A4U Speaker: Tom Critchlow (@TomCritchlow): “People want to come away with real insights”
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A4U Speaker: Tom Critchlow (@TomCritchlow): “People want to come away with real insights”

6th October 2010

In two weeks time its A4U Expo London 2010. As a mediapartner we will off course be present at the Excel Centre to cover the conference, but there is more! We not only gave away the free ticket for the conference, we also talk about the show in advance, on our radioshow, on our special A4U page and right here! We have asked several speakers some questions about A4U Expo. You can find their answers here, plus the reasons you should go and see their specific sessions!

Today the answers of Tom Critchlow. Tom Critchlow is Head of Search Marketing for Distilled and can be found either working hands on or project managing a team of search marketers.

Go see his answers here:

1- What makes A4U a different conference to be speaking at than others?

I’ve been to all kinds of industry conferences in my time and A4U stands out for two reasons. Firstly, the conference is amazingly well organised – Matthew and the team put on a fantastic show with amazing after-parties and networking events. Secondly, the quality of attendee is very high. You meet a lot of super-smart people and because a lot of affiliates are there, everyone is looking for ROI which keeps the presentations very actionable. You don’t get much fluff at an A4U conference!

2- What can people expect from your presentation?

Actionable tips! With any presentation I give I’m always looking to make sure people come away with concrete actions or ideas. Too many presentations talk too much theory or abstract ideas. People want to come away with real insights and be excited to go home and implement changes the day after the conference.

3- Why should people attend your session instead of the other ones?

Because I’m awesome. No, but seriously, all the presentations will be great I’m sure. If you have tracking questions or analytics issues then mine would be a great session to come to but I’m sure all the other sessions are equally worthwhile 🙂

4- Which other sessions would you recommend?

Some sessions I’m looking forward to: The negative SEO session should be exciting and interesting given my SEO interests! Also Ralph’s link network talk should be dynamite. He’s wicked-smart and is also a very entertaining presenter. Giving him his own panel is very cool and should be very interesting. I’d also be amiss if I didn’t pimp Sam Crocker’s presentation a little too since he’s another Distilled representative speaking at the conference!

5- Why do Affiliates and SEOs need each other?

Affiliates often don’t have any real brand awareness or offline presence so SEO is usually a huge driver for affiliate sites. Since affiliates are often online focused they can end up getting search volume without really understanding why or how to optimise it. That said, if affiliates are interested in doing SEO they should always focus on the ROI of the activity (which affiliates are usually really good at!)

6- Whats the biggest mistake you’ve made when it comes to affiliate marketing?

Not doing enough of it!! I used to do a small amount of direct PPC affiliate activity and it was nicely profitable for me but I just haven’t had time since to follow up on it. That’s my biggest mistake 🙂

Do you have a question for Kevin which he can answer in his presentation? Post it in the comments here and we’ll make sure he gets them!

Find other A4U Interviews here:

A4U Speaker: Sam Crocker (@SamuelCrocker): Using Your Competitor’s Tactics to Gain a Competitive Edge
A4U Speaker: Magnus Nilsson (@nilsson_magnus): “A4U is surrounded by a high energy buzz”
A4U Speaker: Kevin Gibbons (@kevgibbo): “it’s a real mixture of topics”

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Written By
Bas van den Beld is an award winning Digital Marketing consultant, trainer and speaker. He is the founder of State of Digital and helps companies develop solid marketing strategies.
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