Affiliate Marketing blog by James Little

For anyone that is unaware later this month I will be soft-lauching a new affiliate network as part of Altogether Digitals continued expansion into the affiliate arena.

It’s an exciting time as while the aim for the network is not to compete with the TradeDoublers of the world it does mean that in certain cases we will be either giving affiliates more or charging clients less.

As part of this we are looking to create an “Affiliate showcase”, giving a few select affiliates the opportunity to show off some of their sites/campaigns and hopefully to eventually benefit from a decent relevant link.

If anyone is interesting in being part of this please leave a comment below and i’ll get in touch.   I should also thank Paul  and Steve for the suggestion.

Ignoring the fact that it was a travesty that I was not on the short list for the awards I thought I’d go over the final results and reveal my final votes.

Publisher Choice of Network 2007

Affiliate Future
Affiliate Window
Buy.at
Paid on Results
TradeDoubler

Has to be Affiliate Future here.  It’s fair to say that their software is not the best in the world, but the account management is certainly one of the best out there and the two trips with them to Barbados (even if I had to pay) may have helped guide my vote!

Publisher Choice of Agency 2007

Affiliate Program Advice
Equator
Existem Affiliate Management
RO EYE

Obviously it’s Altogether Digital here, but in the absence from the short list i’d have to vote for RO EYE.  I think agencies have come a long way over the past year or so and RO EYE is certainly one of the best.

Publisher Choice of Merchant 2007

3 Mobile
Buy a Gift
HMV
PrezzyBox
Sky

Wasn’t there a whole big palaver with 3 Mobile and unauthorized emails going to affiliates on Buy.at saying that they have closed down?  Anyhow – it’s a hard choice out of either Prezzy Box of Buy a gift.  I’ll pick Buy a Gift because if their excellent Christmas Competition though.

Merchants Publisher of the Year 2007

Allkids.co.uk
eStuff (holiday Watchdog)
Freebie Sites UK
Uk Web Media

My choice has to be UK Web Media here, purely as the industries I have worked with have not put me in touch with the others.

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Network Award

Affiliate Future
Affiliate Window
Buy.at
Paid on Results
TradeDoubler

Quite a touch one.  Affiliate Window launched the Shop Window tool which seems to have gone down well and certainly helps with getting landing pages sorted for the non-technical focused PPC Affiliates.  Paid on Results have a great backend, solid tracking and some excellent content units.   In the end Innovation does mean Innovation though so Affiliate Window pip it.

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Merchant Award

Amazon
Buy a Gift
Jessops
PrezzyBox
Pru Health

It’s between Prezzybox and Amazon.  Amazon release the widget recently which seems to have been taken up well but Prezzybox win my vote for their Video ads.

Innovation in Affiliate Marketing – Publishers Award

eConversions
Fraser Edwards
Nectar
Quidco
UK Web Media

Fraser Edwards gets my vote here – his podcasts have been excellent and he’s a top guy to boot.

Publishers Manager of 2007 – Merchant Award

Chris Bishop – Hotel Chocolat
Ennis Al-Saiegh – Jessops
Graham Keen – Buyagift
Naomi Brown – Firebox
Zak Edwards – Prezzybox

I vote for Naomi – she’s been doing all the right things (XML Feeds, Blogging, Events, Freebies, etc) but obviously Zak and Graham are both at the top of the pile.

Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2007

AffiliateStuff.co.uk – Kirsty McGubbin
AffiliateBlog.co.uk – Fraser Edwards
Here.org.uk – Kieron Donoghue
Mooseontheloose.co.uk – Paul Wheatley
MorleyMouse.com – Dan Morley

Hard choice.  I’ve already voted for Fraser and don’t think he should get both votes, so I’m going to vote Kieron on this one.  His content for the blog is always excellent and he was one of the founding affiliate bloggers!   If Lee McCoy was on the list he would have been my joint top choice!

Best Account Manager 2007

Fiona MacPherson – Equator
Hero Gregoraki – Webgains
Matt Bailey – DGM
Michelle Boxall – All Response Media
Sean Carter – MediaVest International

Matt Bailey gets my vote here.  I will publicly say that if I am not nominated next year then I’m going to quit my job though!

Best New Merchant of 2007

Arcadia
Childrens Rooms
Next
Setanta
Wickes

Very strange choices.  I’ll vote Childrens Rooms purely because of who runs it though.  Think there are other candidates who should be included here though..

Best New Affiliate of 2007

Dealpond
Maxafi
Smoolah

Not sure if I work with any of these.  Smoolah gets the vote for the most web 2.0 name in affiliate marketing though.

Best International Publisher

Clicks2 Customers
eConversions
Net Media Planet

eConversions for me!  A good bunch of people who I wish I worked with more.

Industry Champion Award 2007

Clarke Duncan
Fraser Edwards
Jess Luthi
Keith Budden
Matthew Wood
Nick Roveta

It’s quite obvious that Matt is going to win this.  Not sure how some of the others got on the list.

Overall I still find it quite a strange short list and wonder how many votes were counted – there seems to be quite a few “Community” choices rather than actual deserved applicants.