My nominations for the 2008 A4U Awards
Nominations are now open for the 2008 A4U Awards that will take place the 5th June in London.
This year will also see the new ‘Affiliates4u Award For Excellence’ where the winner must be nominated by the affiliates4u community.
The first round of nominating will close on the 25th April 2008. After this time all nominations will be counted and verified and the top five results from each category will be announced on affiliates4u.com, a4uAwards.com and within NMA.
There are a total of 5 awards that are to be voted for by A4U members, as seen below. To maybe offer some inspiration I’ve detailed my choices and why I’ve chosen them below. As I said last year, I can only vote for people/companies that I personally work with. There may well be some fantastic people I’ve missed, purely because I don’t work with them and maybe we work in different sectors.
Publisher’s Choice Of Network
Webgains: I voted for Webgains for lots of reasons. They have a very good interface that is highly user friendly and lets you get everything from plain old text links to content units at the click of a couple of buttons. They also have a very well structured Programme Directory (it’s amazing how many networks don’t even offer this, or if they do its rubbish with about 3 or 4 categories and nothing else) and a really simple to use navigational system with loads of shortcuts to enable users to get to what they want quickly. Not only that but they have innovations that the (underused) iSense Ad Creator and the recent launch of the brilliant Voucher Code system. As well as all of that good stuff they’re a friendly and proactive team of people and out of all the networks, they are the ones that contact me most often with offers and discount codes etc. Last but not least they have by far and away the most useful and frequently updated blog out there. Its updated a few times a week and is a mine of useful information for content/offer sites like mine. So that’s why Webgains gets my vote. Runners up are Buy.at and Affiliate Window.
Publisher’s Choice Of Account Manager
Kier Marston from Webgains. Top guy, very very proactive. I get emails from him almost weekly.
Affiliate Manager Of 2008
Graham from Buyagift. I’ve mentioned Graham before in this blog. It’s these type of communications that Graham consistently sends out that gives him my vote.
Affiliate Marketing Blog Of 2008
As a category that’s very close to my heart, here’s some criteria that I don’t use when looking at which blog to pick for this award. I won’t pick one just because its run by a mate. Nor will I pick a winner based on how popular the blog is and how high a RSS reader count it has. Design doesn’t really matter either, I don’t care if you write on a blank page or a page full of cutting edge designs and Flash. For me its all about these 3 key ingredients:
Content: Yeah obvious I know, but I’m looking for someone who writes original posts that are relevant to Online marketing. I say “Online” marketing and not “Affiliate” marketing as I think that as affiliates we should be interested in everything that’s happening online. Then we can gauge how best to take advantage of opportunities and trends in the online space. There are a lot of blogs that don’t do anything else but regurgitate “news” from networks etc. This isn’t the kind of thing I’m looking for, anyone can just publish a press release.
Style: I always look for someone who writes with a bit of personality and wit. I like to be entertained, not sent to sleep. So in this case style is almost as important as substance.
Opinion: Don’t sit on the fence, nothing annoys me more than a blogger who is scared to say what they think about subjects that are important to us. My favourite blogs (across all sectors) are from people knowledgeable in the sector they operate in and have very strong opinions which they like to vocalise.
However, don’t go to the other extreme and fill your blog with nothing but negativity and childish nonsense, if you have something to say that’s negative then post it in a constructive manner. Let’s not put our beloved industry in even more of a negative light.
So with all of that in mind I’m pleased to say that my vote goes to Jason. Although he’s somewhat of a Victor Meldrew character he knows the industry inside out and his posts are always well thought out and balanced. All hail the duck! I also like John’s, Kirsty’s, Shane’s and Frostie’s (sorry I forgot you first time around mate, a genuine oversight) blogs - they just need to update more!
Agency Of The Year
Equator: I voted for them last year and have done again. Great people who know the industry very well and work ever so hard with their affiliates.
Affiliates4u Award For Excellence
Wow, tough one this. Although Matt deservedly won it last year I’m really struggling to nominate someone this year, purely as I think there are a few choices who deserve it. But…as I mentioned above I won’t sit on the fence so therefore nominate Jess Luthi. Jess has been in this industry since dinosaurs roamed the earth (no offence Jess, you know what I mean) and has always been a keen spokeswoman and ambassador for the industry, spreading the word whenever she can. A well deserved nominee in my humble opinion.
Click here to make your nominations.
What I’m listening to right now: Mary J Blige Ft Eve – “Mirror”
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Affiliate Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Keiron great post, I have yet to vote and your nominations hopefully will get others thinking and voting!!
If you dont vote you cant moan when someone wins and you did not put your 2p worth in.
March 26th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
I’m still quite new to AM and so some of these names are new to me. However, that is why this post is important as it helps to bring these names (sorry people) to the fore and no doubt over time I will hopefully meet some of them and get to know them as well as you do.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I’ve voted now, but I could only vote in a few categories - got stuck for others.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
Oh come on Keiron give me a vote:)
March 27th, 2008 at 3:13 am
Interesting choices Kieron. I voted for Kirsty’s blog this year but Jason always seems to post what I’m thinking so perhaps we’re both grumpy old men and Kirsty gives me a different perspective which has to be a good thing.
Jess also got my vote for something as usual and she’d better win something this year.
I went for R.O.Eye for the same reasons you went for Equator and it was a toss up between AW and Webgains for network of the year. They’re both been really proactive and helpful and friendly this year but purely in terms of bottom line profit AW got my vote this year.
March 27th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Grumpy… who’s grumpy?!! The cheek of it
I’d just like to publically thank my one reader for the nomination - so thanks Kieron! The blog category I think will be the most competitive award given the number of quality affiliate blogs that exist.
March 30th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
“Opinion: Don’t sit on the fence, nothing annoys me more than a blogger who is scared to say what they think about subjects that are important to us. My favourite blogs (across all sectors) are from people knowledgeable in the sector they operate in and have very strong opinions which they like to vocalise.”
I value your opinions on blogging, Kieron, as you are one of my favourite bloggers.
Do you not think that by expressing negative views it would damage our businesses? I have grown to realise that, for instance, the PPC agencies who win all the juicy brand name bidding contracts never - not once in a years - say a negative thing about the networks they get the lucre from. And they will suck up the relevant people to such a degree which I can’t even write about publically as it’s so shameful.
I think my own blog is rather bland, because I do worry about the impact on business relations if I or my team freely express our thoughts. And, at the end of the day, business is business is business and it’s about making money.
What’s your opinion?
Also, Jason, do you feel you’ve ever faced any hurdles in business dealings because you’ve been outspoken about an agency, network etc.?
March 30th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Hi Nadeem, thanks for your comments.
In answer to your question no, I don’t think that blogging about things that are wrong or unjust in this industry has a negative effect on the industry overall. I think if it’s done properly and constructively then it’s a good thing that these issues get highlighted in the public domain and can hopefully be resolved. Case in point, after my recent Coke Zone post (update soon btw) Tradedoubler rang me within a couple of hours of me writing it. They’re working on resolving the issues as we speak.
However…there are a small minority of bloggers and forum posters who tend to pick fights and complain about almost everything. They blog/speak in a very very negative way and are quite confrontational in their attitude. And I DO think that these type of people can damage the industry. For instance I had both a network and an agency last week tell me that they now think twice about posting on the A4U forum due to certain individuals attacks and false allegations based on nothing more than rumour and paranoia.
It would be a great shame if a few outspoken people tainted the industry. Like I have said before, I’m all for constructive criticism but don’t have time for the childish name calling and unsubstantiated attacks that I’ve seen more and more of lately.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:34 am
“Jason, do you feel you’ve ever faced any hurdles in business dealings because you’ve been outspoken about an agency, network etc.?” The only people who could answer that truthfully would be an agency, network etc - but I’d hope not. I try and write in a balanced way and would hope that any issues raised are legitimate - and if sorted would benefit the wider affiliate community. I also try and make sure the blog isn’t just me complaining (although apparently I’m a grumpy old sod) and do make sure praise is attributed. However, if anything I think we have better relations with networks than say 12 months back…. whether that’s down to the blog I couldn’t say, but I guess it does help raise profile with my reader! Overall I’d hope I was seen as someone who whilst opinionated is also fair and that networks weren’t put off working with us because of it! Jason
April 1st, 2008 at 1:51 am
Thank you for the responses Kieron and Jason.
Think I’ll leave what I truly have to say until my novel ‘Matt’s Mates’ is written after I retire. “It was the turn of the Millennium. They were young, they were handsome and… they were penniless. These pioneers chose to spend the ensuing decade of their lives wired up to their computers to change the world and make their millions. Read the story of the Affiliate Marketers and the mischief and corruption that existed in the wild west environment of online marketing in the noughties.”
April 8th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
[...] 6 or 7 blogs who told us who they were voting for. I laid my votes out for all to see this year here and Rob tells everyone why he won’t be voting for me here. But apart from that where are all the [...]
April 21st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Good post. Im not signed up with webgains. It because I have all the merchants I need through other networks. I would like to know who’s the most successful affiliate of the year.
May 7th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
[...] really strong selection here, I voted for Graham but to be honest they are all [...]
May 8th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Hiya,
I think you have nothing to lose signing up with our network; it’s free and you might actually find more merchants that interest you who are not with other networks or that you actually like our services and account management team
cheers