Date: Sunday, January 11th, 2009.  Session 3d, 3:00pm.
Session Description: There are two sides to ethical issues in affiliate marketing, and we will entertain audience questions for a panel of industry leaders.  The panel consisted of:

• Haiko de Poel Jr., Managing Partner, dp internet services LLC, DBA ABestWeb (Moderator)
• Connie Berg, CEO, FlamingoWorld.com LLC
• Chuck Hamrick, Affiliate Manager, affiliateCREW.com
• Brian Littleton, President/CEO, ShareASale.com
• Alex Butin, Freecause (Alex stood in for Paul Nichols from Ebates, who had to bow out last minute)

With Alex on the panel and the latest big issue facing affiliate ethics being toolbars overwriting affiliate cookies, I think that swayed the tide of the questions asked by both Haiko as moderator and Q&A portion.  I would have liked to hear more questions asked by audience members, but admittedly, I didn’t have any to ask myself since I’m still learning about all the different issues that eat at the ethics of the industry.

Bullet Point Review!

• Haiko made a good analogy to Las Vegas and asked: is the soul of the industry gone?
• Online marketing is becoming the default medium for high ROI.
• From your unique vantage point, where do you draw the line?
  • Chuck, as an OPM, said: Knowingly doing something that’s unethical.  Working with adware and parasites knowing that’s wrong.  Allowing PPC tactics you know affect other department’s performance.  Being an affiliate of your own program.  Playing favorites.
  • Connie, as a coupon affiliate, said: Coupon sites that have a toolbar that overwrites other cookies.  Auto load cookies.  Social media apps. Networks owning competing affiliate sites.  As new technology comes out there are new ways to cheat.
  • Alex, as a technology provider, said: Be clear with your motives, evolve your business models.  It’s up to merchants to decide what’s unethical, as a company they don’t want to create a tool that doesn’t do exactly what it says it does, so they’re not interested in shady features that aren’t advertised.
  • Brian, as a network, said: They see “interference” to tracking as a problem period, and since parasites, toolbars, etc. interfere with tracking, they’re out.  They’ve also seen a total disregard for other company’s policies (affiliates breaking Google rules was his example) and they have no interest working with those people.  Don’t turn the other cheek to practices you know are unethical.
• There’s a whole movement of squeaky clean networks and businesses.
• We need to take charge because the networks won’t.
• People are pushing the term “affiliate” under the rug and re-branding as “performance” marketing.  Performance is all inclusive and too broad to represent affiliates.
• Network compliance teams are a joke.
• The industry needs more disclosure and transparency, not division and separation that some organizations are actually providing (seemed to hint at the PMA).

Points brought up during the Q&A

• One question asker made the statement that “cookies are dead”, referencing the new browser technology recently coming out that has been blocking affiliate ad displays and blocking cookies.  Brian respectfully disagreed with the statement that cookies are dead, but said his network is looking at ways to track without cookies, but couldn’t get into specifics for obvious reasons.  Other panelists agreed that the cookie issue isn’t too big yet.
• Brook Schaaf asked about the negative thoughts associated with coupon sites, and Connie and the other panelists agreed that “one bad apple spoils the bunch”, so to speak.  There are shady coupon sites running toolbars that overwrite cookies, stealing non-affiliate coupon codes from the merchant’s website, and stealing exclusive codes from other affiliates that have given legitimate coupon sites a bad name.

Based solely on the description of this session, I was hoping for more of a discussion, but despite the room being packed, the panel was over 20 minutes early with just two questions asked.  I’m glad that it seems they took the feedback from Boston and toned the emotion of the session down a bit, and I hope to see further discussion at future Summits, or perhaps even a jam session type event to just address ethics.  It seems like a discussion bigger than an hour long panel can accommodate.

There’s also a recap from Michael Buechele’s point of view on the Affiliate Summit Blog:  Affiliate Summit West 2009 Session Recap – Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing. Check out a different perspective.

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I believe I mentioned before, I’m participating once again in the Affiliate Summit Mentor program.  I sent these same tips and tricks to the person I’m mentoring, and since people are starting to filter into town today for the show, I’ve decided to share these last minute tips with everyone!

Now, some are just general conference/trade show things that a first timer might not really be aware of.  Some are probably common sense, but hey, they’re there for good measure.  So take my advice here, don’t take my advice, it’s up to you.  But some of this might help!

If all goes well and my flight is on time I should be in the air soon, so I hope to see you in Las Vegas!  If you want to meet up with me at any point, send me a Direct Message on Twitter – I’ll have the SMS updates turned on so it’ll be as good as texting me

General Conference Tips

• Business Cards – Bring plenty!  I can’t stress this enough.  It’s the best way for people to remember to contact you when they get back to “the real world” of work after the conference.  Also, if you’re the type of person that likes to enter booth drawings for prizes, most want you to drop off a business card to enter.
• Added Personalization of Business Cards – For an important contact that you definitely want to get back to you, write something distinctive on the back of the card when you give it to them.  It could be your cell phone number or some other bit of contact information that’s not already on the card, or just a note about who you are, like “Met at lunch on Tuesday”.  That will give the person a reminder when they get back that they actually wanted to later connect with you.
• Comfort – wear comfortable clothes and shoes that won’t slow you down or make sitting around in sessions unbearable.  As well, it’ll help to fully assess the conference bag and its contents to know if they’re suitably comfortable for you.  For example, despite being provided a notepad in the bag, I don’t usually use it.  I prefer to use a Composition Book to take notes – not only because the cover is thick and it’s easier to write in when there’s no surface to write on, but also I keep my notes when I get back, so it’s easier to keep them in the same notebook than loose all over.  Be aware of these kinds of personal preferences.
• Literature – don’t be afraid to grab literature from booths & meet market tables.  What I do is take it up to my room and unload at the end of each day.  Then I can fully read more into stuff and decide what I’ll be taking back with me.  I also find that taking stuff back with me does help me remember who I wanted to do more research into working with, more than a business card necessarily.
• Leave Luggage Space – it’s Vegas, and there will be booth people wanting to give you knick-knacks and t-shirts and you may just want to bring home souvenirs, so remember to leave space in your bags for any literature, paperwork, goodies, souvenirs, etc. that you may be bringing home with you.  Buying another bag for that stuff to bring home isn’t fun (trust me, I’ve been there).

Affiliate Summit Specific Tips

• Conference Bag – you’ll be provided with a bag when you register.  Mostly it’ll have literature inserts that businesses have paid to have included.  I recommend going through the literature immediately and removing anything you know you have absolutely no interest in.  Added papers will just bog you down when you’re walking around.  The bag usually also contains a pad of paper someone has sponsored and a pen, amongst other random goodies.
• Registration – Register earlier, that way you have time before anything important starts to get rid of the excess in your bag & get comfortable to embark on more important stuff.  If you go to the conference area just to register before any intentions of going to the Meet Market or sessions, that will give you time to examine the bag itself, pen, notebook, goodies, etc. to see if you’ll need to grab your own supplies to be comfortable and effectively meet your conference goals.
• Meet Market – GO!  I admit, my first Affiliate Summit I didn’t go because the description made it sound like it was a row of merchants sitting around waiting for affiliates to approach them in a creepy way.  But it’s a huge networking opportunity.  There’s drinks, wandering, and yes, you can have some good conversations with industry colleagues.   There are often companies that just get a Meet Market table (they’re less expensive) and won’t have a booth during the exhibit hall, so take the opportunity to talk with anyone you’re interested in doing business with – that may be your only opportunity.
• Water – I don’t know if hotels and conference centers do this for everyone or if the organizers have to request it, but there’s almost always pitchers of cold water and glasses in all the session rooms or just outside.  Carrying around a bottle never hurts either if that’s more your style.
• Timeliness – being on time to sessions will greatly help your comfort level and learning.  I usually try to get there at least a couple minutes early.  That gives me time to find a good seat, get a drink of water, and get settled before the panel actually starts.  That way I’m not interrupting anything by trying to get comfortable or by walking in late.
• Meals – if you have a full conference pass, they provide a continental breakfast & light lunch (usually sandwiches, soup, burgers, that kind of thing).  It’s nothing gourmet but it’s a good chance to talk to some people casually, approach speakers you want to follow up with, things like that.  And you’ve already paid for it with your conference registration, so you might as well take advantage of it, that’s my theory.
• Business Meetings – you may have already scheduled some.  Don’t schedule too many though – you want ample time to explore the exhibit hall and attend panels and sessions.  Also – I made this mistake at the last Summit held at the Rio – make arrangements to meet your appointments near to the conference area.  The conference center of the Rio is at the back of the hotel, so if you’ve made arrangements to meet in the lobby or closer to the casino area, it might be incredibly out of your way to go all the way out there to meet the person.  Besides, you’ll have a more professional meeting anywhere in the back near the conference center than you would out by the casino floor anyway.
• Agenda – take a few minutes now to check out the agenda for the show online.   It’ll save you time now to decide on some of the sessions/events you definitely want to attend than to have to make those decisions on the fly.  However, being flexible isn’t a bad thing – sometimes you hear things from other attendees that you can’t know by reading the description on paper.
• Session/Event Recommendations – these are a couple of sessions that are geared more towards affiliates than merchants. You might want to check out:
  • The Black Ink Session, Sunday 1:30p – 2:30p Classroom C (Miranda 5-6). Jeremy Palmer is a great guy and successful affiliate and really takes a basic “this is how you do it” approach.
  • Ethical Issues in Affiliate Marketing, Sunday 3-4pm Classroom D (Miranda 7-8). There was a session just like this with almost the same lineup of panelists in Boston, and it didn’t turn out that great, to put it politely.  I’m really hoping that they took the feedback given then and will put out a more productive and well run panel this time.
  • Mentor Program Meet Up, Sunday 6:30-7:30pm Brasilia 1-3. You’re probably already planning on attending this, but it’ll be a great mixer and balance amongst new attendees and old hat attendees, so the networking will be great.
  • Opening Remarks & Keynote, Monday 9:45am-10:45am, General Session Room Brasilia 1-7. For one, the keynote will set the tone and you’ll be sorry if you miss it. For two, Gary Vaynerchuk is the keynote and he’s a fantastic speaker!
  • Advanced Optimization for Landing Pages, Monday 2-3pm Classroom C. I’ve heard Olivier Chaine & Lisa Crossley Hunter speak before and they definitely know what they’re talking about, so with just them the session should be good. I’ve never heard Trevor Claiborne speak and I’ve spoken to Beth Kirsch before but never seen her on a panel so I can’t vouch for them.

Las Vegas Tips

• If you’re staying at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, take a cab from the airport.  The shuttles, while less expensive, take at least an hour to get from the airport to the Rio since it’s off the strip, so usually it’s the last stop before they return to the airport.   If you’ve been traveling all day, you’ll thank yourself for saving the hassle.
• Chapstick is your friend!  If you’re not used to a relatively dry climate like Las Vegas, be sure to carry around some good chapstick or lip balm.  Even if you don’t leave the hotel at all to expose yourself to the elements, the recycled air & smoke in the casino area can be a lot to take with repeteitive exposure.
• There’s a café down the hall on the way to the conference area of the Rio called the Sao Paulo Café – avoid it!   Terrible service, mediocre food.
• There’s also a Starbucks next to that cafe, so if you need your morning latte fix, it’ll be there, but the lines may be long so plan ahead.
• The conference center is in the very back of the hotel, so from the guest elevators and gaming area, it’s a 15 minute walk if you’re taking your time, 5-10 if you’re booking it.  Remember that when planning out your arrival times and any other events during the day.
• The Carnival World Buffet is really good; I highly recommend trying it at least once while you’re there.  Don’t let the $27 price tag scare you – it’s worth it.
• The All-American Bar & Grill is a good option for a decent burger or fries at any hour.

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Affiliate Fraud:

• Bogus activity generated by an affiliate in an attempt to generate illegitimate, unearned revenue.

Commonly referred to as Black Hat activity, unfortunately there are lots of tactics that unethical affiliates can use to generate revenue.  Click fraud, redirects, adware, software programs, tool bars, etc.  There are many active affiliates out there that are working to bring ethics to the forefront of the affiliate marketing community.  Some great resources if you’re interested in reading up on what’s going on today in the affiliate industry regarding ethics and fraud, check out:

1. Affiliate Fair Play
2. UNEthical Affiliates Sub-Forum at ABestWeb
3. Parasiteware Sub-Forum at ABestWeb
4. Cookies, Adware, & Spyware Forum at 5 Star Affiliate Programs

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Glossary Definition From ABC’s of Online Marketing by Alexandra Wharton, Issue 22, Revenue Magazine

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