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Affilicon Blog |
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Affilicon Berlin- 45
days to go
September 7, 2009 - 7:32am
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The summer vacation is over in most
places (some extend it few days) and all parties involved in
making Affilicon Berlin a success are back at full gear. The
Agenda is almost complete, administration preparation are on
track and the list of attendees is nicely growing.
We are very pleased with the amount of Super Affiliates who
will come, the quality of vendors and Affiliate Networks who
will either attend or exhibit and the buzz in the market as
per the event.
During the coming days you will hear more and more about
Affilicon Berlin through various sources. We try to get to
anyone who is active in the Affiliation field and get the
right people to attend.
Our success is your success. Spread the word around your
colleagues. |
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Super Affiliates
confirm their participation at Affilicon Berlin
September 6, 2009 - 11:11am
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An exceptional number of super
affiliates have already confirmed their participation at
Affilicon Berlin. Super affiliate is an individual or an
organization that is generating over One million Euro a
year. Some generate 10s of Millions. Typically they are
active for over 5 years and promote various products
directly and through Affiliate Networks. Super affiliates
like to share from their experience and educate newbies and
small affiliates.
"We were lucky in our activities over the net" says Felix
Leshno, one of the largest affiliates who attended Affilicon
Israel and participated in some panels. "Now it is the time
for us to share our success with others. We probably did and
do something right and we would like to share it with
others. Internet affiliation is an unlimited space, which
has just started to grow and flourish. There is room for
all"
Affiliates who will attend Affilicon Berlin are welcome to
meet and network these super affiliates. One hint or idea
can increase performance dramatically. |
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Affilicon Berlin- 3
months away
July 7, 2009 - 14:05pm
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Setting up a conference and exhibition
in a new location takes a lot of preparation and efforts.
While the administrative tasks take time, it is a straight
forward activity. Prepare you task list and give each of the
tasks the best solution.
The main challenge is getting to the right people who may
find the event as the place to be. An event that will add to
their knowledge, get them to network with new people and
business partners and have fun. Our experience indicates
that in any place where a vivid active affiliation community
acts, a great need for such an event exist.
Typically some of the leading bloggers, affiliates schools,
super affiliates and affiliate networks join forces with us
and promote the event within the community. We see it
happens here and we are confident that the Affilicon Berlin
message will be carried to the interested community.
We try to get all into
Affilicon Europe Facebook group
where we send any relevant information and let the group
members share ideas and post any data of interest. One day,
this group will be the largest international affiliates
group for the benefit of all of us.
Activity grows as we get closer to the event. Stay tuned and
will let you know as we progress. |
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Internet Marketing-
Don't get carried away
July 7, 2009 - 14:05pm
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The internet network has changed our
life in many ways. We are way more connected, updated in
close to real time, becoming more virtual, adding weight and
more. Once in a while you envision a world where almost all
activities are being done electronically and all offline
businesses and service offices will disappear.
The Internet has become a major marketing tool. Budgets are
switched from traditional media, email is being used
extensively, blogs, forums and social networks are bombarded
with marketing messages and content is being specially
written to promote various products and services. Millions
of people are making their living by marketing products over
the net.
The Internet gives an impression that we are living in a
global village where the written language is English, there
is one culture, no tradition, no nationalities and all
people think alike. Well, while the Internet helps in
bridging gaps (and having some data about the Iranian regime
– where it seems that nobody can help), we are still far
away from being one nation with a single, common culture,
habits, language and more. The better we realize it the
better we can do online marketing.
One of the reasons who Facebook is so successful is the fact
that it lets you build mini network with your friends who
share the same culture, language, or same interest. Same
goes with Twitter, Myspace and Linkedin. Google is yet
another example bridging any gap by letting you search using
your own language.
Vendors who are looking into expanding online into new
territories do realize that a key factor for their success
will be the cooperation with local affiliates. They and only
they understand the local culture, language, trends and
more. Same goes for Affiliates Networks who offers
international expansions to the merchants who they promote
in their portfolio.
The International affiliates are considered to be leaders in
their space as they posses some qualities that are unique to
them. Being multi lingual, they better understand the
language barrier. Outsourcing jobs and cooperating with
experts in places where cost is relatively low, is very
natural for them. They are very success driven and have a
clear urge to excel. No affiliates network or international
vendor can eliminate the international community of
affiliates anymore.
Electrolux, a large Swedish home appliance manufacturer, ran
a TV ad campaign in the early 90s in the US for its line of
vacuum cleaners. Its message was "Nothing sucks like
Electrolux". You may realize that this campaign was aired
once and was immediately canceled. I guess nowadays vendors
would like to do better by using local partners!!!
Don't get carried away! We are still not a global village
and we will probably never be.
Udi Netzer- Chairman and co-founder of Affilicon
(www.affilicon.com) |
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Globalization- sales
are driven from anyplace - A basic overview
July 6, 2009 - 19:48pm
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Online marketing is a key drive in changing the way
products' and services' sales are being done. As more and
more merchants are going online, it is time to analyze what
is the most effective way to increase sales.
Any vendor who goes online and offers products or services
should define the following:
• Who are my potential customers in terms of territory? Am I
a global vendor or a domestic one?
• Where are the territories that are more suitable to my
business? US? Europe? Far East Asia? Others? Where am I more
competitive, unique? What is my clear value proposition?
• Am I looking for international customers (am I organized
to handle them) or am I looking for affiliates (domestic and
international) who will drive domestic traffic to my site?
• What is the projected traffic and number of actual
customers projected? Need to have the right servers
infrastructure and enough capacity to cope with increased
demand.
Vendors who look into increasing traffic were probably
considering recruiting affiliates and setting up an
affiliate program. It is a general consensus that initial
activity (unless you are a pure online business) should be
done through affiliates networks. These are companies who
are specializing in recruiting and managing affiliates,
running a well managed affiliate program and being a great
buffer between the affiliates and the vendors. Large
affiliate networks already active in all major territories.
Some are domestic and run programs that are suitable for
their territory and many others are either global or
covering a certain large territory. Vendors should evaluate
who is the most suitable network for them (coverage, type of
products, type of affiliates, scale and what services are
provided). This is a key decision for the vendor who wants
to expand online. Vendors will be surprised to see how
effective are these programs, level of statistics they can
provide and all at a very reasonable cost. Needless to
mention that the vendor cost associated with working with
affiliates and affiliates networks is directly related to
performance. No cost is incurred unless sales were
conducted.
Any vendor who expands into global market will find that the
basic role of 80:20 works here as well. Some territories
will generate great results while the others will be slow.
The territory performance will be heavily dependent on the
quality of the affiliates recruited. When a vendor works
with affiliates, or does the online marketing itself, the
following data should be taken into consideration:
• What is the cost of running paid advertizing campaign (AdWords
at Google as an example) and can the ROI can be predicted.
Price per click can dramatically be different between
various territories, and its effectiveness may dramatically
vary too.
• Your affiliate is a knowledgeable SEO expert and he spends
the required time to get your products to first page with
search engine sites. Your affiliate's site is already at
front page and your product is added. You may see instant
boost in traffic.
• Assuming your new affiliate is a known blogger or runs a
successful forum, this may be a major boost at a given
territory.
• Your affiliate is a media guru and may get media coverage
at significant sites.
• A certain territory will be found as a more suitable one
compared to others, although it was not initially planned.
Note: Most affiliates will not disclose the way they
generate traffic.
Vendor's website should be optimized based on known rules.
Assuming the vendor is successful in generating traffic, the
site itself should be developed and constantly optimized to
improve conversion. We have seen too many case studies where
traffic was high and of quality prospects but the site was
not clear enough and conversion was relatively low.
Vendors who are selling a domestic product or service will
find that there are international affiliates who will drive
high domestic traffic although they are not based in the
territory. Affiliates from India, can generate European
traffic for local services such as insurance policies and
affiliates from Russia can generate US traffic for foreign
languages programs. We all should remember that people still
browse to their native language sites although they are
living in a different country. Large communities like the
Hispanic one in the US can be capture through Spanish and
Latin America sites. Turkish community in Germany can be
approached through Turkish sites and Arabs living in Europe
can be approached through leading Arabic sites, forums or
blogs.
Summary,
Getting your products to our global village using online
marketing techniques is an art. Not a rocket science but
still it takes a lot of experience and lot of trial and
error activities. Vendors will find affiliates and their
respective affiliate networks as a great vehicle to get into
untapped territories and to increase traffic and sales in
their existing ones. |
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Au Revoir Israel and
welcome Berlin
June 22, 2009 - 2:52pm
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Last 2 weeks were the busiest we have
experienced for long time. It started with the 4 days
Affilicon Israel event (the pre conference party, the 2 days
event and the super affiliates-networks dinner). We have
spent the last 10 days in collecting feedback, analyzing and
summarizing this large scale event. Generally speaking the
event exceeded our expectation and the feedback was just
marvelous. This was a truly an international event with over
10 Affiliate networks, record number of vendors and
affiliates.
We have no time to rest and we are well into organizing
Affilicon event. We have teamed up with Zanox, one of the
largest Affiliates networks who is based in Berlin. Zanox
will be very active in recruiting European affiliates to
attend the conference. As Germany and the surrounding
countries represents one of the largest affiliates market in
the world this event should be a must for local as well as
international vendors who are looking to expand.
We have booked a place which is limited to 800 attendees and
we will close registration once we reach this number. While
we were looking for a larger venue, all are booked and this
time we will be limited to the above mentioned number.
The agenda, list of presenters, parties, and other
administration aspects are all in the works and you will be
notified with updates as we proceed.
Looking forward to seeing you all in gorgeous Berlin. |
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Prediction- How would personal
commerce will look like in 2025 (by Udi Netzer)
May 28, 2009 - 11:58am
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The massive penetration of the
Internet into households in the last 15 years, since the
internet became commercial, have dramatically changed the
way users interact. A lot was said about shortening the food
chain while eliminating travel agents, real estate insurance
and other middlemen. The communication world has changed and
Internet messengers, Voice over IP , SMSs have changed the
way we communicate. Marriage stability is broken due to the
blooming of dating sites and many social changes are
happening and challenging the way we live.
The Internet Boomers- aged 10 in 1995 will be 40 in the year
2025. This is a generation that was born into the Internet.
In fact in 2025 half of the worldwide population will not
know how the world was prior to the internet birth.
The world in year 2025 will be service biased. Most of the
private spending will switch to communication services,
tourism, leisure, private health services, education and
more. The weight of the products will drop to a level where
most of purchases will be classified as emotional buy.
When a TV set will cost 10% of your monthly income, a laptop
will be at a price of a nice dinner for two, house furniture
will cost up to a monthly salary, the purchase habits will
dramatically change.
The dramatic change in production cost will turn the retail
expenses to be irrational. The internet as well as the
technology advances will replace most of the retail chains
who adds around 50% and more to the final product price.
We predict that in year 2025 most of products purchases will
be performed over the internet. The data level will be
almost perfect. 3 Dimensions visualization, consumer
reports, price comparison sites, same day delivery and
disproportional low prices will eventually replace the
retail stores. Malls will be entertainment centers with
concept stores where vendors will demonstrate their goods
but will not sell them. It may be possible that even apparel
stores will be replaces once virtual technology will be
developed and the customer will be "dressed" with his new
shirt or skirt that will be demonstrated over his virtual
body.
The main activity of the vendor will be related in
generating traffic to his site. The more traffic the more
revenues. Affiliates will replace, based on our prediction,
the traditional sales force. Stores rental and operational
cost will be eliminated. All the above will be translated to
heavily reduced prices of goods.
The open question, and the hardest to predict, lies over the
"balance point". When would vendors eliminate or reduce
their dependency around the retail stores. When would sales
volumes be over half the final price (assuming that the
retail stores add 50% to the final price) so that it will
become reasonable for the vendor to bypass its retail chain?
We predict that the current crisis and the growth (almost
infinite) production capacity will accelerate the process
and will start seeing it within the next 2 years. The non
brand vendors will start with the process and others will
follow.
Think about the car industry. Assuming that the huge retail
( car dealership) will be cut, Billions of dollars will be
saved in real estate, inventory, manpower and more. Is the
dealership adding additional information when you shop for a
car, or can you get better data over the net??? In fact both
GM and Chrysler have announced in the last couple of weeks
their intention to cut 23-30% of their dealership. Do we
already see the beginning of the said revolution?
We do not believe in revolution but evolution. The current
economy put a lot of pressure to keep the food chain at its
current state. We see the advertisers' war to keep the huge
and profitable budgets to be spent with TV spots while it is
clear that online advertizing is way more effective and
measurable. The elimination of retail store and middleman
such as insurance and travel agents will be just a hint
regarding the change we are going to see in the next 15
years.
One last final note- All changes starts with education and
habits. The Internet generation was born into this way of
conducting business and this trend will intensify as time
goes by.
Affilicon- the largest non US affiliates conference and
exhibition to be held on June 1-2 in Israel will discuss the
above prediction and will provide tools as per how to join
the revolution. Anyone who is involved in online marketing
will find it as a very educative event.
Udi Netzer was the founder of Evergreen, a leading Israeli
venture fund and currently invests in Internet related
ventures. Udi is the Affilicon chairman |
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ELAL CEO to be the Keynote Speaker
May 27, 2009 - 7:12am
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Mr. Haim Romano, ElAL- the Israeli
National airline, CEO will be the keynote speaker at
Affilicon. Mr. Romano, one of the most respected CEOs in
Israel, will speak about globalization and managing during
crisis time. We are very pleased to have a presenter of that
Caliber. Mr Romano will be presenting during the second day
at 10:30 so you all need to be on time. |
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Registration notes
May 26, 2009 - 5:33pm
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Few notes as per the registration in
the next few days:
Online registration will end this Saturday at midnight GMT.
We simply need to merge the records between the online
database and the system we use at the door during the event
and we need to pre- produce access tags to avoid long queues
at the entrance.
Onsite registration will be available during the event.
Price at the gate will be $550 for everybody.
Get register ASAP as it will help us in servicing you better
and will avoid extra charge for us and you at the gate.
Looking forward to seeing you all at Affilicon next week |
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Affilicon Israel Networking Events
May 25, 2009 - 1:33pm
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Hi All,
Finally Affilicon Israel is here and we want to update you
on our outdoor networking events. Time to explore Tel Aviv -
the city that never ends by our foreign guests and the ones
who sits 24 hours in front of the screen.
As a tradition, we are going to have 2 events: an
un-official gathering the night before Affilicon and an
official party on the second night (right after Affilicon
ends).
Affilicon's Un-Official Gathering
Just before Affilicon is starting you can meet the other
attendees and have an initial introduction at the atmosphere
of a Tel-Aviv bar. Last time we’ve met and had a blast on
this un-official gathering.
Where: Buba Mara , 24 Haarbaa st., Tel Aviv
When: Sunday, May 31st from 8:00pm
Who is Invited: Everyone is invited (even non registered
attendees)
Affilicon’s Official Party
Time to party. Conference is over and you are invited to
enjoy, drink and party! (and network...)
Where: Mandy’s at the Daniel Rowing Club, 2 Rokach st., Tel
Aviv
When: Tuesday, June 2nd from 8:30pm
Who is Invited: All Affilicon’s attendees go for free (there
will be admission for non attendees)
See you at Affilicon 2009. |
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ClickBank acknowledges that some of
their largest affiliates are Israelis
May 22, 2009 - 3:33pm
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Clickbank- one of the largest global
Affiliate network acknowledges that some of their largest
affiliates are Israelis. Israel has a large community of
highly professional affiliates. As a country of immigrants,
some affiliates operates in many territories and develop
content and websites supporting more than 10 languages.
Networks and vendors who are looking for expansion will find
the Israeli affiliates as a great vehicle in their global
expansion. Over 10 global affiliate networks will attend
Affilicon Israel. |
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Welcome INTELA
May 19, 2009 - 4:23pm
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I want to personaly welcome INTELA to
Affilicon. Affilicon and INTELA shares the same vision of a
global focus when it comes to affiliates. INTEALA focuses
not just on the US but has an office in Europe and a lot of
activities there. INTELA focuses on technology when it comes
to affiliate marketing, a direction greatly appreciated by
international affiliates.
Pop into their booth and see how you, the affiliate can work
together.
Once again, welcome INTELA who is a great addition to the
number of International Affiliate Networks who will be
actively participating at Affilicon |
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Is Affilicon a real alternative for
a US conference for International Affiliates?
May 18, 2009 - 8:31pm
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When we start developing the Affilicon
concept we had a clear vision. Knowing that International
affiliates generate more overall traffic than their US
counterparts was already a known fact. Knowing that
International websites (merchants) generate substantial
revenue stream which is strongly dependant on affiliates'
traffic is a known fact too.
Affilicon Israel 2009 is an important milestone in
recognizing the international affiliates. Many of the large
affiliate networks will arrive to attend the show and some
will have a booth at the exhibition. Network affiliates such
as Never Blue, ClickMedia, Advaliant, Copeac, Intela,
UniqueLeads and others will send teams to meet, present and
develop relationships. Players like Search Engine Xpo (SMX),
Wickedfire, AffSpot, GPWA and others have teamed up with us
too. Our Advisory board has now 2 well respected, US based
experts. Both will be attending the event.
The scale of the event, the unlimited potential for
networking, education and conducting business, all in one
hall, will be a unique opportunity for all of us.
We have done our utmost to organize an event adhering to the
highest standards seen. Your participation will take
Affilicon to new heights and will make the question at the
subject a rhetorical one. |
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The Millionaire in PJS strikes
again!
May 13, 2009 - 8:34am
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Following its outstanding presentation
during our previous event held in last November, the
Millionaire in PJS took a tough decision to take a break
from his break. Igal enjoys Argentina these days and will
fly to Israel to attend Affilicon.
His unique style, down to earth, at your face presentation
plus his charisma will surely be, again, one of the
conference highlights.
Welcome Igal and have a safe flight!
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What should you expect at
Affilicon?
May 6, 2009 - 11:34am
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As you prepare yourself for Affilicon,
or if you consider whether to attend or not the following
are some general points regarding the focus of this coming
event:
• Affilicon Israel is positioned as the largest
international non US event for affiliates. Vendors,
affiliates networks and affiliates from US, Europe and SEA
are going to attend. It is your opportunity to meet
colleagues from around the globe.
• Education, Education, Education. We are
focused on providing the best, practical sessions in the
industry. Look at the list of presenters and decide for
yourself, should you study from these experts and what
sessions to attend.
• Cut and improve deals with your vendors.
Many vendors will either exhibit or send delegates to the
event. It is your best place to meet them and discuss
business related issues.
• Looking to team up with an international Affiliates
Network. Affilicon is the place to be. Meet with
executives from ClickBank, Advaliant and other leading
networks.
• Interested in being involved at the fastest growing
segment of the online industry- FOREX- a
special track is dedicated to this market. Come and listen
and meet the ones who are the key players.
• Looking to get up to date data about SEM- We
have teamed up with SMX- a leading global
organization that is focusing at this subject.
• Are you a beginner? There is no better place for a giant
leap for you. Meet super affiliates and find your mentors
for the future.
• You are a vendor, merchant who is looking
into using the Internet as a marketing and sales vehicle.
Meet your colleagues who are already using it.
• Considering being an affiliate- either part or full time.
You have all the experts in one place. Come and consult
before you take a commitment.
• Looking to attend a worldwide class event-
Affilicon is the one. Come to Avenue- one of the most
advanced convention centers in the world and attend a
conference and exhibition where every detail was carefully
planned.
See you all at Affilicon! |
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3 Top Individuals to join Affilicon
Advisory board
May 1, 2009 - 01:22am
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I am very please to share with you the
fact that 3 top level, high profile individuals have joined
our Advisory Board and they are already active in helping us
making the Affilicon series of conference and exhibitions a
better event to attend.
Dush Ramachandran joined ClickBank in 2005. He is
responsible for ClickBank's sales and marketing activities
and alliances with affiliate and vendor organizations
worldwide. Ramachandran has held executive leadership
positions with domestic and international firms such as
Requisite Technology, Conceptual Technologies,
Computervision Corp., Prime Computer, Inc. and Datapoint
Corp. He holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from St.
Joseph's College, Bangalore University, and an MBA from the
Indian Institute of Management.
Peter Bordes is the Founder CEO and Chairman of the Board of
MediaTrust. MediaTrust is an ecosystem of performance driven
digital media, marketing, and publishing solutions.
MediaTrust combines innovative online media and performance
advertising technology with human service and expertise.
MediaTrust is comprised of Advaliant an award winning
performance-based affiliate marketing platform, data
management & email marketing.
Jessica Lüthi is the CEO of AffiliateProgramsAdvice.com.
Jessica is being involved with online marketing and
affiliation since the 90s and is considered to be one of the
founders of the affiliation activities in the UK. Jessica
was instrumental in bringing AffiliateSummit to the UK for
the first time.
We are sure that this addition will contribute to keep
Affilicon the best Affilicon event to attend. |
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Days of product specific affiliates
are over
April 28, 2009 - 11:11pm
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Over the last few months I met and
spoke with 100s of affiliates, as you can imagine. While
talking to them 2 main points were very clear:
1. Affiliates are in constant search for new products that
can provide with accelerated traffic and conversions.
Affiliates may promote a product for few days and move to
the next one. A key component in affiliates' life and
success is its ability to search and find a product that can
improve his conversion. The days where an affiliate will
focus on a single niche are gone. Once you have the
expertise in generating traffic , this can be applicable to
unlimited set of products or services.
2. The weight and importance of Affiliates Networks is
growing. These networks expose the affiliates to practically
unlimited set of products and services and their scale and
administrative power let the affiliate focus on what he does
best-Online Marketing.
I don’t believe I am writing here about a new, unknown
phenomena, but thought it worth mentioning here. We at
Affilicon tune the conference agenda to address the above.
You will hear more and more about tactics of how to find the
next thing and will hear a lot of Affiliate Network
representatives. |
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Affilicon Adds 2 Top Executives to
its Advisory Board
April 27, 2009 - 8:30am
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Isle of
Man, Douglas – (April 27, 2009) - Peter Bordes and Jessica
Lüthi join the Affilicon Advisory Board effective
immediately. The 2 top online executives will help Affilicon
in further expanding its leadership in the international
affiliate performance marketing industry.
"We are extremely delighted to add two industry leaders to
our Advisory Board. Both have expressed their desire to help
carrying the Affiliate marketing message throughout the
world and found Affilicon to be the right platform" says Mr.
Itay Paz Affilicon founder. "Their experience and desire to
contribute will further expand Affilicon success and will
help affiliates to grow their business" adds Mr. Paz.
"The need for well planned and executed affiliate marketing
conferences in the non US international market was not
fulfilled until recently. Affilicon has read the map,
identified the top emerging affiliate marketing markets and
demonstrated dedication, professionalism and ability to
cover this need" says Peter Bordes."I am pleased to join the
advisory board and work with Affilicon to expand our
industry and help build the international and emerging
markets. Our industry is growing rapidly and expanding into
new emerging markets. Affilicon is helping lead the way. I
look forward to see how it is evolved and spend time at the
conferences speaking with advertising and affiliate
partners." adds Mr. Bordes.
"The international affiliates market has significantly grown
over the last few years" according to Jessica Lüthi."The
need for specially developed international affiliates
conference was clear to me and Affilicon is the right
platform to make it happen. I look forward to helping
Affilicon to be the event of choice for affiliates around
the world" adds Ms. Lüthi.
Peter Bordes
is the Founder CEO and Chairman of the Board of MediaTrust.
MediaTrust is an ecosystem of performance driven digital
media, marketing, and publishing solutions. MediaTrust
combines innovative online media and performance advertising
technology with human service and expertise. MediaTrust is
comprised of Advaliant an award winning performance-based
affiliate marketing platform, data management & email
marketing.
Jessica Lüthi is the CEO of
AffiliateProgramAdvice.com. Jessica is being involved with
online marketing and affiliation since the 90s and is
considered to be one of the founders of the affiliation
activities in the UK. Jessica was instrumental in bringing
AffiliateSummit to the UK for the first time.
About Affilicon
Affilicon is the leading Affiliates' conferences and
exhibitions for non US affiliates. With conferences being
held in Israel, Berlin, Mumbai, Beijing and Stockholm,
Affilicon serves the international affiliates community and
helps online merchants to expand their reach. Affilicon's
events aimed at educating, set the right environment for
networking and conducting business. For more information,
please visit
www.affilicon.com |
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Affiliates Conferences- Where is it
Heading?
April 23, 2009 - 9:12am
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During the last few months I am in
constant discussions with many affiliates programs, vendors
and super affiliates. We discuss and share views with the
prime goal to find the best way to better serve our growing
community.
This short, quick blog, which I am writing from Munich,
Germany, is a summary for my findings and how it affects our
activity at Affilicon. Here are the main conclusions I hear
from leading vendors:
1. While the US market is well served by 2 main local events
the International market is still seeking for events that
will serve the international affiliates community and the
local and global vendors.
2. The days of niche affiliates are gone and they all tend
to promote products in various market segments.
3. The non US market is not a homogenous market and regional
events are a must. However, a main non US (international)
event is preferred in addition to the regional ones.
4. International affiliates look for well organized
educational sessions. They do not come just for networking
and meeting vendors. This is more emphasized for regional
events.
Here are the main conclusions I hear from affiliates:
1. Regional events are key. Many affiliates, although
promoting global vendors do not intend to fly far for such
events.
2. Affiliates are interested in meeting local and global
vendors. A conference is a key event for affiliates who tend
to sit in front of a screen all day long.
3 Affiliates Networks become a key component in the industry
and affiliates are very interested to meet and better
understand their role and how can they help them in growing
their business.
4 Education is a key component for an event.
5 A large, once a year, international (non US) event is
required.
6 A non US affiliates magazine is missing.
We, Affilicon, listen to the above and believe that we come
up with a plan and proper execution that will best serve the
needs as detailed above. |
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Affilicon group at Facebook is
getting traction
February 6, 2009 - 11:22am
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With all said about Facebook, I find
it a great communication tool between people who share the
same interest. Since we lunched this group in April, 2008 we
saw a constant growth and we get very good feedback for our
events. In addition, I know, many people develop
relationship ( mostly professional) and it helps in
developing business.
Yesterday we have crossed the 1000 members and we feel proud
about it.
The group is very international and covers all continents.
We are sure that it will rapidly expand as it works on the
concept of "friend brings friend". Send the URL to your
friends who can help us all in improving our business.
Onwards to 2000 members by June this year. |
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Affilicon set its events plan for
the next 12 months
February 5, 2009 - 8:10am
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Listening to the affiliates and the
affiliate programs (vendors) and riding on the effectiveness
of event held last November in Israel, Affilicon
aggressively address the market needs in the non US market.
The US market is well covered by Affiliate Summit which
gives a suitable training and networking events in both
sides of the continent. However, the European market and the
South East Asia market were almost untapped. We have spent
considerable time analyzing the market and its needs and set
5 events to cover most of the lucrative markets. See our
home page for
Affilicon locations and dates.
Affilicon Israel is the anchor event. In Israel you will
meet the well respected Israeli Super and smaller affiliates
in addition to many international affiliates who will come
to network with their counterparts from both Europe and
Asia. Vendors should expect to see around 1500 attendees
with over 500 from the international market.
Affilicon Stockholm and Prague are designed to accommodate
mostly affiliates who live within 2 hours flight (and for
most of them few hours' drive). These events should cover
Scandinavia, central and eastern Europe.
Affilicon Beijing and India are planned to attract 1000s of
affiliates in each event. These are great events vendors can
not miss.
Affilicon believes that in these territories targeting the
general affiliates (and not the ones who work in a niche
market) is the way to go. Nowadays, affiliates use their
expertise and move from one niche/one product to another as
the opportunity arises. The days where affiliates are
focusing at a single market niche are over. Vendors who will
attend these events will have the opportunity to meet new
affiliates and recruit them.
Your comments and feedback are mostly welcome. Please
contact me directly and share with me your views. |
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Note the Dates
January 21, 2009 - 11:10pm
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Vegas Vegas Vegas
Last week I spent a valuable time in Las Vegas. Firstly I
must say that the economy slow down is still not strongly
felt there. The streets are packed, you need to book a place
in a restaurant in advance and the Casinos seem very active.
3 (at least the ones I visited) conferences and a lot of
actions.
Affiliate Summit was good. Good sessions and a high number
of participants. It is clearly a US affiliates show. Met
very few international visitors. CES was interesting (for a
gadget lover like me). 130K people attended and the
exhibition hall was packed with the latest and greatest. The
Online Adult conference was smaller but still a lot to see
Now I am back digging into the unlimited tasks of making
Affilicon on June 1-2nd a great event. I strongly believe
that Israel being located in the middle for the Europeans
and the ones from the Far East plus the great super
affiliates reside in Israel will turn Affilicon to be a
truly International event. A lot of US based affiliates and
vendors plan to come to the event as well to meet their
international counterparts.
I am sure this Affilicon will be an event to remember.
See ya there. |
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Affilicon Prediction for 2009
January 3, 2009 - 11:17pm
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We start here a series of predictions
to be presented at the beginning of each year and be
examined at the end of the year. We acknowledge that we are
biased and would like to see on-line marketing growing over
the years. However, we believe we walk on solid ground as we
have enough data from previous years.
The e-commerce market will grow at a rate of 20% compared
to 2008
The tough economic climate will accelerate the need for many
offline vendors to offer their products online. Online
marketing has proven itself as the most cost effective way
of reaching targeted audience and as a safe way to increase
sales. We predict more insurance companies, banks, car
vendors, electronics retailers, travel agencies to go online
this year.
Number of affiliates will significantly grow and
competition will be stiffer
A clear move of offline hi tech and marketing veteran
will enter the online marketing market this year. While
competition will be more intense, some new comers will shine
and will join the existing super affiliates due to new
techniques or new marketing concepts to be introduced by
them.
Online Ad spending will grow 10%
Most analysts predict that ad spending at TV, newspaper
and radios will decrease in 2009. We believe that Internet
spending will grow at least 10% as it was already proven as
more targeted and better monitored. We believe that Video
ads will grow over 50% while static banners spending will
slow down.
Cellular ads will wait for 2010
While a lot of trials campaigns will be experiment
during 2009, it will take one more year before it will
become a mainstream media.
PPC growth will slow down but still grow 5% over 2008
Google growing dominance of the paid search results at a
higher PPC price. This will impact the advertisers and will
decrease the number of total clicks bookings. However, new
players constantly enter this segment and the Google will
experience moderate growth.
Social networks will become more an online marketing tool
in 2009 and spending will increase 25%
More and more advertisers experience the power of social
networking. We will see more and more PPC campaigns and much
higher spending with video. Youtube will finally become a
decent ad platform.
Content will remain the king
During 2009 we will see more and more budgets and time
spend in writing quality and garbage content. Initial tests
will content generating robots will show (unfortunately)
good results.
Spam will become a less productive way of online
marketing
The strength of Anti-Spam engines, the laws being in
effect in many countries, the reduce number of zombie
computers and the general antagonism will make email
campaigns less effective and the conversion will go below
0.3%.
The world will become a safer place
The western world war against terrorism and extreme
movements will finally reduce the number of terrorists
attack and 2009 will be remembered as turn point year.
Affilicon Spring will attract over 1500 people and over 70
exhibitors
Well, this will be simple to evaluate and final results will
be published during the first week of June
Have a great year! |
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Happy New Year!
December 31, 2008 - 11:11pm
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The Affilicon group would like to wish
each one of you a great new year. We believe that the
affiliation market is posed to grow this year and to
generate great returns to the ones who are dedicated,
professional and committed.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the Affilicon Spring
June 1-2nd in Israel..
May all your plans and wished be fulfilled this year. |
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Note the Dates
December 13, 2008 - 12:17pm
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AS we selected the Venue, we had to
change the dates to be the 1st and 2nd of June and not as
advertised before. |
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Launching Affilicon Spring 2009
December 7, 2008 - 11:11pm
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We are very pleased to launch the
official site of Affilicon Spring, 2009- the second
International affiliates conference and exhibition. This
time much bigger, 1200-1500 attendees ( with over 500 from
abroad) and over 70 exhibitors. Agenda is getting shaped
now, floor plan will be distributed soon, and some more
keynote speakers will be announced down the road.
We are 7 months before the conference and will do our best
to make it the best worldwide affiliate conference ever
conducted!
See you all there |
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8 Days ago....
December 2, 2008 - 11:51am
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Affilicon 2008 is over. I could not
imagine in my wildest dreams that the event will be so
successful. Being an affiliate for the last 9.5 years, I
felt since 2003 that such an event will have a great demand
and can gather some of the brightest people in the industry.
Through the years I have talked to many of my colleagues,
the affiliates and to many vendors and they all have agreed
that the right place for an international affiliates event
is Israel. Flying to various places in the world at an
airplane packed with Israeli affiliates and vendors and
hearing Hebrew all around at any affiliates conference
around the globe made it very clear that an event should be
organized in Israel.
From the very beginning I was shooting for the highest
international standards with some Israeli unique flavors.
The place selected (Shefayim convention center) at the heart
of a kibbutz located by the Mediterranean sea provided a
very unique, relaxed, different surrounding. Seeing 100s of
people networking at the green gardens sitting on sofas and
pillows was a great success. The cinema auditorium was a
perfect place to conduct the sessions and actually it is the
first time that I see 70%+ of the audience at all sessions!
Food was great (we have selected a top chef) and the party
was awesome. The exhibition halls were adjacent to the
auditorium, at the same floor and all exhibitors were very
happy with the amount of leads generated. We took notes so
that the few glitches, such as the long queue at the first
day, will be improved at the next one.
The 535 Israelis and the 132 attendees from abroad have
attended high level sessions, a good exhibition which had a
mixture of vendors, media companies and Affiliate networks,
great atmosphere for networking and a lot of FUN.
I never thought it will be such an effort to get it done but
the end result and the great feedback I got from most of you
is the reward.
No time to relax. We have already selected the venue for the
Affilicon Spring and this time it will be a much larger
place, a top class convention center, but once again with
some Israeli flavor. Expect to be surprised. Not yet another
hotel in the middle of the city. Affilicon Spring will host
1200-1500 attendees with over 500 expected from abroad. 70+
vendors ( mostly from abroad) will be exhibiting, great
sessions and keynote speakers are expected and a lot of
networking and fun.
Affilicon could not be a success without your support ,
advise and help. I want to thank all of you. It was great
hosting you.
Looking forward to hosting you again at Affilicon Spring
2009. |
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8 Days to go....
November 17, 2008 - 08:12am
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The gates are going to be opened in 8
days. The conference handbook and the various banners are at
the printer. Conference bag has arrived from China.
Marketing material from various vendors abroad is getting
packed at our offices. "Live person" is constantly beeping
with people asking questions about registration and room
booking. With 530 people already registered we know it is
going to be packed, warm and interesting.
We are very pleased with the amount of interest the
conference generates and the general positive feedback we
get from various individuals in the industry. The amount of
international attendees makes us to believe that next year
Affilicons will become the place to be for anyone who is
operating Affiliate program and for all major affiliates in
the world.
The Affilicon team is very committed to make Affilicon a
professional, to be remembered event ( and we are sure that
next one will be even better and bigger.)
Be ready for further announcements about parties and more
surprises. |
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New Media Partner to Affilicon -
WickedFire
November 16, 2008 - 09:12am
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We have a great new media partner to
Affilicon:
WickedFire - It is great to have them as our
partners and we hope to build together a better future for
all :) thanks Jon!
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The art of Online marketing 2
November 7, 2008 - 06:12am
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Following my previous blog posted on
September 4th I thought I will update you with our progress.
Our continuous effort pays off. We have now over 20,000
mentions when you search Affilicon at Google. 400+
participants have already registered (80+ are coming from
abroad) .Exhibition is almost sold out. Our Facebook group
has grown to almost 750 members. We have almost 500 daily
visitors to the Affilicon.com site (50% are not from
Israel).
We have just launched a banner campaign at some relevant
sites and we forecast increased traffic and registration for
the conference.
Look at Yediot Achronut this coming Friday (October 31st). A
double spread article is planned.
We are very excited about the level of interest and we are
sure Affilicon will be a corner stone for the affiliation
industry in Israel.
See you all at Affilicon on November 24-25th. |
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35 days to Go
October 19, 2008 - 07:12am
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The last 2 weeks were crazy here. As I
wrote in my last blog post, the past 2 weeks we were working
around the clock even throughout the holidays, weekends,
anything to close the gap. Between our business and
Affilicon we are juggling to make it all happening. So where
are we at? we are progressing fast, more and more sponsors
are joining the Affilicon as well as attendees. We expect to
have the event a blowout. So what should you expect to to
have there? First is the full 2 fully packed days with
sessions revolving affiliate marketing: SEO, SEM,
Pay-Per-Click, Web2.0, Videos etc'. We have announced our 2
keynote speakers to be Noam Lanir, CEO of Livermore
Investments (ex. Empire Online, the biggest affiliate ever
in the world) and Gigi Levy, CEO of 888 Holdings. Then we
have an exhibition - Affiliates can meet merchants,
affiliate programs and service providers which they can do
business with. Finally lots of networking...this is one of
the secrets of success of conferences...get to know people,
affiliates, colleagues, competitors and more. And don't miss
out the Party!!! more details on the party will be released
shortly. |
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Less Than 2 Months to Go
October 4, 2008 - 11:44pm
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At Israel many celebrate the Jewish
New Year these days. Not too many working days (some work 10
days all October!!! can you believe it?!). There are less
than 2 months to go to the launch of the conference and
things looking great. We are almost done with all the
sponsorships and exhibitors. There is going to be a great
party (details will be published soon) and new attendees are
registering daily. There is a good chance the event will be
sold out a few weeks before the event date. If you are
planning on coming, I suggest you register now as we will
might have to close registration and refuse attendees as
soon as we get to the full capacity of the event. Shana Tova
to all! |
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We Want You to Write :)
September 28, 2008 - 10:22am
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We have launched a new section in the
site called "Affiliate Marketing Articles"
(see in the left menu). If you are in the Affiliate
Marketing Industry and think you can contribute to others
with your knowledge and thoughts we will be happy to get you
published. So...all you have to do is send us the article
(you can find the email at this section). We will publish
your articles with a link to your website. Best articles may
be published in other forms such as the Affilicon's
conference handbook and will give you a great deal of
exposure! Are you up to the challenge? send us your articles
at
Affiliate Marketing Articles. |
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We Are In A Full Gear!
September 14, 2008 - 1:09am
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Just a quick update guys... we had our
first day with 13 new attendees registered to the Affilicon
conference. at that rate we will be selling all tickets way
before the event :) we are happy with the progress. We
expect 600+ attendees. |
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The Art of Online Marketing
September 4, 2008 - 5:01pm
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Affilicon was initially
introduced on Aug 1st. We have selected to start the
conference marketing by using free of charge online
marketing tools. We used, primarily, free of charge
emails to selected contacts (which we personally know or
know off). We have opened an "Affilicon group" at
Facebook and currently we have over 500 individuals
subscribed. Posting in various posts, setting up a site
for Affilicon and updating through blogs ( such as this
one) have resulted in over 100 paying participants and
over 50% of the exhibition space sold. Searching at
Google for Affilicon results now with over 2,000
mentions. So far so good and with minimal cost.
We are adding now some paid activities. We have just
lunched a PPC campaign at Google and we are going to
publish few press releases for the Israeli media.
Will report back with results as we accumulate them. |
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Affilicon- 83 days before the
conference
September 3, 2008 - 10:59am
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Preparation are in full gear.
Agenda was updated to cater for your requests. We might
make some more changes in the near future. We are busy
collecting articles for the conference booklet.
Individuals are interested in contributing are welcome.
We have passed the 100 participates mark. People are
taking advantage of the early bird program. You can
still register and get a discount.
We are already confident that the conference will be an
event to remember. |
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First Post -
Affilicon is Launched
August 17, 2008 - 8:27am
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Everyone reading this
probably spends most of their time like me, living in a
virtual world. All our interaction is on a monitor. It’s a
fascinating world bounded only by our imagination and
creativity. But the downside is that it can be lonely.
There is nothing like the human contact that comes from
conferences and other get-togethers. Spending a few hours
with people who, like us, wake every morning thinking about
the same issues is very special. There’s energy and synergy
created that cannot be achieved anywhere else.
It’s the reason that conferences, expos and market places
are one of the oldest of human activities. People love to
come together to see what’s new, to exchanges news (and
gossip), to listen and to learn. Just one good idea, one
good contact could reap rewards for years to come.
Affilicon now makes this possible for the first time in
Israel. Not having to travel abroad not only saves money but
also precious time. A minimal investment can return great
benefits.
Responses to the initial announcement about plans for
Affilicon have been excellent. “It’s about time someone
organized this” has been the general comment.
But it’s not enough to say “it’s a great idea”. You, the
affiliate entrepreneur are an essential part of the success
of this event. The vendors, media companies, affiliate
programs, operators and the experts come to meet you. Your
fellow entrepreneurs come to meet you. That’s what
networking and synergy is all about.
The organizers have put together an action packed program of
information and ideas to help you make more money from your
efforts.
We look forward to meeting you in November. |
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