Well, last week was certainly a week of mergers, be it the Orange and T-Mobile merger that’s been recently approved by the European regulators or closer to home and our hearts at Azam, Affiliate Window acquiring Buy.at.

‘T-Orange’ or ‘Orange-T’ (or whatever you prefer to call the merger between the mobile giants!) will have a combined customer base of almost 30 million making it the largest operator in the UK, closely followed by O2 with 21 million customers. They say the merger is going to “improve mobile internet”, giving us a faster browsing experience.

Soon after this news was announced came rumours that Vodafone may be looking to join ventures with the 3 network, especially as they’ve already done so in Australia. There’s also been talk that 3 oppose the T-Mobile/Orange merger, saying that it raises key competition issues as it reduces the mobile broadband providers from five to four. Which leaves us thinking: Doesn’t less competition put the retailer in a better position?

As for the ‘Affiliate.at’ or ‘Buy Window’ merger, there’s been talk for years about the consolidation of the UK affiliate networks, and finally something really big has happened. So far, the industry reaction has been positive and at Azam we think it’s going to be an interesting few months as two of the biggest UK networks start working together.

While Affiliate Window’s recent partnership with Zanox has taken them into the European arena, the merger with Buy.at certainly makes it apparent that the U.S. is where they want to succeed next.

Whether the new merger will prove detrimental to the other UK affiliate networks out there remains to be seen, but I’m pretty sure it’s given them food for thought.

For us at Azam, it will give us one less network to look at when running comparisons and I’m sure it’s the same for affiliates too.

Whatever these mergers bring, it’s certainly an exciting move and we’ll certainly be keeping a very close eye on how things develop.

What are your thoughts on the mergers and acquisitions? Leave a comment below!

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I recently took some time out to be interviewed by keen blogger and affiliate marketer, Murray Newlands. In the interview I discuss why I love working for Azam Marketing, my top affiliate management tips and how I keep on top of those pesky brand bidding publishers.

Read the interview in full here.

p.s. I’m not the only Azam team member who has featured on Murray’s website – you may wish to read an interview with our very own Nadeem Azam, here.

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Almost three months in at Azam and what an action-packed time I’ve had.

People let this phrase roll off their tongue without really meaning it, but I can honestly say ‘time has flown by…’

Before even starting my new job, I was given the opportunity to meet my London-based colleagues. We had, what was to be my first of two Christmas meals! A couple of my colleagues were on a high as they had just returned from visiting the Emirates stadium courtesy of Affiliate Future. As huge Arsenal fans, they took great pleasure from learning that I support Liverpool. Say no more!

A lovely meal later, I was left feeling pretty pleased with my decision to join Azam Marketing and looking forward to working with, and I quote, ’superstars’ at the company.

My first day and I was back in Brick Lane, home of my previous employer, LBi. I’d only left the agency a week or so before and didn’t think I’d be back in the area so quickly. But there I was, bright and early at Liverpool Street station, heading straight to a nearby cafe for a quick hot chocolate (not being much of a tea or coffee person…) and a chat with Nadeem, before setting off to meet one of our new clients, UK2.Net.

A couple of hours later we were meeting another one of our clients, Signature Gifts. Six hours in, and two client meetings under my belt – not bad going! The day was far from over though. That evening, we were kindly invited to a Christmas dinner by another of our clients, Purple Parking. The venue was ‘Da Remo’, an Italian restaurant in a lovely little rural village west of Heathrow called Denham (i.e. a million miles from Seven Kings, my home town).

We were wined, dined and entertained, and even treated to a rendition of the Purple Parking team song, set to the tune of Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves. Just replace the words ‘walking on sunshine woah oh’ with ‘parking at purple woah oh’ – er yes, you had to hear it to believe it! I can’t remember what time my head hit the pillow that night, but I certainly remember thinking I’d never had such an eventful, memorable first day at any job before…

The following week I was up in Leeds for five days meeting and getting to know my colleagues, Karen, Sinead and James. There was a lot to learn and catch up on, so it was great to have the opportunity to do it face to face. Not only that, but I was treated to another Christmas dinner, this time with the Northern team in Leeds. I also had the pleasure of meeting the team at V A C Media in the beautiful setting of Riddlesden, which is a picturesque village on the outskirts of Bradford.

I had never been further north than Birmingham before, so it was a real treat to see the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the surrounding, scenic countryside.

Back down in London just before Christmas, the real work began. Intensive training sessions helped me to swiftly learn more about Azam’s clients and the background to our business. Meeting potential clients and nailing new contracts since then has been hugely satisfying and I’ve really enjoyed helping my colleagues with existing campaigns and building on what we’ve already hugely achieved as a company.

It’s going to an interesting 2010 as we continue bringing Azam Marketing to the forefront of people’s minds, educating advertisers as well as learning from our surroundings. Another year of striving to make Affiliate Marketing an even more innovative form of marketing a merchant’s products.

If you’re interested in learning more about us the services we offer, visit Azam.net or contact us here. If you would like to contact me directly, you can do so at pam [at] azam.net.

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Since 2002 MoreNiche affiliate network have established themselves as one of the most proactive players in the affiliate industry, with a track record of delivering some of the most generous paying healthcare programs currently available including Alli, Adios, Slimming.com and Lipobind.

Azam Marketing has recently started working with the network from both an agency and publisher angle, and we thought it’d be the perfect time to invite Managing Director Andrew Slack to tell us more about the network. Here’s what he had to say:

Thanks for your time, Andrew. Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself and your background?

With a degree in Computer Science, I’m a techie at heart. I really enjoy solving problems and I believe that helps massively when running an online business.

I’ve worked in affiliate marketing for over 10 years now, starting out as an affiliate back when eBay paid per impression! I sold my first website in 2002 for $13,000 dollars which for a student was a very tidy sum. After university I went on to work for several affiliate networks and merchants to develop my understanding of the industry.

Why did you decide to set up MoreNiche?

MoreNiche has been going since 2002 in one form or another. To begin with, the focus was in the adult health sector, where affiliate marketing has long been the preferred online marketing channel.

In 2006 we sold a number of key brands: this multimillion pound deal allowed us to rebrand and develop a new affiliate platform from scratch. We invested heavily to make sure that we could include all the features we felt were missing from other networks.

What benefits do you offer?

At MoreNiche we pride ourselves on being very accessible. Our account managers each have a maximum of five accounts, spending at least one day per week on each program. This gives them the time to engage with affiliates on a one-to-one basis and focus on helping them to earn money.

We’re not playing a numbers game, we have small group of premium merchants who understand affiliate marketing and provide high commissions to affiliates.

We also offer lifetime cookies, the most aggressive tracking system in the industry (we get paid when affiliates makes sales, so you can bet your bottom dollar we want to track every sale!), 20-50% commissions as standard and a host of free tools such as YouTube training videos. See an example here:

What separates MoreNiche from other affiliate networks?

We care about our affiliates! Our team is addicted to internet marketing and we are not a 9 to 5 company.

We go beyond the call of duty to help our affiliates and reward them for their hard work. Our rewards scheme, where affiliates can earn free gifts from t-shirts to luxury sports cars, recognises the achievements of new starters as well as established super affiliates.

Tell us about your reporting tools/payment options

Our advanced tracking technologies ensure the correct affiliate always gets credit for the sale. With real-time reporting you can see sales instantly, and many affiliates find our SMS notifications very handy.

The average commission across the network is over £43. We pay affiliates every two weeks by cheque, bank transfer or Paypal.

What is the application/acceptance process for new affiliates?

Our approval process has been made as simple as possible. Just give us your name, email address and home address and your account is set up and ready to use. A member of our team then reviews each new profile, with 95% of all affiliates being approved.

“OMG… what about affiliate fraud?” I hear you scream! At MoreNiche we monitor all traffic and sales and have some pretty complex reporting tools; this allows us to approve a higher percentage of affiliates and catch any suspicious affiliates before they get paid.

With chargebacks and affiliate fraud at less than 1% of all transactions we do a pretty good job.

What technical developments do you have planned?

We have ambitious plans for 2010 and are busy improving the management of our affiliate resources so that our merchants and staff can use them more effectively.

We’re also putting together a list of proven suppliers which affiliates can use to outsource tasks such as copy writing, design and web development. Affiliates who do not have the time or skills to do this work themselves will be able to contact and manage freelancers via our network.

What trick do you think affiliates are missing right now?

My biggest recommendation for any business is localisation. We have been working with a number of super affiliates to help them build multiple versions of their websites for customers in different countries.

For example, UK surfers tend to be more conservative than their US counterparts, so instead of using aggressive, direct messaging such as “You will drop 3 stone overnight” affiliates should take a gentler, more measured approach, e.g. “When combining product XYZ with a controlled diet, users experienced a 17.6% loss in appetite”.

Which blogs do you read?

I have RSS subscriptions to many affiliate marketing blogs but some of my favourites are Lammo.net where John Lamerton manages to get the mix of great content and interesting topics spot on, and Fish and Clicks – Paul Wright’s blog. It’s updated less frequently but always worth the wait with lots of effort going into every post.

And finally, how would you convince someone to give MoreNiche a try?

MoreNiche is not for everyone, don’t sign up if you’re looking for a get rich quick scheme and think you know everything about affiliate marketing (nobody does). However if you’re willing to put the effort in I can guarantee more sales and more money than you can earn with any other network!

Here’s an incentive for readers of this blog:

To take up Andrew’s challenge and try the network out for yourself, sign up here or contact karen [at] azam.net to arrange a free one-on-one consultancy with the MoreNiche team at their offices in Nottingham.

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As I sit here in wintry West Yorkshire, I sigh and briefly let my mind wander back to the sunny weather and luxury of Dubai, where I have just enjoyed a fantastic break courtesy of Netflights.com.

Azam Marketing won the holiday back in August as part of a competition for affiliates to sell as many flights as possible to Dubai over a set period. Thanks to a lot of hard work and, after a tense few days constantly checking our campaign stats, Azam was declared the winner!

The prize, kindly arranged with the help of Andy Crowther at Brilliant Media in Leeds, included three nights at the five-star Raffles Hotel in Dubai and return flights with Emirates Airlines. When Nadeem offered me the chance to take the prize, I was absolutely ecstatic and couldn’t wait to pack my bags!

And so it was that my husband and I found ourselves excitedly heading down to Heathrow last week. The drive proved costly – an errant stone chip on the M1 cracked our windscreen – but with the prospect of some winter sun to look forward to, nothing could dampen our spirits as we checked in at Terminal 3.

The journey to Dubai took seven hours, and I passed the time by watching films on the widescreen seat back TV (the low budget horror Paranormal Activity was great, but in hindsight I should have given the poor Ricky Gervais movie The Invention of Lying a miss).

On arrival, we took a taxi from the gleaming marble halls of the airport to our hotel. The Raffles has been built to imitate The Great Pyramid of Giza, and although it seemed a bit strange at first (the Egyptian architecture reminded us of a Las Vegas-style theme hotel), we were soon won over by the grand interior and the gleaming Lamborghini and Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren parked outside.

After a quick freshen up, we headed out sightseeing and our necks quickly became tired from gazing up at the gleaming skyscrapers that Dubai has added to its skyline over the past few years. No expense has been spared in the construction of this modern city which is surprisingly green, thanks to its daily water consumption of around 500 litres per person per day.

One of our ‘must-see’ sights was the newly-opened Burj Khalifa, the tallest man-made structure ever built. Our tour of other Dubai landmarks included the cavernous Dubai Mall shopping centre, the sail-like Burj al Arab hotel, the Al-Fahidi Fort, the Ski Dubai indoor snow resort, and the man-made islands of the Palm Jumeirah.

Our final night was spent in style, soaking up the atmosphere in the Raffles bar sipping on a couple of Dubai Slings (the local version of their Singapore sister hotel’s more famous cocktail) and watching wealthy locals smoking aromatic tobaccos through shisha pipes. A blissful end to an unforgettable break.

The nominations for the 2010 A4U Awards are now open. Please consider voting for Azam Marketing as Publisher, and Karen Clayton as Affiliate Manager in the agency category. Nominate here.

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School for Startups is the UK’s leading provider of business training for entrepreneurs, with lots of useful information on their website and regular one-day business courses across the country. It is the inspiration of serial entrepreneur and angel investor Doug Richard, who many of you will know as a ‘dragon’ or investor in the first two series of BBC’s Dragon’s Den.

I was told that Doug, who has seen some of the revenue figures of Azam Marketing, was “VERY impressed” with how well we were doing and invited to become a Featured Entrepreneur on his site. I think School for Startups does a wonderful job to inspire and educate budding entrepreneurs, and so agreed to be interviewed.

The interview has just been published and you can read it here.

Thanks to the terrific Mark Boyd for his help. You can visit his online marketing blog here.

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As we welcome in a new decade and look forward to new opportunities and challenges ahead, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the newest member of the Azam affiliate marketing team – Pam Sagoo!

Many of you will know Pam already from her previous roles at i-level Group, DGM, Starcom Worldwide, ipoints and Cucina Direct. Her most recent position was at LBi where she led highly successful affiliate campaigns for clients including Walt Disney Travel Company, Marks and Spencer, and Provident Loans.

Pam will focus on managing and developing Azam’s portfolio of existing Affiliate Management clients as well as identifying new prospects and building our profile through ongoing business development.

For more details about Pam’s new role read the press release: Pam Sagoo – Affiliate Marketing Director – Joins Azam Marketing

We extend a warm welcome to Pam and look forward to working with her on a host of exciting new projects in 2010.

As is the tradition when a new staff member joins Azam Marketing, we asked Pam to tell us a bit about herself and here’s what she had to say:

Describe yourself in 3 words:  Positive, trustworthy, honest

Favourite Quotation:  “Life is like a box of chocolates… you never know what you’re going to get” – Forrest Gump

Favourite Book:  Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon

Favourite Film:  Quentin Tarantino’s breakthrough movie, Pulp Fiction

Favourite Website: Loads of them, but YouTube and BBC News are probably the ones I visit most

Hobbies and Interests:
Tennis – watching as well as playing
Football – I support Liverpool F.C.
Cinema & Theatre – The last movie I saw was Avatar, and I recently saw Avenue Q in London’s West End

Proudest Achievement: Getting on the property ladder

Most Embarrassing Moment: Dressing up as the blonde one from Abba at a New Year’s Eve party

3 Interesting Facts About You:
I appeared (in the background) on an episode of Aussie soap Home & Away;
I met my favourite actor and idol, Guy Pearce, at the London Film Festival;
I climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge even though I’m scared of heights!

Somewhat of an Antipodean theme there!

If you’d like to contact Pam, please email pam [at] azam.net.

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So we have waved goodbye to the the decade without a name and find ourselves taking the first steps into another block of ten years we haven’t come to a consensus about what to call (the teenies, the tens, the teens?)

The passing of a year and even more so a decade invariably leads us to muse on the time that has passed, reflect on unrealised hopes and aspirations, and motivates us to resolve to better our existences.

It doesn’t take much brainpower to recall what I did in the noughties which was little more than 14 hour stints on computers interspersed with business meetings.

As I stood on London’s Embankment to see a resplendent firework display herald in a new decade, just as I had done ten years earlier on the 1^st of January 2000, I resolved to be the driver in my life and not the passenger.

The clock of life is ticking and my unrealised dreams are many. My New Year resolutions are mainly aimed at being more focused. I have vowed, for instance, to not waste much of 2010, as I have done previous years, travelling from one corner of London to the other to help Del Boy entrepreneurs who would always be “too busy” to assist me or my colleagues in return (though funnily enough they always seem to find time to hang out in pubs for hours on end).

I’ve discovered 90% of the meetings I’m called into end up producing zero ROI; they will consist, for example, of a bunch of relative newbies – whose ’successes’ on the internet consist of building a voucher code site with an Alexa ranking of 16.3 zillion – discussing launching a “unique” web tool/network/search engine which will never get off the ground because the blokes end up blowing whatever venture capital they may have had within six months on fat cat salaries for themselves, swish offices and, of course, the must-have Official Launch Party of Tin Tin Media.

So how would I rate my personal performance in the noughties? I can’t say anything more than a zero out of ten; if I’m feeling a bit gentler on myself, perhaps a zero point one. Anybody who knows me knows I am my fiercest critic, but even putting that aside, I am aware I have not taken the revenue-generating opportunities the web has presented, or when I did decide to stride down particular alley ways they usually ended up being dead-ends. I could easily blame the scores of people who sold me bagfuls of nonsense, but the fault lies exclusively with myself because of my gullibility in believing them.

Anyhow, the one thing the school of hard-knocks has done is taught me to be a lot savvier, and from 2007 to 2009 Azam Marketing began to realise the potential it should have done a decade earlier from 1997 to 1999. Our agency doubled in size in 2009 and, after a year of hard work on new initiatives, I am extremely excited about the plans coming to fruition in 2010 and, in the third decade our business has existed in, Godwillingly enabling us to realise our true potential.

On behalf of myself and all my colleagues at Azam I wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy and prosperous 2010!

What are your resolutions for the new year and decade? Leave a comment below.

Related blog post: 2008 New Year Message.

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So another year is almost over and we find ourselves waving goodbye to the ‘noughties’. Despite the doom and gloom of the global recession, it’s been another successful year at Azam Marketing, and we’re fortunate to have won a host of exciting new clients as well as expanding internally with new staff.

But life’s not all about work! In the true spirit of Christmas reflection, I asked a few of the Azam team what their personal highlights had been this year:

Nadeem Azam, CEO
I am eternally grateful to Affiliate Future for dragging me to my first holiday in over five years this summer. It was a horrendous experience to get a passport at the last minute, but well worth it in the end as I got to enjoy swimming with turtles, riding a horse and singing karaoke for the first time in my life in beautiful Barbados. What better time can one have than to spend seven remarkable days in paradise with fifty of the most amazing people in online marketing?

Stuart Reader, Director of Paid Search Marketing
In April I was honoured (and very nervous) to be the best man at my brother’s wedding. It was on a beautiful sunny day in lovely surroundings in rural Essex, with dozens of family members and friends present. I was hugely relieved not to lose the rings before the ceremony and glad the bride and groom were still speaking to me after my ‘humorous’ speech, but most of all delighted to see them so happy together.

Sinead Hernen, Director, Affiliate Partnerships
My personal highlight was the birth of my second daughter Jemima Faye at Easter. Seeing her grow and interact with her older sister Robyn has been wonderful.

Karen Clayton, Key Accounts Director
In November, I fulfilled one of my travel ambitions and enjoyed a blissful 10-night holiday in Thailand. I’ve always wanted to swim in warm seas with tropical fish, and fulfilled this dream by going snorkelling off the coast of Phuket. It’s one of the best holidays I’ve ever had and, given the funds, I would go back in a heartbeat!

Ryan Ranaweera, Senior ECRM Manager
This year I’m spending Christmas in Mauritius. It almost feels like I am in a different world! Being able to work in such tropical and unspoilt surroundings is amazing and the locals treat you as part of their family, which makes the island feel homely. I’ve climbed mountains, fed giant turtles, windsurfed on huge waves, enjoyed a midnight bbq on the beach and cycled along a waterfall path, so it has been quite eventful to say the least!

Yagmur Guven, Strategic Partnerships Director
This year I came to the realisation even more so than before that, although it is not always possible to work through all of our issues in a single lifetime, it is important we confront what we are called to face in this life and deal with the challenges thrown in our path. It is also important to remember the most effective way to let your soul grow is to be an active participant in life. I learnt to be present in each moment and let my soul do this work for me.

James Hunt, Senior ECRM Manager
Having not been camping before, I was a little reticent to pack a tent in the car and head up to Keswick in the Lake District this summer. Once I got there however, I was blown away by the stunning landscape and had a thoroughly enjoyable time.

To sign off, I would like to wish all our advertisers, networks, agencies and blog readers a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Azam Marketing’s Christmas and New Year Opening Hours: we are always open 365 days a year to service our clients and partners and will be available our usual 08:00 to 22:30 GMT every day.

Visit our blog throughout 2010 to keep up the with the latest events and industry news. You can subscribe on this page. If you’d like to contact our friendly team please email us at results [at] azam.net or ring +44 (0) 20 7436 4496 anytime.

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Azam Marketing is pleased to announce we are now managing the UK2.Net affiliate program.

UK2.Net is one of the biggest and fastest growing web hosting companies in the UK and has been a major player in the web hosting industry since 1998, having sold over a million domain names, and being host to thousands of websites and dedicated servers for customers across the globe.

UK2.Net already has an established affiliate program and we look forward to helping them expand their campaign over the coming months.

Patrick McCarthy, UK2’s Commercial Director, says, “There is a lot more to managing an affiliate programme than meets the eye.  Multiplying the complexity by the 4 networks we use at UK2, we soon realised that we would need help to ensure that the campaign reaches its full potential.  A short selection process left us without a doubt that Azam Marketing was the right candidate.”

We are delighted to have won this client and look forward to working with Patrick and the UK2 team to grow their program and help affiliates boost their sales.

The UK2.Net affiliate program is live on four different networks, Aff.Biz, Commission Junction, Tradedoubler and Affiliate Future and affiliates can earn up to 25% on the latter three, with even more on Aff.biz.

As well as massive commissions, UK2.net also offer the following benefits:

• Premier tracking tools with multiple deployments and Sub IDs
• Regularly updated newsletters and fresh, fast creatives
• Exceptional support from Azam Marketing and the UK2.Net in-house marketing team.

Together, Azam and UK2.Net have some fantastic initiatives planned for the upcoming months.

Already, UK2.Net has set up an exclusive voucher promotion offering £5 Off any UK2 website hosting product. The voucher is valid until 31^st December giving affiliates plenty of time to increase their festive sales.

Customers simply need to enter the promotion code AFX001 at checkout to claim their discount.

UK2.Net also has lots of great offers for customers, including ‘buy one get one half price’ on all UK2 Dedicated Servers, as well as £50 Off their first month’s payment when they sign up to Microsoft® WebsiteSpark ™.

Customers can get £50 OFF* their first month, even if they don’t buy a second server. This offer only applies to the first 120 servers, so hurry – don’t miss out!

Azam Marketing is keen to make the UK2.Net affiliate program the best in its sector. We are interested to hear what you think makes a great webhosting program, please email sinead [at] azam.net or call me on +44 (0)7984 771 907. You can also contact Nadeem on +44 (0)20 7436 4496 between 08.00 and 22.30 GMT or email nadeem [at] azam.net .

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