Affiliate Summit West 2012

Conferences are great not only for updating yourself on the latest trend or technology, but it is also a great place to network. Some conferences are better than others, but as a small business owner it can be hard to tell which one is worth your hard earned cash and time.

This week was the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas, and I had the opportunity to go here for the very first time.  This conference brings together affiliates, or web masters who earn money promoting products on their websites and blogs.

As an affiliate, this is a great conference to go to if you can scrounge up the cash.  For a platinum pass, full price, it cost $1,250.  This pass gives you access to all the speakers (which are very informative and helpful), as well as access to the market meet and exhibition hall.  You can get discounts on the pass if you say register very very early.

I had a gold pass, which unfortunately only allowed me to go to one day of speakers (but I will get the rest on video when released). All the speakers I saw were very informative and I did learn something new!

Luckily you can see an example of some of the speakers you will see at an Affiliate Summit (the have multiple ones though out the year and the country). One of the first speakers I saw was John Chow, who makes money running his own blog.  He uploaded the panel discussion to his YouTube channel.  You can also view it on johnchow.com (which I recommend joining if you are serious about the affiliate business).

Here is the Affiliate Summit panel discussion the Future of Content Monetization.

For small business owners thinking of extending their online business with an affiliate program, this conference is definitely for you. In the exhibition hall there were not only companies that help with marketing and setting up an affiliate program, there were also tons of affiliate networks.  Affiliate networks have tons of affiliates and offers from other businesses. It is a great way to promote your special deal to affiliates without networking with all the affiliates yourself.

I hope I am able to go to another Affiliate Summit conference again. Next time I will make sure to get the platinum pass and stay for all the speakers!