With the final week of festive trading upon us, many retailers are facing a make or break Christmas this year.

The Centre for Retail Research predicted high street Christmas sales are on course to be £680 million higher than last year, reaching up to £69.1 billion with online sales up by £2.1 billion, at £13.4 billion of the total.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the value of sales (excluding fuel) up 3.3 per cent on November a year ago and also suggested it was an excellent month for online retailers – the average weekly spend online increased from £546.4m in October to £787.9m in November.

However, despite this promising outlook, many high street stores are left feeling worried as cut-price sales are slashing their profit margins and the British Retail Consortium says many shops will go bust early in the New Year.

British Retail Consortium Director General, Stephen Robertson, said: “These ONS figures seem to fly in the face of retailers’ experiences on the streets. The evidence we’re receiving suggests consumers have approached this Christmas with great caution, reining in their spending in November and leaving it late to start their Christmas shopping.”

Earlier this month, the government published research that showed a third of high street shops are either ‘degenerating or failing’, saying that retail spending in town centres has fallen to 42% from 49% in 2000 and is projected to fall further to 40% by 2014.

This week struggling music, games and DVD retailer HMV produced a very stark response to the news that it had made a pre-tax loss of £45.7m stating:

“The economic environment and trading circumstances create material uncertainties which may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern in the future.”

Despite struggling to compete with cheaper online and supermarket rivals, HMV is hoping to save it’s business by restructuring  and focusing on technology related products including MP3 players, tablets and headphones.

Year on year, even the UK’s biggest and longstanding high street shops are failing to make a profit and so are closing their doors or moving online.

In 2009, Woolworths, one of the best known retailers in the UK was forced to close it’s 807 outlets after going into administration, however, the store was resurrected online after Home Shopping Giant Littlewoods Shop Direct bought the rights to the Woolworths brand name.

Retail expert Mary Portas recently published a report – The Portas Review, that stated the decline in British High Streets has reached crisis point with the high street model being outdated and in need of urgent change.

Portas has listed a number of suggestions which she feels will re-energise the high street and increase trading including free parking, cutting regulations for high street traders and the launch of a national market day.

The Portas Review and its recommendations has received mixed criticism yet despite any negative feedback the report has been successful in drawing attention to the fact that high street businesses are facing difficult times.

It also appears that where as previously offline and online divisions of a business once worked in isolation of each other, they are now joining forces and the expansion of services allowing people to order online and collect from local stores seems to be luring shoppers back to the High Street.

Retailers won’t know until January 2012 whether or not their profits during this year’s festive trading period will have outperformed previous years trading. What is clear is that where as online sales are growing steadily year on year, high street sales are not – the high Street is going to have to adapt quickly and reinvent itself if it is to have a sustainable future.

If you have any comments on the above please leave a reply below or email sinead [at] azam.net. You can also follow @sinead_azammkt on twitter.

If you liked this blog post you may also be interested to read how the internet overtook television to be the UK’s biggest advertising medium.

Network Solutions® is renowned for pioneering the service for creating and acquiring specific “web addresses” (domain name registration) and even received a name check in the film ‘The Social Network’ as the domain registrar for the social media phenomenon that is Facebook!

Having been in the technology space for over 30 years, Network Solutions helps both new and experienced customers to build and host custom websites. The combination of competitive pricing and an extensive range of domain name and hosting services makes Network Solutions the first choice for successful small businesses, website designers and individuals.

Following the huge success of its US affiliate program, Network Solutions launched its UK affiliate program in February this year, with Azam Marketing taking over the management of the program in June.

Since then we have been pleased to see an increase in UK affiliates actively promoting the offers and promotions that Network Solutions has specifically produced for its British customer base including:

• Domain Names from £4.99
• Web Hosting from £2.99 per month
• Save 25% off New Orders of £50 or more
• 75% Off Domain Names
• Websites from £2.99 per month

Not only has Network Solutions focused on developing UK-specific customer incentives, they have also implemented some very generous performance bonuses for affiliates joined to their UK program such as:

• Commissions of up to £300.00 per Sale
• FOUR Tier Monthly Performance Bonus Scheme – earn between £100.00 & £1,000.00 monthly bonus EVERY month when you generate over £500.00 sales revenue
• New Publisher Bonus Payment – Any publisher who generates their first two sales for the program within one month will earn a one off £25.00 bonus

If you’d like to find out more maximising your revenues from the affiliate program, read the information pack here.

Network Solutions runs a successful blog for small businesses from which Azam Marketing has been featuring useful articles for Azam.info readers over recent months including Tools to Tame the Social Beast, Five Great Social Media Infographics To Help Guide Your Business and Build Forward.

The Network Solutions brand is growing from strength to strength in the UK and is receiving positive feedback from affiliates. Azam Marketing is looking forward to working with Network Solutions in 2012 as there are many exciting things planned.

If you are interested in earning serious money by selling domains and web hosting, then make sure you sign up to the Network Solutions UK affiliate program on Commission Junction.

Welcome to our latest affiliate management update featuring the latest news and information from some of our Affiliate Management clients.

Fashion retailer Dressrail 15% commissions & 10% voucher code extended!

Celebrity fashion retailer Dressrail.com will continue to pay all affiliates increased commissions of 15% per sale throughout December. This means affiliates can earn more than double the commissions of similar online stores.

With Christmas fast approaching, Dressrail.com has got all the latest party dresses and accessories to ensure customers are looking fabulous.

Dressrail offers FREE Delivery on orders over £50.00 and low cost delivery to Europe and the rest of the world. Plus, throughout December, customers can save an additional 10% when they enter code DRA10 at checkout!

The Dressrail campaign is live on Affiliate Window, please email dr [at] azam.net with any questions.

Earn up to £300.00 commission per sale with Network Solutions

Network Solutions® is the leading provider of web services including domain name registration, web hosting, ecommerce, email, SSL certificates, VPS hosting, Cloud hosting, and internet security products.

They are experienced in helping both new and experienced customers build and host custom websites. The combination of competitive pricing and an extensive range of domain name and hosting services makes Network Solutions the first choice for successful small businesses, website designers and individuals.

If you are interested in selling web hosting and domain registration products, sign up to the Network Solutions UK affiliate program on Commission Junction. For further information please contact affiliatesinfo@networksolutions.com

Spy and security gadgets and gifts at Fly on the Wall

Fly on the Wall is one of the UK’s fastest growing online security stores, providing customers with a wide choice of spy cameras, CCTV, digital video recorders, action/helmet cameras, home security and surveillance cameras and much more.

They also sell a great range of spyware and gadgets which would make perfect Christmas gifts for any aspiring secret agents!

Affiliates earn generous 10% commission. Sign up on Affiliate Window. Email karen [at] azam.net if you have any queries.

Earn £5.00 for every new active ember you refer to Freecashback.co.uk – free to join

Free Cashback has been one of the leading incentive shopping websites in the UK since 2003 and has enabled thousands of members to earn cashback every time they shop online.

To start earning generous commissions simply create a Freecashback account by filling out this quick and easy form. You will then be given a referral link that you can use to drive new members to FreeCashback.co.uk.

When a new member joins Free Cashback via your referral link, they will be registered in our system as your referral. They even get a free £5.00 bonus for signing up. We will add £5.00 to your cashback account as a “pending” payment. This will be approved when your referral has earned £25.00 or more.

To find out more and sign up to our referral scheme visit Freecashback.co.uk or for banners and additional creative please email results [at] azam.net

For further information about the advertisers that Azam Marketing manages, please see our online Affiliate Management Client Portfolio.

A couple of weeks ago I gave a presentation at Conversion Thursday Manchester, an inspiring bi-monthly event that centres around online conversion and web optimisation.

I discussed the importance of conversion in affiliate marketing, as it is often something which is overlooked when setting up or managing an affiliate program; yet focusing on improving affiliate conversion rates can be significant in achieving maximum ROI.

During the presentation I explained how higher commission structures do not automatically motivate publishers to actively promote a specific merchant’s program offers.

Commissions can indeed stir an affiliate’s interest but if the earnings per (hundred) clicks (EPC) does not appear to be profitable then the affiliate will be less inclined to spend their own time, money and resources driving traffic to a site which is less likely to convert and lead to a negative ROI.

Instead, they may look to push a retailer who is paying lower commissions but has a higer conversion rate resulting in better sales and revenue for both the affiliate and the merchant.

I advised how optimised affiliate banners, html email creative & landing pages can enable affiliates to drive more targeted traffic to a merchant’s website which will also increase the overall onsite conversion rate. Exclusive offers and promotions will give merchants an edge when negotiating premium placements and newsletter listings with top performing affiliates.

You can view my Powerpoint presentation by clicking here.

Following the presentation, myself and the other attendees, which included usability experts, advertisers and affiliates, spent about half an hour discussing the importance of affiliate marketing in general and ways in which merchants can build more effective working relationships with specific publisher groups such as PPC, SEO, email and loyalty publishers.

The next Conversion Thursday event will take place in Manchester on December 15th. If you would like to come along, sign up to CT Manchester for more details.

You can email me at sinead [at] azam.net with any comments or please add your feedback or views on this subject below.

It’s been another jam-packed year in which me and my colleagues at Azam must have attended about forty industry events and you may read about others we’ve been to here.

Would you like Azam’s experts to boost the conversion rate of your affiliate program? Find out more about our affiliate management and website design services, and feel free to drop us a line at results [at] azam.net with your requirements.

Think Visibility returned to Leeds again this weekend. It was my third ThinkVis, and judging by the number of people who had travelled from outside of the north of England, it looks like the event is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves.

If you don’t already know, Think Visibility is hailed by the organisers as “the UK’s best search, social media and affiliate conference”, and covers anything and everything from getting your website to the top of the search engines, website security, and monetising web traffic, to men in ninja suits giving advice on becoming SEO Ninjas.

As always, there was a great buzz amongst the attendees. One thing that makes the Think Visibility events stand out (apart from free pick-n-mix, Lego toys and cardboard cut-outs of Dom, a.k.a The Hodge) is the community spirit.

Like other online marketing conferences, people go to learn and share ideas but Think Visibility manages to combine quality content with fun antics and makes the ideal setting for relaxed yet vital networking opportunities.

Malcolm Coles presented a really interesting session about ‘How to Win at SEO with Duplicate Content’. The audience ranged from novice to expert SEOs, and Malcolm managed to deliver information that was useful to everyone. The key message was that duplicating content doesn’t have to be a case of copying or rewriting articles several times over. With just a few minor tweaks and the simple strategy ‘publish, republish and 301’, any person can dominate the SERPs – no black hat required.

Another great session was ‘Your Time to Shine’, where audience members were given the opportunity to speak for six minutes on any topic as long as it was interesting. Malcolm Slade, Rishil Lakhani, Anna Lewis and Bas Van Den Beld all rose to the challenge – it was a mix between hot new search talent meets comedy open mike.

Highlights included Malcolm Slade giving away free lego and speaking about using search techniques to build your brand, and Bas Van Den Beld sharing his experience of how a disastrous family holiday in France almost drove him to turn black hat to get back at a child-hating holiday camp owner.

One other key thing I will be looking at more closely is the subject of Facebook’s EdgeRank which Kelvin Newman touched upon in the ‘Ask the Experts’ discussion.

EdgeRank is an algorithm used to rank objects in a newsfeed and understanding how it works can help you optimise your Facebook pages to increase user engagement and exposure to your brand.

The theory is that pages with higher EdgeRank scores will appear more frequently within Facebook newsfeeds than pages with lower EdgeRank scores.

EdgeRank algorithm is determined by three main factors: time (how recent a news item is), affinity (the number of interactions one user has with another) and weight (the level of interaction a news item receives, i.e. leaving a comment or clicking on a photograph will attribute more weight than simply clicking the like button.) If this subject is of interest to you, you should read Kelvin’s ultimate guide to Facebook EdgeRank.

As the topic of Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm was touched upon only briefly I think it would be a great session idea for next year’s conference.

So with Think Visibility 6 over, plans are in full swing for Think Visibility 7 which will take place on 3 March, 2012.

See pictures from the event in Azam’s Facebook group here. To find out what went on at past Think Visibility conferences, check out my reviews of Think Visibility 4 and Think Visibility 3.

Welcome to the second of our quarterly blog posts featuring the latest news and information from some of our Affiliate Management clients.

Firstly, a reminder that our very first networking event is taking place on Friday 17th June at the Highlight Comedy Club in Camden Lock, London. It promises to be a fun-filled night and we’ll be providing free drinks and exclusive Azam goody bags to every attendee! If you’ve not done so already, email invites [at] azamevents.com to register your interest as places are filling up fast! There are also some fantastic sponsorship opportunities still available, drop us a line at sponsorship [at] azamevents.com to get involved.

Borro

We’ve refreshed the range of banners available on the Borro program, which is available on Affiliate Window. The banners are available in both GIF and Flash formats, with plenty of sizes available to suit all websites and niches. The new banners reflect the most popular themes for issued loans at Borro, including jewellery, cars, small businesses and watches.

Borro also have a new TV advertisement airing on a number of channels including More4, ITV4, ITV3, E4 and Film4. Take a peek here

JT Spas

The JT Spas campaign on Webgains is a recent addition to our Affiliate Management portfolio and offers huge earning potential with high commissions of up to 5.75% CPA together with an average basket size of £650.00 and a generous 90-day cookie.

Products sold by JT Spas include a wide range of top quality bathroom suites, showers, whirlpool baths, bathroom furniture, vanity units and much, much more. Download the full product feed, plus banners and links from Webgains.

UK2.Net

UK2.Net are running a fabulous prize draw for affiliates who haven’t generated any sales in the past three months, and it’s really, really easy to enter!

Simply add banners to your sites or tweet about any of UK2.Net’s monthly offers in May and June, and for every two sales you get one free entry into the draw.

First Prize – Cloud hosting voucher worth £300
Second Prize – Business hosting voucher worth £200
Third Prize – Web hosting voucher worth £100

The UK2.Net campaign is available on Commission Junction, Tradedoubler and Affiliate Future. Pick up links today to start earning some great commissions!

Millet Sports and ActivInstinct

With so many sporting events coming up in the next few months, it’s a great time to push some of the great sportswear and equipment deals from specialist retailers Millet Sports and ActivInstinct. Add the following sports events to your calendar now, and we’ll make sure that you have access to all the latest banners and links to help boost your commissions!

Sports in May

• FA Cup Final on 14th May
• Europa Cup Final on 18th May
• Champions League Final on 28th May
• Rugby Union: Rugby IRB Sevens World Series  (Edinburgh) on 28th May
• Football Championship League Play off on 30th MMay

Sports in June

• Tennis French Open from 23rd May to 5th June
• Tennis Aegon Championships from 6th June to 3rd July
• Golf US Open from 13th to 19th June

Sports in July

• Tennis Wimbledon from 20th June to 3rd July
• Cycling Tour de France from 2nd to 24th July
• Golf The Open from 14th to 17th July
  

Our Contact Details

For more information about any of our current programs, download our advertiser portfolio or contact us on +44 (0)20 7436 4496. Our friendly team offers unrivalled affiliate support 20 hours a day, 365 days a year!

Karen Clayton
Karen [at] azam.net

Sinead Hernen
Sinead [at] azam.net

Welcome to the first of our quarterly blog posts featuring the latest news and information from a selection of our affiliate management clients.

We’ve provided information on the latest offers and promotions, ideas on what you could be pushing to boost your Spring commissions as well as the very latest voucher codes and customer offers!

Before we kick off, we’re very proud to announce another first, our Azam Summer Event scheduled for Friday 17th June!

Put this date into your diaries now – our friendly team will be hosting a fun event in central London and details of how you can be part of it will be released very soon. Watch this space or subscribe for updates!

Ministry of Paintball

New commissions! 50% flat rate for loyalty/reward sites on Affiliate Window, if you’re not listed as a loyalty/reward site, email pam [at] azam.net and we’ll get the new commissions set up for you. For everyone else, you can earn up to 50% on a tiered basis. More information on our blog here.

85% off code now live! The code DIS2011 is available for everyone to use, with no end date. The code gives customers a massive 85% off all the deals on the website.

Ministry of Paintball are also offering affiliates the chance to win some great prizes in their February Prize Draw. They’re giving away 10 VIP packs and each one contains:

> 8 Ministry of Paintball passes worth £30
> 6 Ministry of Comedy passes worth £15
> 2 Ministry of Makeover passes worth £70

The entry criteria could not be easier. Simply complete one of the following actions:

> 10 entries for every sale you make
> 5 entries for a link on a home page
> 2 entries for links on affiliate sites, per page
> 3 entries for a blog post

There’s no limit to the amount of entries you can make, so why not increase your chances by carrying out all of the above!

New Voucher Codes from Ink Factory

Since the launch of their affiliate program seven years ago, Ink Factory has consistently provided affiliates with among the highest commissions in the ink cartridges sector!

Throughout February they are offering customers some amazing deals on home computing and office essentials, including:

Buy One Get One Free, or 3 for 2 on JetTec ink cartridges
Buy One Get One Free on Photo Albums
Buy One Get One Free on Selected Recycled ink cartridges

Affiliates can also boost their earnings with the following voucher codes:

Codes: FW10 (for Affiliate Window publishers)
FF10 (for Affiliate Future publishers)
FD10 (for Tradedoubler publishers)

Discount: 50p of all orders, plus FREE DELIVERY
Valid from: 1st February 2011
Valid to: 28th February 2011

Please note that any sales made with these codes will earn 8% commission. Standard commission rates of up to 17.5% apply to all other sales.

To request a bespoke code for your website please email Karen – karen [at] azam.net

Boom time at Borro

It’s the perfect time to promote Borro with the number of loan requests sky high!

Borro offer short-term loans secured against collateral and personal assets such as jewellery, watches, gold and other valuables and is a great way to make the most of those assets lying around at home. Not only that, but loans can be paid off whenever the customer chooses during the term of the contract and the valuables they pledged are then returned.

The Borro program can be found on Affiliate Window and have a voucher code for everyone to use:

Code: WINDOW25
Offer: £25 FREE cash on loans over £100
Duration: Ongoing

They offer £8 per accepted lead and up to £25 for issued loans.

More information on Borro can be found on the Azam blog here. Any questions contact Pam – pam [at] azam.net

Belmont Thornton

Belmont Thornton specialise in helping people to claim back their money after being mis-sold a Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) policy with their high street bank loan, mortgage or credit card. On average they help customers to claim back £2,600!

Their affiliate program is available on Tradedoubler and pays competitive standard commissions of £10.00 per validated lead.

Increased commissions of up to £15.00 per validated lead are available to affiliates who can give the Belmont Thornton campaign an extra push this Spring. To discuss this opportunity or ideas for your website please contact Karen – karen [at] azam.net

Purple Parking

Purple Parking is the UK’s leading airport parking provider servicing over 50 airports nationwide. With many people now booking their Summer holidays, it’s a great time to give the affiliate program a go!

The program is available on Tradedoubler and Affiliate Future, and pays competitive commissions of 10-15% for Heathrow and Manchester airport bookings, and 7.5% commission per sale for all other airports.

We have a couple of new voucher codes for you to promote this February:

Codes: TD1 (for Tradedoubler publishers)
AF1 (for Affiliate Future publishers)

Details: 15% off Manchester & Heathrow Airport bookings & 12.5% at all other airports
Valid from: 1st February 2011
Valid to: 28th February 2011

You may also promote the campaign through Purple Parking’s own network.

For more information please contact Sinead – sinead [at] azam.net

UK2.NET

Find all your web hosting, domain sales and registration, server co-location, ecommerce shopping and internet services in one place – UK2.NET.

They are one of the biggest and fastest growing web hosting companies in the UK and have been a major player in the web hosting industry since 1998.

UK2.NET have a couple of great voucher codes available this month:

Code: FEBRESELLER
Offer: £20 OFF Reseller packages
Valid from: 1st February 2011
Valid to: 10th March 2011

Code: FEBHOST5
Offer: 5% OFF webhosting
Valid from: 1st February 2011
Valid to: 10th March 2011

You can promote the UK2.NET affiliate program via a number of networks.

ActivInstinct and Millet Sports

Find a huge range of fantastic sports-related products for all ages and abilities, ranging from running shoes and racket sports to fitness products and table tennis products.

ActivInstinct and Millet Sports are great programs to promote year round, especially during popular sporting events such as the Rugby Six Nations, Wimbledon and the upcoming Cricket World Cup.

Offering 7% commission on all sales, you can find the ActivInstinct program on Affiliate Window and Millet Sports on Paid on Results and Affiliate Future. Contact pam [at] azam.net with any questions.

Our Contact Details

For more information about any of our current programs, please download our advertiser portfolio here or contact us anytime – affiliates working on our programs enjoy unrivalled support 20 hours a day, 365 days a year!

Sinead Hernen
Sinead [at] azam.net

Karen Clayton
Karen [at] azam.net

Pam Sagoo
Pam [at] azam.net

Or you can call us at the Azam Head Office on +44 (0)20 7436 4496.

Monday 29th November is set to mark the start of ‘Cyber Monday Week’, the busiest sales period on the Christmas calendar as shoppers receive their last pay cheque before Christmas.

Traditionally a US concept, UK businesses and retailers are beginning to recognise Cyber Monday Week as one of the most hectic and profitable shopping occasions of the year.

A recent CyberMonday.co.uk online survey conducted by YouGov reports that 45% of online UK adults plan to shop on the web between 29 November and 6 December with 27% due to spend over 200 GBP on this year’s Christmas gifts. Almost three fifths (57%) of those aged 25 to 44 plan to shop during Cyber Monday week versus just 35% from the 55+ age group.

David Smith, MD of IMRG said, “Last year, £350m, (more than £1m per minute) was spent on Cyber Monday. Growth for the first three quarters of 2010 has averaged 16% above last year and 3 percentage points above our 2010 forecast. During the fourth quarter we predict Britons will spend 17.4 billion pounds shopping online, up from 15 billion pounds in the fourth quarter of 2009″.

A report by price comparison website Kelkoo for the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) states that online sales are set to peak at a staggering £22.4 million per hour on Monday 29th November, this year’s “Manic Monday” as the report calls it.

Kelkoo CEO Richard Stables comments: “Cyber Monday is the most important day in an e-tailers’ calendar. Online retailers can see sales rise by up to 60% in the six weeks running up to Christmas compared to the rest of the year, and at no time is this more evident than on Manic Monday, when online sales are forecast to peak at £22.4 million per hour”.

He concludes that ‘Panic Saturday’ (Saturday 18th December) is expected to be the busiest day of the year on the high street, with 10 million consumers expected to hit the shops in a last minute rush to buy Christmas gifts at a cost of £1.11 billion.

However, despite forecasting a total uplift in sales this Christmas, a YouGov SixthSense report reveals that as individual consumers, one in four shoppers intend to be more frugal this year compared to last. 36% of people interviewed said they aimed to spend between £100 and £249 on friends and family and 46% saying they would spend between £100 and £249 on food and drink.

James McCoy, YouGov SixthSense Director states, “Many companies have pre-empted consumer reluctance to indulge in major purchases; Sony’s promise to return VAT on products bought before Christmas Eve is one such example. “

We are interested to hear your opinions and comments on the above, please feel free to share them below or alternatively, email sinead [at] azam.net.

Think Visibility 4 took place this weekend. It’s the second Think Vis. event I have attended and Dom and his team did not disappoint in bringing the best speakers from the online marketing industry together for a fourth time.

One of my favourite sessions of the day was ‘Keywords and Mini Sites’ presented by Gary Taylor. I’m not sure whether advanced domainers would have found this event a little basic, but I thought Gary did a great job summarising the most important aspects of buying and utilising domain names.  He also suggested some useful resources and links to follow up and there was a nice buzz amongst the audience afterwards. I will definitely check out Gary’s starter guide for new domainers.

In other sessions, Lisa Myers and Jaamit Durrani looked at how social media and linkbuilding could really increase one’s chance of dominating the SERPs.

Lisa provided some top ideas on how to look beyond Facebook and Twitter to build relationships with your audience and drive relevant, highly targeted traffic and backlinks to your website including ‘article marketing’ – writing key content for other sector related websites, guest blogging and providing best practice and white papers.

Jaamit’s session discussed how researching competitor SEO activity and backlink profiles as well as article spinning and negotiating links from trusted ac.uk domains can make a noticeable difference to your place within the SERPS.

Both sessions by Lisa and Jaamit complemented each other and did well to educate and reinforce the key metrics of SEO as well as throw new ideas into the pot.

Paul Madden’s discussion about Black Hat SEO provided a rare and unique insight into the mindset of a spammer which I found scary but somewhat intriguing at the same time.  It was amazing to hear how easily and quickly some individuals are able to make significant sums of money with just a domain name, a piece of script and an eye for an opportunity.

There were many more highlights throughout the day and not all sessions were SEO-themed, other topics included Affiliate Marketing Technologies, Accessibility, Conversion and Online PR.

With so many events being held in London, Dom and his team have done the northern digital community proud. If you have never attended Think Visibility and you are serious about online marketing you are missing a treat!

The only thing I regret about Think Visibility 4 is that I did not enter the Pre conference Pool Tournament because I reckon I would have kicked some serious butt! Roll on ThinkVis 5…

If you have any favourite moments from ThinkVis4 or would like to share feedback on the above, please leave your comments here or email sinead [at] azam.net. You may also like to read my review of Think Visibility 3.

Think Visibility Photos courtesy of Martin Cunningham.

Recommended Link: Professional Search Marketing Services.

I attended my first Think Visibility conference on Saturday and found it to be a really useful and informative event which was also fun at the same time. It was held at the Alea Casino’s conference area, a splendid venue in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Tom Critchlow’s overview of Local SEO Strategies provided an interesting insight into how to make Google Local work for any business and I took away some handy tips that I will definitely use to help my own clients maximise their exposure across that specific channel.

I also sat in on Paddy Moogan’s session about Link Building. As a first time presenter, Paddy did a great job and put forward a constructive plan of action to help any SEO Manager target and achieve the links that will be of most benefit to them and their advertisers.

Judith Lewis gave a terrific presentation about her SEO experiences and offered some brilliant advice about which activities will actually help you get to the top of the SERPS and those that won’t. (Judith also handed out lots of chocolate which may be another reason why I enjoyed her presentation in particular!)

Unfortunately I didn’t get to stay for the after party but if the tales of the pre-party and the antics at the lunch time quiz are anything go by, I’m sure it was a lively night. Well done to Dom Hodgson and his team for executing a great event.

If you are interested in Search Engine Optimization, I also recommend reading Why you should combine SEO and PPC efforts to dominate search rankings.

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.

Azam Marketing is no longer managing the UK2.net affiliate program. Please see our portfolio here for the advertisers we are currently looking after.

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!

The European Parliament has seen sense and rejected its earlier opt-in amendment for cookies that would have wreaked havoc amongst internet users by requiring repeated pop-up windows or other intrusive virtual labels upon every web page visited by a user. (Full details can be found here.)

The EU was trying to protect or alert consumers from tracking systems they may or may not know they are party to, but perhaps in a misguided way under the original plans. Commentators were concerned the legislation on cookies would have had a dramatic effect on some forms of online marketing. Worst hit could have been affiliate marketing, as both affiliates and affiliate networks heavily rely on cookies to identify where a customer is referred from and in most cases apportion commissions correctly.

Although I understand these concerns and was pleased to hear that web users will not have to opt in to every single cookie, I believe the EU’s actions have given rise to an important debate about their future.

As much as cookies play an integral role in e-commerce and analytics, they are not entirely reliable. They can be deleted or overwritten by other sites and there has even been speculation about ‘super cookies’ which merchants and networks may attribute sales to even if they were not the last cookies dropped.

To counteract such issues, many affiliate networks such as Paid on Results, Affiliate Window and Webgains already employ other means of tracking affiliate transactions. In recent research, Paid on Results estimated that at least 10% of affiliate sales are lost through traditional cookie tracking methods.

A while back Affiliate Future announced their new patented tracking technology , VeraciTag™, which they say offers an alternative, more accurate tracking solution to cookies, and works by storing anonymous tracking information in the web browser of the user’s computer meaning the tags cannot be blocked, as cookies can and consumer privacy is protected. At the same time, they claim affiliates should benefit from an increased number of tracked sales, and so higher earnings.

All of the above indicates that, although many people were concerned that the new EU legislation could have made some Internet businesses redundant, it appears that the innovative and constantly evolving nature of the Internet is already phasing out traditional cookie tracking methods.

It would have been interesting to see what effect, if any, the EU’s cookie ruling would have had on the Internet community and whether it would have been a major catastrophe as some people feared or just a storm in a teacup.

What do you think? Please feel free to add your comments below or email me at sinead [at] azam.net with your thoughts on the matter.
Recommended Link: Start 2010 on a more professional footing. Get 250 free business cards and a free business card holder. Click here.

Latest Hitwise data (August 2009) reports a significant 47.5% uplift in UK internet searches for discount voucher terms over the last year (July 08 – July 09). Interestingly however, actual visits to specialist voucher websites have decreased by 5%, whereas traffic to retailers for the same keywords has increased by more than 10% from 28.2% to 41.5% over the same period.

Hitwise attributes these trends to the emergence of the “Maximising Consumer”, a new breed of internet shopper immune to the quick fix of generic voucher and discount advertising, instead choosing to extensively research and seek out exclusive offers and concessions for certain products and retailers.

This assumption is supported by research from the IAB Affiliate Council, which states that 95% of all voucher code publishers are now compliant with best practice procedures for the use of voucher codes. Could the 5% non-compliant publishers account for the 5% drop in traffic to specialist voucher websites – having been identified and eliminated by the savvy Maximising Consumer?

The same Hitwise report reveals that the share of total UK internet visits going to transactional websites (i.e. retail, business and finance and travel) has declined over the last three years, eclipsed by the growth in visits being driven to content websites in the entertainment, social networking, news and media and lifestyle sectors.

In July 2006, transactional sites accounted for 5% more UK internet visits than content-driven ones. Fast forward three years to 2009 and content-driven sites are now generating up to 73% more UK visits than transactional sites.

Hitwise concludes that the current recession has led to an increasing proportion of online time being spent browsing content, communicating and networking rather than shopping.

So what does this mean for the future of ecommerce, especially in the lead up to and beyond Christmas 2009? Will we see retailers and voucher code publishers start to form serious strategic alliances in an attempt to ignite consumer spending again? Or will a new type of affiliate appear, specifically targeting and capitalising on the rise of the maximising consumer? Things are about to get interesting, watch this space….

In my last blog post I followed on from Keith Bond’s inspiring article, 99 things I want to do that I aint done yet by sharing the activities that I have been fortunate to accomplish so far in life.

Since then, I’ve pondered some of the other goals and activities that I would like to achieve and have realised that coming up with a definitive list is harder than it first seems, even if time and money were no obstacle!

Like Keith, I couldn’t quite come up with 99 things but if the world was my oyster, the following would definitely rank highly on my list:

• Meet my second child (soon to be accomplished!)
• See my daughter in her school uniform for the first time
• See my children grow up happy and safe
• Teach my daughter to ride a bike
• Dance at my daughter’s wedding
• Visit Dubai
• Take a train journey on the Whistler Mountaineer through the Rocky mountains
• Write a book
• Learn to play the drums
• Do some teaching
• Visit New York
• Learn to speak Spanish
• Visit Rome
• Perform as a stand-up comedian
• Pay off my mortgage early
• Make a Christmas cake from scratch
• Run the London Marathon
• Attend my 50^th wedding anniversary party
• Meet the comedian Peter Kay
• Take my husband to see Billy Joel and Elton John perform live together in Las Vegas
• Watch Kylie Minogue in concert
• Learn to tap dance
• Take singing lessons
• Grow my own herb garden
• See a happy end to the current recession
• Learn sign language
• Enjoy a West End or Broadway show with my husband and children
• Visit the ancient ruins of Pompeii
• Visit the spa city of Bath
• Learn to sew and use a sewing machine

I’m sure that, as time goes on, there will be many other things for me to add to my list.

I would like to say a big thank you to Keith Bond for inspiring me with his original article and would like to encourage readers of this blog to take time out to dream a little dream of their own!

Azam Marketing strapline is ‘simply results’ and, since starting in affiliate marketing in 1997, we have hit the bullseye for our valued advertisers and partners time and time again. We can produce results for your business too. Click here to find out more about our acclaimed Affiliate Management and Consultancy services.