GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 11 - January 2010

wanted tomake aWeb site and this was something I was interested in, so finally I had a subject to base it on. At this point I thought, “Unlikely tomakeanymoneybut it’s justahobby.”Earningmoneywouldbe thenext challenge! I quit my “day job” when my earnings from the affiliate business regularly ex- ceeded my salary. I felt like I achieved much more in the evenings doing my “now not just a hobby” compared to the day job– it was a very easy decision and always makes me smile when I think about handing inmynotice. How long was it before your gambling sites startedearningyoumoney? I think in my first two years I earned a total of $50 (and I think that was shared!). It was six years agowhen I started Casino- Crush.com and earned $200 (of which I gave away $50 for forum contests) in the firstmonth– itwasn’t a “living” thenbut it was such a buzz to have aworking site that earned anything that I couldn’t stop there. Within the first two years of run- ning a “proper” site (not on the free do- mains) I was earning enough to do it full time. How did you discover the GPWA? I be- lieve I had Casino-Crush.com for a year or sobefore I foundaffiliate forumsat all. I think I originally found GPWA when I was trying to findoutwhom I’dbeenpaid by and that magical forum “who sent thismoney” was there. Membership has helpedme ingettingmore contacts, and I have often read and picked up a few tips fromothers or seenbits of news that oth- erwise I wouldn’t have. I don’t spend as much time asmany others on the forums as I prefer to focus on developing and maintainingmy sites. What are your thoughts on the value of displaying the GPWA Approved Por- tal seal on your sites? I’m sure the “ap- proved” seal and the listing fromGPWA helpgive some “recognition,”particularly fornewvisitors and forummembers. What’sthehardestthingaboutoperating your sites, andwhat annoys or distracts you the most when you’re trying to get someworkdone? Easy – SPAMMERS! I ended up so annoyedwith it I developed my own “anti-spam” filtering for the fo- rum–and themoreweget, thebetterour filters get. I kind of turned it into a chal- lenge,which so far I feel I’mwinning! You’ve told us you gamble online. What do you play? I generally play the video slotswith free spins features–mostly the ones that can re-trigger – because I like the fact thatasinglespincangoonandon winning! I alsoplayKeno sometimes if I want a slower andmore relaxedgame. 47 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series