ASE 2008: Who went, what did you think?
- Thread starter blackhorse
- Start date
- Status
I started with 0$.
You don't even need hosting. Just use blogger, wordpress.com, free hosting, or one of the places that host free forums. All those places will rank well because of the strong root domain. Then do some work seo'ing them and start ranking for some longtail stuff. Find little nichey things to sell on shareasale.com, ebay.com or something similar. It's pretty easy to rank for some small nichey products and you can do it with blogger, googlepages, or whatever pretty easily.
100% free way to start in this business. Only real money I spent on this business for the first 2 years, was buying books to teach myself how to code. Once you get this figured out then move on to paid traffic sources, if you truly have no money.
Honestly there is sooooooooo many ways to make money in this business there is nothing else like it in the world I know of. You can come in with big money and make even bigger. Or you can come in with nothing scrap and fight your way up and make amazing things happen.
I'm not trying to sell you anything man, this is 100% in the pit of my heart. I have no ebooks, training or anything else to sell. When I have some of that stuff offer it will be free as I owe a lot of the affiliate marketing community as it's helped make me make good money and happy. I love this shit man and I'll be the first to tell yah.
This business is amazing figure out how to make it work for you and you'll be speaking the same things as me if you stick to it.
You don't even need hosting. Just use blogger, wordpress.com, free hosting, or one of the places that host free forums. All those places will rank well because of the strong root domain. Then do some work seo'ing them and start ranking for some longtail stuff. Find little nichey things to sell on shareasale.com, ebay.com or something similar. It's pretty easy to rank for some small nichey products and you can do it with blogger, googlepages, or whatever pretty easily.
100% free way to start in this business. Only real money I spent on this business for the first 2 years, was buying books to teach myself how to code. Once you get this figured out then move on to paid traffic sources, if you truly have no money.
Honestly there is sooooooooo many ways to make money in this business there is nothing else like it in the world I know of. You can come in with big money and make even bigger. Or you can come in with nothing scrap and fight your way up and make amazing things happen.
I'm not trying to sell you anything man, this is 100% in the pit of my heart. I have no ebooks, training or anything else to sell. When I have some of that stuff offer it will be free as I owe a lot of the affiliate marketing community as it's helped make me make good money and happy. I love this shit man and I'll be the first to tell yah.
This business is amazing figure out how to make it work for you and you'll be speaking the same things as me if you stick to it.
Let's try to stay on topic here. Don't let your ADD/ADHD get the best of you...
For ASE 2008 I was on the 2nd leg of my conference tour. I had been at the Denver Media Breakaway show the two days beforehand, and landed in Boston at 5am on the first day of ASE.
Even though I got in kinda late to the Meet & Greet and just about missed the whole thing, I was met at the front by what seemed to be at least 20 WickedFire members. Many for a first time meet. Combined with a few hours of sleep over a 3 day period and getting into a completely different mindset for a completely different type of show, I was feeling a bit sluggish and figured this may not be one of the better shows. Thankfully I was wrong.
Affiliate Summit has been under some criticism lately. Everyone has their own special opinion about how good or bad it is. How they feel about the sessions. How the booth floor is laid out. Whether or not the people boothing get enough exposure. Or even if its worth it for small and mid sized affiliates to show up.
Well, let me just tell you why I always plan on attending Affiliate Summit, even if I'm out of the industry. The reason is I ALWAYS take something new and interesting from it, back home. Even though I collected the least amount of business cards ever at a show this time around, I spent way more time meeting and listening to people. Something I usually tend to shy away from.
At this show, in terms of FUN, it was lacking. Miami definitely pwned it. But this show was amazing in its own right because I seriously believe it had BETTER contacts than any other. There were so many big affiliates at this one too. You have to remember that just because someone is a big boy affiliate, it doesn't mean he or she will walk around with a huge sign saying "I'm a huge affiliate, please come over and pitch me". Its all about networking. That's what I love about Affiliate Summit, east or west. The networking alone is worth every dime and every minute.
Sure, at every conference you have to be able to filter out the bullshit networking from the good and legitimate type. At the Boston show I was impressed by the higher quality of contacts and business deals that were made. At every corner of the floor there were people in small groups networking and cutting deals. I know this, because my yenta ears heard lots of it. It was actually tough to miss.
Shawn and Missy do a great job with Affiliate Summit. There isn't enough credit that I can ever give to them. The level of respect and awe I have for them is massive. What we see as attendees or sponsors is like the iceberg effect. We only see the top part above the water, but there is a huge mass that's hidden from everyone, and they do a damn fine job at not only putting together two great shows a year, but also hiding all of the intricate details from everyone so that the show goes as smooth as possible.
There will always be things you appreciate or dislike about any show. A lot of people aren't big fans of the speaking sessions. Someone actually made a great point to me about why us more experienced players don't appreciate it as much. Its because when you've been in an industry for such a long time, or at least your level of knowledge as say a typical WickedFire member who knows a hell of a lot more than the typical affiliate would, its boring for us to go to a session when we already know more about the topic than what's being discussed.
See, the sessions are a form of education for the non-advanced and the non-forum or blog reader. These non-seasoned folks still need to be educated and if anything you need to respect ASE for doing a better job at it than others like PubCon or even ad:tech. I love ad:tech NY especially because I feel I can get lost in the huge crowds and its not a super niche conference like an Affiliate Summit. But the education/sessions at the bigger shows are pathetic.
Sure, ASE/ASW need work in terms of content for sessions and maybe discussions, but if more people don't volunteer to speak, especially without a hidden agenda to pitch their products/services at the same time, then of course the content would be better. This same rule applies to people bitching about quality content on a forum or a blog. See, the bigger and more knowledgable you become, the less inclined you feel to share information that you typically want to keep to yourself. Whereas when you're just starting out or going to a session for the first time without knowing much, or reading a forum/blog religiously in the beginning you tend to appreciate the content more.
So its all about what YOU consider good or bad for yourselves and what your initial pre-conference goal to take away from it is. If you go with no plan, you're going to feel cheated because there is nothing you planned on getting in the first place. But if you attend with a very open mind, you're going to come away from it with a really positive and sense of accomplishment.
...plus the Affiliate Summits have been the semi-official meetup grounds of WickedFire members from all over the world. Its like the one place where you'll find more of us together than all other conferences combined. Shawn and Missy are both WickedFire supporters and members. Show after show, there are more WickedFire member attendees at any Affiliate Summit, whether they are networks, industry folks, or affiliates who don't post but just lurk/read (usually out of fear of posting which I always find amusing and proud of our members for keeping us true, harsh and entertaining). From the 3,000 or so attendees and exhibitors this time around, AT LEAST 50% have a WickedFire account, or at least lie and say they do. The core members however even though we were less than 100 this time (amazing count for an ASE show, Vegas is always bigger) we sure are noticed and respected a hell of a lot more than any OTHER forum around.
For ASE 2008 I was on the 2nd leg of my conference tour. I had been at the Denver Media Breakaway show the two days beforehand, and landed in Boston at 5am on the first day of ASE.
Even though I got in kinda late to the Meet & Greet and just about missed the whole thing, I was met at the front by what seemed to be at least 20 WickedFire members. Many for a first time meet. Combined with a few hours of sleep over a 3 day period and getting into a completely different mindset for a completely different type of show, I was feeling a bit sluggish and figured this may not be one of the better shows. Thankfully I was wrong.
Affiliate Summit has been under some criticism lately. Everyone has their own special opinion about how good or bad it is. How they feel about the sessions. How the booth floor is laid out. Whether or not the people boothing get enough exposure. Or even if its worth it for small and mid sized affiliates to show up.
Well, let me just tell you why I always plan on attending Affiliate Summit, even if I'm out of the industry. The reason is I ALWAYS take something new and interesting from it, back home. Even though I collected the least amount of business cards ever at a show this time around, I spent way more time meeting and listening to people. Something I usually tend to shy away from.
At this show, in terms of FUN, it was lacking. Miami definitely pwned it. But this show was amazing in its own right because I seriously believe it had BETTER contacts than any other. There were so many big affiliates at this one too. You have to remember that just because someone is a big boy affiliate, it doesn't mean he or she will walk around with a huge sign saying "I'm a huge affiliate, please come over and pitch me". Its all about networking. That's what I love about Affiliate Summit, east or west. The networking alone is worth every dime and every minute.
Sure, at every conference you have to be able to filter out the bullshit networking from the good and legitimate type. At the Boston show I was impressed by the higher quality of contacts and business deals that were made. At every corner of the floor there were people in small groups networking and cutting deals. I know this, because my yenta ears heard lots of it. It was actually tough to miss.
Shawn and Missy do a great job with Affiliate Summit. There isn't enough credit that I can ever give to them. The level of respect and awe I have for them is massive. What we see as attendees or sponsors is like the iceberg effect. We only see the top part above the water, but there is a huge mass that's hidden from everyone, and they do a damn fine job at not only putting together two great shows a year, but also hiding all of the intricate details from everyone so that the show goes as smooth as possible.
There will always be things you appreciate or dislike about any show. A lot of people aren't big fans of the speaking sessions. Someone actually made a great point to me about why us more experienced players don't appreciate it as much. Its because when you've been in an industry for such a long time, or at least your level of knowledge as say a typical WickedFire member who knows a hell of a lot more than the typical affiliate would, its boring for us to go to a session when we already know more about the topic than what's being discussed.
See, the sessions are a form of education for the non-advanced and the non-forum or blog reader. These non-seasoned folks still need to be educated and if anything you need to respect ASE for doing a better job at it than others like PubCon or even ad:tech. I love ad:tech NY especially because I feel I can get lost in the huge crowds and its not a super niche conference like an Affiliate Summit. But the education/sessions at the bigger shows are pathetic.
Sure, ASE/ASW need work in terms of content for sessions and maybe discussions, but if more people don't volunteer to speak, especially without a hidden agenda to pitch their products/services at the same time, then of course the content would be better. This same rule applies to people bitching about quality content on a forum or a blog. See, the bigger and more knowledgable you become, the less inclined you feel to share information that you typically want to keep to yourself. Whereas when you're just starting out or going to a session for the first time without knowing much, or reading a forum/blog religiously in the beginning you tend to appreciate the content more.
So its all about what YOU consider good or bad for yourselves and what your initial pre-conference goal to take away from it is. If you go with no plan, you're going to feel cheated because there is nothing you planned on getting in the first place. But if you attend with a very open mind, you're going to come away from it with a really positive and sense of accomplishment.
...plus the Affiliate Summits have been the semi-official meetup grounds of WickedFire members from all over the world. Its like the one place where you'll find more of us together than all other conferences combined. Shawn and Missy are both WickedFire supporters and members. Show after show, there are more WickedFire member attendees at any Affiliate Summit, whether they are networks, industry folks, or affiliates who don't post but just lurk/read (usually out of fear of posting which I always find amusing and proud of our members for keeping us true, harsh and entertaining). From the 3,000 or so attendees and exhibitors this time around, AT LEAST 50% have a WickedFire account, or at least lie and say they do. The core members however even though we were less than 100 this time (amazing count for an ASE show, Vegas is always bigger) we sure are noticed and respected a hell of a lot more than any OTHER forum around.
Actually, you don't have to wait... I mean, I certainly wouldn't bother with the Vegas show until you're 21, because that whole city is made for 21+. But the ASE shows, there were plenty of guys who are under 21, who may not have attended the show itself, but went for the parties and the smaller get togethers that always go on and are typically a lot more fun and worthwhile. Plus you can always take part in the networking that is rampant in the one or two hotel lobbies that most of the attendees are staying at. So yeah, you are definitely limited, but you can still take a lot of good connections and business your way even if you're underage.
There is also the fake ID route.. but that's pretty risky and the failure rate is pretty high.
Ask SlightlyShadySEO or UberAffiliate, they are both under 21 and they were there seemingly having a very productive and fun time.
This is why we don't give out free full passes and just exhibitor hall ones. Because it is assumed that if you are a WickedFire member/affiliate you won't get much value from the sessions. Some people think we are being cheap by not giving away full conference passes, but really, its because we don't want to waste your time, take any potential revenue/earnings away from Shawn/Missy, and want you to focus on what typically works best for YOU.
The sessions again, should be reserved for newbies, small/mid size merchant types (the ones whom ShareASale/LinkShare would benefit and consider potential clients), and people who don't read forums/blogs often or at all and need a quick/brief education on what's going on in the industry.
I won't bitch too much about how foolish or wrong it is to have Amit "Camel Humper" Mehta as a speaker. But because he blogs a lot, and is trying to make a name for himself or his reputation (not doing a good job at all with mid-large affiliates). He specifically targets the naive and the newbies. There is an unlimited stream of them, and because most people know better than to invest lots of time and energy into recruiting or educating them for free, that's where he shines and goes in for the kill. I respect him, even if he is a douche, because "somebodys gotta do it", but lets face it, Affiliate Summit is targeted towards ALL people, big and small, in the AFFILIATE AND INTERNET MARKETING community. So that will always include the naive/newbies and the snake oil salesmen who volunteer to speak only to pitch their hidden agenda of hocking their products/services as well.
Alright, enough of this topic for me.
My final words on the ASE/ASW debate:
Affiliate Summit is the absolute best networking resource for all walks of life in the business of affiliate marketing, hands down. Nothing even compares, but that's because the 'competition' is pathetic. Even so as a veteran in this business of 14 years, I don't see anyone being able to topple the greatness and wealth of networking power for our industry like that of the Affiliate Summit conferences for a long long time just so long as Shawn and Missy are at the helm.
Three novel long posts.. that should be enough reading and nonintentional promotions for the show in one sitting.
Now get back to posting quality info here you lazy bastards!
Now get back to posting quality info here you lazy bastards!
- Status