Posts Tagged "trade shows"

Affiliate Summit Sneak Peak!

Posted on Jan 8, 2009 in Conferences & Networking |

Thanks to the wonders of advanced planning, all the presentations for Affiliate Summit West 2009 – which starts on Sunday – are available to view now at http://www.slideshare.net/affsum.  I’m going to try to bring my head above water enough to read through some before heading to Las Vegas tomorrow.

Are you going to Affiliate Summit?  I am.  Check out Ten Ways to Meet Me At Affiliate Summit from the New Edge Media blog.

In the meantime, keep your eyes open for some tips and tricks I’ll share with ya just in time for Affiliate Summit…

Affsum Session: Copywriting Clinic

Posted on Dec 18, 2008 in Conferences & Networking | 2 comments

Yes, that’s right.  It’s been MONTHS since Affiliate Summit East 2008, and we’re less than a month away from Affiliate Summit West 2009.  And I’m just now getting around to giving you the skinny and my notes on this incredibly helpful session.  Why now?  Now there’s video:

The panel consisted of:

• Lisa Riolo, Founder, Hammock Ventures (Moderator)
• Adam Gilad, CEO, Gilad Creative Media, Inc.
• Scott Polk, CEO, Purplestream Marketing
• Anik Singal, CEO, Affiliate Classroom Inc.

As I mentioned, this was a fantastic panel.  In fact, I might consider this hands down the best panel I’ve attended at any trade show.  It was FULL of useful information.  Watch the video for yourself (ignore my head in the front row :D) or check out my notes!

Bullet Point Review!

• Copy writing is salesmanship in writing (Anik).
• Headlines are huige – your copy can suck if your headline kicks butt, but the other way around doesn’t work (Anik).
• Simple video dresses up your content (Anik).
• Making an ugly order button actually helps because it stands out – believe it or not, conversions go through the roof (Anik).
• Think of headlines as plot points (Adam).
• Act I is the Familiar World.  Turn pain into calling.  If you can articulate their pain better than they can – it will bring trust & bring them to the calling (Adam).
• Act 2 is the Road of Trials.  Meet new allies and villains – in copy writing allies can be testimonials, villains are negative – brings you to the death of the protagonist (Adam).
• Act 3 is the Resolution.  Give them to sword to slay the dragon – the order information and a promise of how great it will be when they get there (Adam).
• Write for your reader (Scott).
• Optimize against the competition (Scott).
• 350-450 words is a good start (Scott).
• Use main keywords you’re optimizing for in the 1st sentence, twice in the first 200 words (Scott).
• Editorial content is what powers the web (Scott).
• People have difficulty getting started, but the key is tight copy.
• Use of active verbs – creates motion & engages users.
• Try to evoke senses when selling -> smell/scent works well.  They’re related to positive emotions.
• Listen & read things around you – it will inspire you to get started.
• Process of writing and process of editing are two very different processes.
• Take 12 hours in between the creative of writing and the technical of editing as a buffer period.
• Build momentum – make them want to turn the page (Adam).
• Take note of evocative words.
• There are good books that are just lists of words.

Points brought up during the Q&A

• Adjectives are your enemy.
• Reading out loud helps develop the rhythm of language.
• How does attention span factor in?
  • -> The story should be compelling enough and people are drawn in.
  • -> The sub-headlines should tell the story.
• Never assume people have read the page before or after on a website – have good site navigation too.
• Tone – more professional robot or real person writing?
  • -> That personal aspect is what draws people in.
  • -> Talk to them in your voice.
  • -> Consistency of voice is important.
• Humorous content is vital.
• What can brands with stuffier businesses do to liven up without adding personality?
  • -> If you can’t do it within the funnel, ask affiliates to try stuff or do stuff elsewhere on the site.
• Any tools to check what you’ve written to improve it’s SEO?
  • -> SEO Toolkit – keyword density analyzer
  • -> Make title tag for search engines
• Have depth – don’t be too dumbed down.
• Supporting information is good, but don’t clutter the conversion funnel.
• It’s difficult to speak in absolutes and don’t disrupt the process.
• Multi-variant testing with copy gives you a realistic picture of what’s going on.
• Pop your sentences into Google to see how many others use those same phrases.
• Copyscape can analyze your content to see how unique it is.

I easily took the most notes of the conference at this session.  Great tips all around, and I espeically loved hearing Adam relate copy writing to screen writing – my major in college was Theatre Arts, emphasizing on dramatic writing, so that was a nice way to bring together my visions of what I was going to do for a career and the reality of what I am doing for a career.  Very awesome and I hope to see similar clinics like this offered at future shows!

Ball: Dropped Stress: High

Posted on Jul 31, 2008 in Career, Conferences & Networking, Rambles | 2 comments

I have good news, and I have bad news.  Hopefully this will explain why I’ve been asleep at the wheel here.

First, the good!

• TrishaLyn.com is now available as a mobile compatible site!  Just point your smartphone browser to www.trishalyn.com!  Thanks to Shawn Collins & the Geek Cast crew for mentioning this nifty plugin in the last episode and Shawn specifically for sending me the link.
• Speaking of Geek Cast, I was mentioned two weeks running.  Apparently Scott Jangro and I will be the only audience members for their Geek Cast Live show from Affiliate Summit, and Lisa’s counting on me to help keep the boys in line.  Ah, good times will be had I can FEEL it!
• Affiliate Summit East 2008 is SOLD OUT and takes place in a little over a week.  I’m excited to be hitting Boston again and finally meeting some of these people I’ve been networkin’ with online since the last summit.
• Affiliate Classroom Live! is also in about a week, so I really REALLY need to get my act together and formulate some talking points for the round-table discussion I’ll be leading.

Now, the not so great.

• I’m sad to say that after almost 2 years my beloved supervisor is leaving our company.  I’m going to miss her tremendously as she’s been a complete pleasure and joy to work for!  To be honest, I’m taking the change harder than I should because of….
• I’m moving!  Just from one city here in the East San Francisco Bay Area to another, nothing major.  It’s just that I absolutely detest packing and moving.  Luckily my husband acknowledges that I’m a weakling and useless in the actual heavy lifting, so I’m on packing and unpacking duty.
• With the change in my supervisor leaving, my job responsibilities are changing as well.  I don’t think I can say much right now, but involves some shifting in terms of my focused projects within the marketing department.

Obviously the combined changes of job responsibilities, moving, taking a long weekend vacation to celebrate my 5th wedding anniversary, and taking off for several days to attend Affiliate Summit East are all a bit overwhelming.  I hope to be rejuvenated after my vacation and be able to jump back into the swing of things with some excellent coverage of Affiliate Summit!

If you’re giving away stress balls at the summit, save one for me!!

Early Bird Pricing for CJU Ends June 15

Posted on Jun 11, 2008 in Affiliate Marketing, Conferences & Networking |

One of the leading affiliate networks (which the PsPrint program is also on), Commission Junction, is hosting their annual CJU (Commission Junction University) event September 16th – 18th in Santa Barbara, CA.  This event is a chance for publishers and advertisers to meet face to face and talk about the issues facing the industry and ways of improving affiliate relations.

This year’s event has built in more networking time than any CJU before it.  The organizers listened intently to the feedback the received last year wanting more chances to socialize with fellow industry professionals.  This year’s keynote is Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist at Apple and current managing director of Garage Technology Ventures.  It should be a good talk from someone with plenty of experience in the tech industry.

Personally, I’ve heard mixed reviews from industry insiders on this event, but hopefully so have the organizers and they’ve taken those reviews into consideration as well.  The early bird pricing ends on June 15th, so now until then you can save $100 by registering now.  More details can be found at http://cju.cj.com/events/.  I’ve been told that the hotel books up quickly, so don’t wait.  I’m still poking & prodding to see if we’re going!

Early Bird Price for Affiliate Summit ENDS TODAY

Posted on Jun 6, 2008 in Affiliate Marketing, Career, Conferences & Networking |

Boston, MA

Want to meet me?! Of course you do! Remember that today is the last day to sign up for Affiliate Summit East 2008 and still get the cheaper Early Bird Pricing. The full conference pass – today only – is just $949 while an Expo Hall Only pass is a very affordable $99. If you’ve been waffling about going, pull the trigger and do it now while it’s still cheap!

After tomorrow, the prices go up to $199 for the expo hall only pass and a whopping $1449 for the full pass. And of course, if you sit on your lazy duff until the last minute, you have to shell out $299 for an expo hall only pass or $1949 for the full conference pass.

There are a lot of great sessions already scheduled and on the agenda for the summit. A full agenda is online already. I’ve already added several to my TripIt account so I can plan out my time, including Sam Harrelson’s Leveraging Social Media, Andy Rodriguez’s Affiliate Marketing Basics for Merchants, and Lisa Picarille’s Content that Kills sessions.

There’s no reason not to save money and really, this is a great event for affiliate marketing professionals – both publishers and advertisers – to network and learn from. So go today and register for Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston while you can still get in with the best price!

Sponsor My Wardrobe!

Posted on Jun 1, 2008 in Conferences & Networking, Marketing | 3 comments

That’s right – I’m whoring myself out for sponsors! As I mentioned awhile ago, I’ll be attending Affiliate Summit East 2008 in Boston this August. This is entirely on my own dime. So I’m looking to soften the costs a bit.

So, space is now available on the back of my shirt! I will be making a custom t-shirt with my logo on the front and YOURS on the back. I will be selling the 5″x2″ logo areas, 10 total. Each area will cost a SUPER CHEAP $15. The shirt will be worn on the first day of Affiliate Summit, guaranteed. The t-shirt itself it simply white. And I will wear my hair up so all logos can be seen!

I am also selling button sponsorship. For $5 you can have a 2.5″ round button of your logo pinned to my messenger bag that I’ll be carrying during the entire conference. Of course, I will also feature your logo here in a blog post as a thanks.

If you’re interested, please contact me at blog@trishalyn.com with “Affiliate Summit Sponsorship” in the subject line.