Feeling Hillaryed After The A4UAwards?!
21 Comments June 6, 2008 / Posted in Affiliate Marketing, Awards | The 2008 A4UAwards have been awarded and it’s that Hillary Clinton losing feeling over in duck land. In the best affiliate blog category last year’s winner Kieron took top spot again whilst Kirsty M was highly commended. For the Gaming Vertical, Virgin Games triumphed
Disappointed? Well, yes a little! The blog result doesn’t surprise me but it’s disappointing for OLD to not have done better especially given the kind plaudits other bloggers, including Kieron and Kirsty, have made. However on a realistic level, this blog doesn’t have the reader base of the other two plus of all the nominations OLD has possibly the lowest Feedburner readers stat! |
And next year, paying for ads to ask for votes should be stopped… it’s unbecoming!
The Vertical Gaming Award
I decided not to blog about our shortlisting for this award because at least some of the judges read the blog! I’m actually really chuffed we even got shortlisted, especially as we were the only affiliate in the group. The winner was Virgin Games, which was a massive surprise as my money was on Jackpotjoy.
So how did we end up on the shortlist?
Firstly we entered (and thanks to Jude for badgering me to giving it a go) and secondly I guess we wrote a decent summary of our Bingo Trackpot. It’s also feasible that we were “making up numbers” - lol!
Up against Virgin Games, Income Access and Jackpotjoy it was going to take a miracle for us to win this one. It’s still early days for the trackpot, especially at time of submission, and we’re still refining the data and stats (and still waiting for Gala Bingo to sort out an xml feed).
All in all it was nice to be shortlisted - we’ll never shake the “competitions” tag, but it’s great to be seen as a decent innovative affiliate in another sector.
And Finally….
Well done to all winners and congratulations to all who were nominated.
If you’re feeling “Hillaryed” (disappointed at not winning when you secretly hoped you would) at the moment don’t worry there’s always next year!
Hopefully by then I’ll still be writing the blog and have increased my reader numbers.
>“Hillaryed” (disappointed at not winning when you secretly hoped you would)”
You show too much grace for it to be considered a Hillary moment
I think perhaps a better definition of “Hillaryed” might be along the lines of:
Disappointed at not winning despite having every confidence that winning was your absolute god given right and stopping at almost nothing to get there and being unable to accept defeat even when the rest of the world can see it.
Well done on two nominations, I think they were extremely well deserved and I look forward to seeing what you come up with in your blog before next years hot contest!
See you there (well, I hope!)
Jase, you’re still a winner in our eyes mate. We love you and your blog and the Trackpot is inspirational. Next year Duck Man!
Jules
xx
u robbed in my eyes , yours and kirstys blog are the best blogs I have read , they are relevent to the subject of affiliate marketing.
I think Doug will win this category next year anyway
I voted for you!
I’m a little disappointed with some of the results. There’s a couple that make me doubt the credibility of the awards.
Better luck next year.
I too voted for you, with Kirsty a close 2nd. Disappointed by some of the results also, especially the blog, it seems that Kieron is a default winner based on his status in the industry, rather than the content of his posts. I’d rather benefit from an affiliate based blog, helping me learn than reading his mixed bag (cars, money, “paid” advertising), but thats just my opinion.
If you look over Kieron’s blog (cars and non-affiliate stuff aside) he is a prolific blogger with a massive audience. Perhaps his content has a wider appeal - e.g merchants/networks/agencies - perhaps even overseas affiliates - that other bloggers, including myself don’t have.
One thing I did note was the lack of clicks from a4uawards through to the blog, so did all those who voted know/read all 5 blogs over 2008 and judged them on content over that time - I seriously doubt it - but I guess there’s no way round that.
In the end he’s won because of the most votes - and that means it’s down to the other nominees (myself, Lee, Kirsty, Paul) as well other good UK bloggers like John Lamerton, Shane, Frostie, Fraser etc and some of the other guys like David to work on producing good content…. it might not win an award next year, but it gets the voice of the affiliate out there… and current disappointments aside that’s much more important a role for affiliate bloggers.
And thanks to those who have said they voted…. it’s appreciated!
my vote was based on the blogs that i find of interest and that have been most helpful so to that I would like to Award Jason and team my award for best blog 2008 , with Kirsty very very very close behind , sod it Kirsty gets a second place award for 2nd best blog 2008 , and I know Kierons blog is useful and i like it so I have awarded him 3rd place of the Awards 2008.
David Fiske - “I’m a little disappointed with some of the results. There’s a couple that make me doubt the credibility of the awards.”
As one of the judges of the awards I’m extremely disappointed by your comments. Can you elaborate on why you call the credibility of th awards in doubt David?
@Kieron - Perhaps I’ve phrased that wrong. I meant to say “I’m a little disappointed with some of the results. There’s a couple that make me doubt the credibility of *some of * the awards.”
I’ve been in touch with Matt Wood and I’m hoping he’ll provide some useful information. I’ve asked him for some transparency with the results. I would personally like to know the numbers behind the results.
It’s a daft analogy but the Eurovision results (which are voted for democratically just like around half of the A4U awards) are published in their full entirety. If the UK won next year but the people behind Eurovision didn’t publish the number of votes, there would be an outcry.
I’m just wondering what the quantity of votes for each candidate was. Furthermore, it would be great for some of the judges (perhaps yourself) to explain the logic behind their decisions. Being an outsider, I’m not privy to such information. To me it seems like the awards have been allocated (based on number of votes or opinions) without an explanation of the numbers behind them.
I think what I’m trying to say is that without transparency (i.e. the numbers or logic behind the judge’s decisions) on all the awards, it’s difficult to put the awards in perspective. For example, did you win the best blog by thousands of votes or did only 10 people vote? Why did the judges vote for ABC to win the XYZ award, etc.? The only people who know that (as far as I am aware) is Existem.
I would quite happily retract my comment if this information can be supplied to the public domain. All I would like is some figures for the community awards and some logic behind the decisions for the judge’s choices. If it could be wrapped in a pdf file and offered to everyone in the industry who is interested (I have spoken to a few who share my view), that would demonstrate that the awards are credible.
Re: The blog results.
As I was saying to Duncan yesterday, although a lot of people were namechecking myself or Jason, I was never in much doubt as to whom the winner would be. These awards are, after all, industry awards and voted for by networks, affiliates, and merchants.
Kieron and his blog are undoubtedly read, known, and loved by a much higher % of people over the entire affiliate spectrum, so unless myself and others can take on Kieron’s broader appeal to all sectors of our industry, I think he’s going to hold the title for quite some time.
As has been said above, he’s a huge name, presence, and personality in this industry and instantly recognisable when people go through the nominations process (and deservedly so I think!). His blog is widely read, inspirational, and has some great content that helps readers from all over affiliate land. OK, there’s some car stuff in there, but that simply reflects his personality and interests outside of affiliate marketing. At least he’s not banging on about his latest designer suit or how he spend £1000 on a bottle of wine like some other “super” affiliates.
Personally, I can’t be happier with a “highly commended”. It’s more than I expected, and I’m sure it was a very close run thing between myself and Jason.
Lets just accept the results, congratulate the well deserving winners - and get on with making money! It’s why we’re all here isn’t it? Anything else is just bells and knockers (albeit bloody good fun bells and knockers!)
The issue I have with the blog result is that I thought we were voting based on its “affiliate” credentials. An affiliate blog, not a blog by an affiliate. I see them as two completely seperate enterties! I chose Jason based on the expert knowledge on affiliate related matters, not Kieron based on what cars to buy (subtling adding in his jeep at every chance!), or exclusive super affiliate clubs to join at “only” a few hundred dollars per month!!! I want help/education of moving up the affiliate ladder, not £80k bank statements!!! Just an opinion of course, there’s no doubting Kieron has a large following of his blog, and his content is well written and interesting, but its not an affiliate blog, which is what the award was for!!!
Nick, I think that is unfair. Have a look through Kieron’s blog from 2008 and pictures of cars aside there is a prolific affiliate blogger discussing the affiliate industry. He’s won because more people preferred it over the other four. C’est la vie.
i think extra info on why the awards were given would be good. also just because one blog has 10000 doesnt mean it is better that a blog that only has 10 readers , but i guess if u have more readers then it would make sense that u have a better chance of winning.
David - the fact that you “doubt the credibility of *some of * the awards” is very, very insulting.
As one of the judges I gave my time up to review almost 100 submitted entries. If I’m honest it was a pain, it took far longer than I expected and took up loads of my time. Then, when we got down to the finalists we had to use a complex scoring system to rate each if the finalists on certain criteria. Now, what more do you need to know? Can you tell me of any serious industry award (and I don’t mean Eurovision for goodness sake) that actually disclose the details of the judging process? I can’t think of one. There simply isn’t a need.
You ask for “numbers” and “logic” but for most people, they are content that Matt has picked an independent panel of people with a good background in the industry and a solid reputation of being fair, honest and unbiased. The “logic” used was the fact that we used our experience and analyitical ability to pick who we thought should win. What more do you need to know? If you think any of the judges haven’t acted in a proper manner then by all means speak up. Some evidence would be appreciated too.
@Kieron - Don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising you or any of the judges. I’m not criticising the awards. All I’m after is a bit more information behind the awards. From some of the comments above, I’m not alone.
For example, if I understand the process correctly, the vertical awards (finance, retail, gaming, travel & leisure, technology & telecoms) are judged by the panel of judges including yourself. In this respect, all I would like to know is why the winners were chosen. What did they do to get chosen?
I’m not signed up to all of the winners, so it would be nice from my perspective to see why I should sign up with them. I presume part of the judging process would assess the merchant’s performance, the way the merchant handles affiliates, what they can offer affiliates, etc. Is this correct?
Just because a company has won an award doesn’t necessarily mean I will sign up. The fact that they won an award as they offer affiliates 24/7 support (for example) is more meaningful to affiliates IMO and would make me more inclined to become a partner. This can only be a good thing for affiliates and merchants. Those merchants that failed to win an award then know what they have to do to improve their programmes in order to win next year.
In the haulage industry, the awards are distributed in a similar way to A4U EXCEPT for the fact that each of the winners in every category receives a 2 page article about them in the organiser’s magazine. The 2 page article explains exactly why the company won.
As for the community awards, how many people voted? Was the turn out a good proportion of A4U users? How many voted for each of the contenders for each category? If I came 2nd in an award, I would like to know how close I was.
Perhaps the community doesn’t need this information. The point here though is if there is nothing to hide, why not publish the figures? As far as I am aware, voting results isn’t ’sensitive data’ so there is nothing theoretically preventing it from entering the public domain.
I was asked for reasoning behind my comments and I have offered this. I have not accused any of the panel or anyone involved in the awards of “not act[ing] in a proper manner”. The assumption that you believe that this is what I think is “very, very insulting” too. I am extremely disappointed that you have taken this as a personal attack. It has not been an attack of any sort - I’m just after some information that will help further the meaning of these awards to myself. The awards have the power to be an incredibly powerful tool for affiliates so long as the information behind them is available.
For the record, I’m all for the awards. I think they can be a great tool for promoting the industry elite.
David - you asked “What did they do to get chosen? ”
The answer is simple - they submitted a document that detailed their achievements relating to the vertical and the award relevant to their sector. The official A4U Awards website had full details of the formal submission process and what was required to meet it. As judges we reviewed each application against the criteria required for entry and made our collective decisions.
If you want more details on what the document contained that won the award in each vertical then why not ask the winners? I’m sure if I were them I would be making the most of the award and using the publicity from it as a tool to grow my business.
You also say that “All I’m after is a bit more information behind the awards. From some of the comments above, I’m not alone.” I have to disagree. The comments above are from a couple of people who disagree that I won best blog. That’s all. And they have every right to disagree, its called having an opinion and I’m all for it. Nobody else - as far as I can see in the comments above anyway - is calling into disrepute the voting process.
To answer your question about how many users voted in the coommunity awards, I have no idea. You need to ask Matt. It’s up to him to publish this information, or not.
@Kieron - Thanks for your comments.
Just wanted to say well done, two shortlists, especially the one in the gaming vertical against the size of those competitors is a great achievement.
In contrast to some of the blog award comments above it shows that a sound entry from a smaller business can still get recognition in this industry.
Thanks for that Stephen - appreciated - if I can find a copy of what I sent in I may blog further as hopefully it’ll encourage other affiliates to have a go next year.
[...] Now I’m not a fan of naming merchants, but in this case it’s time for an exception (blame my Hillaryedness). [...]