a4uAwards 2008 - Community Choice Shortlist

[Matthew Wood]

Thank you for waiting - we have finished auditing and totalling your nominations and have now released the shortlist for the Publisher and Community Choice awards

See who's made it through to the final five on the A4uAwards Blog

you now have 3 weeks to vote for your outright winner for each category. The winner and runner up will be announced on the 5th of June!

[drivetowin]

Disappointing to see there is not a single content publisher up for the publisher award - four ppc, one ppc and cashback and one pure cashback......mmmmmmmm....

Should add this is not a knock at the awards by the way Matt - just a shame that presumably nominations have been made on cash returns rather than necessarily on effort or innovation.

[3wdl]

Originally Posted by drivetowin Disappointing to see there is not a single content publisher up for the publisher award - four ppc, one ppc and cashback and one pure cashback......mmmmmmmm.... Should add this is not a knock at the awards by the way Matt - just a shame that presumably nominations have been made on cash returns rather than necessarily on effort or innovation.

Indeed. Blogged about this here:

Community Choice A4UAwards Selection... | Affiliate Marketing Blog by James Little

Also surprised TD are not in the network choice too! Gone downhill since Nick left?

[ian]

Originally Posted by drivetowin Disappointing to see there is not a single content publisher up for the publisher award - four ppc, one ppc and cashback and one pure cashback......mmmmmmmm....

It is disappointing that a content site didn't manage to make an impression on those that were doing the nominations. Not sure what the rational behind the award is though, were they published somewhere?

[UKOffer]

Originally Posted by ian It is disappointing that a content site didn't manage to make an impression on those that were doing the nominations. Not sure what the rational behind the award is though, were they published somewhere?

Do you know for a fact that none of these affiliates operate content sites?

[loquax]

Disappointing to see there is not a single content publisher up for the publisher award - four ppc, one ppc and cashback and one pure cashback......mmmmmmmm....

Been thinking about this one... when thinking about who I'd vote for as best network/merchant... the earnings I make did come into the equation - I'd be surprised if other affiliates didn't make similar considerations. Therefore should we be surprised that the affiliates who earn for the merchants/networks would get their vote?

Another possible point is that a content site may only work with a handful of merchants - whereas ppc/cashback will have a lot of strong ties with a lot more merchants/agencies/networks etc. That may well have influenced how the nominations went.

It would have been nice to see something different - but perhaps as content affiliates we should take it as a challenge?

Geez... i think the sun has got to me... must drink water, take tablets, lie down ;-)

Jason

[ian]

Originally Posted by UKOffer Do you know for a fact that none of these affiliates operate content sites?

No, and I didn't say they shouldn't win the awards either. It depends on the rational behind the award as to who should be nominated. Based on the list, many would base it on volume given that they are the established big boys in ppc.

What I did say was that its disappointing that a content affiliate hadn't made enough of an impression to get listed. This is not to say the shortlisted affiliates shouldn't be there, just that no publishers are wowing the community with great sites or new affiliate methods.

[Elaine]

but perhaps as content affiliates we should take it as a challenge?

it would be nice if pure content affiliates who rely on the organic serps did get more recognition - but then again we do make more money for ourselves rather than lining the pockets of the networks, merchants and google - about 85% of our earnings go in our pocket (and the taxman's ) - so I'll be content to stretch my arm round my head and pat myself on the back

[ian-d]

Originally Posted by drivetowin Disappointing to see there is not a single content publisher up for the publisher award - four ppc, one ppc and cashback and one pure cashback......mmmmmmmm....

For a publisher award, how have ppc affiliates managed to get voted? Who would vote for them? Maybe someone needs to explain to me what these 4 ppc affiliates do which makes them noticable for an award?

[ian]

Originally Posted by ian-d For a publisher award, how have ppc affiliates managed to get voted? Who would vote for them? Maybe someone needs to explain to me what these 4 ppc affiliates do which makes them noticable for an award?

They have a massive number of campaigns, for a massive number of merchants, agencies, and networks, giving them a good chance of getting quite a few nominations. They do produce some nice sites, and as Kieron aludes to, they probably have a number of content sites as well. If enough people nominate them, it's hard to ignore them for a place on the shortlist.

Maybe for 2009 we could have an innovation / startup award ?

[TheBoyMitchell]

Maybe there should be a Content Publisher award next year? It would overlap - but look at Christiano Ronaldo. You could always be voted into both catagories, but it would give new and established content sites the chance to be recognised.

How you would vote for it though - like the rest of the awards it is open to interpretation.

(And to clarify that, I am not denigrating anyone who has been nominated, but *how* can the Average Joe vote for anyone unless they have heard of the nominee, which in turn begs the question "Are the nominees the people who make the most noise/posts/are most visible on site"

Just my 5p

[UKOffer]

Originally Posted by ian No, and I didn't say they shouldn't win the awards either. It depends on the rational behind the award as to who should be nominated. Based on the list, many would base it on volume given that they are the established big boys in ppc..

OK so if they are the "established big boys in PPC" I can presume that they are big because they are successful and generate a lot of sales for the merchants and networks. So isn't that a good enough reason for them to be nominated? Or should small affiliate sites that generate little sales be nominated? Remember affiliate marketing is a business and business is traditionally measured by sales, volume and profitability so what's wrong with that?

Originally Posted by ian What I did say was that its disappointing that a content affiliate hadn't made enough of an impression to get listed. .

I don't really understand what you are saying when you say "a content affiliate hadn't made enough of an impression to get listed". Maybe UK Web Media were nominated as they were one of the first affiliates to launch a cashback site that gives to charity? They spent a small fortune building it and marketing it so aren't they worthy of a nomination for that? Just because these guys spend a lot of money buying traffic to their CONTENT sites doesn't mean they shouldn't be nominated does it???

Originally Posted by ian This is not to say the shortlisted affiliates shouldn't be there, just that no publishers are wowing the community with great sites or new affiliate methods.

OK we're maybe getting to the point a bit here. I think what you are saying is that there should maybe be an award for "best newcomer" or "affiliate innovation". I agree.

However just because the guys listed as nominees spend a lot of money on PPC doesn't mean they shouldn't be rewarded and recognised. And who's to say that they don't utilise their PPC budgets to send traffic to their own content sites? Let's not jump to conclusions. Trust me, I've seen some of their sites and they are very good quality content driven sites. We all know that Google have cracked down on "thin" sites so they have to be, in order to buy traffic from them.

[drivetowin]

Just to clarify that I'm not saying any of those who have been nominated don't deserve to be - just that it was a shame there were no 'pure content' affiliates nominated.

From my perspective I don't view ppc affiliates who have a site with content as content affiliates but that's just my individual opinion - if you have an excellent content site (like Elaine's or Jason's or dare I say it even a couple of mine for example) you don't need ppc to drive content to it - build and they will come as the saying goes.

This isn't sour grapes - just an observation that the full breadth of publishers is not reflected in the nominations.

[Affi Liate]

Too much waffle for me to digest.

Vote for who you think you should vote for...

Aff.

A.S.

Remember affiliate marketing is a business and business is traditionally measured by sales, volume and profitability so what's wrong with that?

You forgot the most importrant measure of them all (after JD): "Societal Marketing"... that's what's wrong with that... zzz

[Qui Gon Jinn]

There is a signifcant difference between a PPC affiliate and a BBG (Brand Bidding Group) Affiliate. Some of the recent sites were perhaps built through a "guilt complex" or to pull wool over prospective clients eyes & funded by the obscene amounts of money generated from BBGs .. let's not forget that.

So when you see these sites, take a peek at the [Wayback Machine] (exact match no hybrid) (though it can be embarrassing to see our own sites). & Whoopie Bloomin Doo to landing pages ...

Internet Archive

Usng the word charity doesn't sway a discussion, i know about the site mentioned above and have from early days when the bbg affiliate asked for my opinions at the time to which i had positive comments & suggestions, but my opinions hadn't changed on BBGs.

It doesn't need to be sour grapes to have an objective opinion & echo what others are saying on msn in private or in a public domain.

One thing for sure there is certainly a difference of opinion to what is perceived as a "content affiliate" imho the driver to those sites can be seo and / or ppc ... which can easily be set aside for another discussion.

.... the fact remains that all bar Quidco are familiar Brand Bidding Group Affiliates.