What I would do next is let:
[MATH]u=2ax+1\implies du=2a\,dx[/MATH]
And so now we have:
[MATH]\frac{1}{4a}\int 1+\frac{1}{u}\,dx=\frac{1}{4a}(u+\ln(u))+C[/MATH]
Now back substitute for \(u\):
[MATH]\int\frac{ax+1}{2ax+1}\,dx=\frac{1}{4a}(2ax+\ln(2ax+1))+C[/MATH]
Note: the constant that resulted in the back-substitution was "absorbed" into the constant of integration.