FEEDFRONT MAGAZINE | JANUARY 2009 | 59

The second annual a4uexpo Affiliate Marketing Conference & Exhibition took place on October 14-15

in London, England.

Attendance was up 25% from last year with well over 1,000 attendees passing through the venue at ExCeL London

during the two day conference. Those in attendance were able to network with over forty exhibitors, listen to eighty international speakers, attend over forty conference sessions, and have a great time at three networking parties after conference hours.

Highlights from day one of the conference sessions included a master class in WordPress optimization by Joost De Valk. Also, there was an insightful session on utilizing mobile within the space and how to secure buy-in for your affiliate program from the CEO – sometimes a tricky task.

The day ended with a very entertaining Extreme SEO discussion involving five of Europe’s top search engine optimization gurus who gave the 300+ audience a revealing insight into the darker side of SEO and how to protect you against it.

An information-packed session by Dr. Karl Blanks and Ben Jesson at Conversion Rate Experts demonstrated that you can use psychological methods to increase conversions. This certainly woke up

the audience and vast note-taking was witnessed.

Networking was far from over on day one, as the evening was spent cruising down the Thames past famous landmarks on the largest entertainment vessel available in London. On board were the crème of the affiliate marketing industry with 500+ affiliates, merchants, agencies and networks enjoying food, drink and discussion.

Through the generosity of those onboard, $7,000 was raised for Cancer Research and the Lymphoma Association in a charity auction.

Day two session highlights included informative sessions on how to conquer European affiliate marketing, coupon code implementation, and award-winning affiliate managers shared their most

important marketing strategies.

Other sessions included Meet the Super Affiliates Q&A, as well as coverage of mobile, video, rebate and API’s and how these channels are placed within the sector and what their role will be in 2009.

The Ice Party, incorporating the now infamous Vodka luge, was the final networking opportunity for those looking to maximize their time and close deals at a4uexpo.

The next event will be a4uexpo Europe, taking place in Amsterdam at the RAI Centre on April 28-29, 2009.

a4uexpo London will be returning to ExCeL on October 13-14, 2009.FeedFront readers are invited to claim 10% off both events using the code FF10.

Matt Wood is the Managing Director of Existem Ltd, as well as the founder of the affiliates4u forum and a4uexpo.

London Calling: a4uexpo Recap

By Matthew Wood

Exhibit Hall at a4uexpo London 2008

Far too often, publishers have come to the conclusion that making money has to come at the cost of compromising user experience. The crafty publisher has realized this and embraced new forms of monetizing their traffic that their audience actually welcomes.

Free offers such as free magazines subscriptions, white papers, software trials, podcasts and webinars have proven to be an extremely lucrative way for publishers to not only generate an incremental revenue stream, but also reward their visitors for their continued support.

Tapping into human nature and the impulse of requesting something that is free has turned the traditional revenue generation model on its head for many publishers.

Gone are the days where you constantly have to rely on selling your audience something or sending them to a site that’s only going to ask for their credit card shortly after visiting.

Think about it…giving your audience a free subscription to Oracle Magazine or sending them over to Amazon to buy a book on Oracle. What do you think would perform better?

The conversion rates on free products are statistically off the charts in comparison to traditional commerce/transactional based

affiliate programs. While many publishers realize this to be the case, they struggle to find ways to monetize free content efficiently.

The onus shouldn’t be on the publisher to figure this out. They should partner with companies who can help in a seamless manner and start collecting the cash. Something as simple as a subtle link inclusion in a post/article could drive substantial revenues if targeted correctly.

Audit the advertising opportunities on your sites and test alternatives, such as free offers, to optimize your site. If you’re running campaigns that your audience isn’t interested in, you’re simply willingly wasting opportunities.

David Fortino is the Vice President of Audience Development at NetLine Corporation and RevResponse.com.

Thinking Outside the Ad By David Fortino

Why should it be accepted that the only way to generate revenue for your site is to bombard your audience with ads that your audience eventually ignores?