Amazon Associates Blogging Event

I've recently started using Amazon Associates, which is an affiliate scheme Amazon uses, allowing you to link hundreds of thousands of products to your blog and maybe make a little commission. After using the scheme for a couple of weeks, I was invited to a bloggers' evening at Amazon HQ in London, which was perfect timing!
Before heading to the office, I met up with Paige, Natasha, Natalie, Sade, Katrina and Laura so it was lovely to have a catch up with some new and familiar faces. Once we'd reached HQ, we were shown into the event room where there were heaps of fantastically dressed bloggers as well as tables strewn with cans of drink and biscuits.

Like the eager beavers we are, Paige, Natalie and I decided to sit at the front of the room (best place for photos!) for the speakers. First up was Ella of Coco's Tea Party, who had some really fantastic advice on becoming full time before Gem, digital writer at Cosmopolitan, used her experience to discuss writing posts and articles that engage and encourage sharing. Her ultimate tip was that people share posts because it says something good about them, so you need to think about how your reader wants to portray themselves and write around that. Gem's speech was particularly entertaining as she's naturally a very enthusiastic, funny speaker. 

After these two great speakers, it was time to break for dinner. Amazon had kindly put on an amazing spread including the most delicious prawn satays and, yes, mini burgers! Every event seems to have mini burgers lately, which is something I can totally get on board with!
Once we'd filled our tummies and had a chat, we headed back to our seats to learn a little more about Amazon Fashion before some great tips on styling photos for our fashion posts from Rachel Story, stylist at Hello! magazine. This was definitely one of the most helpful talks and I left feeling incredibly inspired! In fact, I've just bought a whole chunk of pretty rings on eBay to make my photos more interesting. Finally, Reena of Fashion Daydreams shared some of her top ways to earn money through affiliate marketing.

At the end of the night, Paige, Natalie and I travelled to Waterloo to get our trains. Funnily enough, Natalie only lives a couple of miles away from me so she was going to the same station and very kindly offered me a lift home (although we did end up taking the scenic route!). 

It was such a great evening and I came out with so much new information and a heap of inspiration to draw on. Thank you so much to everyone involved!