I just got back from Yanik Silver’s Underground Online Marketing Seminar held in Washington, DC. It was excellent.

Yanik puts on a first class event. I personally picked up some great tips on starting and running a membership site, improving the results of email campaigns, ideas for product line extensions and lots more.

Just as important is the networking that happens at these events. I got to meet so many people and share so many ideas. And no matter what stage your internet business is at, there are people who can help you.

One thing I love about seminars is that it’s the only place where I can talk about business details. None of my friends or neighbors understand this business. I bet the same is true for you.

This was my first time to be a speaker at an event like this since 1998. My topic was “Quickie Profits” and I spoke about tactics and tweaks people can use on their web sites to instantly boost opt-ins, improve conversions, reduce support costs and generally make sites more profitable.

I do a lot of testing on my sites, and it was fun to share some of the tactics that are working for me. It was also flattering when some of the “big names” in the business told me they took lots of notes. But that’s what seminars are all about. Nobody knows everything, and we can always learn new things to make improvements.

At some point I may have the DVD of my speech available.

I’ll be posting more of my test results here in my blog so be sure to register so you can get them.

I also took part in a really cool mastermind session with about 15 other marketers. The idea was to brainstorm a business that could be created in 30 days and generate
$30,000. The ground rules were that the fictional person starting this business had some basic internet marketing knowledge, but they had no list, site, JV relationships and had less than $500 to invest.

At first, I almost wanted to leave because the idea sounded a bit ridiculous. But I stayed and am glad I did. The concepts this group came up with actually could produce that kind of money. These guys had so many great ideas about how to get started quickly and cheaply, I was amazed.

The entire thing was videotaped, so I should have more information on availability later.

It was also really nice to meet so many people who were doing this because they really wanted to spend time with their families. It’s something I never take for granted.

Unfortunately, I had to miss an important event for my own family. My children are in a program called “Destination Imagination” in which teams of kids compete in problem-solving tasks and are rewarded for teamwork, creativity, performance and imagination. My wife is the team manager.

While I was away, they won first place in the regionals and will go on to compete in the state-wide finals. I’m very proud of them for all their hard work and achievement.