Welcome to the Real Deal - the Official Newsletter of Affiliate Summit. Please white list Affiliate_Summit_Inc.@mail.vresp.com to ensure that your weekly copy will make it to your inbox.

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Articles in the Affiliate Summit Real Deal newsletter are the opinions of the author and may not necessarily reflect the views of the newsletter, or its owners. The Affiliate Summit Real Deal newsletter always welcomes opinions of an opposite nature.

Register now for Affiliate Summit 2007 West - January 21-23 at Bally's Las Vegas. We're heading for another sell out.

Read past issues of the Affiliate Summit Real Deal newsletter in the newsletter archive.

Topics in this issue:

1. Guide to Networking for Affiliate Marketers
2. Are CPA Networks a Threat to Affiliate Networks?
3. Affiliate Manager Boot Camp at Affiliate Summit
4. Affiliate Marketing Classifieds and Other Stuff
5. Standards and Best Practices in Affiliate Marketing

1. Guide to Networking for Affiliate Marketers
Brainstorming has been going on for different ideas to enhance the Affiliate Summit experience, and one big area of focus is the networking.

The Affiliate Summit show in Las Vegas (January 21-23, 2007) will include the return of the Affiliate Summit Social Network, lots of networking sessions on the agenda and the opportunity to interact with speakers on the Affiliate Summit Preview Calls.

We've also put together a guide to networking, so everybody will be properly prepared for the networking opportunities.

You can download the Affiliate Marketer Guide to Networking at http://www.affiliatesummit.com/Guide-to-Networking.pdf.

Continued at http://www.affiliatetip.com/blog/archives/
guide_to_networking_for_affiliate_marketers.html

2. Are CPA Networks a Threat to Affiliate Networks?
There is a tinder box of controversy over at Sam Harrelson's Cost Per News. The debate is around whether CPA Networks are a threat to affiliate networks.

Sam solicited voices from the affiliate marketing space to sound off on the issue.

Opinions came in from Jeff Doak (My Affiliate Program and KowaBunga! Technologies), Deanna Key (Rextopia), David Lewis (77Blue), Wayne Porter (FaceTime), Missy Ward (CPA Empire, Affiliate Summit), Linda Woods (PartnerCentric), and myself.

Interesting perspectives on both sides and some heated exchanges in the comments area.

Join the conversation at http://www.costpernews.com/?p=95.

3. Affiliate Manager Boot Camp at Affiliate Summit
There will be an Affiliate Manager Boot Camp on January 24, 2007 - the day after Affiliate Summit - at Bally's Las Vegas.

The Affiliate Manager Boot Camp, run by Anik Singal's Affiliate Classroom, will instruct affiliate managers on the latest tricks and techniques used by affiliate managers to keep their affiliate programs ahead of their competitors.

Speakers for the Affiliate Manager Boot Camp are going to be Keith Baxter (CEO - ModernClick, Inc.), Kristopher Jones (CEO - PepperJAM Management), Jim Lillig (President - Synergy Intermedia Consulting), Clarke Douglas Walton (President, Walton Law Firm), Asif Malik (President, GoldenCAN Data Feed Integration) and Rosalind Gardner (Super Affiliate & Author).

Topics to be covered include affiliate communication, affiliate recruitment tools, and legal updates that impact affiliate marketing.

Registration for the Affiliate Manager Boot Camp is separate from registration for Affiliate Summit, but Boot Camp attendees will be able to take advantage of the Affiliate Summit group rate at Bally's Las Vegas.

The group rate at Bally's is $119.00 per night / single or double occupancy. Rooms can be booked online or over the phone (800-634-3434) with registration code: SBAFS7.

More information at http://www.affiliatemanagerbootcamp.com.

4. Affiliate Marketing Classifieds and Other Stuff
Hydra Network - - the leading CPA source for affiliate publishers.
Over 1,000 campaigns and more than 300 exclusive offers available. Find all the right campaigns, market them to your site, email, path, pop or other audience, and get paid fast! Sign up today to begin maximizing your inventory profitability, while getting the attention you deserve from one of our Affiliate Managers. Call 310-659-5755 or visit: http://network.hydramedia.com/.

5 Star Affiliate Forums
Affiliates :: Discover supportive affiliate forums, filled with great ideas and discussions. Affiliate Managers :: Promote your program in the forums. All :: Find the latest blogging tips and tools in our new blog marketing forums. Visit the 5 Star Affiliate Marketing Forums today.

Looking for an Affiliate Marketing Job?
Underpaid and overworked? Maybe it's time for a change. There are lots of opportunities out there for affiliate managers. Take a look at the open positions at the Affiliate Manager Job Center.

Is Your Affiliate Program Underperforming?
It takes proactive management from skilled affiliate marketers to run a successful affiliate program. Shawn Collins Consulting can move the needle for you. See http://www.shawncollinsconsulting.com for more details.

Payless.com Affiliate Offer
Here's the latest offer: Buy One, Get One 1/2 Off Everything. Also, free standard ground shipping & handling with any order of $50 or more. Automatic coupon given at checkout - 11/21 - 12/11. Visit http://www.paylessaffiliates.com.

5. Standards and Best Practices in Affiliate Marketing
The NAI (Network Advertising Initiative), a cooperative of online marketing, analytics, advertising and email companies who are committed to addressing important privacy and consumer protection issues in emerging media, has scheduled an event on affiliate marketing.

The NAI Strategic Forum: Building Trust in Affiliate Marketing, taking place Tuesday, December 12 in New York City, will bring together leading experts to discuss issues of accountability and abuse in affiliate marketing.

This NAI Strategic Forum will offer an opportunity for folks in the industry to learn, share, and build consensus on the threats currently confronting industry, and the proper responses from both the market and public policymakers.

The NAI Building Trust in Affiliate Marketing event will also serve as the starting point for an initiative to build standards and best practices in the affiliate marketing arena.

If you are not familiar with the NAI, they've got a long history of bringing organizations together to solve public policy problems, and they will be turning their efforts towards scrutiny of affiliate marketing practices in 2007.

Confirmed participants include representatives from aQuantive, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), Datran Media, eBay, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Performics, and the State of New York Office of the Attorney General.

More details at http://www.networkadvertising.org/affiliate-forum/.

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