation (thanks, buy.at!), bull riding and breakdancing (thanks, ShareASale!), wine and atmosphere (thanks, PMA!), or singing my heart out with my dear friend Eric (thanks, Shawn & Missy!), the “down time” is what allows us all to get to know each other on a more personal level so that we WANT to work together more.

Regret: Not getting a video of Daniel Feinberg singing Hit Me, Baby, One More Time.

Did I actually get any business done during this time? Absolutely! Within 48 hours of returning home I launched a new merchant on Sunshine Rewards that my members loved and started making purchases from immediately. That’s just one short-term gain. For the long-term, I was able to build my brand, grow my network of contacts, and solidify relationships with people who help me in unbelievable ways. Will you see me in Vegas in January? I’m already counting the days.

(P.S. If you didn’t meet Ashleigh…she saved the day for me multiple times this trip. In addition to being a fabulous roommate, she giggled as much as I did plus always managed to know what I needed before I even needed it. You must meet her in Vegas!!!)

As part of my presentation for Affiliate Summit East 2011, I have prepared an Editorial Calendar (“editorial calender” for those of you with spelling issues) to help bloggers, affiliates, and merchants take advantage of Seasonality in Affiliate Marketing. The calendar is basically a listing of different holidays, events, and seasons that you might want to write about or monetize in some way. While it certainly is not an exhaustive list, it should give you a good start on your planning as well as get your creative juices flowing about other similar events. Understand that some events change dates from year to year and that you need to be looking at least a month in advance to plan for many of the events.

You can download the calendar by clicking on this link: Seasonality Calendar. Use it however you like but please link back to me if you decide to post it on your own site.

Hopefully those of you in attendance enjoy the presentation and those who download the calendar find it helpful! Let me know if I missed anything major and I may revise the calendar as necessary.

With just a little over a week until I leave for Affiliate Summit, the excitement is starting to set in. Are you almost ready? The crazy planner in me is going through all of this:

Packing: I posted in 2009 in my Real Scoop on Preparing for Affiliate Summit article the kinds of things that I pack that you might not think about: comfortable shoes, eye drops, gum or breath mints, and bottled water. I also now include hand sanitizer and ibuprofen. Don’t forget business cards! I’m taking some postcard-sized promotional sheets this year about my company that give more information than what I put on my business cards.

Scheduling: This is probably the most important thing that you should be working on right now. Print out the full Affiliate Summit East 2011 Agenda and start making notes on what you want to attend. Then check out the Affiliate Summit Parties list and add those to your calendar (be sure to RSVP!). Finally, start working in all of the people you want to schedule 1:1 meetings with. Don’t plan on just hitting people up once you get to the show if you really want to meet with them. They might be booked by then!

Pre-Network: Networking is already happening now and you should be a part of it. That includes following the #ASE11 hashtag on Twitter and responding to others who are attending. It’s also helpful to visit the Affiliate Summit Forum to keep up with who is attending and what is going on.

My Best Tip: Be flexible!! A lot of what you get out of Affiliate Summit comes from the unexpected.  Be ready to change plans, stay out later, get up earlier, or give your elevator pitch at a moment’s notice. You might have a chance to meet someone you never thought that you would meet. You might even end up participating in a panel or presentation that you didn’t know was happening. Just be prepared to take advantage of every great opportunity that comes your way.

Looking for more tips and advice on which sessions to attend? Here are some posts that might be helpful. If you have written one as well, please drop a link in the comments!

• Top 3 Affiliate Summit East 2011 Sessions to Attend (via @marketingelf)
• Come See Me Speak at Affiliate Summit 2011 East (via @rollerblader)
• QAQN Live: Countdown to Affiliate Summit East 2011 (great podcasts via @QAQN)

Affiliate Summit Indianapolis Meetup

On March 30, Indianapolis joined other cities across the world in the first ever Affiliate Summit Meetup Day event. Although we were a small group, it was a great opportunity for the newly-forming Indy affiliate community. We had a couple of other people pop in and out, but our four main attendees as pictured were Jim McIntosh (@mcintosh33), Tricia Meyer (me!) (@sunshinetricia), Blake Ensign (@BeSTForum), and Eric Jones (@ericrjones1).

Because affiliate marketing is just starting in Indianapolis and we have already had a couple of “introductory” presentations in the last 2 months, I decided to change up the official agenda a little bit. After introductions and order taking, we spent 30 minutes discussing hot topics in affiliate marketing including: use of social media, the Farmer/Panda Google Update, and favorite affiliate marketing resources.

Following the round table discussion, we each talked about where we are in our affiliate marketing efforts, what our goals are for the next 6 months, and how we can work together to expand the affiliate marketing community in our area.

I truly enjoyed the evening and was happy to spend some time with the guys learning more about where each of them is going. In the spirit of Affiliate Summit, it was a great networking experience that I am sure is going to lead to good things in our industry in the coming months.