The first a4uexpo Europe in Amsterdam was amazing, I knew it would be good but it exceeded my expectations, the venue was ideal, the timetable well structured and the quality of the speakers was of a very high standard. The delegates were naturally of a more international flavour than at the London events however there was still good representation from the UK.

In all I attended a full 12 sessions over the 2 days of the conference, I managed in the main to stick to my timetable the only change I made was the first slot on day two where I ventured into “As Online continues to take its valid slice of the performance cake, what does the future hold for performance advertising in general?” presented by Nicky Iapino, this was by choice I might add not some mis-navigation due to the effects of a heavy night.

Regrets, thats easy I missed a further 7 sessions due to not being able to be in two places at once, however I’m hoping that these will be all available on video at some point.

In general highlights were many and disappointments were few, suffice to say I have a whole host of ideas, from link building to site structure to producing effective content and many other little gems, I have already implemented a couple of things with many more to do, hopefully the rewards will follow.

Changes I’d like to see

• difficult one but maybe a few more minutes between end of lunchtime sessions and start of afternoon sessions
• a way of asking questions without having to use the microphone (some of us are shy) possibly a tear off strip at the bottom of the feedback form.

Highlight of the exhibition hall for me was Conversion Rate Experts who were giving free eyetracking reviews of delegates websites, very illuminating.

I would now like to publicly thank Matthew Wood and his team from a4uevents / Existem for putting on an excellent event and all the speakers, exhibitors, other delegates, back room staff etc for making it a resounding success.

See you all in London in October.

The inaugural a4uexpo Europe is up on us from 28th – 29th of April the cream of the internet marketing world (plus little old me) will descend on Amsterdam for two days of the most intense networking and conferencing the Affiliate Marketing world has ever seen, with over 800 delegates the industry is well represented across the full spectrum; affiliates, networks, merchants, agencies, management companies, specialists in seo /  content /  search / ppc & pr and many more areas all being in attendance.

As for the conference sessions never before have I filled up my diary so completely with something penciled in for every single slot over the 2 days thats a full 12 sessions, however I have a further 6 sessions earmarked that I will have to miss due to having not yet perfected cloning or time travel, such is the rich cornucopia of delightful goodies on offer.

My Diary Expo(sed) * Please note these are sessions I have cherry picked as being the most use to me as a content affiliate / publisher / blogger.

Monday 27th April

7.00pm

Attend the Ignite Party for networking and very importantly to collect the delegate badge which will save time in the morning.

Tuesday 28th April

The fun begins:

9.30 – 10.30 I am presented with my first choice of the conference;

International SEO 101 – Judith Lewis i-level

New web & traditional PR strategies – Andy Barr 10 Yetis

Both these areas are close to my heart however I suspect the latter will win through as it is scheduled to cover social media marketing such as twitter and facebook, I just hope the one I don’t attend gets videoed.

11.00 -12.00

WordPress optimisation strategies – Joost de Valk Orange Valley

I caught Joost’s session at the London a4uexpo in October and believe me I could listen to him all day, a goldmine of useful information for anyone using or considering using wordpress.

12.30 – 13.30

Extreme SEO panel Q&A – Dave Naylor Bronco, Ciaràn Norris altogetherdigital, Marcus Tandler Mediadonis, Joost de Valk Orange Valley

The brochure says it all – White and Black Hat SEO gurus will demonstrate techniques and answer questions on SEO strategies that could give you the upper hand over your peers.

13:30 – 15:00 Networking Lunch – ha wrong no rest for the wicked

14:00 – 15:00 Lunchtime Sessions

Don’t mess up your content – How creative content increases ROI – Hannah Swift Existem-AM

As a content affiliate this is a must attend session for me.

15.00 – 16.00

Choice time again and a difficult one too

Big site SEO strategies – Dave Naylor Bronco

SEO and conversion surgery – Live Q&A – Dixon Jones Receptional, Gary Beal Vanguard SEO, Joost de Valk Orange Valley, Bas van den Beld SearchCowboys, Roy Huiskes Onetomarket, Ciaràn Norris altogetherdigital

Two Seo sessions which one will I make I do not know. Again I hope the video camera attends the one I can’t get to.

16.30 – 17.30

More choices …

New ways to monetise social media – Alicia Navarro Skimbit

Voucher codes – The demise or is it just the beginning of the channel? -  Kier Marston Webgains, Axel Landschoof raba.tt

I suspect I will attend the social media session however I do run a small voucher code site so do have an interest there too.

End of the sessions but not the end of the day, for delegates with any energy left there is the Breakout Party starting at 8pm.

Wednesday 29th April

Here we go again another jam packed day;

9.30 – 10.30

Innovative AdMedia design with google gadgets – Denis Maibaum zanox

Totally new to me something I’ve never considered so I hope to acquire another tool for the armoury.

11.00 – 12.00

Where is that tardis when I need it.

Conversion clinic: ‘recession proofing’ your landing pages – Ben Jesson, Karl Blanks, Steven Pavlovich Conversion Rate Experts

Standardization, self governance and self regulation as an industry – Can this become a reality? – Matt Bailey IAB Afiliate Council Chair, Pete Wilson Platform-A, Helen Southgate dgm

Regular readers of this blog (I suspect there is at least one) will know that I admire the work of Conversion Rate Experts, however as someone who has been in this industry for quiet some time I want to see provisions in place so that ethical practices win the day, unfortunately logistically I am unable to attend the regular IAB Affiliate Council meetings so this is my opportunity to get up to speed with what they do and the progress that is being made, sorry CRE catch up with you later in the day.

12.30 – 13.30

Maximising affiliate revenue in a digital age – Liane Dietrich Linkshare

Maximising affiliate revenue is a subject close to my heart.

13:30 – 15:00 Networking Lunch . Afraid not grab a bite again and back to it.

14:00 – 14:45 Lunchtime Sessions

Advanced link building, how to find and get those real juicy links in 2009 –  Christopher C Cemper Cemper.com

I make no secret of the fact that link building is one of my weak areas, hopefully this will help.

15.00 – 16.00

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe it doesn’t get any easier for us poor delegates arrg.

Transparency and Afiliates: Is there a benefit? – Ewan Darby Ogilvy, Lori Helms Geoffroy Kodak Gallery, Albrecht Fischer Commission Junction Germany,  Sebastien Galina Sony Style Europe

Optimizing your campaign traffic with Google Analytics – René Nijhuis Google

Yet another tough descision and one that I haven’t made yet.

16.30 – 17.30

The final choice

Link building strategies; Beyond link bait – John Straw Linkdex.com, Wiep Knol Tribal Internet Marketing, Bas van den Beld SearchCowboys

Landing page success story: How we Increased SEOmoz’s sales by 170% – Ben Jesson, Karl Blanks, Steven Pavlovich Conversion Rate Experts

Again a difficult choice on paper but a no brainer for me, having chosen to miss the Conversion Rate Experts earlier in the day, it would be rude of me to miss this one too.

Well thats the end of the sessions what a fabulous conference in prospect, all is not over though anyone still standing can go to the beach.

18.30 – 21.30

The Urban Beach Party – a chance to relax and unwind

All I can say is wow bring it on.

Doing this post as much as a diary for myself as for any other reason, anyone want anything adding just give me a shout.

• 26th March – London Pub Meet Farringdon (sold out) – managed to beg a place for this last minute.
• 2nd April – Linkshare Symposium – I cant get to this one unfortunately
• 28th – 29th April – a4uexpo Amsterdam.
• 2nd June – A4uAwards – win tickets with Existem AM
• 19th June – Affiliate Future Barbados event – fingers crossed I can get a ticket again loads of ways to win including Sunshine who sponsored my ticket last year and are giving away 6 places this year.
• 13th August – Existem AM Summer BBQ – Plymouth
• a4u expo roadshows – dates and venues tba
• 12th September – Think Visibility – Leeds
• 13th – 14th October – a4uExpo 2009 – London – the big daddy of events if you only get to one make it this one

I’m sure I have missed something :0

Way back on New Years Day I wrote my 2008 affiliate marketing predictions so how did I do?

Consolidation – there have been an awful lot of new network startups in 2007 some good, some bad, some will simply fade away others will stand the test of time, however I predict some consolidation, very possibly we will see two fairly major networks joining forces.

In February Buy.at was acquired by AOL and now operates as a business unit of AOL subsidiary Advertising.com under the name Platform-A.

Growth of Mobile Technology – something I hadn’t considered before the affiliate summit when Shaun Collins spoke about how a significant proportion of his blog visitors use mobile devises, then at the expo my good friend Ray Theakston spoke of his plans to launch a mobile site. Initially I expect the growth of mobile to be slow, maybe a network or two will introduce a mobile interface so we can check stats, and hopefully A4u will also go mobile, after all if facebook can do it We will probably have to wait until Autumn before we see mobile shopping, I expect Amazon to be the first major merchant to go down that route, in time for next Christmas.

On December 3rd Amazon.com announced the throwing open of its virtual doors to iPhone and iPod Touch users everywhere with Amazon Mobile.

Widgets – Prezzybox have already given us a Wordpress widget expect more to appear as other merchants catch on.

We have seen a few innovations in this area not least the excellent Sunpress from Sunshine.co.uk

Video – merchants and affiliates will be racing to produce bigger, better more lavish films to promote their wares, video casts will take over from podcasts on the more technical blogs.

Quite a few videos about for affiliates to use including Iwoot, Buyagift, Firebox and Prezzybox, if you know of any more please add in the comments below.

Also Matt Wood and his team have launched affiliates4u.tv

International UK affiliate event – We got a taste of this in March 2007 when DFDS took a number of affiliates for a day trip to Amsterdam, this year I predict a full blown UK affiliate event to be held abroad (not Wales Jude although I’d love to come to Swansea sometime) .

My timing is slightly out on this one, A4uexpo goes to Amsterdam on 28th and 29th April 2009.

Eat your heart out Mystic Meg

Not sure if I will attempt to do the same for 2009 no way I will get that lucky again.

It has been a busy week since a4uexpo, I managed to get my workload ahead of schedule before the event and a good job too as since getting back with my head buzzing with new ideas I have hardly had time to catch my breath.

So what have I done, well obviously my established sites take precedence so have been publishing lots of content for them, thanks for everyone who sends me articles it saves so much time and gets you more exposure too.

Some of the other things I’ve been up to come as a direct result of being at the a4uexpo here are a few of them.

One of the first things that Joost de Valk said in his presentation on wordpress SEO was that an RSS button cannot be big enough, so I am putting that to the test.

Also on various blogs I am implementing some of the wordpress plugins that Joost suggested.

Next up decided it prudent to test the Sunpress plugin that Sunshine have developed so have put it on an old European Holiday site of mine many thanks to James Zielinski for his hard work getting the search function running for me.

Also I am planning yet another new site specifically working with another merchant whose affiliate manager I had a good chat with at the expo, seems I have been an affiliate of theirs for a while, in all honesty I had not even put up a link, so I have redressed that situation and the sales have started coming, this would never have happened if this particular affiliate manager hadn’t been at a4uexpo.

Now I am working through my notes that I made at the expo lots of things still to do, some of the notes seem a bit disjointed but happily Matt Wood and the Existem events team have made most of the a4uexpo Presentations Now Available on SlideShare, which serves as a refresher, and has given me chance to check out some of the things I missed.

Now as if that isn’t enough to be going on with Ben Jesson and Dr Karl Blanks of Conversion Rates Experts, regular readers will know Iam a real fan of their work, have published a fabulous article on their blog 14 free tools that reveal why people abandon your website, so that has given me a stack of other things to do.

So over to you, What have you done since a4uexpo?