[Liveblogging from Affiliate Summit West 2012]

Every year at Affiliate Summit West (in early January) we find out the names of the newest recipients of the conference’s annual Pinnacle Awards, “affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space” [source]. I’ve been covering this news steadily over the past few years (2009, 2010, 2011), and today is the day when this year’s winners have received their trophies (last one awarded, literally, seconds ago).

Here are the 2012 Pinnacle Awards winners:

• Affiliate of the Year — Coupon Cabin
  
• Affiliate Manager of the Year — Kim Salvino
  
• Exceptional Merchant — Tiny Prints
• Affiliate Marketing Advocate — Tim Storm
  
• Best Blogger — Tricia Meyer
  
• Affiliate Marketing Legend — Kim Rowley
  

Of course, I was bummed not to even make the list of the finalists this year (after being on it for two years in a row), but it encourages me to press on, looking up to some of the above folks, and learning from them. Congratulations to all, and here’s to another exciting year of affiliate marketing achievements ahead!

Yesterday LinkShare announced its 2011 Golden Link Award Finalists, and I was both surprised, and humbled to learn that I made the list too:

Out of all categories on the list the “Performance Marketing’s Most Vocal Advocate” seems to be one of the most fundamental, and altogether most humbling ones. LinkShare itself defines it as the category for those who “have influenced change within the performance marketing industry”. I am truly honored to be included, especially in the fine company of Shawn Collins (co-founder of Affiliate Summit), Lisa Picarile (former editor-in-chief of Revenue Magazine, faculty member of the University of San Francisco Online, co-host of Affiliate Thing), and Rebecca Madigan (Executive Director of the Performance Marketing Association).

Congratulations to all the other finalists, and thanks for the nod, LinkShare (and, of course, to whoever it was who nominated me).

This will be LinkShare’s 9th annual Golden Link Awards ceremony, and it is scheduled to take place on June 28, 2011 at Waldorf Asoria in New York, NY. So, we should find out the winners in less than three weeks.

As announced in the last week’s press release AM Navigator was shortlisted in the Best Affiliate Marketing Blog category of The Affiliate Marketing Awards 2011.

On a number of reasons I couldn’t attend the awards ceremony, which was held yesterday evening (April 12, 2011) at the W Hotel in San Francisco, California. Neither have I seen anyone blog about the award winners yet, but I do see the list of them posted on the Awards’ official website, and it looks like my name is among the winners:

Thank you, everyone who nominated me (it was a pleasant surprise), and everyone who voted for me. It’s both an honor, and great encouragement to keep going.

By the way, I’m also pleased to see that Volusion, whose affiliate program I launched and managed for over a year (and just recently transferred the management of it to their in-house team), has won the Best Affiliate Banners award. Congratulations also to Tricia Meyers, Angel Djambazov and ShareASale on winning Best Affiliate, Best Agency, and Best CPS Network respectively.

Several organizations give out affiliate marketing awards these days. There are Affiliate Summit’s Pinnacle Awards, brand-new North American Affiliate Marketing Awards, and organizations like Econsultancy and Blue Glass have affiliate marketing-related categories too (“Innovation in Affiliate Marketing” and “Best Affiliate Marketing Blog” awards respectively). However, when it comes to Europe (and the United Kingdom, in particular) Matthew Wood’s a4uAwards is without a doubt the most prestigious/important affiliate marketing awards event there.

Today I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to serve as one of a4uAwards judges in 2011:

It is certainly a privilege to be aboard the judging panel there — in a very good company (or Britain’s most respected affiliate marketers), and with fun task ahead of us.

This year’s a4uAwards will be held at the prestigious Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane (London, UK) on the 17th May, 2011. I won’t be able to make the ceremony, but am very much looking forward to reviewing the entries and helping judge.

Earlier this morning, on the final day of Affiliate Summit West 2011, Shawn Collins and Missy Ward announced the winners of 2011 Pinnacle Awards. No, I didn’t win in the Best Blogger category, but am sincerely excited for Eric Nagel who grabbed that award.

Here’s the full list of the 2011 Pinnacle Awards winners:

• Affiliate of the Year — Deals.Woot
• Affiliate Manager of the Year — Carolyn Kmet
• Exceptional Merchant — Zappos
• Affiliate Marketing Advocate — Lisa Picarille
• Best Blogger — Eric Nagel
• Affiliate Marketing Legend — Todd Farmer

Congratulations both to all the finalists, and especially to the winners! All of the above awards are well-deserved, no doubt about it.

By the way, I’ve taken a good number of great pictures at the Summit, and will post them as soon as I’m back in the office. I’m still in Vegas, but will be flying back to the East Coast tomorrow. So, expect more posts about the-largest-Affiliate-Summit-ever very soon.

Earlier this morning Affiliate Summit has announced the finalists of its fifth annual  Pinnacle Awards:

There are three finalists per category, and I am flattered to make the “Best Blogger” list for the second year in a row (2010 finalists here). What a fine company too:

I have great respect for both of the other two finalists — Lisa Barone and Eric Nagel — and am also honored to be a part of such a fine larger crowd. Thank you, everyone, who nominated and voted for me. Your vote of confidence is my best motivation.

Every year from October through November Affiliate Summit accepts nominations for its Pinnacle Awards, without a doubt “affiliate marketing’s most prestigious, competitive honor for the leaders in the space”.

Yesterday they tweeted:

Starting from October 8 through November 30 2010, you can submit your nominations in the following six categories:

• Affiliate of the Year

• Affiliate Manager of the Year

• Exceptional Merchant

• Affiliate Marketing Advocate

• Best Blogger

• Affiliate Marketing Legend

Once again, your nominations may be submitted here.

The awards will be presented at Affiliate Summit West 2011 on Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at Wynn Las Vegas.

Last year I was privileged to make the list of finalists in the “Best Blogger” category [details here].

Yesterday Econsultancy released its Innovation Report (focused on the UK digital marketing space, one that is always fun to follow).

These reports are always great to read, as in them Econsultancy focuses on “innovative digital tactics” but does it not for the sake of merely listing the new developments, but highlighting the most innovative ideas and technologies which truly “add value for consumers and businesses, and help them achieve their goals more effectively” (italics mine).

The report covers 8 digital marketing disciplines, affiliate marketing included. You may download the full 122 page report at Econsultancy.com, but in my today’s post I’d like to look at the affiliate marketing list:

1. Buy.at / LittlewoodsDirect — Online interactive video [see my post on it here] — Especially its application by LittlewoodsDirect.com. They feature videos of models wearing clothing from their website, and these “ads allow users to click on individual items of clothing, which are then redirected to their own customized dedicated product page.” Excellent use of technology by a merchant, allowing affiliates to really bring their sites/ads to life.
2. KnickerPicker / BeCheeky.com — The online dressing room — KnickerPicker.com (an affiliate of BeCheeky) “uses real-life models, to allow users to virtualy see how underwear fits in an ‘online dressing room’.” The technology is “obviously engaging, slightly cheeky and clearly fun.” Kudos to the affiliate for the great use of Flash video and rich media. Award well-deserved.
3. TwitterLit — Affiliate links via Twitter — TwitterLit is an affiliate of Amazon which “uses a daily game to test users’ literary knowledge and consequently redirect them to an affiliate site.” Great, innovative way to use those 140-character Twitter messages (why didn’t I just say “tweets”?) in a truly engaging way.
4. eBay Partner Network — Quality-based CPC model — See this post of mine on it; and you may also find this poll of interest.
5. Skimlinks — Affiliate monetization tool — Skimlinks is an tool which helps affiliates automatically converts direct links to merchants into affiliate links. Good job “automating a time-consuming, manual process”.
6. Easy Content Units — I haven’t heard of this one before. EasyContentUnits.com is described as Britain’s first “multi-network fully customizable content unit system” which “incorporated more than 8 million products from nearly 1000 merchants across 12 affiliate networks.” From the first glance, it looks very similar to PopShops, but the business model is similar to GoldenCAN‘s “4th click model” with the only difference that ECU replaces affiliate links with their links on every 5th (and not 4th) click.
7. SkyBet — SEO challenge — SkyBet offered affiliates free 350 words content during the 8 weeks of the promo.
8. StreetStats by Top 10 — Speed test comparison meets local search — Top10.com has put together the StreetStats broadband comparison tool which allows users to “share their data with the community to enable others to recognise the best-performing broadband providers for that area.” Top10.com is a website monetized through affiliate links, but tools like this (where actual users are involved) create true “transparency and openness about” the subject of promotion.

Have any of the above given you new ideas? There is still a lot of room for innovation. You gotta look at things from a standpoint which involves convenience, fun and engagement (three in one container), and really earnestly wish to add value!

Yesterday evening SearchEngineJournal.com has announced the 2010 Search & Social Awards winners, and I am excited to see AM Navigator top the list of affiliate marketing blogs! Thank you all for your support. It is an honor.

Here’s the full list of winners:

1. Best SEO Blog – SEOmoz
2. Search News Blog – Search Engine Land
3. Favorite SEO Tools Suite – SEOmoz Tools
4. Best PPC Blog – PPC Hero
5. Best Analytics Blog – Occam’s Razor (congratulations, Avinash!)
6. Best Link Building Blog – Link Spiel
7. Best Hair in SEO or Social Media – Chris Brogan
8. Best Social Media Optimization Blog – Chris Brogan
9. Best Local Search Blog – David Mihm
10. Sexiest Man in Social Media – Pete Cashmore
11. Best Affiliate Marketing Blog – AM Navigator
12. Best Conversion Rate Optimization Blog – Get Elastic
13. Best Blogger Resource & Guide Blog – ProBlogger
14. Best Copywriting Blog – CopyBlogger
15. Best Webmaster Resource Interface by a Search Engine – Google Webmaster Tools
16. Best Social Media & Networking News Blog – Mashable
17. Best Facebook Resource Blog – AllFacebook
18. Best Twitter Marketing Blog – TwiTip
19. Best Online Reputation Management Blog – Outspoken Media
20. Best Industry Infographic of 2009-2010 – Value of SEO vs PPC
21. Best Search Engine Marketing Community/Forum – SEOmoz

One again, the full list of winners as well as 2nd and 3rd places may be found here.

The final lists of shortlisted a4uAwards nominees have been announced earlier today. These are going to be the 4th annual a4u‘s affiliate marketing awards. There are 25 categories total, and the winners will be announced on 9 June, 2010 in London, UK. The awards will be given in the following categories:

1. Best 3rd Party Application
2. Best Advertiser Incentive
3. Best Agency in Affiliate Marketing
4. Best Lead Generation Campaign
5. Best New Entrant in Affiliate Marketing
6. Best Paid Search Partnership
7. Best Use of Affiliate Marketing as part of a Wider Marketing Campaign
8. Innovation Award (Advertiser)
9. Innovation Award (Network)
10. Innovation Award (Publisher)
11. Finance Vertical (Publisher)
12. Finance Vertical (Advertiser)
13. Technology & Telecoms Vertical (Publisher)
14. Technology & Telecoms Vertical (Advertiser)
15. Gaming & Casino Vertical (Publisher)
16. Gaming & Casino Vertical (Advertiser)
17. Retail Vertical (Publisher)
18. Retail Vertical (Adveriser)
19. Travel & Leisure (Publisher)
20. Travel & Leisure (Advertiser)
21. Affiliate Manager (OPM or In-House)
22. Affiliate Network of the Year
23. Account Manager at a Network
24. Affiliate/Publisher of the Year
25. Affiliate Marketing Blog of the Year

See the full lists of nominees here.

My special congratulations to Kirsty McCubbin (blogger, AffiliateStuff.co.uk), Alicia Navarro (founder and CEO, SkimLinks), Nadeem Azam (founder and CEO, Azam Marketing), Matthew Wood and Mal Cowley (of Existem Affiliate Management) for having their companies/enterprises shortlisted.