AC Certified

Affiliate Classroom Blog Archives

Affiliate Summit Success – Part II

Friday, February 29th, 2008 at 1:50 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

I named this post “Part II” because as I thought more about what happens at the Affiliate Summit, I became more and more amazed at all the activities and experiences going on.

There’s so much to learn and do, I thought I’d write a little more about the events that took place at the Summit.

 

First and most importantly, the Affiliate Classroom rolled out their new AC Certified Program. This program will certify Affiliate Managers so they will be recognized as experts in the Affiliate Marketing field. This will be good for both Merchants and Affiliates; Merchants will now be able to find qualified help, and those who would like to be Affiliate Managers will have a place to go to be recognized (and hired). In the future, a job board will also be available which will help put Merchants and Managers together and lessen the learning curve for both.

It was interesting to find out how much demand there was for this product. In fact, people were literally chasing Anik down the hall wanting more information.

 

The Affiliate Classroom had a booth at the event, so I didn’t attend many of the seminars, but there were eight each day! They covered such a wide variety of topics that everyone attending had a big decision to make on which one to attend. I did manage to get to “Super Affiliate Strategies that Work” and I’ll be posting some of those strategies in the future.

Then, the networking is AMAZING, as I said in Part I. There were about 400 Exhibits in all, and just under 3,000 people (including the exhibitors) attended. There was a lot of chatting, and contacts made that will last far into the future.

Also, there are parties scheduled for more networking opportunities! ShareaSale had a big party on Monday night, and then there was a big AffiliateBash on Tuesday hosted by Pepperjam and a few others. There was an appearance by the Blue Man Group at that party also. The Blue Man Group just set up an affiliate program through Partnerfusion. If you have a travel or entertainment site, you might want to check that out.

So, all in all, between the contacts made, networking opportunities, and great informational seminars, I’d say that the Affiliate Summit was a BIG success – in more ways than one!

 

Affiliate Summit Success

Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 7:38 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

When I go to the Affiliate Summit, I always expect that there will be a lot of people to meet and vendors to talk to, but this year the Affiliate Summit is HUGE!

The Sunday Meet Market, which used to be the “small” event, is now almost as big as the first Summit I attended two years ago! It really made me wonder how big the Exhibit Hall would be.  Well, today I found out – it was even bigger!  About twice the size of the Meet Market, and filled with happy people ready to network and chat. 

I’ve got some great pictures to share, and I’ll post them soon.

If you’ve never been to a Summit before, be sure to put it on your list to attend one.  It’s a great opportunity to meet a lot of companies with great affiliate programs and products, and be able to chat with their Affiliate Managers in person.

Clever Scavenger Hunt at the Affiliate Summit

Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 at 2:14 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

Are you attending the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas? It starts on Sunday, February 24th, and if you’ve ever been to a Summit before, you know that it’s fast-paced, with a lot to see and learn.

But this year, Converseon is adding a little stress-relieving fun to the conference - with a scavenger hunt called “Where in the Summit is Converseon,” and over $3,000 in prizes.

 

Participants will be challenged to hunt for Converseon team members at the Summit, take photos and answer trivia questions to earn points.

The “Where in the Summit is Converseon” game is a social media scavenger hunt, where you’ll use social sharing sites Flickr and Twitter to help track and solve clues at various locations during the Affiliate Summit. Then, just upload your photos of people and locations to the game’s Flickr account and win points toward prize packages.

Clues for bonus prizes will also be sent through Converseon’s affiliate Twitter account.

  • The game takes networking to a whole new level, beyond the usual cocktail party schmoozing, by adding a little friendly competition and great prize incentives to the mix.
  • Game winners will receive prizes from Converseon clients Edmund Scientifics, Relax the Back, MyWinesDirect, GetOrganized and Mikasa.
  • Everyone attending should play! It’ll be easy and fun!

Oh, and BTW, the first place prize is one of the best office chairs money can buy - I’m IN!

Find out more here.

February AC Magazine - It’s All About What Affiliates Really Want

Monday, February 18th, 2008 at 2:51 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

Yes, it’s hot off the press and you might just want to pay careful attention to the February, 2008 issue of Affiliate Classroom Magazine!

This month, we discuss how Merchants can capture top producing affiliate marketers by finding out what they look for when deciding which programs to promote. You’ll be surprised as Evelyn Grazini gets deep into tracking what makes a merchant’s offering desireable in: Affiliate Friendly Programs - What Affiliates Really Want. And, it’s not what you might think. . .
Then, Rachel Honoway gives you a sneak peak at what will be included in the AC “Certified Affiliate Manager Certification and Training program.” This program will launch this Friday, February 23 at the Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas. Read all about it in: The Next Big Thing In Affiliate Marketing.

Do you know Ten Ways To Communicate With Your Affiliates, or are you relying on Newsletter mailings to keep in touch? Kathy Jackson explains why it is crucial to keep in contact with your affiliates using a variety of methods.

The next article is written by Mark Thompson who lives in Spain. He has a few complaints for merchants who automatically deny affiliate status to International marketers. Read “The Current Plight Of International Affiliates” and find out how your company could be losing a ton of money by not allowing International affiliates to market U.S. products. Mark tells all, and you really should pay attention to this.

These are important subjects for merchants and affiliates alike. So take a minute now to download your copy. It’s free information, but oh so powerful!

Download Your Copy Here!

 

 

Super Affiliate Talks about Manager Certification

Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 6:03 pm by Rachel Honoway

Our friend, industry expert and a featured speaker at our upcoming Affiliate Manager workshop, Amit Mehta of SuperAffiliateMindset.com mentioned our new AC Certified program in a blog post today. He said:

My good friend Anik Singal, founder of the hugely successful Affiliate Classroom and PPC Classroom, has done it yet again.

Through Affiliate Classroom, Anik is launching a program where affiliate managers can get trained and certified!

Imagine, actually having a AC Certified Affiliate Manager that actually knows what they’re talking about!

No offense to many of the brilliant affiliate managers out there, but let’s face it, there are TONS of affiliate managers who have NO idea what they’re talking about.

I’ve dealt with my share.

I think having a standard certification program for affiliate managers is a GREAT idea, and is a BIG step in moving our industry towards a new level of professionalism. Enough with the booth babes and porn hustlers! We, as a community need to clean up our act and get the respect we deserve for the larger business community.

Kudos, Anik for taking the initiative and doing this!

Anik is looking to nominate some outstanding affiliate managers for Honorary AC Affiliate Manager certifications.

So if you have an outstanding affiliate manager, please nominate them here & tell them how much you appreciate everything they do. :)

We were intrigued by a few of the comments that his readers left:

Tom Beaton on February 13th, 2008 at 11:23 pm
Good concept, A recognised body with a certification program goes a long way towards making the industry more transparent and “proper”.

Tyler DeWitt on February 14th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Amit,

I would have to agree granted I’m not a PPC master mind like I am with organic search, but I can say this from me talking with them and etc I can tell they really don’t know there talking about or I should say there just saying what there trained to say.

What dazzles me is you would think they would be pretty good at what they do speaking they talk with affiliate marketers all day, but then again I guess the Google AdWords Reps are the same way :) .

You can read the full post and more of Amit’s affiliate marketing opinions and advice at:
http://www.superaffiliatemindset.com/is-your-affiliate-manager-ac-certified/

Nominate Your Favorite Affiliate Manager

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 12:53 pm by Rachel Honoway

We would like YOU to nominate someone you feel is well-deserving of receiving an Honorary AC Certification for affiliate management.Just take a minute or two to fill out this page: http://accertified.com/nominate/

Just a little tip - if you make a video stating your case and leave a link to the video in the comments area on the blog, we will give you and your nomination extra points!

 

Nominate here: http://accertified.com/nominate/

Note:  Only a limited number of Honorary Certificates will be presented, so get yours in Today.

 

Content Affiliate Marketing - The True Equal Opportunity King

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm by Kathy Jackson

 History is rich in stories of kings, queens, and knights in shining armor! We are told of lands being conquered and fortunes being amassed by the royalty of old. Royalty was set above the common-folk of long ago and only those with friends-in-high-places had access to the king’s ear. That was then and this is now.

Today in the modern all encompassing kingdom of the internet every person with a computer and an internet connection has the very same opportunity to associate themselves with the king. Who is this king of the internet, you ask? His name is KING CONTENT and he does rule supreme.

Those who venture into the world of internet commerce learn very quickly that the term, “content is king” is a fact of life and one that they must serve and serve well or they will be conquered and their businesses will fail.

 

In this brave relatively new world of commerce, the internet, potential customers are seeking just one thing. They are seeking information. If you give them the information (content on your website) that they want, they will become paying customers and your own private little affiliate marketing kingdom will thrive.

“So”, you ask, “what exactly do you mean by content”?

Content is information that you provide to your potential customers on your website. It comes in the form or articles that you have written or had written for you. It can also be PLR (Private Label Rights) material that you have rewritten. It can be an RSS feed. It can be a blog.

Content comes in several forms but the commonality is that it contains information that relates directly to the topic of your website.

 

You, of course, will not be the king of your empire. Content will still be the king but you will reap the rewards.

AC Certified Affiliate Manager Video Just Released

Monday, February 4th, 2008 at 2:29 pm by Evelyn Grazini, AC Student and Staff Writer

A few days ago Rachel announced that AC will officially launch the Affiliate Manager Training and Certification course at the LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshop in Las Vegas on February 23rd.

If you’re curious at all and want to know more about the program, watch this video. It explains everything!

Also, there’s still room at the LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshop. If you haven’t sent in your RSVP yet, Sign Up Here.

Affiliate Program | Privacy Policy | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Earnings Disclaimer | Link To Us