I recently had a reader send me an email based on my experience at Affiliate Summit West. He wanted to know more about making connections with affiliate marketers and merchant before attending a conference. I had mentioned that if you are not going to know anyone beforehand, to start preparing now. Here was his questions:
Hi, I was reading your Affiliate Summit recap post, and you talked about making connections with people now for a future Affiliate Summit. Where do you make connections with other affiliate marketers? Also, how do you connect with merchants? I occasionally talk with my merchant contacts, but I don’t think they’d invite me to any parties. :) In short, I’m not very outgoing but I want to get everything I can out of an Affiliate Summit. Do you have any more tips?
This was my answer to him:
Thank you for contacting me. It can be a bit tricky but there are a number of ways to connect beforehand.
The best place is by becoming a member at http://www.abestweb.com. It is a whole forum devoted to Affiliate Marketing. You can meet some really great people there along with merchants. Plus you can become a member at http://network.affiliatesummit.com/, it is great for networking.
The merchant list for the next Affiliate Summit is not out yet, but watch for it. Look and see if any of the companies that you work with are going to be there. If so, send an email to the affiliate manager for the company and ask to set up a meeting. Many will be willing to take you to breakfast or dinner or meet for 15 minutes. Another option is to make contact with the networks (i.e. CJ, Shareasale, etc) and ask for a meeting. It is always nice to have a face that goes with a name for reaching out in the future. Shareasale always throws an awesome party and it is pretty much open to everyone. Watch for the charity events too. All are open to people willing to make a donation and it is a great way to connect with people.
My last tip is to do a search for #asw10 on Twitter. Find people that were tweeting about the conference and then give them a follow. Start talking to them on Twitter and make a connection there.
You may have to step out of your comfort zone a bit, but it is really worth it. Everyone that I met at Affiliate Summit was willing to stop for at least a few moments to talk. Affiliate marketers tend to be very friendly people, so you should have no problems at all. Once you register for a conference pass you can sign up for their mentor program too. I highly recommend it.
