Affiliate Marketing Fanatics Episode 1: Almost a Fail
Monday
Mar 2, 2009
So I’ve returned rejuvenated from my vacation and I’m here to announce that I’ve started a new podcast with Michael Buechele of 11|15 Media called Affiliate Marketing Fanatics. In the podcast, hosted generously by GeekCast.fm, we discuss different tools and aspects of affiliate marketing from both the publisher perspective (Mike) and the affiliate manager perspective (mine).
We recorded our first episode just before I left for vacation and Michael worked on the editing and posting while I was gone… unfortunately as we’re just learning this stuff, there are some strange audio issues and the very end got cut off. We were using Pamela to record over Skype, so if anyone out there has any suggestions to fix them, I’m all ears.
In our first episode we discuss Zemanta, the BAAMC, RingRevenue, the PMA, and Facebook. So please, go check it out and comment and let us know what you think!
Bay Area Affiliate Managers – Save the Date February 19th
Friday
Jan 30, 2009
If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you’re looking for some networking and a discussion of what’s going on in the industry, come join the Bay Area Affiliate Managers Coalition. The BAAMC is basically just a group of affiliate managers in the area that get together to discuss current industry events with the Bay Area perspective.
I’ve attended a couple meetings and really gotten a lot out of it. It’s nice to sit around with some colleagues over lunch and discuss issues. Unfortunately I was unable to attend the last meeting in the fall, but the next meeting will be in Menlo Park February 19th. The group tries to meet every quarter, but since it relies on a company being able to volunteer to host the group and provide lunch, it can’t always be swung.
If I didn’t work from home, I’d try to make a case to my boss to host, but I don’t have enough chairs :p
If you’re interested in joining the group, check out the website BAAMC.org and join the Yahoo! Group.
Commission Junction University – Day 1
Wednesday
Sep 17, 2008
I’m down here in lovely Santa Barbara for Commission Junction University, and day one is in the can. The weather has been nice…although living in California I’m generally used to this weather, but being in the Southern end of the state there’s a distinctly different feel that I can’t quite put my finger on. But I enjoy it.
I flew from Oakland to Los Angeles on a puddle jumper, and from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara on a pack of gum. Between flights and layovers and cab rides, I arrived at my motel at 12:15am. The room is your average motel fare: 70’s floral bedspread, translucent yellow cords on the lamps, inmate furniture. The room also has a mini fridge, microwave, nicely sized TV, free wifi, and a surprisingly comfortable bed & pillows – not too shabby for $77/night. This makes me glad I’m staying at a real hotel for Blog World Expo this coming weekend.
Because of the high cost of cab fare ($25+), once I got the conference hotel I didn’t want to leave until the end of the day. I ran into Lisa Picarille and Wade Tonkin almost immediately in passing after I registered and headed to the first session, which I’ll cover later. Jeremy Palmer from Quit Your Day Job lead the first “course” as CJU calls them, and Olivier Chaine from Magnify 360 led the second. On a personal note, I read his name in the program and knew the pronunciation would be something like “o-live-e-ay shayne” and was confused when the emcee pronounced it very phonetically (olive-er chain). I was disappointed in CJ when Olivier pronounced his own name at the end of his session much like I’d imagined it was properly pronounced…if you’re going to introduce someone, learn how to pronounce their name.
I digress. Both courses were informative and well done, and I’ll be posting a bullet point review of both later on. After the courses were done I took a quick break and then headed out to the CJU Expo, a small area of tables nicely held outside under umbrellas that more closely resembled the Meet Market at Affiliate Summit than your typical trade show. It was mostly merchants and different CJU programs with tables, with the exception of an OPM (Schaaf Consulting), a couple affiliates (SurfMyAds.com), and a table for the Performance Marketing Alliance.
It’s a good thing I saw that PMA table, because it made it easy to run into some familiar faces in the form of Connie Berg & Brad Waller. Also was able to say hello to Michael Brucker from RingCentral at their table, one of the organizers of the BAAMC whose quarterly meetings I attend. (By the way if you’re an affiliate manager with a company in the SF Bay area interested in getting involved and possibly hosting about 20-25 ppl for lunch some day, let Michael know).
After the expo it was zoo time with the welcoming event being held down the street at the Santa Barbara Zoo. As much as I wanted to go, my phone was practically dead for some reason and my stomach was a bit upset, so I opted to head back to my motel. Tomorrow is a day full of sessions that look pretty good, and a keynote from Guy Kawasaki…who I think may literally be giving me the nifty orange Alltop shirt off his back afterwards. More about that if/when it happens 
