Focus on Affiliate Summit West 2007

The stratospheric rise of the Affiliate Summit series of tradeshows is no secret in the industry. I remember attending my first Affiliate Summit a few years ago and I was struck in particular by two things: (1) I had never seen such a high concentration of entrepreneurial spirit at a tradeshow before; and, (2) I had never witnessed people actually having to resort to eBay to buy tickets for such an event — at double the existing registration price no less. Double! That means a number of ticket flippers actually made over $1000 per ticket in profits. I guess this really should come as no surprise given how entrepreneurial everyone is.

The show is once again sold out this year — both from an attendee and exhibitor prospective. I am looking forward to a number of sessions, especially Jay Weintraub’s from Oversee.net and Michael Rosenberg’s from LeadPoint. I am also looking forward to catching up in person with Shawn Collins. Shawn co-founded the Affiliate Summit with Missy Ward from CPA Empire.

I don’t think that there are many people that have a better read on the affiliate marketing industry than Shawn does. I recently asked him a few questions about his thoughts on where the industry is headed in 2007 and thought that I would pass along his responses via this column:

DW: Internet advertising spending is expected to rise 13.4% in 2007. Do you expect to see similar growth for the Affiliate Marketing industry?

SC: I think we can expect another year of meteoric gains for affiliate marketing. According to comScore Networks, online retail saw a 26 percent increase over the 2005 holiday season. I’ve spoken with a number of affiliate managers for both per lead and per sale affiliate programs and they say similar growth for 2006 over 2005.

DW: A little over a year ago, you made the much-repeated observation that Affiliate Marketing had reached the 2.0 phase. Do you feel that we’re seeing a similar level of change today? Is the industry evolving more quickly or are we starting to see it reach a plateau of maturity?

SC: I am seeing sophisticated methods adopted or innovated by an increasing number of affiliate marketers. Gone are the days of text links and banner ads for the growing 2.0 crowd. I expect to see more use of mobile phones,RSS, video, Web Services, widgets and other progressive efforts from affiliates and merchants throughout 2007. While some exciting things happened in 2006, 2007 is poised to be a breakout year for advanced,creative affiliate marketing.

DW: Is the role of data quality within the Affiliate Marketing industry changing?

SC: Absolutely. In the past, there was simply too much junk information being bought and sold. As more advertisers audit the integrity of the data they are buying, the focus is shifting from quantity to quality.

DW: Industry-wide, do you see a trend of relationships between affiliates and affiliate marketers getting better, worse or staying the
same?

SC: I think relationships are improving. If my informal polling is correct, blogs from affiliate managers and targeted direct mail to affiliates are on the rise. Without question, more relationships are being created and growing out of in-person meetings. Aside from the year to year growth of shows like ad:tech and Affiliate Summit, many networks are running their own events. CJ, LinkShare and Performics have had their popular events for a while, and now CPA Empire, DirectTrack, ShareASale, zanox and others are also hosting
affiliates at their own shows. If you take a look at forums like A Best Web and Wicked Fire, there is a big buzz around each event where the affiliates, merchants and networks are coming together for informal meet ups, as well. Plus, AffiliateDinner.com has emerged as something of a traveling road show of affiliate marketers anxious to join together in regional dinners to network.

As Shawn pointed out above, data quality is as much an issue in the affiliate space as it is in lead generation. I think that everyone signed up to attend is in for a great three days of education, networking and whatever other trouble one could hope for in Las Vegas. I look forward to seeing many of you there, feel free to stop by my company’s booth if you have the chance — Booth 121, TARGUSinfo. Tickets are sold out, but they are once again available on eBay, of course!