The following students have recently graduated from our AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training course.  We’re proud to say that they are all now Certified Affiliate Managers!

• Deana Morgan
• Adam Miller of NSA Technologies, LLC
• Scott Kutchell of Direct Response Technologies
• Barry Ringstead of RevenueWire, Inc.
• Jeff Richards
• Thomas Johnson of NSA Technologies, LLC
• Tiffany Williams-Jallow of Indigo Interactive
• Dan Stainer
• Deborah Bello

We’re delighted that both companies and individuals alike chose to use our training program as a tool to learn more about affiliate management.  We are confident that everyone has learned everything that they will need to know in order to launch and manage a successful affiliate program!

We’re preparing for our next LIVE event - PPC Classroom LIVE this May in Las Vegas.

Nearly 500 affiliates  have already reserved their tickets to the event!

If you’d like the chance to meet with serious affiliates - the ones that are willing to dedicate time and spend money to build steady streams of traffic - this is a great opportunity.

In the past our sponsors have included CPA Networks, Affiliate Networks, lead generation affiliate programs and providers of affiliate tools and technology. Many of them will be back again this time to recruit more affiliates!

If you’re interested in finding out more, contact Rachel at rachel [at] lurn.com.

Event Details

May 28th - 30th, 2009
Las Vegas Hilton
www.PPCCLassroomLIVE.com

Hey Everyone!

Today is a big day for our company - and I wanted to share our exciting news with you!

We have changed our name Lurn, Inc. That’s a fun way of spelling “learn”, where U come first!

You can check out our new website at http://www.Lurn.com

I’ve also pasted a copy of a press release we sent about the name change below.

How does this name change affect you?

Well, for the most part, everything will remain the same for our clients, affiliates, students and partners.

All of our product lines (including the Affiliate Classroom course) remain intact and running ahead at full steam!

You’ll continue being supported by the same great staff and you’ll continue to receive the same great training tools and information you’ve come to expect from us.

But, as the year goes on - you’ll see that we’ll be adding more support, more tools, more services and more training to help our students and our affiliates reach their personal and financial goals.

We’d love to hear what you think about the new name - please send me your comments!

Stay tuned for more news on all of the great things coming out of Lurn this year!

To your continued success,
Sarah Holland
Lurn, Inc. (formerly Affiliate Classroom)
www.Lurn.com

***** A copy of Our Press Release *****

Affiliate Classroom Changes Name to Lurn, Inc.

E-learning Content and Technology Provider Takes on a New Name to Encompass Expanded Offering and Vision

College Park, MD –March 5th, 2009 –
Affiliate Classroom, a leading publisher of educational tools for the interactive advertising industry, has changed its name to Lurn, Inc.

The change comes as the company embarks on plans to expand offerings and broaden its vision.

“We originally set out to provide training and best practices for affiliates. The name Affiliate
Classroom made perfect sense,” said founder and CEO Anik Singal. “But in late 2008 as our executive team developed our strategic vision for the next two years, we felt limited by the name. What we’re able to offer now is beyond simple how-to information for affiliates. Changing our name is strategically liberating.”

Along with new interactive marketing courses, in 2009 the company will add a comprehensive e-learning delivery and membership management platform to its offerings. This technology will offer third-parties the ability to launch and manage their own training
and membership-based coaching and consulting package.

The company will continue using the name “Affiliate Classroom” to brand its online affiliate training course. Affiliate Classroom is currently undergoing a content and technological revision and will be re-introduced to the market in mid-2009.

Singal added, “We’ve been getting a lot of compliments on the new name. We think that it highlights our fun personality, while staying true to our vision of empowering our students to reach their goals through technology and education.”

About  Lurn, Inc.
Formerly known as Affiliate Classroom, privately-held Lurn, Inc was established in October of 2004 and is a leading provider of content and e-learning technology for interactive marketers. The growing product suite includes courses, books, live seminars, digital magazines, online communities and applications for online marketers.
www.Lurn.com

Contact:
Rachel Honoway
VP of Marketing
rachel@lurn.com
301-944-0052 ext 714

Lori Winkler of Direct Response Technologies has just completed her AC Certified Affiliate Manager Training.  She’s now a Certified Affiliate Manager!

We’re happy that Direct Response Technologies chose to work with us to help train Lori.  We are confident that she has learned everything she needs to know to launch and manage a successful affiliate program through our 10 Module course!

I’ve just gotten life back in order since Affiliate Summit West ‘09 in Las Vegas, and the long weekend. Let me tell you something - working at Summit was more fun than my long weekend!

In case you weren’t able to attend, I’ll recap some of my favorite moments and stories from the event.

1. First, I thoroughly enjoyed the chatter about Joel Comm’s ridiculously successful iphone application, ifart.  His application recently reached the coveted #1 position of the iphone app downloads.  It would be far from the truth to say that I find myself too grown up to enjoy fart jokes.  Although juvenile, I find them hilarious.  Congratulations to Joel for finding a way to make money out of “thin” air!
2. I got to see some big names in the industry that I have long heard of but never actually met.  Jim Lillig and Rosalind Gardner were pretty easy to pick out of a crowd after spending so much time in my early days watching them in training videos  Summit is a great place to come face to face with some of the marketers and bloggers out there that you read about every day.  Last year I was awe struck by the likes of Sean Collins, Amit Mehta, Jim Kukral, and even Anik Singal…
3. Aside from the Exhibit Hall which brought a constant stream of new people to meet, my favorite event was the Shareasale sponsored 80s party on Sunday night.  It was a great opportunity to network, make friends, and see my boss (our very own Rachel Honoway) in her prom dress!  Behold:

Read the rest of this entry »

So, I just finished littlerally watching my friend Jim Kukral launch his new business coaching site. He did a live video stream on Ustream.com and tons of people logged on to ask him questions and wish him well in his new venture.

Did I say “Business Coach”?? Thoes guys are a dime a dozen - right?

Well - yeah, there are a lot of them. But, I’ve gotta tell you - Jim Kukral has the experience, the know-how and the BIG ideas that companies need to jump start their businesses.

Jim and I worked together for years on a variety of projects for our mutal ex-employer Kowabunga.

I learned that Jim was an absolute genius when it comes to pinpointing the right message and figuring out how to position it so that the target market would “get it”.

That’s exactly the type of thing that many businesses struggle with. You have a product, you know who you want to sell it to - but can’t seem to connect the two.

This is what you need Jim for!

Instead of offering his services through a consulting package, Jim has started a membership site where he’s giving businesses ongoing access to him and his great ideas.

I’ve been lucky enough to see Jim’s work first-hand. And, I know that I did (and would again) pay far more than he’s charging for his coaching services.

Take a look for yourself at TheBizWebCoach

Good luck, Jim!!

We’re working on a new set of content for Affiliate Classroom - the course that has taught thousands of affiliates (probably a few of yours!) how to BE affiliates.

We want to get feedback from affiliate managers on things that they wish that their affiliates knew, or knew more about.

 Today, we’re focusing on SEO.

What are the best practices, the important concepts and the lessons that you wish your affiliates knew when it comes to SEO?

Email me - rachel @ affiliateclassroom. com with your  comments!

Thanks to our expert contributors and very involved attendees, we had a great Affiliate Manager Workshop this morning in Boston.

I really appreciate the content and conversation served up by our expert contributors:

• Peter Figueredo
• Trisha Lyn Fawver
• Sam Harrelson
• Rebecca Madigan
• Heather Paulson
• Lisa Riolo
• Brad Waller

Thank you VERY much for sharing your tips, advice and answers to our attendees!

Yesterday, I sat down and chatted with Wade Tonkin of Christian Affiliate Marketers for his podcast series. Wade and I go waaaaaay back to early 2000’s when we worked together at KowaBunga! Technologies.

We talked about our upcoming Affiliate Manager Workshop and all of the great fun we’ve had at past workshops and Affiliate Summit events.

You can listen to the podcast here:

 http://christianaffiliatemarketers.com/cam-blog-podcast-13-rachel-honoway-of-affiliate-classroom-live/

Welcome to The Affiliate Manager Weekly Strategist from Affiliate Classroom.

Each week, we discuss an affiliate management strategy and ask you for your input.

This week, our VP of Marketing and 10 year affiliate marketing veteran, Rachel Honoway talks about placing a value on live industry interaction.

VALUING FACE TO FACE TIME
– Rachel Honoway

In this fast-moving online world, it’s often hard to peel ourselves away from the computer to interact with people face to face.

We IM the guy at the desk next to ours, we tweet our thoughts on Twitter instead of sharing them around the water cooler and we send emails to our clients, affiliates and colleagues instead of picking up the phone, or meeting with them in person.

When you’re moving so fast, it’s hard to convince yourself that stepping away from your constant electronic connections will be valuable enough to make up for the key-tapping time you’ve missed.

This struggle is no more prevalent than when determining whether or not a given conference is worth your un-connected time.

Sure, you can check email between sessions and have your IMs and tweets sent directly to your phone, but you’ll lose a lot of progressive computer time when you’re traveling to and from the event, when you’re chatting with exhibitors, when you’re listening to sessions and, of course, when you’re partying like a rock star at the endless chain of sponsored club events.

Finding the true worth of event attendance requires a valuation the face-to-face interaction that you have with others in the industry.

What that means is that the value of any event, whether big or small, is determined by how YOU approach it.

Do you just blend in with the crowd, collect brochures, take notes and go home? Do you gravitate to the same crowd of people you were with the last time and comfortably chat about the same things you chatted about last time? Do you find yourself talking to people that really have nothing to offer you and your business?

If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, I wouldn’t be surprised if you said that you found little value in attending events.

When I attend events, I make it my goal to meet, shake hands and exchange cards with as many of the RIGHT people as I can.

I go into each event with a “hit list”. This is the list of potential clients, partners or industry influencers that I want to build or strengthen a relationship with. I’ve recruited a few good affiliates over the years by contacting my hit list prior to the event and inviting them to dinner.

At the next event you attend, try creating a hit list before you get on the plane, you may be surprised at how successful event attendance becomes when you have a plan.

For more tips on making the most from your event attendance, join us for our LIVE Affiliate Manager Workshop on August 9th at the Boston Seaport Hotel (the day before Affiliate Summit) where Lee “The Lead Man” Gientke will be hosting a roundtable discussion to offer tips and advice on “working the room”.

http://www.affiliateclassroomlive.com

QUESTIONS FOR THE WEEK

How do you make the decision on which events to attend?

What is the most valuable part of one-on-one interaction for you?
***********************
Join our discussions and post your answers and comments below.

(Remember - participating in industry blogs can help with brand/program recognition and with recruiting affiliates!)