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Personal

Today is the day that I leave to go to Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit West (ASW)! This will be my second time attending the Affiliate Summit conference. The first time that I attended was in August for Affiliate Summit East (ASE) in Boston. I had a great time in Boston. I met a lot of people and learned a lot from both the people that I met and from the sessions that I attended. This time should be the same too.

ASW is taking place in Las Vegas this year. There are two conferences every year, one on the east coast, and another on the west coast. Although ASE changes every time, ASW always takes place in Vegas, I wonder why????

Anyway, I’m really excited to be attending another conference. There are so many great people to meet, good sessions to attend, and lots of information to digest. If you haven’t attended, and you are in the affiliate marketing industry, you should definitely try to attend at least one conference. The information that you will learn is worth more than the price tag of the event. Also, if you book your pass for the next conference while the current is going on, you can get it for at great discount! That’s what I always do.

This will be my firs time in Las Vegas. I will be staying at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino where the conference is taking place. At the last Affiliate Summit in Boston, I made the mistake of reserving my room at the last possible time and ended staying at a hotel next to where the conference was taking place. It was kind of annoying because the majority of the people where in one place and small group of procrastinators were at the hotel next door. This year, I didn’t make that mistake. As soon I purchased my conference pass, I also booked my hotel room!

Sessions That I will Be Attending

There are going to be a lot of great sessions and speakers this year at ASW and I attend on sitting in on many of them. Here is a list of the sessions that I will try to make it to this year at ASW:

Day 1

1. Affiliate Strategies for Traffic Generation and Monetization - This will be the session that kicks off the event. On the panel for this session are Nick Koscianski (NickyCakes) from NickyCakes.com, Miles Baker from Marketingwithmiles.com, and Geordie Cardswell from Diversion Marketing. The session will be moderated by Andrew Wee from WhoisAndrewWee.com. They will talk about PPC, seo optimization, website strategies and more.
2. The Black Ink Session - Jeremy Palmer will teach you how to plan, develop and market your own profitable affiliate site with a hands-on case study.
3. Automating Websites and PPC Management - John Hasson will be the speaker for this session. John is a really cool guy who tells it how it is. I attended his session the difference PPC engines last year and learned a lot. I look forward to this one as well. John is going to talk about the advanced concepts for automating daily website tasks (such as downloading stats, uploading changes, etc.) without access to an API.

Day 2

1. Keynote Address by Gary Vaynerchuk. I wouldn’t miss this one for the world. Gary is a great motivational speaker and entrepreneur. I really look forward to finally seeing him in person.Advertising on Facebook - The power of advertising on Facebook is amazing. You can target your ads to the exact demographic! This session will talk about advertising on Facebook. On the panel will be Zac Johnson, Jeremy Schoemaker, and Alex Schultz from Facebook.
2. Landing Page Testing To Increase Conversion - Tim Ash, author of Landing Page Optimization will talk about landing page testing to improve conversion.

Day 3

1. Super Affiliate PPC Marketing Strategies - Anik Singal, Rosalind Garner, Colin McDougall, and Amit Mehta will talk about how to inexpensively use Google, Yahoo, and MSN to drive inexpensive traffic to your site.
2. Setting Quality Standards in Affiliate Marketing - William Martin-Gill from the Ebay Partner Network will talk about improving the quality of the ebay affiliate program.
3. The Art of Keyword Blasting - Ian Fernando will talk blasting keywords and keeping the ones that convert
4. Affiliate Triathlon - I’m taking part in the Affiliate Triathlon this year. Every year, money is raised for a good cause. Shawn Collins decided to sponsor the first 5 people who commented on “Want Me To Sponsor You For The Affiliate Triathlon?“. I was commenter # 2 and got sponsored by Shawn. I also plan on making a donation myself. The money is being raised for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

That’s it for the sessions and activities that I’m going to attend and be part of. In addition to this, there are going to be lots of parties being thrown by the difference CPA networks, and as always, the parties are the best time to network and meet other link minded individuals.

I really can’t wait to get there. Unfortunately, I’m stuck at this small airport, just waiting to get my flight delayed, AGAIN!

Alright, i’m out of here. I’ll post a recap of everything when I return.

Peace out!

Affiliate Marketing affiliate summit, asw, las vegas, rio

Happy New Year everyone. I really wish everyone the best in 2009. 2008 was a heck of a year and I’m pretty happy that it’s over. Hopefully, 2009 will be a better year for all of us.

New Year Resolutions

Just like many other people around the world, I’ve also made some new year resolutions for 2009. The new year is always the best time to make promises. The top 3 resolutions for 2009 will be to lose weight, exercise more, and quit smoking. Funny, those are also my top 3 resolutions!

1. Lose Weight - I need to shed a few pounds in the new year. My goal is to lose 25 pounds in the next 6 months. At 2 pounds per week, I should have no problem reaching this goal. In order to lose these 25lbs in 6 months, I will eat healthier, eat proper portions, exercise regularly, and take Acai Berry Pills!!! I’m just joking about the acai berry pills :-). So, lose 25lbs, piece of cake!
2. Exercise More Often - It’s been a long time since I’ve been to the gym at least 3 times in a week. There was a time when I used to go to the gym a few times a week. Even if it was only for 30 minutes, it felt great. I had more energy, I felt healthier, and I looked better. In 2009, I will get back into this routine. I would like to go at least 3 times a week, maximum 4.

   The hardest part about going to the gym is finding the dedication and time to go. It’s definitely hard to find the time and dedication to go work out when you have a full time job. When I’m at work all day, the last thing that I want to do when I get home is go to the gym. I just want to go home, eat some dinner, maybe watch an hour of tv, check my facebook, etc, etc! You don’t want to go to the gym, you just want to relax.

   Another issue that I had with the gym was the location! Who the hell wants to go to the gym if they have to drive 15 minutes to get there? Not me! Forget that, I rather just stay home and not think about it. I’ve found the solution to the location problem. There’s a gym not far from my house now. It’s literally 3 minutes away. The gym is called Retro Fitness, and it’s a great place. They have lots of machines, cardio equipment with TVs on them, shake bar, and a fitness theater. Also, with the membership being $10 cheaper than Gold’s Gym’s, I’ll save over $120 a year or $240 for me and my wife.

3. Quit Smoking - In 2008, I picked up a bad habit that I had previously dropped. I had been smoke free for almost 2 years when all of the sudden, I was sucked back into it. I would occasionally smoke a cigarette when I would go out for a drink with my uncles, thinking that I had everything under control. Who the hell was I kidding? That addiction snuck up on me so fast and that I didn’t know what hit me.

   I will stop smoking in 2009. When I first stopped smoking couple years ago, I did it with the help of the nicotine patch, and this year, I will use patches to help me stop again. My plan is to use the patches for about 1 month and then to just quit 100%.
   
   

4. Read More Books - Last year I didn’t read as many books as I wanted to. My plan was to read at least 12 books, 1 a month. How many did I read? I’m pretty sure I didn’t reach my quota. I might have read 4 books in 2008 compared to 12 in 2007. My goal in 2009 is to read at least 12 books again this year. The first book that I’m going to read in 2009 is “Be The Pack Leader” by Cesar Millan. I have two small dogs who need a little bit of help.
5. Incorporate - My last post was about incorporating; I still haven’t done it. Hopefully, by mid January, I will have incorporated my online marketing business.
   
   
6. Keep In Touch With Family and Friends - In 2009, I will keep in touch with my family and friends more than I have in the past. Not that I don’t keep in touch, I just don’t do it as often as I would like, and in 2009, I will do it more often.

The begining of a new year is always a good time to set goals. I’ve set my goals for 2009 and I plan on achieving all of them this year. Did you make any resolutions for 2009?

Once again, Happy New Year and have a great 2009!

Personal 2009, goals, new year, resolutions