Affiliate Marketing Blog by James Little

James Avery - I salute you!

Last week should have really been re-named to “Mr Avery Week”. It was the Flightmapping 5th Birthday and he held an excellent bash at London’s trendy Bar Soho to mark the occasion. It was a great night but I don’t think I’ll be able to look at Mary Young (Affiliate Future Account Manager) in the same light again after the aggression shown towards other teams in the Pub Quiz (which potentially had the most bizarre questions of any other pub quiz in existence). As for the bunny outfit as modeled by James above? The less said the better, I think…

I also wanted to use this blog as a platform to thank Mr. Avery personally not only for Thursday nights festivities but also for taking a few lucky individuals to see Prince @ the o2 on Friday evening - it was an immense performance and something I’m not likely to forget for a long time.

Thanks again James - a true gent.

It’s back to the real world after a week away in Barbados for the Affiliate Future 2007 Affiliate Incentive. Whilst I still have the jet lag I’m starting get back into the rhythm of things and already trying to look of ways of getting there again next year.

This really is one of the best incentives out there (though I think that they should take us to an all inclusive resort so we don’t need to worry about paying for food and drink) and as an affiliate manager have now sponsored affiliates two years in a row and would advice other merchants to do the same - it doesn’t cost much and can lead to a very positive ROI.

Ignoring the networking, workshops and speed dating sessions (!) there were a number of excursions this year, the best of which being the Jolly Rodger (a pirate ship) where the rum flowed throughout on our first full day on the Island.

Also managed to take a journey to the north point of the Island in a mini moke (with the brakes failing a few times!) to an amazing cave with a glorious natural lake that we were able to swim in - absolutely amazing.

Harbour Lights was one of the best nights on the Island - an all you can drink place for about £12 where a number of us performance a fantastic buttercup rendition on the stage followed by a dance off (which I apparently won) with some locals.

So much more I could write, but will not bore you with. A massive thank you goes out to Pete, Costa, Mary & everyone else at Affiliate Future for organising the conference and fingers crossed that I get invited again next year.

What a fun day!

A big thank you to buy.at for organising this tournament - it’s something that has been mentioned on the forum a number of times and from the chats I had everyone seemed to enjoy it.

For those that didn’t go, I’ll give you a quick overview of the day….

Over 100 of us all met down at Wembley Goals around 12pm, had a briefing tell us the rules at around 12.50 and then the games commenced.  Our team (the Affiliate Ninjas) consisted of:

James & Dan from Flightmapping
Lee McCoy & Steven Hall
Pete Dickenson & Neil Mitchell

It’s fair to say that the majority of the team had not played football in a fair bit and we were not really in it to win it but a lot of pre-match banter put the pressure on slightly!  We ended up in the same qualifiers as buy.at & UKWebMedia - both of which had their own kits made up especially!  Our first two games consisted of losing 9-1 and then 10-1!   Our last match, against Steak Media saw the team gel more and go on to win 5-4 (after drawing 4-4 and going on to play golden goal).

In the end the final was between Buy.at (who had been doing pre-match trials!) and Venturian Media,  who went on to win 6-0!

The day was finished with an awards ceremony and a free bar, giving everyone a chance to have a good natter.  I am proud to say that I won a trophy, even if it was for the play who €œMust try harder€!

The grudge match between the Affiliate Ninjas and the Affiliate Rovers didn’t happen in the end as half my team had to leave early but plans are afoot for a game in August for braggers rights.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sucker for gifts and freebies so I wanted to write a quick post to thank Kieron for the very kind gift which you can see to your left.

For anyone that doesn’t know, Kieron writes on one of the most popular affiliate marketing blogs on the internet (that I recently helped redesign), which has a reputation for it’s strong content - insightful and helpful to everyone in the industry.

As a side point, gifts like this are a great way to say thanks in the affiliate industry! I would suggest that as an affiliate manager you should really get a budget for them and make sure you use it all up.

Thanks again Kieron - will have a toast on you when the time calls for it to be opened!