A couple weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas. If I had a quarter for every time someone said, “You know Cindy, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”, I could have made a killing on the quarter slots.

Fortunately, what happened in Vegas didn’t stay in Vegas. I brought home so many useful tidbits and valuable pieces of education about affiliate marketing. I was completely inspired by the other affiliates and program managers I met.

Here are a few (of the bazillion) things I learned from the industry’s best leaders:

• Strive for the 3 R’s: Reachable, Responsive, Real. As an Affiliate Program Manager, make it your mantra.
• Make yourself available to your super-affiliates, but don’t intrude. Give them room to do what they do best.
• Segment your affiliates by experience, ability and willingness levels. Then, as an Affiliate Program Manager, lead appropriately.
• Establish authority, credibility and trustworthiness to differentiate your affiliate program from the myriad of others.
• Don’t pay the highest commission in the industry. If your program pays the highest commissions, your program will be the most susceptible to fraud.
• Buy the common misspellings of your Website address before your competitors do.
• Test everything and assume nothing.
• Find out where your audience hangs out (ex. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flikr, etc) and then establish a presence there.
• Develop your personal brand as an Internet marketer. It’s essential. One way to position your self as an industry expert is to be an early adopter of new technologies. Report on your website or blog how new tools work. People will see you as someone who always is “in the know” of the next big thing.

I hope these tips were helpful for anyone out there who also runs an affiliate program. (Maybe those with Infusionsoft?) I invite you to try your hand as an affiliate marketer via the Infusionsoft Affiliate program. It’s got a great structure, plenty of flexibility and of course, it’s the coolest one ever since I manage it.

I’m excited to share all the inside scoop and best practices around affiliate marketing and I’m open to your feedback and questions. I’m available if you need me and if you’d like, follow me on Twitter, my account is @CindyEagar.