How can I describe the past 5 days at Affiliate Summit other than to quote the great and talented Kanye West “Flashin..lights lights lights.”

Not only because of Las Vegas’s glimmering lights but mostly because of the non-stop hustle and bustle of excitement. It is as if the energy from the strip seeped into the show room, permeating the floor with an unbeatable enthusiasm. Networking at its finest, the conference room is overflowing with smiles, sales and industry chatter.

It’s crazy to think that such a large percentage of our industry was basically all right there, packed into one room at the same time–now that’s a lot of talent per square foot ;-). I really enjoyed seeing what every booth had to offer and of course meeting all of my lovely Affiliates in person!

While you all know how much I love technology, I was really reminded how effective face-to-face interaction is after all..novel idea, eh? Especially being the New Kids on the Block (fyi - I capitalized that out of respect), it was really great to be able to make our AKMG debut in person…it would’ve been a little harder to hand out skateboard decks at the virtual trade show. Plus it’s always nice to meet new people and make new friends, mostly because you get to come home to a lot of Linked-In requests…ha sorry, nerd alert.

Now that we are all home in one piece and on the path to recovery, the real craze begins as everyone dumps their business cards out on the floor (like kids after trick-or-treating) and the follow-up game takes off!

Good luck to all of you with that, and be sure to keep AKMG in your hearts and minds these next few days as you are crazed with starting new business. And if you haven’t already, be sure to sign up with us as an Affiliate at Publisher.Akmg.com before the end of the month!

So let’s keep those lights flashin, get some business goin, and get those offers runnin’, and let the March madness begin. Sing on Kanye.

We made it back from Vegas in one piece which wasn’t particularly easy after nearly being stalked, bribed and begged for an AKMG skateboard. Wow, what a hit those were! A special thanks goes out to Steve Patton and his skateboard company Monkey Business for making that happen. We’re always glad to be able give something away to those people that have helped to make our company such a success in such a short amount of time.

The energy at the show was really high and there was a huge turnout which was great. It was nice to see so many familiar faces plus meet the people behind an email address or AIM screenname. There seemed to be a lot of buzz about health & supplement offers and biz opp plus a renewed love for mobile offers. So it will be interesting to see what we will work on our network in the coming month. The next week should be crazy following up with everyone and weeding through everything but it will be worth it because I met a ton of really great contacts - smart, chill, hardworking people…just the kind of people that we like to work with at AKMG.

Be sure to visit us in San Francisco for an ad:tech AKMG skateboard

So like most of you, we are all scrambling to make sure we’ve finished everything that we can this week before Affiliate Summit West plus that all of our meetings, dinner reservations etc are in place. What a week…and the show hasn’t even begun…but we’re really looking forward to it!! It will be the first time that the entire AKMG staff will be together at a show so it should be an entertaining trip! Most of us will be there for the LONG haul - Saturday evening through Wednesday morning. That is definitely enough time in Vegas! Then I’ll be heading back with the LA crew to spend some time in our Santa Monica office plus visit Steve’s new “bu” pad! I hear it’s fabulous!

Ok, back to ASW preparations. Please be sure to stop by our booth #128 to meet us in person and check out the goods that we’re giving away. Believe me, it will be worth your time and you won’t find anything like this anywhere else on the exhibit floor!

I’m sure our industry is no different than most others but it’s getting increasingly hard to find the optimal balance between my “work” life and my “personal” life. So of course I chalk it up to just an online media thing. I find myself constantly checking my emails on my iphone late into the night and always working late in the evenings on the east coast just because I know everyone is still working in our LA office. The internet never stops so I guess maybe it is more relevant to our industry. I feel like I’m playing tug of war with work and my own time…and work has been winning lately!

Kim gave me great advice when we started AKMG. She said: “just know that you’re never going to finish everything that you want to each day”. I never know how true that would actually be when she said it! I may finish 15 things every day but there are always 5 other things just staring back up at me from my day planner. So it’s easy to get caught up and just continue working into the evening to finish…although as Kim said, you never really finish each day! I’m sure most of you struggle with this especially anyone who has worked for a start up company. It’s a completely different mentally. But believe me, I prefer start up mentally to corporate B.S. and red tape.

Anyway, now isn’t the time to dwell on this…I have lots to do! I look forward to meeting/seeing you all at Affiliate Summit West. Please be sure to stop by our booth (#128).

Ok that’s a tongue twister, I know, and way too much to deal with on a Monday morning. But it’s something that we all face on a daily basis. Choosing the right payout is not an exact science and is sometimes a combination of luck, a great landing page & offer. But for the rest of us, the payout is something that really needs to be analyzed and considered on a larger sense rather than just thinking about it in terms of a specific industry. For example, we may have a debt offer that pays $18 on a 1st page submit with 6 fields which is directly competing with an auto loan offer that pays $14 on a 1st page submit with 6 fields. Even if $14 is the highest “auto loan” offer payout out there, we’re going to have a hard time gaining traction on the offer because our emailers will want $18 for a 1st page submit with 6 fields, regardless of the vertical. Emailers really only care about payout, number of fields collected (or in more general terms, what is expected of the consumer) and metrics. The vertical means very little to them. This is sometimes hard for an advertiser to realize and accept. But if this is taken in consideration, picking the perfect payout may be easier than we think.

I’m increasingly working with advertisers who are coming to AKMG because they are interested in affiliate marketing but don’t necessarily have an offer, landing page, creative, payouts, etc. already available. So I’m working with them to structure their offer and obviously the payout is one of the items that advertisers are most concerned about. It’s hard to make people understand that they have to compete with what other verticals are paying out and that affiliates don’t care what they are promoting - they just want to promote offers that convert! Each day is a learning process for all of us which is what keeps this business interesting.

By the way, I wrote an earlier post called “Addicted to Technology” but technology isn’t my favorite thing today considering I wrote and published this blog posting last Friday. When I was browsing our site this morning, I realized my posting wasn’t there and only a draft version with 1 sentence was saved in our admin system. So I had to re-write this from scratch…oh well, life goes on!

Ok back to the grind - have a great week! For those of you in the snow, now is the time to come and visit me in Miami…it’s 75 and sunny here!

My first thought was to try and title this ‘The Affitting Room’ buttt I’m not sure that conveys as straight forward of a meaning as my usual word-mergers… so I thought I’d spare you the end-of-the-day confusion. So you’re welcome for that.

What I want to talk about though is the offer ‘testing’ process in Affiliate Marketing. It really requires an open mind and the realization that no offer is ever going to convert perfectly for everyone. There could be one offer that does fantastically for one Affiliate, and horrendously for another.

Yes, I know what you are thinking… this is exactly like shopping for jeans.

One pair of jeans will look great on your friend, but then you try them on and want to die right there in the fitting room. This does not mean the world is ending however (even though it may sometimes feel like it). This just means that you have to keep trying on different pairs until something fits. The better attitude you have going into the situation, the easier–and less dramatic–it will be.

Now, before I gag you with this horrendously cliche metaphor, let’s get to the point.

It is so important to not give up after one unsuccessful offer, but to keep trying out as many as possible until you hit a jackpot! There are so many “spicy hot” offers out there, but what is important to realize what it is that gives it the “spicy.” It’s not just the offer, or just the Affiliate’s list. It’s a combination of the two…it is their chemistry if you will. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, let me be your cupid and let’s find a perfect match shall we? (hmm maybe I should’ve saved that one for a Friday closer to Vday…bummer…)

So let’s all keep open minds in the ‘Affiting Room’ (see, that wasn’t so bad now was it?) and not get discouraged if a few offers don’t have the right fit. Let’s keep going until we find something tailored perfectly for you… or until you hit the jackpot.. or find that perfect fish in the sea.. ahhh I’m sorry I can’t stop.

Bottom line is, the only way to really know if something is a good fit for you, is if you try it on.

Second bottom line is: End of day on Friday + Nerd Alert = Metaphor Madness.

Have a great weekend everyone!