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Justifying the cost of attending a4uexpo is easy for most experienced affiliates, and certainly for those who attended the 2007 event, as they know that it will pay for itself many, many times over. For those just embarking on their Affiliate Marketing careers however, it’s a hell of a lot of money to risk. By the time you factor in the ticket cost (£350 including vat assuming you miss the earlybird discount), staying at a hotel (say 3 nights at £150 a night) and travel to/from the event, it’s fair to say that it could well cost £1,000 to attend, not including the time out of the office/bedroom that you’re not building your business.
Not surprisingly, quite a few newbies have questioned whether it’s worth the risk. Again, the easy answer is “yes, of course it’s worth it – get your arse there, else you’ll regret it”, but being a bit of a tight git, I remember just how much of a gamble that would have been for me as a newbie back in 2000 – Attending an affiliate conference such as a4uexpo at a cost of £1,000 would have been completely out of the question – That was an entire year’s marketing budget back then, and there’s no way I’d have risked that to attend an affiliate marketing conference!
If you’re serious about becoming a successful affiliate, then you HAVE to attend expo – It is as simple as that. But there’s no reason why you have to spend £1,000 doing so – Here’s how I’m attending a three day affiliate marketing conference in London, including tickets, hotel and travel, for just £210:
Step One: Blag a ticket. Cost £0.00 – Thanks to those nice people at Sunshine.co.uk, I managed to blag a free ticket to the 2008 a4u expo. It was a really simple incentive – all I had to do was pop a content unit up on my site, and Robert’s my Mother’s Brother – The amazing thing about this is that Sunshine put up a prize worth £350, that around a thousand people will be wanting this October, and it attracted just three entries. You can bet there’ll be plenty more opportunities to get a free ticket to a4uexpo from various merchants and networks over the coming months, so make sure you enter them all – If you’re determined enough as Ray Theakston was last year, then you should be able to blag yourself a ticket. Ray did make it to the ball btw..
Step Two: Get a cheap hotel. Cost: £150.00 - The nearest hotel to Excel is the Novotel, which is also where the Pre-expo party will be held on the Monday night (and if it’s anything like last year will also be the venue of choice once everywhere else closes for the night!). However, prices for the Novotel are up around the £160 per night mark, which would mean a three-night stay would set you back £480. Just across the road however is a much cheaper option..
The Custom House Hotel is located less than five minutes walk via a covered walkway from Excel, The Novotel and the Fox (venue for the Ice Party on the Wednesday evening), and I managed to book a room for just £49.95 per night – Yup, less than £50 a night in London! We stayed there last year, and it’s a pretty basic hotel – The Ritz it aint. But it’s got a bed, TV, Internet access, it’s clean, you can get a good breakfast, and best of all you can stay there for three nights cheaper than you can stay one night in the Novotel. And I can tell you from last year’s experience – you won’t be spending much time on your hotel room as there’s far too much networking to be done!
Step Three: Get your travel sorted early – Cost £60 – I don’t know about other regions, but here in the Westcountry if you buy your train tickets well in advance, then they are considerably cheaper than buying them a week or two before you travel. A return to London bought three months in advance costs just £60, as opposed to more than £200 bought on the day. Just another way to save a few quid..
“I still can’t afford it!” – If you can’t raise £210 to attend the best learning and networking opportunity of the year, then perhaps Affiliate Marketing isn’t for you. If you’re determined to succeed and really can’t scrape together a few hundred quid to lay some really solid foundations for your Affiliate Marketing business, then why not attend one of the a4uexpo roadshows being held around the country? They’re completely free to attend, and once you’ve been to one, you’ll see why you just HAVE to be at expo this October, and you’ll find the money somehow.
See you in October?
Further Affiliate Marketing conference Information
4 Your Information – An extensive resource for home based business comparisons and syndicated small business articles….
4your-information.com
3R Marketing Consultant – Delivering more sales leads and helping close sales with training and coaching as well as efficient online marketing….
3r.ie
Google Cash Review – Google Cash has been a very popular product since 2003 and it has been revised twice by Chris Carpenter. But can you make money without a website, can you make money without your own product and can you make $33,000 a month working less than 30 minutes a week? Let`s step back and let all the fireworks die down and find out once and for all…
googlecashreview.com
Gaming Income – An informative portal on the affiliate programs connected with the gaming industry and in particular with the fascinating world of online poker….
gamingincome.com
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Hi John,
I am not that well established an affiliate but already been to a few buy.at events as well as a few A4U events including the forum last year. CAC Amsterdam and Affiliate Summit in Vegas this year brought the tally up nicely!
What I get out of these is the networking. We live in a digital world but there is a lot to be said about meeting people face to face. I have met many fellow affiliates (including yourself) as well as key staff from agencies and networks. I have found this approach shows them that you are serious, as they must get inundated with time wasters looking for get rich schemes after reading a few blog posts.
Looking forward to the A4U and I will buy you a free beer at one of the nertworking events :p
Hi John,
Thanks for this post, I was undecided about staying overnight during the conference due to the cost, however your hotel info was excellent and so I have now booked in for a couple of nights.
Cheers,
Nigel
Nice one John, looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the gang again RSN!
Andrew – We have bumped into each other at a few events over the last year or so, and I’ve only been to a few! are you my stalker lol.. Good point regarding networks taking you more seriously having spoken face-to-face. I find calling them muppets on your blog also helps.. Beer, whether free or not is always welcomed!
Nigel – Glad to help.. Maybe see you around the hotel bar.. Again Beer is always welcomed.. there’s a theme developing here…
Joe – Aye, will be great to catch up again over a few beers.. mmm… beer…
Thanks for the heads up on the Hotel John. Now on to task to blag my Expo Pass!
A fantastic post – was going to book anyway, but its just persuaded me to get my act in gear and book straight away!
Duncan
Nice post – I guess I’m a relatively small time affiliate – I went to last year’s Expo and it’s not that expensive & I reckon it paid for itself in less than 2 months.
The knowlege you gain is worth it’s weight in gold, meet some good new contacts and it’s invaluable.
But it’s the confidence I gained that you can’t put a price on, everyone who knows me knows I ‘m an enthusiastic (but non-technical) affilaite. I came away from the Expo last year with renewed confidence to work hard and carry on what I was doing and put some new ideas in place. It’s really paid off and my business has gone from strength to strength.
No one should miss this year’s Expo if they are serious about Affilate Marketing. Just hope I can catch up with you this time John and chew the fat over a beer or two.
All the best
Nick
Why would you need to chat face to face with network staff to show you are serious? Just open an account with them, build a website and make some money. They will know you’re serious when you start making them some money.
I have a member of over 10 different affiliate networks, and yet I have only spoken to them in total about 2 times over the last year. Does that mean im not serious? Not really.
Nick – There certainly was an “Expo Effect” after last years event, where almost everyone felt invigourated and motivated by the event, and so much business was done in the months that followed to ensure that this year’s is a must-attend affiiate marketing conference too. I’ll certainly keep an eye out for you at a4uexpo, as it’s about time we had a chat over some beers.
Shouldbeworking – I don’t think you *have* to meet face-to-face with network staff to be taken seriously, particularly if you’re a self-motivated person that is happy to build a website and make some money (which at the end of the day is all Affiliate Marketing is about!), but if you do want to get a fair bit of help from networks, agencies, and other affiliates, asking them a few questions over a beer will get you much further than sending an email saying “How do I earn money?” which you can imagine they get hundreds of every week. Here’s one that I received just yesterday:
“I wish to know the source which could guide me properly for becoming a successful Affiliate.
Thanks”
That was the entire email – No introduction, a totally vague question asking for the “secret” to AM (Answer: There is no secret!). This person would be much better chatting to me (or any affiliate, network, merchant or agency) at a get2gether and getting a bit of specific advice to help them get started.
[...] all too easy to say “I’ll go next year instead”. Back in June, I blogged about how I was attending a4uexpo for £210 (including travel and hotel) – well now I’m proud to be able to offer one lucky affiliate the [...]