April, Eric, Mike and I returned from the Affiliate Summit last night pretty close to midnight. We had a great trip and I think it was well worth our while. Big thanks to everyone who took the time to stop by our booth and talk to us. Also, thanks to everyone who took part in the “how many pictures” contest at our booth. We did get a first and second place winner and they will be contacted soon letting them know they won.

Since people like lists, I though I would put one together about the Affiliate Summit. First I thought it would be a 10 Lessons Learned at Affiliate Summit list, but that didn’t really fit the content I wrote. Then I thought I could make a Top 10 Things to Know from Affiliate Summit, but that didn’t really fit well either.

Eventually I decided I would simply call this list…

10 Things from Affiliate Summit:

1. Affiliate Summit is a wonderful place to network with other search marketers - I was really pleased to see how open most people were to talking to with us, even though we were working a booth. It was good to be around such a friendly and talented group of marketing professionals.
2. If you have to give away a bunch of gum, tell people it “might be German” - This is a little marketing trick that might scale to other markets. We told people that the promotional packs of gum we were giving away could potentially be of German origin… and doing so increased our gum conversion go way up. We refer to this phenomenon as the “Hasselhoff Effect” and it might also work in the insurance vertical…then again, maybe not.
3. Scott Jangro is a really nice guy - Scott was kind enough to stop by our booth to say hi. This is the first time I have met Scott face-to-face and I really enjoyed speaking with him - he’s one of the most down-to-earth well known people in this industry. It’s a darn shame about him not winning the award for best blogger. No worries though Scott, you’ll take home the statue next year.
4. The “greatest toy ever” is a ball with elastic attached to it - you might laugh, but it’ll change your life…
5. Payday loans and “sub-prime” offers are very popular these days - I couldn’t believe how many people I met that were in these markets. It seems there is a lot of money to be made in these spaces and from what I hear it is fairly cut-throat. I bet it is a lot like the insurance vertical, actually. (I also heard the same about screensavers and ringtones).
6. Ryan Zimmerman of Clickspeed had the best business card at the Affiliate Summit - Seriously, check it out…
   
7. I think we should retire the term “merchant” from the Affiliate dictionary - The term merchant makes me think of a farmer’s market in 1802 or something. I always wondered why Commission Junction created their own terminology for members of their affiliate network - now I know why. I prefer to called an advertiser, not a merchant
8. You can throw a really impressive party when you own a nightclub - The Wynn party at Tryst nightclub was pretty amazing. Everyone who made it in had a great time and I know I wasn’t the only one impressed by the 70 foot high waterfall. (Although the strange fairy people in the red jumpsuits kinda freaked me out).
9. Saying your company is a “network” isn’t the best description - I spoke to so many people who, when asked what their company did, would reply “we’re a network.” This is a meaningless statement to me. There are so many different variations of the “network” concept (affiliate network, contextual network, CPA network, etc.) that people really need to be more specific about their network. Better yet, instead of saying you are a network, why don’t you tell me what you actually do and why I would want to do business with you?
10. Exhibiting at Affiliate Summit was a really good idea - While it was a fairly pricey venture, I think being an exhibitor at Affiliate Summit was beneficial for a company like ours. All for of us from InsureMe enjoyed meeting new affiliates and getting to know some of our current affiliates better.

Well, thats all Ive got…any other “things” that you noticed at the Summit?