Instead of hearing from the CJ team all the time we thought it would be useful to hear the voice of some others in the industry – namely affiliates, advertisers and agencies and learn a little about their businesses and what they do on a day to day basis.

So, with no futher ado, here is an interview with Amy Sullivan from Global Travel Market.

How did you become an affiliate?

By default to be honest and certainly not based on my then technical prowess, although it is astounding how much you can learn quickly in this dynamic sector. Dave and I had worked before together during my previous lif with Tourism Australia and so when the opportunity came up to join GTM I jumped at it, having recognised its potential very early in the game

Share with us a little bit about your business

Global Travel Market is the world’s first meta-search network, specialising in destination and segment-specific search engines. The first site, Australia Travel Market, was launched in February 2006 and we now have over 70 sites, including our affiliate side of the business, hosting in excess of 1 million visitors per month. We are also proud to have developed strategic relationships with key tourist boards in the UK including Tourism Philippines, Cayman islands Department of Tourism, Tourism Authority of Thailand, and Dubai Tourism ad Commerce Marketing to name a few.

How many of you are there in your office?

We have six people in our Twickenham offices, and we also have offices in Australia, New Zealand and Russia, which is the base of our development team, also India and China. We are truly global….:-)

How do you structure your day?

My days are really varied due to client meetings mixed with a fair amount of travel. The more varied the better for me.

From who or where do you get inspiration?

To be honest and a little ****y, the GTM team inspires me – it’s great to every now and then take stock of how much you and your team can achieve in such a short space of time. The web itself is also an inspiration in its own right, its capabilities and its dynamic pace – there is so much scope. Oh, and Mother Theresa of course.

What do you like most about affiliate marketing?

 Mainly it is the people – there are a really interesting bunch of people in the business. I find the affiliate sector to be a truly unique side of online marketing with enormous potential.

What effects do you think the credit crunch will have on affiliate marketing?

It really depends on which segment you operate in. Ironically from where we sit. we can see that Meta Search is actually doing better these days as consumers look for the best value for money under trying economic conditions.

What events will you be attending in 2009?

Every sing one that we are invited to. We want to  be as ensconsed in the industry as possible, to learn, to meet people and top stay on top of what’s happening in the industry. If you don’t, there’s a real possibility of being left behind.

Any top tips for affiliates?

Don’t want to give away any trade secrets do I….

Any top tips for merchants?

Communication, communication, communication. Provide your affilates with as much destination-specific content as possible. Oh, and did I mention communication?

Back to me now… Thanks Amy for taking part and I hope that you all found it useful. More to follow soon…