Quite the surprise on a Thursday afternoon!

Skimlinks has just been shortlisted in two categories for the 2010 MediaGuardian Innovation Awards!

We’re up for the Business Model and Startup categories, after a ‘lively and hard fought’ judging process, and the full shortlist will be available publicly next week.

The awards ceremony will be held on March 25th.

Never one to stay away from the States for long; DigiJoe will be back on the road again in March for South by South West in Austin, Texas – for the second year running.

But this time…he won’t be alone. He’ll be joined by digi-people from 39 other UK-based companies thanks to Chinwag, UK Trade & Investment and their ‘Digital Mission’.

Digital Mission gives UK digital companies an opportunity to expand their business or seek investment in the US, with a range of activities for attendees; masterclasses, networking, marketing support and so much more.

Skimlinks was selected by the Digital Mission advisory board to make the most of the opportunity during SXSW Interactive Festival – five days of presentations from the brightest minds in emerging technology.

The entire list of companies attending Digital Mission SXSWi ‘10 can be found here, and you can follow all the Digital Mission news in real time on Twitter here.

Skimlinks is invading America.

This week, our very own @DigiJoe will be opening our new US office – the headquarters for our stateside takeover in 2010.

Situated in Palo Alto, just outside of San Francisco, the office will be filled with our shiny new States Skimteam (currently being finalized), while we simultaneously expand our London office back in the UK.

Although Skimlinks is agnostic of geography – you can sign-up, install and manage your account wherever you are – we have such a strong customer base in the US that we thought it a natural progression to set up an office with local account managers that our US customers can contact at local times.

We’re aiming for our physical presence to grow our US numbers further, and build on the amazing success we’ve seen over the past year.

The coming months will also see the launch of a series of free, new revenue-maximization tools for our publishers, so watch this space.

2010 is shaping up to be huge for Skimlinks!

Want to be a part of the Skimlinks revolution? Check out our jobs page here.

You’ll see our faces across the pond a lot in 2010 (exciting news following this post!) and we’re kicking it off by attending the fantastic Affiliate Summit West in Las Vegas (our fourth time in Vegas in 12 months!)

I’ll be there meeting old friends, and new. We’re also supporting Affiliate Summit’s chosen charity National Breast Cancer Foundation by sponsoring a place at the charity poker tournament and a player at the charity ten pin bowling. (you can enter to win the place by sending an @ reply on Twitter to @skimlinks saying why you should get the free ticket to the poker or bowling)

If you’d like to meet up with me, please get in contact either via email joe @ skimlinksdotcom or Twitter – I’d love to say hello!

Joe (@digijoe)