As I said Ad:Tech was the first marketing event that I have been to. Even so I had heard of most of the companies that were exhibiting there. One name I heard a lot was XY7, funny thing was I had never heard of XY7 at all, weird because they seemed like they were the talk of the show, maybe because they had a party Monday – Wednesday! Anyways when I went over to talk to them they were very receptive and more than happy to tell me about what they do. Here is Auggie telling everyone what XY7 is all about…
As Auggie said XY7 is an affiliate network, but what sets them apart from other networks out there? Well the first thing that I noticed was customer service. As I said when I went to go talk to them they were very receptive and were more than happy to talk to me, even though I was not currently an affiliate. Also when I got back from Ad:Tech I e-mailed Auggie and he had my account approved within minutes. It’s always good to have a close relationship with the networks you are dealing with, not just be a number like you are with so many other affiliate networks. Since I’ve only been an affiliate for a few days I have not been able to try out any of their offers, but they do have a wide variety of offers and their control panel is very easy to navigate. I will definitely be using them in the future and if you do affiliate marketing you should too!
With any conference there are dinners. It is a good way to catch up with old friends who you only get to see a few times a year. Also it is a great way to network and meet new people. Ad:tech is only 3 days long so there was not that many dinners to attend, but I was invited to 2 dinners. The first dinner, held at Asia de Cuba was sponsored by AdValient. Asia de Cuba is inside of the Clift hotel and has a really cool atmosphere. I was joined by Ian Lee, Missy Ward, Lisa Picarille, Connie Berg, Geofferson Marcy, and Ms Danielle. Asia de Cuba’s menu is sort of an Asian Fusion, something I told everyone you don’t find in Pittsburgh. I didn’t break out my camera until we were served our main courses; here are some pictures of some of the dishes.
The second dinner was a blogger dinner put on by Ms Danielle. It was held at Annabelle’s Bar and Bistro, which is right by Moscone Center. We were joined at Annabelle’s by Ian Fernando, Greg Morgan, Garret Gee, Wes Mahler, Ian Lee and Gloria. I decided on the rib-eye, which Ian and Danielle got also. It was cooked perfectly, I also ordered the French Onion soup, but they served it in a large bowl with cheese sprinkled on the top. Usually you get it in a crock with bread and cheese on the top, but it was still good.
Both dinners gave me a good chance to network with people and tell them about what I do. A lot of people were surprised that I have been doing ThinkComputers for so long and that I started it when I was in high school. In any business networking is very important so dinners like these are perfect for meeting new people and making contacts, regardless of the industry the people may be in.
Since this was my first time going to an event like ad:tech I did not know what to expect. The show is sure a lot smaller than CES and other tech related events that I’ve been to. There were speaker sessions and an exhibit hall. The exhibit hall is where all the networks and companies were showing off their services. Rather than write a long blog post about what each company I talked to offered I decided for them to tell you! Today we will start with CPA Empire, who is an affiliate network. Here is what they had to say about what they do…
As Shane said they are a 1 stop shop for affiliates, they have a domain registrar Dynamic Dolphin and parking company Parking Empire. I have been using CPA Empire for a few months and have had success with them. Their control panel is easy to use and through their website it is easy to find offers that fit your niche. It was great meeting them at ad:tech and I hope to work even more with them in the future. If you want to signup for CPA Empire you can do so here.
Since I was in San Francisco for ad:tech I decided I would stop by the Justin.tv office and say what’s up to the Justin.tv staff. It is really cool being able to go to the offices of a website or service you use. The Justin.tv staff was more than happy to let us come and hang out for a little while. Since Krystyl lives in San Francisco her and I headed down to the office and met up with Patrick (lifedoc). The office isn’t anything great to look at from the outside, but it’s a startup, so you can’t expect something amazing.
When we came into the office everyone introduced themselves and we were able to hang out for a bit before Michael took us out to lunch. During lunch Michael talked about the future of Justin.tv and what they have planned and asked our opinion on what they have coming out. He also asked us what we would like to see on Justin.tv and anything that we did not like on the site. It was nice being able to discuss our issues with Justin.tv with the actual staff. It is not often you get to do that with any company or service that you use. I like that Justin.tv was so open to suggestions and criticism from its users.
We went back into the office and hung out for a bit longer. Although the office is old it is quite big, there is more than enough room for everyone to work. Thinking about it I would love a space like that for ThinkComputers, it would be perfect for day to day work and product testing. The Justin.tv crew was very busy, but the atmosphere there seemed very relaxed.
Justin of Justin.tv
The day I left to come back home we all stopped by the Justin.tv office and we talked with Michael about ways Justin.tv could make money, and even how even broadcasters could make money. It was great shooting ideas back and forth. Also during that day Phil was giving a tour of the Justin.tv office on the help channel and included us in it.
If you want to watch my Justin.tv channel you can check it out here.
Day 2 in San Francisco gave me a lot of time to explore the city. I went walking around with my friend Jack, who is from San Diego so SF is new to him too. We first headed down into the city on the BART train. It is cool that even if you live far away from the city you can easily get into the city without driving. This is great for people who have moved out to SF and don’t have a car, it also is good for people who just want to save time and money. After getting into town we headed to the big mall. The mall is HUGE and has almost every store imaginable. Nordstrom’s takes up the top 3-4 levels and the way it is designed is really cool.
After eating at the mall we decided to explore the city a little bit. We checked out Yerba Buena park. It was really cool that it was right in the city. It would be a great place to go and get some work done on a nice day. We kept on walking and discovered China town. I had never been to any China town before so we had to check it out. China town was very interesting, there were all types of crazy stores and restaurants. It was really cool to see all of the different herb and tea shops and the buildings looked really cool.
Once we were done exploring China town we met up with some more friends and went out to eat. We went to a place called Gordon Bierch, which is a brewery as well as a restaurant. Since it was a brewery I decided to try one of their beers, I went with the Blonde Bock and it was really good. The food was pretty good too. Gordon Bierch is right by the bay so I finally got to see some water!
Since my friend who lives in San Francisco is originally from Pittsburgh he decided to take us around and show us some sights. We went over to golden gate bridge but it ended up being to foggy to even see the bridge! The fog comes in really quick here, it was really surprising. Since we didn’t get to see the bridge he took us down Lombard street. Lombard is the street with all of the curves in it. You can only go down it like 5MPH! All of the houses on the street are really nice too, although pulling your car out of the garage on the street would be a pain in the ass.
Day 2 in San Francisco was awesome I can’t wait to venture out today, I will be going to the Justin.tv offices and checking out fisherman’s Warf.
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