Many affiliate marketers from all over the world will be heading to Philadelphia next weekend for Affiliate Summit East 2013. A common question I get a lot around the time of these trade shows, is “how do you manage your campaigns while attending?” Should you pause everything for a day or two? Or should you let things run?
Over the last four years of attending, I’ve become a fairly avid traveler. I typically spend about 2 weeks out of every month traveling somewhere but continue to manage all of my businesses without a problem. Along the way I’ve picked up some tips that will help you rock your campaigns out like a boss and still conduct business at the show:
* Monitor your tracking and landing page domains with Pingdom – A very inexpensive but useful service. If your server fails are anytime Pingdom will send you a text message letting you know that you need to take action. It also continues to monitor the service so if it comes back online it will also SMS you letting you know that everything has been restored. Up time is everything online, so make sure you manage yours properly!
* Download Google Chrome for your iPhone/iPad – The Google Chrome app for the iPhone/iPad is awesome. Not only can you sync it to your laptop/PC it also stores all your passwords so it makes stat checking a quick and easy process. While you’re boarding your flight or waiting on luggage, you can quickly check and see how your day is shaping up. Typically, I’ll keep tabs opened so it’s a quick login, refresh, and done.
* Charge your devices the night before – Most of you will be bringing a laptop to the show, but don’t pack it up the night before. Let it sit on the charge so you know it’s going to be ready to go the next day. The same with your smartphones/tablet. Have a full charge so you’re not spending your time looking for a plugin. Most airplanes and airports have made this easier (adding USB ports) but you can’t always depend on it.
* Setup the mobile hot spot on your smartphone – I have an iPhone through Verizon. For an extra $30 a month I can plugin to my laptop at anytime and have high speed Internet access. A lot of airports, hotel lobbies, coffee shops, etc. have Wifi nowadays but I never like to rely on them. More time than not, I’ve had problems with them, and I know my phone is going to work. Get all of that setup before you leave as it takes some configuring but it’s fairly straight forward.
* Take advantage of the inflight Wifi – Most airplanes do have Internet access available through Gogo as long as you’re over the United States and above 10,000 feet. This has been an excellent way for me to stay on top of things and still be able to travel. Rather than taking a nap or getting drunk, use your time on the airplane wisely and scale your campaigns!
* Buy a nice carry on bag – Obviously you’re going to want to carry your laptop/iPad/etc. on the airplane with you. Go out this weekend and pick you up a bag that’s meant to carry these devices so you don’t make it hard on yourself. I’m a big fan of the SwissGear as they’re fairly light weight and have many pockets to stay organized. Also, make sure to put it under the seat in front of you and not the overhead bins. They’re sometimes hard to get into and can get quite full.
By making the most out of your travel days and downtime you’re able to minimize your time away from your campaigns and still be able to monitor, scale, and optimize accordingly. I’ve actually had some record-breaking days while attending conferences, so I’ve never been a fan of pausing. By scheduling your day accordingly and using some of my above tips you should be able to knock down solid revenue and enjoy a good trade show experience.
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