a4uexpo Review

Last week I attended my first a4uexpo at ExCeL. Overall the event was fantastic and I would definitely recommend it to any SEO or affiliate marketers next time.

Day 1

The first session I attended was WordPress SEO & Optimisation Strategies (click to view presentation) by Joost de Valk. With lots of good tips, plugins and a slick presentation this was an ideal overview for the growing number of affiliates using WordPress as a CMS for their websites.

Following a break for lunch and an hour walking round the stands in the main hall it was time to watch the Extreme SEO Strategies for Affiliates session with Dave Naylor, Rob Kerry, Joost De Valk, Marcus Tandler and moderation by Ciaran Norris.

Starting with reputation management and finishing with how certain finance websites are using the Digital Point Coop Network this was high level SEO at its very best.

The evenings entertainment was a luxury cruise down the Thames followed by drinks in the hotel bar.

Day 2

Following a late start waiting for Al Carlton to cure his hangover with lager I watched him deliver an excellent Million Dollar Blogging Strategies for Affiliates presentation. Well worth watching the video when it’s available online.

The majority of questions directed towards Al were related to which WordPress plugins he was using which was interesting.

Next on the schedule was Affiliate Doctors’ Live! with Dave Naylor, Joost De Valk, Marcus Tandler and Chris Garrett.

This session was focussed on doing reviews of affiliate sites suggested by the audience. Most of them were quite poor in terms of design which for an affiliate site is a very basic requirement – generating trust and brand is hard enough for affiliates without suffering from poor design as well.

Next year I believe it would be better to showcase how good sites work rather than ripping apart sites that 90% of people in the room thought were quite low level.

The final session of the conference was Meet The Super Affiliates with Kieron Donoghue, Doug Scott and Jamie Harwood.

The format was questions from the floor and lots of great information was shared during the session.

SEO Dinner

On the final day I was pleased to attend Dave Naylors SEO Dinner along with Becky, Anthony Shapley, Mel Carson, Todd Crawford, Joost De Valk, Marcus Tandler and Al Carlton.

We shared a few advanced SEO strategies and ate some excellent Thai food. Thanks Dave!

Summary

This was my first time at an a4u event and I was very impressed at the professionalism of the event and the passion of some of the affiliates. Definitely a conference you should attend next time.

Thanks to Jo from conference calls for the tip.

BY Patrick Altoft AT 10:48am ON Sunday, 19 October 2008

Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3 and has worked in the SEO industry for over 10 years. With experience across some of the worlds largest brands as well as startup businesses Patrick is well known in the industry and speaks regularly at the major SEO conferences and events. Follow Patrick on Twitter or Google+