Digital agency Azam Marketing are hosting a fun networking & comedy evening in central London on Friday 17^th June, and the guest list is now open for any affiliates, marketers, web design, SEO and PPC specialists, agencies and network staff who would like to attend.

The event is being hosted at the Highlight Camden Comedy Club in central London, and along with their sponsors FreeCashback.co.uk, Ministry of Paintball and DiscountCodes.tv, Azam will be providing attendees with free entry, free drinks, exclusive goody bags and hopefully lots of laughs courtesy of stand up comedians Stuart Goldsmith, Sean Grant, Mick Ferry and Danielle Ward. Doors open at 17:30pm with dancing ‘til late.

The comedy event will be a great chance to network with some of the biggest players in the online industry, but tickets are limited so email invites@azamevents.com to secure your place today.

There’s also the chance to win an exclusive prize ahead of the Azam Marketing event by submitting your best gags on the Azam Facebook page or tweeting your jokes @azammarketing (keep it clean please!)

For more information and venue details see http://www.azamevents.com

Join Azam Marketing for a Networking & Comedy Evening

Showing your business off at exhibitions is a great way to attract new customers and clients because of the specialised exposure that you can garnish at such conventions.  For this reason, exhibitions are a great place for small companies that are attempting to make a name for their business.  This is due to the fact that an exhibition stand does not have to be splashy and expensive in order to help attract attention, they simply need to be innovative and eye catching, which are two qualities that do not have to be limited by a budget, following on from this Marler Haley offer a service that allows business to have their own logos and branding printed onto a wide range of different promotional products.

Some of the best innovative custom exhibition stands actually make use of pop up stands and pop up displays in order to attract customers because they can be placed onto a shelf and simply seem to pop right out at browsers.  In fact, add in some free giveaways on your pop up displays with an eye catching sign to advertise the giveaways and you can easily attract new customers and new potential profits to your company.  Plus, they are extremely easy to erect compared to a large stand that is made out of wood or steel.

Pop-up stands are some of the most innovative custom exhibition stands out there are on the market because small businesses can easily fit them into their budget and easily staff them.  In fact, many times it only takes about one to two people to erect the stands making it possible for even a business that is only staffed by the manager to make an appearance at exhibitions. Because they are made out of lightweight materials they are also easy to transport in the back of a vehicle or store while not in use.

The best part is that you can purchase multiple pop-up innovative custom exhibition stands depending on the amount of space that you need.  If you find down the road that you need more space as your business starts to grow you can purchase a few more pop-up exhibition stands to display your business.  By approaching the matter this way your previous investment will never go unused or to waste, and you can still accommodate growth as your appearance at exhibition conventions allows your business to prosper and grow.

Guest article by Marler Haley the leading provider of exhibition stands and display equipment in the UK with over 60 years experience.

Marler Haley’s: How to create innovative custom exhibition stands

Bit of a belated review of a4uexpo London 2010 and much of it has already been covered, see the a4uexpo blog What’s being said about a4uexpo London 2010?

Highlights

Of the sessions I attended 3 absolutely stood out these were the gems I unearthed ata4uexpo. I’m not going to go into any detail as slides and videos are available somewhere, (Chris Johnski where are they).

Starting off with SEO David Naylor of Broncho first session day one spoke about:

The Three Pillars of SEO – An Advanced Review

I said in my timetable post that Dave is a legend and he lived up to the hype, he mentioned a load of tools he uses daily in his SEO many of which I will now also be using.

Conversion Rate Experts for the day 2 early risers told us about:

Conversion Killing Mistakes : 15 things Affiliates still aren’t doing in 2010

I don’t think I have ever made as many notes in an expo session before, and thanks to my shiny new I pad I can actually read them, cheers guys.

Last but not least in my top 3 is Kevin Gibbons of Seoptimise who gave us:

20 Social Media Tools & 20 WordPress Plugins Boost Your Performance

This is an amazing list some I knew about and some I didn’t, Kevin has blogged about his session with links to everything he mentioned in his well presented illuminating talk. Check it out here > 40 Social Media Tools & WordPress Plugins – a4uexpo Presentation.

Those were my highlights and well worth attending for, and I only scratched the surface, 12 time slots and 50 sessions makes seeing everything an impossible task and I will be looking at the Videos and slides as soon as I get the chance.

So how can A4uexpo be improved?

Well I’d like to see an area set aside for open workshops that people could drop in and out of, for example Conversion Rate Experts (yes them again) did a clinic where they looked at various websites, illuminating not only for the website owner in question but a plethora of ideas for all in attendance when the hour was over they still had a mountain of sites they hadn’t looked at, imagine if that had been running for half a day.

Second point was from a merchant who I spoke to on day 2 who was on a day pass they said that they would gladly have paid more to upgrade to a full pass just for the one day, however they were unable to attend on the first day so a full 2 day pass was out of the question. (Apologies to Matt if this option was already available).

Any thing you want to add please comment below and/or leave feedback on the A4uexpo website.

Memorable Quote

This came from the negative SEO session and is a word of warning to anyone when buying links.

“Shitty links will hurt rankings, lose Google love, and getting trust back is very difficult”

so be warned

Expo thanks from me to…

Matthew Wood and his entire team for another excellent event.

All the speakers mentioned above.

Mark Russell and the Existem AM crew for their fine hospitality.

And finally everyone who attended, would have been no show without you.

Unearthed gems of a4uexpo London 2010

Again there has been a distinct lack of posts from me of late, but this time I have an excuse I’ve been moving house and endured all the broadband hell that goes with it. Consequently I have just got round to looking at the agenda for a4uexpo London 2010 as always I’m going to highlight the sessions that I intend attending so that I print off this page as a reminder of where I want to be, if anyone else finds this useful that is a bonus.

Please note there are over 50 sessions and I’m only going to mention the ones I’m interested in.

Monday 11th October

a4uexpo kicks off with the traditional Ignite Party, this year it is being held at the Parlour Bar, Canada Square Park from 6pm take along your ID and registration number.

Tuesday 12th October

Registration opens at 8am

The sessions

9:00 – 10:00 room 14-16

The Three Pillars of SEO – An Advanced Review

• David Naylor,?Bronco

When it comes to SEO Dave Naylor is a legend and a fellow Yorkshireman too

10:30 – 11:30 room 14-16

Negative SEO: Online Nightmares Come True

• Paul Madden,?SEOidiot
• Jon Myers,?Mediavest
• David Naylor,?Bronco
• Marcus Tandler,?Mediadonis
• Ralph Tegtmeier,?fantomaster.com GmbH

Thats right 2 SEO sessions straight off the belt, need to get my SEO fix in early.

I was also interested in Advanced Analytics for Affiliates which is on at the same time.

12:00 – 13:00 room Expo Theatre

The Truth About Cookie Overwriting

• Owen Hewitson,?Affiliate Window and Buy.at

A session about how many affiliates are typically involved in a sale and the extent to which their cookies overwrite each other.

I must admit I was tempted to attend SEO Ranking Factors in 2010.

13:15 – 14:15 room Expo Theatre

Becoming an Affiliate: A Reality Check

• Paul Brown,?affilinet
• John Lamerton,?Easy Content Units
• Kirsty McCubbin,?Blue Indian Media
• Nick Smith,?Hardly Rocket Science

Right on lunch time but this should be good and it would be rude not to show support for my good friends Kirsty and John.

14:30 – 15:30 room 17

Successful Information Architecture

• Richard Baxter,?SEOgadget.co.uk

According to the blurb Richard has experience getting sites with millions of pages fully indexed, getting the paltry 2000 pages of my main site fully optimised should be a doddle after that.

16:00 – 17:00

Not sure what to attend here yet my just have a walk round the exhibition hall.

17:15 – 18:15 room 2-4

a4uexpo – The Grill!

• Sanjit Atwal,?TradeDoubler
• Gary Bicker,?affilinet
• David Hall,?Affiliate Window and Buy.at
• Duncan Popham,?Total Search Solutions
• Daniel Powell,?Commission Junction

Moderated Q & A session with Publishing Directors of some of the major UK networks, hopefully very illuminating.

18:00 – 19:15

Drinks reception, Speed Networking or Black Hat Protection hmm difficult choice if I’m flagging the drinks will win if not then its Black Hat SEO time.

Day one concludes with the Breakout Party at The Troxy.

Wednesday 13th October

a4uexpo London 2010 – My Timetable

I recently caught up with Matthew Wood Managing Director of Existem Ltd and founder of the leading affiliate conference a4uexpo and the popular affiliate forum affiliates4u, with a4uexpo 2010 looming large Matthew agreed to answer a few questions. So without further ado…

Hi Matthew, Can you give me a bit of the background of A4uexpo, how did the initial concept come to fruition?

Within the industry affiliates have a desire to meet people who really ‘get’ affiliate marketing. After all, it’s not something you want to bore and chat to your mates about down the pub!

We started with local Get2Gethers around the UK, much like the ones we have recently held in Dublin, Bristol and in Manchester this week.  The popularity of our events in London were frankly bewildering with our last bar style event at the Pitcher & Piano attracting nearly 600 people.

Was the time right though to launch a fully blown conference? We had some hard thinking to do.

What was the biggest challenge getting A4uexpo off the ground?

The risk. Let’s face it we were a very small team in Bristol; affiliates by nature  – certainly not event or conference managers and to invest £250,000 in a conference at ExCeL was mind-blowing.

I sat down with key players in the market to gauge appetite and most importantly support.

Back in 2007 Affiliate Marketing was going through a big transition, its reputation growing but brands were still unclear about its actual ROI.

With significant support from affiliate networks we were able to push forward and it was a bumpy yet exciting ride.

The most important thing however was that the whole industry backed the event networks, bloggers, agencies and so forth and saw it as a way of getting everyone together at the same time in the same place and to really put our channel in the limelight.

Four London Expo’s and two in Europe, any plans to go intercontinental?

Affiliate Marketing whilst established in the UK, USA and major mainland European markets such as Germany is still embryonic in nature elsewhere.  However that said we are hoping to launch some a4uexpo ‘lite’ events in 2011 in emerging markets. Keep an eye on our twitter account @a4uexpo for details.

If you were only able to go to one session at this year’s a4uexpo which one would it be?

I think it would have to be the a4uexpo Grilling Session – Day 1 @ 17.15 in Room 2-4. A session which involves the Publisher Directors of some UK Networks, Duncan Popham I’m sure will be providing some controversial questions towards them. I’m expecting the questions to cover Affiliate Payments, De-duplication, Closed Groups and Confidentiality, but we’ve left these questions in the capable hands of Duncan!

That’s just one. It’s an incredibly difficult task to schedule 50 sessions and to ensure we cover the latest trends and topics often before they hit the minds of those in the industry. I urge people to take a good look and if there is not something for you let me know!

Which one person in the affiliate marketing industry do you most admire?

That’s incredibly hard. The beauty of Affiliate Marketing is that it can be used to supplement your lifestyle alongside a day job or enable entrepreneurs to create tangible businesses.

It’s fair to say people have come and gone, so anyone who has innovated to stay in the game gets my admiration.

What is the biggest change you have seen since you started in the affiliate industry?

I’ve been around long enough to see many types of business model leap to the top of the earnings chart. However the biggest change I guess is the overall acknowledgement of Affiliate Marketing as a professional and genuine online marketing channel. That said it frustrates me that leading publications still don’t give us the credit we deserve.

Where do you see affiliate marketing in say 5 or 10 years time?

It’s going to change to Performance Marketing and will be closely aligned with other marketing channels in an integrated fashion. There will be far greater segmentation of publisher business models, many traditional affiliates will fade away and be replaced with top level high tier publishers, performance marketing enabled mobile applications and high value add web applications. Everything will be open sourced with closer collaboration and a keener eye on the actual ROI. That’s next year though! – It’s just impossible to go further ahead!

Finally is there any particular funny anecdote or incident from a previous a4uexpo you would like to share with my readers?

Too many to mention! Though I’m sure I’ve seen some videos of James Little from Affiliate future and Mark White from UK Web Media dancing on youtube.

Thank you very much Matthew for taking time out of your busy schedule, see you in October.

Oh here are the video’s Matt mentions:

a4uexpo 2010 Europe’s largest Performance Marketing Conference with over 1,000 delegates, 48 conference sessions will be held in London on the 12th and 13th October 2010.

An Interview with Matthew Wood of a4uexpo

Earlier this week I attended the LinkShare UK Symposium in London’s Westminster, this was going to be a straight review however Symposium UK – Official Event Wrapup and The Need For Feeds @ LinkShare’s Symposium have saved me the effort thanks guys ‘n’ gals.

The theme for the event ‘Targeting Your Efforts – in 2010 and beyond’ and Linkshare UK certainly hit their target with this event right on the bullseye.

Despite a few logistical nightmares, which must have had Liane Dietrich, Managing Director of LinkShare UK and her team tearing their hair out in the run up to the event as various speakers had to cancel due the flight ban brought on by the Icelandic volcano eruption, the whole day went really well, the quality of the speaking was excellent and was in my opinion pitched at the right level for a mixed and varied audience, kudos to those drafted in at last minute to fill the breach it must have been a bit daunting with so little time to prepare.

2 important points which came out time and time again over the course of the day were:

• Embrace social media, at the very least ensure your company has a twitter account and a facebook page and engage with your users.
• The importance of accurate up to date product feeds, Existem’s Chris Johnson covers this in more detail in the article referenced above.

Lunch was a resounding success and the caterers deserve a round of applause, don’t think I have attended an industry event before where I have heard absolutely no complaints about the food.

The afternoon Dealmaker Tradeshow was a fabulous networking opportunity, a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones plus the chance meet the people behind the merchant name and talk about how we can work together towards the common goal of making sales.

The evenings after party went well too in less formal surroundings over a beer or two plenty more chance to network, I would have liked to have seen more merchants in attendance though, its at the end of the day when everyone is a little more relaxed that you can really get to know people and long standing friendships as well as business partnerships can be forged even though the conversation tends to be less about work.

All in all it was a very successful day, and I look forward to Linkshare Symposium UK 2011.

Thank you very much to all at Linkshare for hosting the event, the fantastic hospitality you extended throughout the day and for an interesting session of 2 truths and a lie over a late night Chinese, that will be a topic of conversation for many months to come .

Linkshare UK Hit The Bullseye

Just a quick post of my schedule for next weeks a4uExpo in London. Purely for selfish reasons so I can print it off.

Monday 12th October

11.30 Taxi > Darlington Station

12.02pm – Train > London Kings Cross, not taking laptop so reading The Shadow in The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

2.44pm – Underground & Dlr > Custom House Excel

Hopefully Check in to Custom House Hotel by 4pm find a friend or 2 and possibly get food in upstairs bar at the Fox  5.30- 6pm ish

7pm  Ignite Pre-Show Networking Event at Novotel catch up time with lots of great people, plus most importantly pick up expo badge, this could mean an extra hour in bed on Tuesday Morning.

Tuesday 13th October

A great day in store ) Heres what I intend seeing any blanks I will decide on later

09:15 – 10:15 Platinum 5/6/7 SEO Strategies To Make A Splash! Dave Naylor

10:30 – 11:30 Platinum 5/6/7 Meet The Search Engines Q&A Matthew Trewhella, Google – Dan Cohen, Microsoft – TBA, Yahoo!

12:00 – 13:00 Platinum 4 The Affiliate Doctors Live! Kieron Donoghue – Chris Garrett – Duncan Jennings – Dixon Jones

14:30 – 15:30 Platinum 3 Beyond Link Bait: Getting Authoritative Mentions Online - Dixon Jones – Kelvin Newman – Jon Myers (Moderator)

16:00 – 17:00 Platinum 5/6/7 Advanced Site Architecture And Product Feed SEO Judith Lewis – at a4uExpo Europe I unfortunately missed Judith’s talk but heard some great feedback about it so if there is only one session I see at this years expo this is it. (Sorry Nadeem I’ll catch up with yours by video)

Evening at the o2 food first then Breakout Party at the Inc Club from 9pm

Wednesday 14th October

Another awesome day of education meetings and networking.

11:00 – 12:00 Platinum 5/6/7 Barriers to Conversion & Discovering Untapped Opportunities With Analytics – Joanna Butler – Will Critchlow Lisa Myers

12:15 – 13:15 Platinum 5/6/7 Beat Your Merchants At Their Own Game Ben Jesson & Dr Karl Blanks – I make no secret of the fact I admire the work of Ben and Karl of Conversion Rate Experts, so this is undoubtedly my must see session of day 2

13:30 – 14:15 Platinum 3 Regulation, Promotion and Education – What Can The IAB Affiliate Council Do For You? Matt Bailey, i-level – Daniel Powel, Commision Junction – Dan Thut, Qua Media -  Julia Stent, Vodafone

16:00 – 17:00 Platinum 5/6/7 Conversion is King! Gary Beal

17:15 – 18:00 Platinum 5/6/7 How to Build the Best Performing Email Database - Trine Buus – Email is an area that I have never managed to do anymore than scratch the surface hopefully this will open a whole new world for me.

Wednesday finishes with Fish n Chips at the Networking Drinks, Hot Buffet & Ice Party! in the Fox.

That wraps things up just need to remember to get back to Kings Cross for my 1pm Train on Thursday.

Apologies in advance to anyone I know who is doing at talk at the same time as the sessions I have planned but if you doing one when I’m free give me a shout and if I dont have a meeting scheduled I’ll pop along.

If you my dear reader is planning to attend the expo please stop me and say hi.

My Schedule – a4uExpo London 2009

The agenda for the A4uExpo London 2009 Affiliate Marketing Conference has been released today and what a full on jam packed event it is going to be.

This will be the third A4uExpo in London and their second event of 2009 after the successful foray in mainland Europe with the Amsterdam conference earlier in the year.

Here is the full press release that accompanied today’s agenda announcement.

AFFILIATE MARKETING MUST UP ITS GAME TO SURVIVE, ACCORDING TO A4UEXPO SPEAKERS

The Affiliate Marketing sector must up its game if it is to remain the channel of choice in the current economic climate, according to some of the industry’s most experienced practitioners who are scheduled to speak at this year’s a4uexpo London event.

With sessions highlighting the need for embracing new technology and innovation as well as redefining roles within the £4bn industry, this year’s a4uexpo London Affiliate Marketing event looks set to ensure everyone is aware of the threats as well as the opportunities facing the channel.

Matthew Wood, founder and organiser of a4uexpo, says:

“Now is not the time for complacency and this year’s conference agenda is packed full of ideas and insights to help all parties working in this industry ensure it remains the channel of choice for Online Marketing.”

With sessions including a revealing insight from eBay about the decision behind the introduction of its new Quality Pricing Model; conversion benefits from getting product feeds right; and the future role third party apps can play within the sector, there will also be presentations from some of the leading Affiliate Marketing specialists across the globe giving hints and tips on how they would establish themselves if they were now entering the market for the first time.

The two-day educational conference, which is being held at ExCel London on October 13-14, includes a mix of formal presentations, panel discussions and hands-on workshops, and has been devised to enlighten new starters through to experienced AM practitioners.

With over 40 industry speaks from the Affiliate Marketing, Search, Analytics, Conversion and Social Media arenas, the event brings together an unrivalled team of International and UK-based Affiliate Marketing experts & Online Marketing professionals. Highlights also include:

• Intriguing survey results analysing the purchasing habits surrounding the increasing use of Voucher Codes
• Commission Junction founder and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Per Pettersen on the market’s development and possible routes for future growth
• Ewan Darby from Ogilvy and BA’s Eve Ireland on the role AM plays in the wider Marketing mix
• How to thrive in Affiliate Marketing from buy.at head Michael Steckler
• Bronco’s Dave Naylor’s tips on successful SEO strategies to get a head start in new niches or competitive verticals
• A look at the changing role of Networks from progressive Affiliate Network affilinet
• The role of Affiliates within the purchase chain and adding value, from i-level’s Matt Bailey
• Expert panels on utilising Social Media and Analytics, both moderated by Jon Myers at MediaVest
• Strategies for increasing Affiliate Paid Search earnings from Super Affiliate Sri Sharma
• An Extreme SEO debate from black and white hat industry gurus
• Risk Management skills for Affiliates from More Niche founder Andrew Slack

Matthew adds:

“The aim of a4uexpo is to equip delegates with cutting-edge information on best management practises, complementary channel activity, useful tools as well as expert views on the market and its future potential. This year’s agenda will do just that, and with some surprise speakers yet to be announced, our delegates will be crawling home after their two days of networking, learning and deal breaking!”

Full details regarding the a4uexpo London conference programme, including information on timings & speakers, go to www.a4uexpo.com/london

A4uExpo London 2009 agenda announced

For the second year running I was lucky enough to secure my place at the Affiliate Future Barbados Event, and a very memorable event it was too for a variety of reasons.

Last year I said that I had regretted not being able to go diving or indeed visit the infamous Harbour Lights this year I managed both although the copious drinking, dancing and making merry at the latter was the most successful of the two pursuits.

Again it was great to spend some quality time networking and having fun with some fantastic people some of whom are great friends of long standing, and of the people I met for the first time I’m sure a few of them will also become more than just casual holiday acquaintances.

The Affiliate Future Barbados  event is invaluable for the Affiliate Marketing Industry, long standing business relationships and fantastic friendships are born out of it.

Thanks to the Affiliate Future team for organising the trip and being fantastic hosts, Pete, Alex, Jess and especially the wonderful J Lil who went out of his way to find me alternative accommodation when the first room proved unsuitable, thanks also to Chris Clarkson of Sunshine.co.uk for sponsoring my place yet again.

This awesome video sums up the whole Barbados experience:

Barbados Rocks

As special occasions go you would be hard pushed to beat the glitz and the glamour of the A4uAwards held on Tuesday 2nd June at London’s Park Lane Hilton.

The UK affiliate marketing industry was well represented across all sectors, and everyone was done up to the nines, which proves that even us “grubby affiliates” do on occasion scrub up well.

I had the honour of being invited to the event by DFDS Seaways, so a big thank you to my hosts Andrew Cooper and Tom Fotheringham.

Basically this article is a whole bunch of plaudits, the venue was excellent, the meal was adequate, catering for 500 is never going to be the same as individual attention in a Michelin star restaurant.

The entertainment was great, and the awards themselves well presented.

Of course the company was fabulous so many good friends and acquaintances packed together in one room to applaud and honour the best of the best.

While all the awards are worthy of our fine industry and the winners richly deserving, my particular favourites  are the Publishers’ Choice Awards and Community Choice Awards which were voted for only by members of affiliates4u, my bias toward these awards comes from the fact that many of the winners, highly commended and indeed nominees are very dear friends of mine.

Publishers’ Choice Awards

Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Network

Winner: Affiliate Window

Highly Commended: DGM

Publishers’ Choice of Account Manager

Winner: Hannah Swift (Existem A.M.)

Highly Commended: Julie Wood (Affiliate Window) & Agnieszka Marchewka (buy.at / Platform A)

Publisher’s Choice of Affiliate Manager 2009

Winner: Chris Clarkson (sunshine.co.uk)

Highly Commended: Naomi Brown (Firebox)

Community Choice Awards

Affiliate Management Agency of 2009

Winner: Existem Affiliate Management

Highly Commended: Azam Marketing

Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2009

Winner: Kirsty McCubbin (affiliatestuff.co.uk)

Highly Commended: Lee McCoy (leemccoy.co.uk)

Congratulations to each and every one of you.

The full list of awards and winners can be found here

Finally massive congratulations must go to  Matthew Wood a young man (he only hit the big 30 a couple of days after this years awards) who has helped shape the entire UK Affiliate Marketing Industry over the past seven or so years, he and his fine team at Existem do such sterling work. Without Matt and the team events like this and the popular a4uexpo may never have been established.

As you can probably tell by the tone of my humble roundup I loved each and every minute of the night, and am already looking forward to next year.

Only change I would like to see is the smaller affiliates and merchants being honoured in some of the verticals, people who wouldn’t necessarily put themselves up for nomination, how this could be achieved is anybodies guess, food for thought.

Penguins and pretty girls at the A4uAwards 2009