Starting today in our Bristol HQ, Stuart will be actively contributing to improving affiliate, merchant and network contact and build on the success of previous years events.

Stuart joins us after several years as sales manager for a corporate skiing and Alpine events company. A keen cyclist, Stuart is also a blackbelt tea drinker and tablefootball demon.

Was great to catch up with old faces, as well as meeting some new faces too. I think our a4uexpo stickers turned out to be a great way to remind all that were there last night about the Conference in October (there were some comedians who will not be named sticking them to the backs of attendees, which worked out well when they were queueing at the bar)

For those of you who have forgotten we were giving out a discount code for a4uexpo delegate passes, valid until the 14th August. Check your emails from the Affiliate Networking Event for the code or alternatively send us an email.

I was quite amazed how quickly the bar tab ran out last night, i’d only made it there twice in the first two hours and luckily overheard that the tab had just ended, as there was an unfortunate incident where one affiliate ordered about 10 3drinks not realising that he had to pay for them all - his face was a picture.

The food was very nice - BBQ outside with burgers, “spicy” chicken and sausages, along with potato salad and veg. Not too sure what was going on with the queue for the food however, don’t people get angry when they need to eat!!

Thanks to those networks who kept the drinks coming on their expense accounts :) - Next up for me is the a4uexpo roadshows in Manchester next Tuesday and Edinburgh next Wednesday. Register your place for free here - Commission Junction have kindly offered to place there card behind the bar
at the Manchester event for a while next week. Both roadshows are being held at The Living Room - getting there early? Vouchers available for dining there from our website restaurantvouchers.co.uk

Cheers for a good night, see those of you who are coming to Manchester on Tuesday

This is a full time position based at our Bristol office. We think it’s a nice varied role working across both parts of our business.

I’ll be conducting interviews as soon as I return from my Barbados trip with AffiliateFuture w/c 29th June and hope to make a decision by the end of that week - so if you know someone who fits the bill please pass on the details!

Thanks,

Matthew

Advert & How to Apply

Do you have a passion for Marketing, Social Media, Writing, Events and the Web?

Then you could be the ‘special one’ to play a key role in delivering the success of existing and upcoming projects at Existem, a growing Events and Web Development company based at the Paintworks in Bristol.

This full time, varied role will be divided between working on our busy Events calendar and our growing collection of Web Projects here in our new office.

On the Events side, you will be assisting the small team in dealing with exhibition enquiries by phone and email, liaising with venues, dealing with initial sales, speaker and sponsorship leads for our London and European Affiliate Marketing Conferences and Awards Ceremony.

You will also be solely responsible for co-ordinating our Marketing activity across each event and writing newsletters, blogs and engaging with the events’ community on social networking platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

On the Web Projects side, you will be engaging with our members to build activity on our sites by writing blogs, researching ideas for and writing press releases, creating newsletters and again managing our social media campaigns.

To be successful in this role you will ideally have previous Events and Marketing experience and will be highly-organised, self motivated, be a strong team player, creative, confident and have a strong interest in the Web.

Your use and ability to be creative with the English language is critical as you will be writing lots of engaging content across varying platforms.

The benefits package includes a salary of between £18,000 and £22,000 (DOE) with 24 days holiday and importantly a fun, relaxed, varied working atmosphere.

Deadline for Applications 30th June 2009.

Strictly No Recruitment Agencies.

Please apply through Reed as this gives us a nice central base to organise applications!

Yes, it has been a year already!

As in previous years, we have a number of award categories, which will be nominated and voted for by the community at affiliates4u.com.

Affiliates4u Publisher members are invited to nominate for the below categories:
•    Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Network
•    Publishers’ Choice of Account Manager (working at a network or agency)
•    Publishers’ Choice of Affiliate Manager (working for a merchant)

All members are invited to nominate for the below categories:
•    Affiliate Marketing Blog of 2009
•    Affiliate Management Agency of 2009

Nominations for the a4uAwards will close on the 24th April 2009.

To nominate - simply log on to affiliates4u.com, and click the award link at the top of the page.   This will take you to the nominations page, you will be asked to complete the form for the relevant awards and submit.

The tough part is choosing who you think deserves to collect an award this year!

A shortlist for each award will be announced in early May, at which time the final voting process will open.

All winners will be announced during the ceremony, taking place at the Hilton Park Lane on the 2nd June 2009.

Don’t forget, you also have a chance to walk away a winner by entering our judged award categories.  Submissions are now open, for further details please click here.

Good Luck Everyone!

The two-day show will be in addition to London and will mirror our successful UK format. It will take place at the RAI Congress Centre in the Netherlands Capital from April 28 – 29, 2009.

The two day ‘a4uexpo Europe’ event will again be fully inclusive and provide a professional environment in which Affiliates, Advertisers, Agencies, Networks and Suppliers can come together, network and do business.

Attendance will therefore include access to all of the Conference sessions, Exhibition and Networking Parties.

We endeavour to bring together the crème of the industry from leading markets including, but not limited to the Netherlands, Germany, UK, Italy, Sweden, Spain, and France.

Facilitating the networking of Entrepreneurs, Leaders, Innovators and Key Figures from all of these markets in one place, at one time opens up a new networking and learning experience that will benefit everyone who embraces this event, as we discuss the hottest topics affecting our industry today.

For further information please see our official press release below

Ensure you book the dates in your diary! - 28th - 29th April 2009

Official Press Release

a4uexpo, the UK’s focussed and fully-inclusive Affiliate Marketing Conference and Exhibition event, is going overseas to mainland Europe next year with its first-ever pan-European conference.

The two-day show will mirror the successful UK format and take place at the RAI Congress Centre in the Netherlands capital from April 28 – 29, 2009.

Matthew Wood, founder of affiliates4u.com and organiser of a4uexpo, says: “The UK event is now an established date in the Affiliate Marketing calendar and following hot on the heels of this year’s return to ExCeL London, we’re taking the event over to Europe to meet the growing demand for cross-border Digital & Affiliate marketing activity.

“With major Advertisers looking at increased European presence, plus all of the leading Networks now spreading their reach and support, the European Affiliate market has thus far only been represented at generic Digital shows or via localised country events.

“It’s high time we brought the trusted resource of affiliates4u.com and the focus of a4uexpo to this market, and provided the same professional, educational event at which everyone involved in this channel can meet, learn and debate its very existence.”

The a4uexpo Europe event will again be fully inclusive and provide a professional environment in which Affiliates, Advertisers, Agencies, Networks and Suppliers can come together. Attendance will therefore include access to all of the Conference and Workshop sessions, Exhibition and Networking Parties.

I have just been to the ‘Ask The Experts’ Session this morning, though there are only 80 to 100 people here in a round table environment its a great opportunity to meet experts within the field of Mobile, Video and SEO, you get the feeling some people are missing out.

The show has overall been good so far, with a number of good networking opportunities, and a packed exhibition hall, the sessions have been for me variable with some excellent panels and moderated sessions.

Chris and I have been interviewing a number of figures here in Boston, some familiar and new to the scene, Chris will be uploading these over at affiliates4u.tv in the coming days.

Big thanks to the Team at Affiliate Future for their hospitality at the Top of The Hub - There were quite a number of unnoficcial networking parties last night and in previous nights. LinkShare for instance held a reception for their clients outside of the conference.

The official webmasterradio.fm party was cancelled which is a shame as these networking events are integral to the success of the trip, well perhaps that’s just in my opinion as It’s a great opportunity to sink a few pale ales with fellow affiliates!

The main difference here, this year is that affiliates seem to be making money more from the long-tail and niches within the marketplace, this appears to be confounded by the number of niche exhibitors rather than larger brands on the exhibit hall, Maybe it’s always been like this, but it appears more noticable this year.

If you’re here and would like us to catch you on film, buzz me on twitter or catch us as we roam the exhibition hall!

Looking forward to a busy day ahead, we have a number of meetings set up as well as a number of sessions in the diary to attend. Though I’m not sure if there is a party tonight, so need to arrange something today!

The conference organised by Alex Older, aims to kick start, educate and inspire students at the University of the West of England (UWE) and is also open to Designers and Developers outside of the University.

As an ex UWE student, I am really excited to be supporting the event and investing in the exceptional talent within the Bristol area.

Apart from being based at the Paintworks, a growing new media and creative hub we are also members of the growing Bristol Media a community of new media specialists.

In addition to supporting the WDC conference, we are also bringing the a4uexpo Roadshow to Bristol on the 16^th July 2008. The evening is a free to attend networking event for anyone involved or interested in the Affiliate Marketing space.

We have had a couple of projects on the sideline that will be bounced up the development queue in the coming weeks. it’s been frustrating to keep them on the sideline whilst we finish off other projects, namely our new improved release of affiliates4u.com which is near completion.

There were around 300 or so attendees to the CAP spring break which included the first dedicated Poker Conference which took place prior to the conference and a three day version of the Affiliate Series of Poker (ASOP)

It was great to meet up with some of our gaming partners including Jasper from Jackpotjoy, Pierrick from Virgin Games, Yoni, Jamie and Neil from Webroute services, Sarafina from Income Access not forgetting fellow affiliates such as ASOP winning Marcus Tandler and Everest Bob who seemed to be clutching the worlds coolest ghetto blaster at the beach party.

And parties were certainly high on the agenda, we had parties on the beach with belly dancers and a cool Arabian theme courtesy of Webroute services, a rather swanky pool party hosted by 888.com, and possibly my favourite the relaxed setting at the PKR.com party on the Thursday afternoon.

Our gaming vertical forum on affiliates4u was a hot topic amongst some of the affiliate managers in attendance, many have already started to post and a number will commence in the coming weeks.

Gaming is an interesting vertical; it’s not without its challenges in a cloudy market where legislation causes continued headaches and uncertainty. However competition is hotting up within the affiliate space as more brand and companies enter the space with substantial funding.

The next CAP organised event will be Barcelona in September, it’s a few weeks before our affiliate conference so I’m not sure if we’ll be going but I would recommend it to anyone involved or thinking about getting involved in the online gaming space.

After arriving yesterday afternoon its been a really productive networking event so far, catching up with old friends and making new contacts too. CAP Spring break is light on sessions and stands but heavy on networking and parties.

The Gaming industry is a really exciting one to be involved with, and it’s spurred us on to get cracking again on our new poker site which is nearly 90% complete in the back-end. This will be a project for Chris to manage in the near future.

Last night we passed by the 888.com party by the pool and tonight we have an Arabian themed beach party sponsored by web route which I can see being set up from my room - it looks awesome, I had a chat with the guys from webroute last night they seem like they have big plans.

One of the highlights for me so far is seeing the ASOP (Affiliate Series of Poker) live in action with a 10k bracelet and a seat at the WSOP up for grabs. Sadly I was away when qualification took place online but I’ll have to get some practice in for the next tournament taking place in Barcelona in September. Our newly converted Bristol City fan Marcus Tandler who ironically already has a seat at WSOP went through to the final in dramatic style.

As we are talking about Marcus, CAP has been a great avenue to find people who are up for speaking at our own affiliate conference, a4uexpo in October and I’m really happy to welcome a few people onboard the roster.

Back in January when we announced the first major Affiliate Marketing Awards for the affiliate industry, some felt the industry was not yet ready for its own ceremony. News this week that the a4uAwards had Sold Out came as a shock to some. However we’ve been back to the venue to secure a few extra tables, but this means that the 5th June 2008 will see the cream of the affiliate marketing industry congregate for an evening of entertainment and networking with more than 300 super affiliates, merchants and industry figures - It has to be the hottest ticket of the year.

If you’ve not already secured a ticket or a table, then contact us now to secure one before it’s too late. We also have just two sponsorship positions available which both include a table of 10.
Everyone has a part to play in the awards. It’s split into judged awards which require you (affiliates, networks, agencies or merchants) to submit a short one page summary on why you feel you should win. A template is available to download to guide you through the process, it takes less time than you think!

The remaining awards are community and publisher choice awards, these very special awards are voted for by the members of affiliates4u.com, and you can vote until this Friday.

The awards will be presented by Mr Michael McIntyre, one of the hottest new comedians on the circuit.