As most everyone know, Richard, John, and I spent most of last week at Affiliate Summit East in New York City (the rest of the week was spent catching up with tons of work). This year’s show didn’t disappoint and was the largest ASE to date. This was also the first show that John, Richard, and I have all attended together. It was really great going out and putting a face to many names in the industry. Here’s a daily breakdown of our trip:

Sunday, August 15th
We arrived at LaGuardia Airport at approximately 1:00 p.m. ET. For those of you that have never been to this airport, it’s nothing glamorous. I really prefer to fly into JFK but the schedule just didn’t work for us. We didn’t hang around long, but we happened to be on the same flight as Eric Schechter from Clickbooth. While waiting for our luggage we engaged in a nice conversation with Eric and he even hooked Rich up with a pretty sweet case for his iPhone. We then all four took a cab together to the Hilton.

After arriving at the Hilton we found out the suite we were on the waiting list was already booked. Therefore we had to settle for a small room on their executive level (boo). It ended up working out, but I would much rather the suite we had last year as it provided a lot more room to entertain guests. The executive level was pretty sweet though as they have a lounge that offers complimentary nonalcoholic beverages, a continental breakfast, snacks throughout the day, and my favorite, complimentary wifi access (beats paying $20/day in the room).

Finally after getting settled in we went down to the Meet Market to get some work done. As usual it was extremely loud and crowded. We did however get to talk to our buddies over at Convert 2 Media, Eagle Web Assets, Copeac, Epic, and even met up with Mike Chaisson who is one of our top guns inside Internet University! Overall it was a success and it should make Shawn and Missy both proud to see so much action in the Meet Market. Even with expanding to almost double the space as last year it was VERY crowded. I’m not really sure what they can do to make more room!

Following the Meet Market we went up to the executive lounge at the Hilton to get some quick work done (self-business owners understand work never ends). We then prepared to head to dinner. Richard and John met up with our good friend Jason Venters who is not only a SEO expert (and active at helping people in Internet University) but also works as a Performance Marketing Manager at Hybryd Ads. They went to a pretty sweet Japanese BBQ restaurant where actually cook your own meet in the center of the table. I was invited to attend Ian Fernando’s IANteract Dinner at the Capital Grille. I enjoyed an excellent meal with some of the top affiliate marketers in the world. Notable names included (in no particular order): Wes Mahler, Kris Trujillo, Morgan Thomas, Brandon Hoffman Ad Hustler, Bryn Youngblunt, Matt Wasserman, Brian Evans, Mike Chiasson, as well as several people from Kitara Media (the company who sponsored the dinner), and last but not least, my good buddy, Ian Fernando. We not only had a great meal together but enjoyed a nice discussion of the Internet marketing industry in general.

After dinner I went back to the Hilton to meet back up with Richard, John, and Jason and we enjoyed some drinks at the bar with Ken (founder of Point Click Track). It ended up being a great first night!

Monday, August 16th
We woke up a little late Monday missing the keynote. Before hitting up the exhibit hall we enjoyed a killer sandwich at the Stage Deli (Shoemoney had the same idea). John tried to explain to our waitress what the conference was about but she was more interested in his iPhone 4! After our stomachs were full Richard went back to the executive lounge to get some work done (Rich works harder than anyone I’ve ever met) while John and I made some rounds around the exhibit hall. Eventually we caught back up with Rich and enjoyed the show together.

After a day full of walking we enjoyed a nice sushi dinner and even ate beside actor Josh Gad (remember the movie 21). John claims that one of my pieces of sushi had a ‘fishy’ taste, but I didn’t get sick. Following dinner we went to one of our favorite bars on Wall Street and capped things off with the Clickbooth/Pulse 360 rooftop party. This was my favorite ‘Internet parties’ I’ve ever been too as it wasn’t so crowded and loud you could actually talk to others and enjoy yourself. Many notable bloggers were there such as Zac Johnson, John Chow, Ian Fernando, and many more (too many to name). After the party we had some killer NYC cart food and hit the sack.

Tuesday, August 17th
Once again we woke-up a little late (I hate being on a schedule). Rather than busting down to the exhibit hall we went to the executive lounge and did some more work before heading to 5 Napkin Burger with the cool people at Media Whiz. Honestly, this was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had as well as onion rings and fried pickles stuffed with pastrami (yes it’s possible). We then hopped a cab back to the Hilton where we walked through the exhibit hall a few more times and met with numerous companies interested in working together. Sadly, Affiliate Summit officially came to an end at 4:00 p.m. While I was sad to see the show end, I was happy to sit down and relax for a while. I actually lost my voice from talking so much.

After some more work was completed and goodbyes were said to all our friends, Richard, John, and I made our way down to Wall Street once again where we acted like tourists. We snapped pictures of all the notable sites and visited a sad ground zero. Finishing up our sightseeing we enjoyed a killer white pizza pie and made our way back to the Hilton. What started out as an early night ended up being a great time as we met up with Ruck and enjoyed a solid talk about everything in the industry. We even introduced him to our favorite cart food in the city (unreal Greek gyros). Btw Ruck if you’re reading this, what time was your departure flight, do you know?

In conclusion this year’s Affiliate Summit East was my favorite one ever! Shawn and Missy have done a fantastic job keeping everything organized as well as expanding the show so it was comfortable to navigate. While I’m really far behind on work it was interesting to hear the latest buzz and industry rumors. I also was very intrigued to hear some of the top affiliates are now focusing more on long-term stable business models and leaving the ‘berries’ behind (I don’t blame them). To everyone we met, it was certainly a pleasure. To everyone we saw again, I enjoyed it as always. I look forward to November when I return to the city for AdTech and Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas!

Affiliate Summit is wrapping up as we are all just hanging out in the executive level at the Hilton with a couple of drinks. It was definitely a solid trip and as many have agreed with us, definitely grew from last year.  I wanted to give a couple of shout outs as we pack up our stuff and shake the empire state of mind.

- First off, it was awesome finally meeting all our IU members that attended.  Definitely a pleasure to chill with you guys and put a face to a name as always.

- Big props to Copeac with their new tracking system they are breaking out in the near future.  Copeac’s President/Founder, Mike Krongel,was on the floor at the exhibit hall and gave us a solid 20 minute demo of the system which we were extremely impressed with.  It really does the beat the shit out of just about every other tracking platform out there right now so they are definitely raising the bar with their script that is set to fully release in December to early January according to Mike.  We were pretty blown away by the powerful tools they are using with the EPC data in particular.  So you can see how the offers are performing on the network as a whole and how specific they were getting with this tool so it definitely eliminates some major variables when testing unfamiliar verticals/offers to gauge how your EPC compares.  We’ve always heard about people rolling out the next big tracking platform but actually seeing a demo was a whole different ballgame.

- Big props to APMEX, who just released their affiliate program last Friday.  They really impressed us with their booth and definitely look forward to expanding into that niche.  We actually have never heard of the company beforehand but we thought bringing in a gold brick worth $500K was pretty badass along with 1 ounce .999 grade flash drives that we managed to snag.

- Big props to Eric over at Clickbooth for the iPhone case that saved Richard’s ass numerous times throughout the trip. We were at the airport and since Richard just sold his caseless iPhone 3G on eBay, he was scared it might break before he could ship it.  He mentioned it nonchalantly and Eric whipped out a case on the spot.  Pretty sick case too!

We had an awesome time and definitely looking forward to hitting on all cylinders for the remainder of 2010 with our new contacts.  Reach out to us if we spoke in NYC and we will get things cooking.

I hope everyone missed me as I was at the beach all last week for a MUCH needed vacation.  Working online (and for now in a home office) it is very easy to get burned out.  Prior to vacation I was burned out to no end.  I was honestly becoming very slow with my daily duties and it was taking me forever to accomplish even the simplest task.

I now feel refreshed and ready to get back to the grind.  While on vacation I came up with a lot of new ideas for our Internet University that will not only help people learn faster but will surely set us apart from any other training program online.  I also was very pleased to see another IU student has found some success and is now making a solid $150 a day (I feel like the proud father LOL).

Today we’re going to be announcing the winners of our Affiliate Summit East giveaway.  I’m going to shoot for around 5:00 p.m. ET so you have until then to subscribe to our Media Buying 101 list to be eligible for the SILVER pass or to subscribe to Internet University to be eligible for one of the GOLD passes.

Keep check on your email to see if you’re a winner!

As I posted earlier, Richard, John, and I will ALL be attending Affiliate Summit East in New York City next month. Affiliate Summit has quickly became the most popular conference for affiliate marketing. It is held twice each year; once on the east coast, once on the west. This year’s east coast show will be from August 15th – August 18th at the Hilton in Downtown Manhattan in New York City.

For those of you interested in going, we’re going to GIVEAWAY three passes to the show. Here is how you can register to win:

* We’re giving away ONE SILVER pass to the show.
- A silver pass includes: Admission to Affiliate Meet Market and Exhibit Hall, Keynotes; and access to the Affiliate Summit Social Network.

Retail Value: $249 (After 4/30/2010)
Onsite: $449

* We’re giving away TWO GOLD passes to the show.
- A gold pass includes: Admission to Affiliate Meet Market, Exhibit Hall, Keynotes, Sunday educational sessions; access to all recorded session videos; PowerPoint presentations; and Affiliate Summit Social Network. This pass does not include Monday and Tuesday sessions

Retail Value: $549 (After 4/30/2010)
Onsite: $749

Here’s how you can register to win:

FOR THE SILVER PASS:
We’ll be selecting a random subscriber to our ‘Media Buying 101′ email list on Monday, July 19, 2010. We’ll contact the individual and if they’re not interested, we’ll select another. All you need to do is make sure your email address is subscribed to our list. You can do so now at this link.

FOR THE GOLD PASS:
We’re going to select two random subscribers to Internet University on Monday, July 19, 2010. You must either be a current member or be registered before July 19th. Only members with an active subscription will be selected.  You can register now at this link.

In total we’re giving away over $1,300 in passes for Affiliate Summit!  Take advantage of this opportunity today!  Good luck!

For the first time ever all of the ‘Super Affiliate Twins’ will be attending a conference together!  Richard, John, and I completed our reservations for Affiliate Summit East: New York City last week and are excited not only for the great show but a chance to meet many of you.  We’ll be arriving on Sunday, August 15th and will be staying throughout the duration of the show, Wednesday, August 18th.

New York City is one of my favorite places to conduct business as not only are there many affiliate networks located in the city, but also traffic sources who are eager to have us out to their office to setup and discuss strategies.  If you plan on attending the show feel free to walk up to either of us as I’m sure you’ll see us walking around (we’re not shy).  Additionally, if you work for an affiliate network or a traffic source feel free to contact us to arrange a private meeting.

If you haven’t registered for the conference yet, stay tuned as we’re going to be giving away ONE silver pass and TWO gold passes here on the blog.  I’ll have details on how to enter our drawing shortly!

Hope to see you all in the ‘Empire State’!

Affiliate Summit East is returning to New York City and I’m personally pretty pumped.  The Empire State is one of my favorite places to go on business simply because so many companies are located in Manhattan and the surrounding areas.  It seems like everyone is really focused on conducting successful business and ideas are constantly thrown around (I feel like in Vegas everyone is in vacation mode).  With all that said, if you plan on attending Affiliate Summit East you best get to booking as the conference sells out every single year!

Shawn has also been so kind to provide all of our readers with a special 10% discount on all passes: Diamond, Platinum, Gold, and Silver.  Simply use the coupon code ASE10TWINS10 on the registration page.

We finished booking our trip this week and John will be sharing more details tomorrow.  This will be the first conference where Richard, John, and myself will all be in attendance together!

Good morning affiliates! Day 2 of Affiliate Summit West 2010 wrapped with a bang yesterday at Azoogle‘s party in the Hugh Hefner suite at The Palms. Azoogle is known for having killer parties and last night was no different. I don?t usually get excited for nice hotel suites. I?ve traveled a lot of places and I?m staying in a pretty nice suite myself here at The Wynn. However, at the Hugh Heffner suite at The Palms last night I was amazed.

The place was immaculate and is something that I will never forget visiting. I forgot to bring a digital camera with me but I took some cell phone photos I posted in the Photo Gallery. Luckily Ryan did a video tour of the suite before the party got too crowded and I?m sure he?ll upload that here on the blog as well.

The party featured a DJ, a couple of fully stocked open bars and the famous pool (with the Playboy logo) overlooking Vegas was open for business. It was pretty cold outside last night so I didn?t see anyone get in, but Ryan and I left early. I was able to briefly meet Azoogle co-founder Alex Zhardanovsky on our way into the party.

It?s funny because I recently saw the Huge Hefner suite on one of the shows Kara watches on E! and last night I got to experience it in person. Thanks Azoogle for a great party and more great memories!

Shortly after posting this blog we’ll be heading back over to The Rio to wrap up Affiliate Summit West 2010. I hope to see you there!

Hello from the desert, it’s “the other Gray” reporting live from Las Vegas. Today was our first full day in Vegas for Affiliate Summit West 2010. We’ve only been here a short time but I already feel like a lot has been accomplished. I also learned some new things today:

The Meet Market Is Chaotic
No offense to the people planning but the Meet Market today at The Rio was utter chaos. There were too many people in the rooms with the tables thus making it impossible to move from table to table. I missed Affiliate Summit East in New York but Ryan told me they had the same problem at The Hilton. Something needs to be done to better accommodate the event. For starters they need to have the Meet Market in a larger space and better organize the way tables are displayed. The way the tables were presented made it hard to distinguish who was at which station. If you’re claustrophobic and spent any time at the Meet Market today you probably utilized the cash bars a good bit. I’m having anxiety just thinking about it.

There’s A Lot of Interest in Affiliate Marketing
People came to Vegas in droves and it’s good to see with the current problems with our economy that so many affiliates are doing well. We always hear a lot of negative stories but I talked with several people today that saw significant growth in their businesses last year. Good job guys! We’re proud (and fortunate) to have achieved record success last year. Hopefully 2010 will be even better.

AT&T Still Sucks
I’m not sure how many of you are carrying iPhones but mine has been very limited again this trip. I had the same problem with AT&T at AdTech back in November. It’s enough to make me want to change carriers but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love my iPhone. The device is great but the service needs to be improved, especially in larger cities. It gets old not being able to call out or send text-messages.

I’m Getting OLD!
The first time I came to Las Vegas was in 2006 and I’ve been back every year since. Every year I can tell a difference in what I am able to do but I just can’t party like I used too. I should be at the COPEAC party here at Tryst in The Wynn but I just can’t muster up the energy to go. I had a busy evening working and still haven’t been able to shake the jet lag. Maybe tomorrow will be a different story, but I’ll be going to bed shortly after I post this. For those of you still able to bounce from party to party and are still under 25 years old, enjoy it while you can. If you’re over 25 and can still do it, my hat is off to you.

Aside from my Dallas Cowboys completely tanking, today was a good day. I got to enjoy Las Vegas, meet up with several readers of the blog and ate some great food. I highly recommend the sushi at Wazuzu at Encore (I’ve already eaten there twice). Ryan and I had dinner alone tonight at Red 8 in The Wynn and it was enjoyable. I look forward to meeting with several of you tomorrow. If you’re reading this before heading out to a party, be safe and drink one for me!

Tomorrow Richard and I will be leaving West Virginia and heading to Las Vegas, Nevada for Affiliate Summit West 2010. While I enjoy Adtech more on the business side of things, Las Vegas is one of my favorite vacation spots, thus I would never miss an opportunity to go. I’ll be blogging throughout the weekend/next week and include video with our new Flip Video Camera (thanks again Azoogle).

I know my favorite affiliate networks: Copeac, Azoogle, and CX Digital are having some unreal parties and we’ve scheduled meet ups with Yep Revenue as well as a newer network, that we’ve recently started working with, EWA. I look forward to seeing everyone there and hope to meet many of our loyal readers. Feel free to come up to me and Richard, we’re by no means shy, and would love to talk!

See you in Vegas!

As Vegas is coming around the corner it’s become built up more and more and I am becoming more and more depressed. Unfortunately I can’t make it because of a number of reasons. Mainly I can’t miss 5-6 classes since the semester just started and secondly I’m not 21 yet so kind of pointless from what I hear. On the bright side, I will be making it next year since I will be 21 and after I hear how awesome it was from Richard and Ryan I won’t be able to resist I’m afraid.

If you are going, hopefully you’ll be spending more time learning and networking more than you do on the craps table but I can’t say I blame you if that’s the case. Regardless of what you spend most of your time doing while there, I would definitely recommend attending the PPV Mastermind Group meeting that’s being held on Sunday for three whole hours. Justin Dupre and Dave from PPVPlaybook will be conducting the group and after checking out what kind of information both of them have been spilling on their blogs and forums, it’s going to be a very valuable session. We’ve done PPV marketing off and on for a couple of months now but we certainly have room to improve judging by the content/tips I’ve found especially on Dave’s membership site. The cost for the group is $450 – $500 but, as you can see from the agenda posted on both of their blogs, the plan is to make that back very shortly and I would consider it a very wise investment. The thing about these conferences, if you’ve never been to one before, I find that people are much more willing to give out more specific tips, secrets, and other information since you are face-to-face. Maybe having alcohol in the equation helps loosen lips but I can tell you this type of meeting will be much more beneficial than just browsing and hitting up people randomly and asking questions through email/IM most of the time.

I know Richard and Ryan are going to try to make it to the PPV Mastermind meeting and I also know I speak for them when I say that they would love to meet any and all of our readers that attend Affiliate Summit so just hit us up and we will buy you a couple of drinks.