I was reading around the forum and found a thread in which Andy was having a very introspective moment and asking himself “Why am I a muppet?”. Then he went on to explain how he lost a flight to Bulgaria, where he was supposed to catch up with the MoreNiche development team, because he forget his passport at home.

Hold it, just a minute there! Who’s Andy? What’s he doing at MoreNiche? And what’s the MoreNiche development team doing in Bulgaria?

I have no friggin’ idea myself! Ok, ok, I do. But I didn’t a few days ago. Luckily for me (and you), Andy was kind enough to answer those questions. And a bunch more I threw at him.

Read on to find out how MoreNiche survived the ice age!

Mircea: Hello, Andy. Thank you for accepting to take this interview. Everybody loves a good story. Let’s get started! Tell me a bit about yourself and your background.

Andy: Thank you, too, for the opportunity to present some insights into the company behind the screen, the people, the future and our values.

I was born in November 1982 into a working class family in the midlands (UK), my childhood was pretty standard for that era, I loved playing football (soccer), computer games and hanging out with friends. We did not have a lot of money but my parents did a great job of hiding this from us (myself and my younger brother).

My father has always been involved in computers in one way or another, he started repairing computers (if you can call a spectrum that) in the early 80’s, dabbled in a little game development and now is a network engineer for the university of Nottingham.

We always had computers in one form or another while growing up, I remember the first time we had the internet when it was first publicly available, it was very limited back then, we could check our mail, become a member of discussion groups and maybe check the weather.

Nowadays it’s all mobile technology; I use a powerful HP business laptop and a dual Sim mobile phone which allows me to take personal and business calls from one handset.

M: How did you meet Darren?

A: Myself and Darren have been best friend for over 20 years, we grew up together. Before either of us were even aware of the internet we would sit up all night drawing comic books and selling them around the neighborhood, it is fair to say we always wanted to be selling something to someone.

At the age of 7 we had the same “work hard, play hard” attitude we have today, we would often stay up all night playing football manager games or trying to destroy one another at settlers, when championship manager was invented I don’t think our parents saw us for months.

M: So, how did you two get started on the affiliate marketing path?

A: Darren Beale (founder of MensNiche.com) started making money from affiliate marketing before me, the tradition is he was working at KFC working long hours for very little pay (he was only 16 at the time). It was getting close to Christmas and he needed to find extra money to buy his girlfriend the perfect present.

Darren started researching ways to make extra money online and came across eBay marketing and banner impressions, back then people would pay you every time somebody clicked on your banner. All Darren had to do was get people to his websites.

Trying lots of different things, some worked and some did not, he over time Darren managed to get hundreds of thousands of visitors to click on his banners and this is what started his online marketing career. Not only did that shape his future but his first check for over $1000 arrived in time for Christmas.

M: I’m figuring Darren’s success pushed your buttons, too.

A: Ofcourse! After seeing the success Darren had made through online marketing it did not take me long to realise there is money to be made here, I made a number of different websites but the first one that made me real money was PenisEnlargementDirector.com.

PenisEnlargementDirector.com was a directory site of male enhancement products, this site quickly earned me over $2,000 every pay period through other affiliate programs and then later MensNiche. I sold this in September 2003 for $13,000 while I was at University; I think this is when I first got the online marketing buzz.

M: Why did you choose male enhancement?

A: When looking for an product to market there are two key factors to take into account: (a) are there people looking for that product/service? (b) how saturated is the market?
These are the same two key questions we need answering before entering any new marketplace today, over 6 years ago when we started in the male enhancement niche it was very underdeveloped.

There were no pills sites and the main solution was the online exercise program, these where very poor and often had very little information to keep members interested. It is safe to say this was a perfect market to attack, it had many people looking for solutions and no clear product/service.

M: How has market changed in the last years?

A: As with many niches, when there is demand, competition comes, in the early days many new products and affiliate programs popped up. The stronger products and companies rose to the top and started to dominate the market place.

Smaller programs and products dropped off, over the last two years I believe the market has been pretty stagnant, we have some clear market leaders but nobody snapping at their heals to force them to improve and innovate.

Today it is a harder market to enter, however sales can still be made, with the internet changing daily, new technology being born, unless the top boys continue to innovate they will lose marketing share to tomorrows super affiliates.

M: Basically, MensNiche was a natural step forward in your experience, right?

A: Right. Darren went on to promote many other affiliate programs and started to earn some serious income, the one thing he noticed and something we still notice is the serious lack of support affiliate programs give newbie’s. They throw you into a reporting system which very basic stats and 10 banners, then expect you to make sales.

Darren Beale registered the domain (mensniche.com) on 23rd February 2001 and the program was opened to the public on 25th may 2002, the vision was clear and still forms a big part of our vision today, offer high commissions on products which convert and the best possible support we can.

M: The affiliate marketing world was surely different back then. Were you “looking up” to any other affiliate program when you started MensNiche?

A: This is a very good question, the main reason Darren started MensNiche initially was due to the poor programs that were available, keep in mind affiliate programs like AffiliateWindow (2000) Commission Junction (2000) and TradeDoubler (1999) were still very young, it is safe to say the market was very new.

We looked at the competition and made sure we where better, this is something we still do and are always ensuring we offer one of the best affiliate programs around. I have still not found another affiliate program that offers the same level of support to affiliate which we do; we really do care about the affiliates needs and do everything possible to cater for them.

Stay tuned for PART TWO to find out how MensNiche became MoreNiche, where and why MoreNiche operates and why is the development team in Bulgaria!