Next week, I'll be doing one of my favorite things -- moderating a panel -- this time for the first ever Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit. The event will be held in Chicago on March 29th and 30th.

You're probably asking yourself, Todd, what does word-of-mouth marketing have to do with search engines or even the affiliate space? I'm glad you asked...

Whatever you want to call it grassroots, grasstops, word-of-mouth, consumer-generated or user generated media one thing is clear: word-of-mouth marketing comes from a trusted source that initiates a referral. The challenge is that marketers are masquerading as fictitious consumers on blogs and message boards planting transparent brand messages as well as building out web sites and using PPC advertising to generate buzz and business.

Using the referral power of an individual in a community or network is the next logical step for the advertising world so that product and service recommendations come from a trusted source. A few years ago, I authored a piece on this topic called Neighboring Marketing Model as a technique to establish trusted real-time connected conversations with consumers.

Over the coming months, it will be interesting to see how affiliates use legitimate mobilization efforts to generate transactions and revenue and, what new steps search engines take to index authentic and original content.