I spent most of this afternoon and evening at the Affiliate Summit East happening at the Hilton Hotel here in NYC.

I was invited to live blog #ase09 by @stephagresta and @briansolis who are a large part of session planning for the Affiliate Summit and i’m live blogging it using my iPhone 3GS.

I found live tweeting a session much easier than live blogging it in WordPress on my phone, so I decided to live tweet today (@webmetricsguru using the #ase09 hash tag).

Ended up attending the 3 sessions I wrote about in my post, earlier today. The first session was too basic, but I came in near the end, so I didn’t hear most of it.

The next session on Branding 2.0 was much better, it has @stephagresta & @sarahaustin and had a few gems. One insight is personal branding takes time, years, but it could ne one blog post or video will be what you’ll be known for.

Also, as we move towards merging personal + corporate branding, let’s be careful to also maintain your own identity, don’t identify too closely with the brand because you might not be working there in 2 years.

The session on SEO was filled with familar stuff and some big brands were asking questions and pumping the panal for free information.

Found the emphesis on Link Building to be artifical, a creation of Google’s ranking factors, though the panel smartly answered many questions from the audience.

There’s a few events I’ll attend tonight and I may have more to write about that, later.

I’m at the Affiliate Summit NYC which starts today, at noon – and promises to be a long, long day, followed by two more, afterwards – I will live blog, as I can.   After looking at the program again, today, here’s what I plan to cover, and blog about, to the extent I can (I’ll be more focused in taking in information and talking to people than blogging – but if I can get decent receptivity at the Hilton, I’ll blog from my iPhone 3GS).

Getting Noticed FAST
Session 1c
Location: Classroom C – Concourse A
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm

Regardless what your role in the industry is, it’s important to be noticed within the industry. Learn the networking and social media techniques that make it possible.

• Lisa Picarille, Online Marketing Consultant, LisaPicarille.com (Twitter @lisap) (Moderator)
• Michael Buechele, Owner, MikeBuechele.com (Twitter @mikebuechele)
• Trisha Lyn Fawver, Affiliate Manager, Paulson Management Group (Twitter @trishalyn)
• Jen Goode, Doodler in Charge, JGoode Designs (Twitter @JGoode)
• Stephanie Lichtenstein, Affiliate Program Manager, Andy Rodriguez Consulting (Twitter@StephARC)

My desire to check out this session has more to do with some recent social media projects and my curiosity to see what Lisa Picarille and Jen Goode will say – and what affiliates might be doing to get attention, and therefore, drive traffic, viral or otherwise, to their sites – with the idea that most of the tactics used are applicable beyond affiliate marketing.

Personal Branding 2.0
Session 2b
Location: Classroom B – Clinton
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Everyone knows the power Twitter, Facebook and social networks have in today’s online marketplace. How can building your own personal brand help you increase traffic and exposure?

• Stephanie Agresta, EVP, Porter Novelli (Twitter @stephagresta)
• Sarah Austin, Founder & CEO, Pop17 (Twitter @pop17)

(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)

Igniting Viral Campaigns by Creating Relevant Conversations
Session 2d
Location: Classroom D – Nassau Suite
Time: 1:30pm-2:30pm

Learn how companies of all sizes including major brands are taking advantage of the tools , trends and technology to cut through the noise and connect with potential customers.

• Larry Bailin, CEO, Single Throw Internet Marketing (Twitter @LarryBailin)

Of course, I can’t miss Personal Branding 2.0, and I see @stephagresta at a few local events lately including Jeff Pulver’s 140 Conference which Porter Novelli helped sponser.  I’ve been working my brand for a while – and I’m curious to see what I might have not done – as well as the stuff I’m doing right (or wrong).   If I had a second choice, I’d go with the Viral Campaigns – and I might stick my head in both of them – as Viral is tough to ignite and I’d like to see what Larry is saying about he does it.

SEO Site Clinic
Session 3d
Location: Classroom D – Nassau Suite
Time: 3:00pm-4:00pm

Live Q&A, site audits and suggestions on how to help the internal site structure, as well as ideas how to build a better site for organic rankings.

• Chris Pearson, Overlord, DIYthemes (Twitter @pearsonified) (Moderator)
• Michael Gray, Owner, Atlas Web Services (Twitter @graywolf)
• Rae Hoffman, Owner, Sugarrae Inc (Twitter @sugarrae)
• Michael Streko, Owner, Streko Media LLC (Twitter @streko)
• Frank Watson, Owner, Kangamurra Media

(This Session is Open to Gold and Platinum Pass Holders Only)

I just saw Frank Watson this week at SEMPO NY Goes Cruisin’ Boat Cruize 8-06-09 and discussed speaking at SES NYC next spring, along with Mike Grehan and Matt McGowen (those two I have on video, in that post – inviting me to speak).   SEO has changed so much over the time I’ve been consulting doing SEO along with Web Analytics (since 2002) that I’m wondering what they’ll say now that Yahoo! Search is going to be Bing and Google is now becoming the defacto Big Brother that I’ve written about several times over the last few years (even as we all love Google).

Affiliate Summit Tweetup
Location: Sutton Complex
Time: 9:00pm – 12:00am

This is a networking social event open to all Affiliate Summit attendees to get together for drinks and conversation in a non-club atmosphere. If your preference is to turn the music down and the lights up, join us to meet new people and create new business opportunities.

I’ll try to stay around for this, but unless I find my self at dinner (say, on a cruise) or find something to talk about after 4PM – there’s nothing scheduled much after 4, not sure how long I’ll stay around.   Ideally, the Tweetup might be nice to go to, at least for the first hour or so.    Of course, it’d be nice to be on that Boat Cruise they have with the Top chef finalist.

Let me put it this way, if I get on that cruise tonight – I’ll have better footage and more interesting stories than the SEMPO NY Goes Cruisin’ Boat Cruize 8-06-09 on Thursday night.   Let’s see what happens.