NAMS Wrap Up
I mentioned in my previous post that I spent the past weekend in Atlanta for the 4th Niche Affiliate Marketing Systems (NAMS) workshop. Now that I’ve caught up on sleep and laundry, I thought I’d share a few highlights of this 3 day conference with you.
The conference is put together by David Perdew who does an amazing job. He invited me to attend as an aide this time which helped me realize just how much work goes into an event like this. Here he is with Nicole Dean, instructor, friend and my roommate. I recommend you take a look at her blog at http://www.nicoleonthenet.com/
Nicole and I have been friends for years and had a great time brainstorming during the event. Which brings up a good point:
Put some thought into who you want to share a room with at an event. You will have some time to connect, work and brainstorm with this person.
One of the reasons I highly recommend the NAMS workshops is the fact that it is broken down into different tracks or rooms. This go around David put together 4 different tracks (beginner 1, beginner 2, intermediate and advanced). This helps make sure that you learn exactly what you need to move forward no matter where you are at with your online business.
Being an aide in the beginner rooms came with an unexpected bonus. I ended up watching some presentations and workshops that I probably would not have otherwise. During past NAMS conferences I spent most of my time in the Advanced Room, which certainly has helped my business, but I was pleasantly surprised how much I learned in the beginner rooms. It’s always good to be reminded of basic skills that we all let fall by the wayside as we tackle more complex tasks.
Two of my favorite presenters this go around were Lynn Terry and Denise Wakeman.
Denise talked about basic blogging skills including writing compelling titles and posts that include a strong call to action.
Following her presentation she led us in a brilliant workshop that walked us through a content idea exercise that resulted in an editorial schedule with 35 blog posts titles. It’s a simple strategy that I’ll be using regularly. In fact, this blog post was one of the ideas I came up with during the workshop.
Big Lessons Learned:
- Plan your posts ahead of time so you can focus on just writing them.
- Don’t overextend yourself. Writing just one or two posts per week is fine.
To learn more from Denise, visit her blog at http://www.buildabetterblog.com/
Lynn Terry talked about her powerful “From Start To Profit” strategy which takes us all the way from ideas and market research to a profitable website.
Big Lesson Learned: Don’t get distracted by too many new ideas and strategies. Stick with one until it becomes profitable, then rinse and repeat.
To learn more from Lynn visit her blog http://www.clicknewz.com/
The downside of having 4 different presentations/workshops running simultaneously is that you will not be able to attend all of them. I would have loved to sit in when Karon Thackston talked about copywriting and Jeff Herring about repurposing content.
By biggest personal highlight was overcoming my fear of public speaking (which is kinda important since I was invited to be an instructor at NAMS 5 in January).
It all started innocently enough when David asked me to work with a small group of beginners teaching them about setting up a squeeze page. It was a very informal setting in the lobby as you can see in the picture.
Being able to share some of what I’ve learned over the years in an informal setting outside of the presentations has always been one of my favorite parts of going to NAMS conferences.
Next, my good friend Nicole Dean startled me into being on the “Affiliate Marketing Dating Game”. At the end of day 1 of the conference, David set up two “Dating Game” type activities.
First up was Kathleen Gage who asked 3 affiliates questions about how they would promote her product. It was interesting to see all the different approaches people took in promoting an affiliate product from blogging and tweeting to more traditional methods like writing reviews and sending an offer to their email list.
Next up was Nicole Dean in her role as super affiliate. Her task was to ask 3 product owners questions about their affiliate programs to determine which one would be the best fit for her. Right before the game she asked me to volunteer as one of the product owners with an affiliate program.
I as a bit nervous (particularly about not being able to hop on the barstool in front of the whole room), but since I was “just” talking about my affiliate niche pack affiliate program and one of my best friends was asking the questions, I quickly overcame my fear of public speaking and actually had a pretty good time playing the game.
As with the previous one, it was very interesting to hear the different approaches to affiliate marketing and we ended up sharing quite a bit of knowledge about different systems, cookies, commissions and such.
Most importantly though, it gave me the confidence to be part of a Keyword Research Panel the following day. Karon Thackston, Lynn Terry, Dan Morris and I spend 90 minutes talking about anything from the importance of keyword research to what tools we use to how we approach the research in the first place. David Perdew lead us in this discussion and then turned the audio into a product that workshop attendees could sell as affiliates. Quite a few people made their very first affiliate sales this way.
I ended up buying it myself to be able to listen with a pen in hand to what Karon, Lynn and Dan (all of them brilliant online marketers and researchers) had to share. You can order your own copy of the recording for $17 at http://www.affiliatetreasurechest.com/keywordresearch
Big Lesson Learned: When you step outside your comfort zone you will seem amazing growth both personally and in your business.
Overcome your fears, try something new, learn and apply a new skill. Take some action and watch your business grow.
What can you do this week to step out of your comfort zone?
P.S. I hope I’ll see you at NAMS 5 January 27th – 31st 2010 in Atlanta GA.
P.P.S. If you attended NAMS 4, I’d love to hear what you thought about the conference.
Tags: dan morris, david perdew, denise wakeman, karon thackston, lynn terry, nams, nams5, nicole dean
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Hi Susanne
Great wrap up post –
I am so sorry I had to miss NAMS this summer, but am looking forward to seeing you – and your presentation – at NAMS5 in January.
Thank you Trish.
Missed you there. We definitely have to catch up. You’re doing another content challenge pretty soon here, right?
I’m excited that you’re speaking at the next NAMS. What’s the topic? And – can I have your autograph?
You crack me up Kayla :D
So far the plan is that my presentation in January will be about backlinks.
Susanne, I was smiling as I read through your post. You did such a great job recapturing the experience of NAMS! I was at most of the beginner workshops that you mentioned. I would highly recommend it to anyone at any level. The whole group, instructors and student as well, are so generous in brainstorming and sharing ideas. It really moved me forward in my business and I made some great new friends! I will be there in January and am so excited to learn that you will be an instructor! See you there!
Oh Susanne I’m sooo happy for you! Wish I could have been there this time, but hoping to make it in January and now I’ve got an even bigger incentive to go – I’ll get to see you present…You just have no idea how excited I am to find out you were asked to present. :)
As far as stepping out of my comfort zone this week – I’m putting together my first ever internship. Similar to your public speaking, I am scared but excited all at the same time. Granted I won’t be physically in front of hundreds of people, but it’s just as scary I think. I know however that I will learn from and grow from this experience and it will give me confidence to move even further past my comfort zone!
Again, Congrats and hope to see you in January!
Susanne, thanks for the shout out. And thank for your assisting me during the beginner blogging workshop. You added a ton of value and I truly appreciate it. Can’t wait to see you again in January and learn more about back links from you.
BTW, I would never have known that you were not comfortable speaking in public. You were terrific on both the “dating game” and the on the keyword panel.
Blog on!
I have to agree with Denise – I never would have known it, and on the panel I was sitting just a few feet from you. You’re a natural! I look forward to your backlink presentation as well. See you in January!!
Great post. I would love to have gone! I am hoping to make it next time. I would love to learn backlinking from you. Congratulations on overcoming your fear of public speaking! That is really big!
You did awesome! Spoke just like a pro.