Having been impressed with the caricatures of others in the affiliate marketing industry including A4uawards Blog of the Year Award nominee John Lamerton and (slim looking) Kieron Donoghue at the new Affiliate Doctors site, I set about to get a shiny version of my own.

I started by contacting Web Design Ireland and designer Keith quickly pointed me in the right direction of Caricature King.

It is really easy to order a cartoon version of yourself there. You first pick one of the seven designers to do your version. It is helpful to browse each of their portfolios to get a design that suits your needs.

Mine was to have a recognisable image that I can use in this blog and as an icon across all different social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Affiliates4u and for blog comments via Gravatar.

You email Matt Eliason a set of images for the designer to work from and then select the type of image that you’d like designing. I wanted one that included a prop, specifically one holding a drink, typical of many networking pictures and wanted it to represent my ‘Cheeky Theaky’ style.

Matt is the International Coordinator and then emails back with further questions. I received these the next day because of the time zones. He asked what kind of clothes I wanted to be wearing and my suggestion of a cardigan got laughed away.

On May 7th I submitted my original photos and provided a link to my facebook profile in case more were required.

On May 13th I received a black and white outlined draft of how it would look, designed by Brian. I was then able to suggest changes but I was happy as it was after reviewing it with my house mate.

One week after the inital brief, on May 15th, I received two colour caricatures. One containing the full body shot with prop. The other image was a close up of the head.

As soon as I posted it as my Facebook profile pic, one close friend commented:

that pic is a double of you cheeky, fookin awesome!!!

I travelled alone but knew approximately 20 people, either from meeting them at previous London A4uExpo’s, other local affiliate marketing events or from meeting facebook friends in person for the first time. Plenty were staying at the same Novotel hotel, which made socialising that much easier.

The majority of people stayed 3 nights for the affiliate marketing conference but I stayed 1 extra night to take in one day of AAC, as I’d been to previous CAP gambling conferences and they know how to party and put on a show.

My flight from Leeds cost £90 and I did have the misfortune of having my £850 laptop stolen on my return from my locked hold luggage. This was after checking in at Schipol and picking my bag up after a 2 hour flight delay.

With the hotel costing 670 Euros and 1 beer the equivalent of £8 a pint, one could have looked at it as a very expensive jaunt.

However, Befuddle had an interesting and profitable time …

400 Euros Won

Prior to leaving I bought some business cards with the Paris Hilton cartoon lookalike that adorns my drunk celebrity site Befuddle.co.uk. The plan was to have a card that caught the eye and would win if drawn from a bowl.

Well Market-Ace.com had such a draw and I was given 400 Euros in cash on the last day of the a4uEXpo. It’s still in my wallet and so I came back to the UK with more money that I went with (to Amsterdam!) Result!

a4uAwards Ticket Offered

During the week I was provided with opportunities to attend the black-tie a4uAwards dinner in London. I shall be attending as guests of Red Letter Days.

Taken to Dinner

The network Linkshare UK kindly invited me out to dinner one evening at the excellent Groucho’s and it’s nice gestures like this that make the event memorable and their network more personable. It was also a pleasure to drink and relax with the kind people of Affiliate Future, Existem AM, dgmPro and party hard with Stream20.

£15,000 Commission Deal Sealed

It wasn’t all drinking, dancing and smoking. I had to do some work so I set up a few meetings with merchants who I make significant sums with. I went through the stats with one merchant and they offered to DOUBLE my commission level. That 20 minute meeting would equate to an extra £15k a year based on current traffic and referrals. That £800 hotel and travel cost seems such an investment now.

Bit of Sunshine

Whilst in the Dam I found out via Twitter that I was one of the lucky winners for the Affiliate Future trip to Barbados. I think I may have to detox my body before then. It was a nice 21 degrees outside too though I saw little of it.

New Friends

This event was never about the money but I thought I’d highlight that you just never know what may come your way with a bit of networking. I have got lots to follow up over the coming days indeed weeks. As well as the business deals I want to implement as many of the tips I learned at the conferences that I stayed awake for.

Some agencies, networks and individuals are going out of their way to work closely with me and ShopCodes and these are reflected in my votes below. There are others who I easily could have picked but likewise there are some who I’ve lost respect for.

Publisher’s Choice Of Network 2009

Webgains

The first network I log into each day. Always improving their already fantastic interface with very proactive and friendly communicative staff.

Publisher’s Choice Of Account Manager 2009

Jess Nathan of dgm

Jess really pushes me to promote dgm programmes on a network that I typically ignore and she goes out of her way to help when there’s technical issues.

Publisher’s Choice Of Affiliate Manager 2009

Jim Kinloch of Signature Gifts

Pro-active in awarding Exclusive codes across the brands with good seasonal promotions. Generous with incentives.

Affiliate Management Agency of 2009

Existem AM

Proactive in delivering voucher codes, best sellers and seasonal offers for all their merchants. Most importantly they are the most approachable and best communicators.

Affiliate Marketing Blog Of 2009
Existem AM @ http://www.existem-am.com/blog/

Well, after spending some money and allowing two weeks to pass, I’ve now got the joy of reaching that milestone again! How good is that?

Please don’t sue me. I’ve got a nice Friday glow and the sun is shining. Enjoy your weekend! I certainly will be after a horrible four days.

Thanks for Kirsty for interviewing me a month ago. You can read the full piece here and some related Twitter responses are below.

KeithBond @befuddle first time i’ve heard Leeds Building Society called a significant financial milestone, well done though, now you can walk to work

BFG9000 @befuddle celebrate with loads of beer & a trip to the casino – then when you wake up try to get back to that same milestone

swifty7 @befuddle pat yourself on the back, and head for the next milestone!

loquax @befuddle go and spend your £5 on sweets? ;o) LOL

venturian @befuddle spend it!