5 Affiliate Marketing Conference Guides You Need to Follow

Internet marketing conferences are an excellent way to make new connections with brands and business, while also getting that face-to-face experience you might have been missing out on. While email is great for running an online business, nothing beats being able to meet your freelancers, blogger friends, and affiliate managers at a live event.

It’s easy to talk about the many benefits of attending internet conferences from a personal perspective, but I wanted to highlight some other expert guides and write-ups instead. Even John often talks about the many benefits of growing his personal brand by speaking at different events, and how covering various conferences and events through his blog continues to grow his audience and brand in the process.

To improve your internet marketing conference knowledge and getting yourself ready to attend that next big event, but sure to follow these industry guides on affiliate marketing and blogging conferences around the world.

Leadbit’s Guide to International Marketing Conferences

Back in the day, affiliate marketing conferences were mainly held in the United States. Now they are all over the place! At the same time, if you wanted to get the perspective of how these events were, you would likely need to come across an affiliate blog and read up on their perspective. With so many global affiliate networks in place, that’s no longer the issue. Not only do most of the affiliate networks in the world today have blogs, they are also attending such events like never before. You can see a perfect roundup and Q&A session with the team over at Leadbit, in their “International Affiliate Marketing Conferences” reference guide.

Ngo’s Guide to Top Affiliate Marketing Conferences to Attend

Speaking of affiliates and their affiliate blogs, an excellent one to follow is Charles Ngo. Through his blog, you will find a wide selection of detailed tutorials, articles, and reviews on everything related to affiliate marketing. Charles also has an excellent guide on the 26 Best Affiliate Marketing Conferences in the World. If you’d only had the opportunity to attend a handful of conferences, be sure to run through this list and see which are most recommended, or headed to your area soon.

Expert Guide on “How to Prepare for Affiliate Summit”

Affiliate Summit is one of the most popular and largest affiliate marketing conferences in the world today. It’s currently held twice a year in Las Vegas and New York City — but it in the works of expanding to outside of the US. Shawn Collins is the co-founder of the conference, and he’s always providing some great resources and guides on the event for first-timers, and those who are making their way back again. A new post on his blog (by Adam Reimer) covers everything you need to know about attending Affiliate Summit, whether it’s your first time or 15th. Topics include how to choose the best sessions to attend, the best parties to attend, and of course… the importance of networking and getting real business from the event.

2018 Calendar of Affiliate Marketing Events: Conferences, Expos & More

As great as online reviews and guides are for learning about upcoming affiliate conferences, sometimes it’s better to just see a list or calendar of what’s on the horizon. With literally hundreds of internet and affiliate marketing conferences happening annually, it can get quite overwhelming!

Geno from AMNavigator has a constantly updated list of the top conferences and events happening around the world. Be sure to check out this list, as you never know when a new event might be heading to your area.

Affiliate Summit Parties: East and West

As mentioned earlier, Affiliate Summit is where most of the attention is going these days in reference to affiliate marketing conferences. One of the reasons for this is because of the heavy advertiser and network attendance at these events, and the massive parties they throw at each event.

Networks will always send out mailings and invites to these events, but if you are looking to find all of the information on one site, ASWparties.com is the place to go. The site name says ASW, but they have a page and updates for ASE as well. The site also now provides other events and parties outside of just Affiliate Summit.

It doesn’t matter if you are a complete newbie to attending affiliate conferences, or a veteran — each of these resource guides will provide you with a ton of information and resources to make sure you are ready for that next big trip. In addition to each of the resources below, also be sure to check out any of the top affiliate marketing blogs on the internet today , as they are always releasing new articles and topics that have yet to be discussed before.

Feel free to leave your favorite internet marketing event or conference in the comments below.

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The Problem with Blogging These Days – Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of my series and if you’re just joining, then I’d like you to go back and read Part 1. I’m discussing, from my experience, what the common problems with blogging are these days. These are factors that I’ve noticed can contribute to many blogs failing because they simply don’t resonate with their readers like they should. If you can make sure you don’t make these mistakes, you’ll be able to grow your brand and blog quickly. In Part 1, we discussed factors like…

• A simple idea
• Passion
• Not providing value

Let’s get started and your feedback will be appreciated.

Wrong Team

As your blog begins to grow, you’ll starting getting busy with side projects and you’ll have to hire a team. This can be a good thing because it will help divide your workload, however, you want to be careful when selecting the right team. Many people hire the wrong people, particularly those with little knowledge about their niche, and this leads to lower user engagement. You have to remember your audience comes to your blog because of your niche and when they find the wrong type of content, it will lower engagement. I’ll be discussing this in the next section, but in the meantime, it’s important you pay close attention to the following.

• Hire a team who has experience within your niche
• Hire a team you can afford to pay so you don’t run into problems with owning content
• Do background checks to ensure they write authentic content – avoid plagiarism, copyright, etc.

This will allow you to hire the right team for the job, which is very important to protect your brand and the quality of your blog.

Divided Focus

As mentioned, one of the reasons your blog will lose momentum is because your content is way too spread out. You have a specific focus and should focus on it no matter what the results. Even if you have low engagement, it’s NOT because of your niche, but the value you’re providing within your content. I recommend always keeping a close eye on your niche whenever you write content because this will help during the research and writing process.

Some ways to help keep you on track is to:

• Listen to your audience through comments and questions.
• If you have email subscribers, then shoot a quick follow-up asking them for content ideas or to fill out a survey
• Research is the best way to compile topic ideas that are focused and on point.
• Hire a team of professionals who are experts in your niche.

The point I’m making is when you have built an audience for your niche and then write unrelated content, it can cause engagement to slow down. This is a common mistake made by bloggers and a huge reason some don’t survive in this industry.

Not Using Tools Available

You are in a very lucky time, mainly because you have so many channels available to you. I’ve seen some content that was posted on social media with the right #hashtags blow up within a few minutes. With the right combination of value and #hashtags, you can create immediate brand awareness and momentum. This means the ability to build your blog quickly and have a targeted following. If you want your blog to survive, then make use of the channels your competitors are making use of. This means to promote on social media and use FREE tools to find keywords and #hashtags relevant to your content. I can promise you one thing…

If you don’t make use of them, you’re going to lose to your competition because they definitely will be using these channels to promote content. With only content, especially when starting, you’ll have slow and stagnant growth and this will take enormous time to achieve your bottom line.

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Why Online Success Is Not a Spontaneous Experience

The dot com lifestyle is one that is defined by its freedom. You are free from your boss, manager or supervisor, because the only one in charge of your business is you. You have no one to answer to and every decision is wholly your own. You are free to work from practically anywhere in the world, so long as you’ve got reliable access to the Internet on the device of your preference. Have laptop, will profit. And you are free from the confines and restrictions of the conventional Monday to Friday, nine-to-five rat race, because you don’t have to hold conventional office hours.

But should you?

It’s true that time and location freedom are the two greatest things about making your living on the Internet. It means that you are free to attend your daughter’s ballet recital without the worry about being called into the office. You are free to choose that dentist appointment at 11 a.m. on a Wednesday morning, because you don’t have to be at work at that time. You are free to hop on a plane to Barbados or Bali on a whim, because all you have to do is grab your passport and your laptop.

And whether you decide to forge out on your own as an Internet marketer, a freelance writer, a graphic designer, an app developer, a professional blogger or any number of other possibilities, you cannot rely on inspiration striking you out of the blue in order for you to be successful at what you do.

Many people fall under this false illusion that the biggest “Eureka!” type moments in the lives of hugely successful people come about spontaneously. They think that they can just sit under a tree in the park, have an apple fall on their head, and they’ll suddenly come up with the next Instagram or launch the next Problogger. It doesn’t work that way. Great ideas (and great execution) are neither spontaneous nor magical. You’ve got to put in the work.

Even when you don’t really want to.

Absolutely, the flexibility afforded by being your own boss and living the dot com lifestyle means that you can adjust and adapt your working habits to best suit your specific circumstances and situation. Absolutely, it means that you can step away from your work at the drop of a hat if needed. But it also means that you are completely and utterly reliant on your own sense of self-discipline to get the job done and to get it done well.

The only assured way that you will be able to find success, in any field but especially when you work for yourself online, is by sticking with a predictable routine that is predicated on self-discipline. Of course, it is easier to get side tracked by social media and YouTube. Of course, it is easier to bugger off to the shopping mall for a few hours just to kill the time.

See, but that’s the thing. Everyone else is choosing to do the easier thing. Everyone else is melting into their couch for yet another Netflix binge session. Everyone else says that they want to start a blog or get into affiliate marketing. Everyone else says they have a great app idea or they want to write a terrific book. But everyone else isn’t putting in the work. Everyone else is taking the easy route. And you don’t want to be everyone else.

The only way that you’re going to find inspiration is if you’re willing to meet it halfway. The only way that you’re going to have that breakthrough moment is if you commit yourself to putting in the work on a consistent basis, constantly flexing those entrepreneurial muscles because that’s how you’ll make them strong and flexible and durable, just like any other set of muscles. Michael Phelps didn’t win all those gold medals because he decided to skip a day here and there, because he knew it would become a slippery slope.

What so many people tend to forget about achieving any sort of success is that just showing up, and showing up consistently and even when you don’t really feel like it, is the hardest part. But you won’t be able to find success if you don’t show up to greet it in the first place. Success isn’t spontaneous. It’s strategic. It’s planned. It’s constructed, built brick by brick. And you’ve got to show up to lay those bricks.

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A Collection of Great Business Resources, Generators and SEO Tools Online

Running a business online is pretty sweet! Not only do you get to work from the comfort of your own home (if you are lucky enough), you also get to play around with new business ideas and internet software and tools all the time.

While most people like to spend their free time on social media, I prefer to make connections through email and write content for my own sites and others. All of this comes together to not only help me grow out my business and brand but also find some cool resources and tools online as well.

Today I will be sharing a few of my favorites and most useful ones out there!

Animated Banner Creation Tools

When I first started making money online back in the mid-90s, it actually all started with creating and selling 468×60 graphic banners for $1 each in the AOL Web Diner. This was way before anything like Paypal was around, and I would actually get a physical dollar sent to me in the mail.

Just like online payments have evolved over time, so has the way we create banner ads and images online. I personally used to design my banners with JASC Paint Shop Pro (not really even around anymore), but thanks to in-browser design tools, this is now cheaper and easier than ever.

For example, anyone can create a static banner for their site, but if you wanted to make something animated, then you might be lost. This can easily be done through the use of this gif editor in a matter of clicks. You can see two examples of static images brought to life through animation below.

In an online world where attention is everything, why stick with the old and use regular boring banner ads. Add some life to your banners and watch your engagement and click-through rates soar!

Business/Product/Domain Name Generators

Millions of news websites and business are launched every month. With so many sites and new brands going live, we are quickly running out of original names — let along domain names!

Sometimes, you just need to get creative, come up with a name, and move forward with your business. After all, world renown brand names like Starbucks, Yelp, Google, Facebook, and Instagram, really didn’t mean anything until they were launch and became what they are today.

If you are currently in a fuss about coming up with a new brand name, product name, or even a domain name, try your luck with each of the resources below.

• Domain Name Generators – Coming up with a great domain name isn’t easy, but this list of resources and tools will help you get the job done. If the .com name isn’t available, go for the .net or .org. Try to stay away from any of those weird domain TLDs that no one really pays attention to.
• Business Name Generators – If you are lucky enough to come up with a business name and also find that the domain is available as well… amazing! If not, you will find the resources and generation tools listed in this guide very useful.

No matter what route you take, always remember to make sure your domain and brand name is easy to spell and remember. The last thing you want is to create a brand and always have people being sent off to the wrong site, or not understanding what you are saying when telling someone the name of your site or brand. Keep is as simple as possible.

Site Audit and DA/PA Checkers

If you have a website or blog, you likely check the search rankings for it all the time. The actual rankings and movement for your site in the search engines comes down to many different factors. In addition to the actual content on your site and incoming backlinks, the structure, age, domain and page authority, and reputation can all have a big factor in this as well.

The Hoth is one of the leading SEO agencies on the internet today, and along with providing a great service and advice through their blog, they also have a bunch of useful tools and trackers on their site as well. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Site Audit – Running a quick site audit will allow you to see any areas of your site that need a quick clean up or fix. If any areas of your site are lacking, it could be hurting your overall search rankings.
• DA/PA Checker – I’m always checking the recent movements on my own sites DA/PA, and also of my competition. There are many tools out there for doing this, but many require a login or limit you on how many searches you can make. This tool does neither.

When it comes to using online tools, tracking reports, and generators to improve your sites SEO or overall performance, be sure to make a list so you can always go back and check your site for updates after changes have been made.

Random Number Generator Tools

If you’ve ever wanted to give something away or randomly pick an individual or event, you may have found yourself using a random number generator. This is one of the most simple generator tools online, but also extremely effective as well.

The most popular one on the internet is Random.org, which simply asks for the end user to enter how many random numbers they want, and the lowest/highest numbers that they should be from. Click a button and you will have your number(s). It doesn’t get much easier than that!

In addition to not collecting any user information on the site, Random.org also provides a bunch of other free scripts, tools, and generators as well. Just visit their main page and scroll down to see their list. Some of the other web tools for site owners and bloggers include:

• Integer Widget – Wizard will put a mini-RANDOM.ORG on your web page or blog
• Draw Widget – Wizard will put the result of a paid drawing on your web page or blog
• HTTP API – This tool will connect true random numbers into your own code
• Guidelines – Describe how to avoid getting in trouble
• Banned Hosts – A list of sites who didn’t behave and have been blocked

Like many other tasks, Google had to come in and create a tool of their own. So if you search for “random number generator”, you will also be able to accomplish this from right within the search window.

The Internet is Your Business Treasure Chest

Never before has it been so easy to get started with a business or brand of your own. Thanks to the internet, everyone now has access to the powerful tools like the ones I’ve listed for you above.

Take advantage of what each of these has to offer, while also bringing your blog, brand, or business to the next level!

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How To Correct a Poor Content Marketing Strategy

A poor content marketing strategy can be blamed for your business failing. If you have an online business, then you are probably relying on 2 things to generate profits. First, you sell products relevant to your niche and they provide value so people purchase them. Next, you have a solid content marketing campaign and this helps generate traffic, leads, and conversions. However, I can tell you from experience that content marketing is tough because you have to find the line between an effective or poor quality marketing strategy. Another thing I’ve noticed in my years of blogging is many people simply don’t pay attention to the signs of a poor content marketing campaign. They’ll let the campaign run and NOT make tweaks along the way. What does this do? Simple…

You’ll waste enormous conversions and leads because you didn’t take the time to tweak along the way. Let’s look at what you can do right now to tweak your content marketing strategy. These are very effective so start today.

Accept Problem

The first line of defense is to admit you need to make changes. When you know you can improve your strategy, only then you can make the right tweaks. You should research online and find out what your competitors are doing and any case studies they have posted. Why? You can find out the average conversion of a solid content marketing strategy and this will guide you in the right direction. For example, I’ve seen conversion rates between 15%-40%, but keep in mind, much of this success has to do with tweaking. These rates improved as the blogger learned about their audience and the type of content they prefer to read.

So,

Always try to do better because this will help push you in the right direction and help you to find ways to improve your content marketing.

Adjust Content Quality

Another huge reason many content marketing strategies fail is because bloggers simply don’t provide value. The time of quantity is gone and has been replaced with quality so you need to change your mind’s focus. Over the years, Google has been working at improving the user experience and this means providing quality. If you want your content marketing strategy to work, then you have to do things differently compared to your competitors. I encourage you to take time and research them then add the elements they are missing going forward. At the same time, you might want to improve your posting schedule by slowing it down so you can focus on publishing value.

Comments Provide Insight

The comment box can be a source of very targeted high value information. For example, through your comment box, you can find questions or feedback that’ll lead to more topic ideas going forward. The next time you publish content, make sure you have a comment box enabled so people can leave comments. What will this do?

First, it will allow you to base content around topics people want to read. Many people post questions within comment boxes and this improves your writing style. Instead of you freebase writing, you’ll write to problem answers to common problems within your niche.

Secondly, your content will resonate with your reader, which is important to improve engagement. This will also increase social shares, which ultimately will direct traffic to your website. Third, it will show your readers that you care about them and write content based on their requirements. I’ve noticed when I write user based content, it’s easier to build engagement and increase conversions at the same time.

Amplify Marketing Channels

Sometimes your content marketing is NOT producing results because you don’t market on the right channels. I’m a true believer in trying everything before changing so recommend the following. You’ll find enormous relevant traffic and can use #hashtags to target a specific group.

• Social media
• PPC networks
• Forums
• Relevant blog comments

Test and tweak because I’m sure some channels will work better for your niche compared to others.

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The Greatest Asset You’ll Ever Own

If you’ve been in business for any time at all, you possess a certain hidden asset that can make you rich. The best thing is, this hidden asset is also hidden from all your competitors. Once you understand and take advantage of its true value, you’ll enjoy an instant and unfair advantage in your marketplace. What is this hidden asset? The secret is this.

Your customer list Is Everything.

The more promotions you run to your existing customers, and the better your relationship with them is, and the more value will accrue to your list.

America’s first billionaire, Andrew Carnegie, once said: “You can take away all my factories, all my machinery, all my equipment, all of my real estate, and leave me with my very best people—and I’ll have it all back in no time flat.”

I love that quote, because I firmly believe in the value of good people. However, I want to add an important distinction. I say: “Take away everything from me, but leave me my best people and my customer list, and I’ll have it all back in no time flat.” That’s because a good customer list is your meal ticket for life. It can produce enormous lifetime sales and profits.

I’m shocked at the number of small businesses that don’t stay in touch with their best customers on a regular basis. What shocks me even more are all the small businesses that are constantly chasing after new customers, but paying very little attention to their existing customers. Their attitude is that their existing customers know where they are, and when they need more of what they sell, they’ll come back automatically. That’s a huge mistake because you can’t be sure it will happen.

This is the secret of success for every business. No matter what business you’re in, getting customers to come back and do business with you repeatedly, for as long as possible, is the key to success. In order to do that you have to invite them to come back and do more business with you. You can’t just wait for them to come to you. It’s easy enough to be proactive.

All you have to do is maintain your mailing list with a service like Aweber or Contact Contact, then contact those people on a regular basis. Develop new products, services, and offers that give them more of what you know is most important to them. Show them you really do care. Every business claims they care about their customers, but what are you doing to prove it?

The key to building a good relationship is to show people you really care about them. That can be very easy to do if you have the systems and processes in place that let you do it. Build and maintain strong relationships with people who have done business with you before. Make it easy for them to keep doing business with you, and you’ll leave your competitors eating your dust. It’s as simple as that.

Start Your List – Today No Risk No – Credit Card Require

My friends over at Constant Contact would like to offer you a free 60 day trial to test out their world class list building service.

The free trial will allow you to explore all the campaign types and features that Constant Contact has to offer. You can create as many campaigns as you want, and try out all the different campaign types available.

And, unlike other trials, you don’t need a credit card to sign up. Test it out for a full 60 days and then decide if you want to be a customer. I’m sure you will once you see how powerful the service is.

In upcoming post seris, I will show you how to take full advantage of all the unique features Constant Contact has to offer. Go set up your free trial now so you learn can along with the training. Remember, it’s free and no credit card is required.

Start Your Free Constant Contact Trial. No Risk. No Credit Card Required.

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Awesome Alexa Skills for Work-at-Home Professionals

Even though you don’t necessarily need the latest and greatest in technology in order to be successful as a professional blogger, Internet marketer, or other online professional, it’s definitely not a bad idea to leverage technology in your favor if it means you can be more productive and your business can be more profitable.

The Amazon Echo family of products isn’t exactly new anymore and that’s a good thing, because there are more developers than ever before who are interested in creating excellent Alexa Skills to go along with Amazon’s smart voice assistant. It can be really daunting to select which Alexa Skills to enable, so here are several that should help you make the most of your dot com day.

Find Your Phone with Tile

Our phones are so much more than “just” our phones these days. They’ve become our lifeblood, the thing that connects us to the rest of the world no matter where we are in the world. Now if only we can figure out where we left it. If you’ve invested in a Tile tracker, then you should definitely enable the accompanying Alexa skill.

You can use it not only to find and ring your phone, but also to track down the various Tile trackers you may have attached to your keys or in your wallet. Alexa can help. If you don’t have Tile, a good alternative is Trackr, which simply works in coordination with the corresponding mobile app.

Get Caught Up with Flash Briefing

Everyone has a slightly different morning routine. Maybe as a dot com mogul, you’re not even a morning person and your day doesn’t start until noon. Maybe you’re an early bird who gets up at 6 a.m. to get an early start to the day. Whatever the case, you can get the audio version of the morning paper by way of Alexa on Amazon Echo too.

Select for a great variety of Alexa Skills that can then be bundled together into your daily flash briefing. Personally, I like to include the weather, a couple relevant news sources (like CNN and Engadget), and a dash of entertainment for balance.

Control Your Nest Thermostat

Maybe the room is a little too cool for your liking. Maybe it’s a little too hot. Whatever the case, you don’t need to reach over for your phone and go through the trouble of finding and opening the Nest app to change your thermostat settings. Just ask Alexa to do it. This way, you don’t have to get up from your desk to stay comfortable and productive.

Turn on the Lights with TP-Link Kasa

Continuing with the theme of the smart home and the Internet of Things, there are Alexa skills available for a great number of smart home brands and ecosystems. One of my favorites is Kasa, which works with the TP-Link family of products.

I can ask Alexa to turn on the lights to my office, change the color of the LED light to blue, or dim the lights to 50% if that’s what I want. You’ll find a similar set of options if you prefer the Belkin WeMo family of smart home products.

Grab a Pizza with Domino’s

Sometimes, you find yourself getting into such a great groove, such a compelling sense of flow, that you just can’t be bothered to interupt your work session. When you work from home, you’ve got to treasure and maximize the benefit from these occurences.

And that might mean that you don’t want to bother getting up to make yourself some lunch (or dinner). It may not exactly be the healthiest option, but you can use the Domino’s skill to order some pizza without ever getting up from your chair or opening another browser tab.

Get Fit with 7-Minute Workout

After loading up on the meat lover’s pizza with extra cheese, after sitting at your desk for hours on end, you really need to combat that sedentary lifestyle with a little bit of physical activity. If you don’t have the time or motivation for something more substantial, the 7-minute workout will get you moving and help you burn off a few of those calories.

Exercise has the added benefit of boosting your endorphins (the “happy” hormones), which can in turn bolster your productivity and creativity too.

Calm Down with Guided Meditation

On the other end of the spectrum, mindfulness meditation can be a remarkably powerful tool in your arsenal as a solopreneur. When you’re getting especially anxious or stressed out about a project, take a few moments to go through a calming guided medtitation with a little help from Alexa. You’ll feel refreshed and better prepared to tackle any challenges that come your way.

Check Your Car with My Tesla

The dot com lifstyle dictates that you need to have a dot com ride. And if that dot com ride happens to be a Tesla, you may be interested in picking up the unofficial My Tesla Alexa skill.

While the skill is not officially developed or endorsed by Elon Musk’s electrified baby, the My Tesla Alexa skill can you let you interact with your hot electric car in all sorts of interesting ways. Ask about its charge status, its current range (“how far can I go”), or its current location. Tell it to honk the horn or set the driver temperature. Pretty cool, huh?

Call a Ride with Uber or Lyft

When your dot com lifestyle takes you away from home (or maybe your dot com lifestyle dictates that you don’t need a car of your own at all), you can always take advantage of the growing community of ride-hailing services to call someone to pick you up and drive you safely to your destination.

Both Uber and Lyft have Alexa skills for precisely this reason, ready to take you wherever your dot com journey may take you.

Do you have any favorite Alexa skills that I missed? Let everyone know by commenting below.

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