GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 12 - April 2010

MatijaVorgic | buyonaut “Workhard, andstickto whatyouknow!” Threeyearsagoyouposted thatbet2win, while focused on the football-betting in Europe, was starting to promote poker aswell.You also said that youwere look- ing to exchange links with Chinese and other Asian market oriented sites. How is bet2win fulfilling your expectations in 2010? Therehavebeen a lot of changes in thepast threeyears. Ihave learnedagreat deal about marketing and SEO and as a result havedropped the idea about poker, at least ona scale that couldbe calledma- jor. If youwant tobea successful affiliate, thebest thing is to stick towhat youknow – forme that is sports betting and Iwork on it without spending too much time on other segments of online gambling, although casino and games adverts and reviews canbe foundonmy site. Inow re- alize that the poker market is covered so extensively that there is very little room left – I just can’t spend toomuch time on it. I build everything around sports bet- ting andwhatever happenswith casinoor games iswelcome, but that isnot thebase. As for Asian markets, they are very spe- cific and require a lot of knowledge about mentality, structureandwhat isappealing to that market – knowledge I don’t have, tobehonest. I stick to theEuropeanmar- ket, which I know the best. It is still too early to judge 2010, but if growth from 2008/09continues itwillbeayear to look forward towith joy! Speaking of markets, my thoughts are that 2010, apart from being a huge foot- ball year–wehave theWorldCupcoming – will be a year of cash games with sig- nificant growth in that segment. There is awhole niche that is not yet fully covered by operators and affiliates alike – Head- 2headgamesorPlayer2playerskillgames, call it what you want. People like to play games against each other, knowing that there is a real person sitting on the other end – not the computer. So, instead of playing against the house andwaiting for a jackpot, people can use the skills they beleive they have and try to win some money from other players. This is a very convenient structure foroperatorsandaf- filiates; there is a rake collected fromwin- ning players, so it’s a very clean, no-risk income stream. Whoever among the big operators is first to step into this market will havegreat successwith the rightmar- keting strategy. You became an affiliate in 2006, but also worked a day job you didn’t like until Marchof last year.Howhas your life (and your revenue stream) changed since you made the decision to be a full-timeweb- master? Doing somethingyoudon’t like is like being in prisonwithout bars; you are free but not free at all. You can’t escape that vicious circle called stress. Very bad. Depressing. There is constant pressure that one feels and that is reflectedonyour family too. An unhappy father/husband ormother/wife is theworst thing that can happen toone family. My affiliate career started by chance; it wasa lazysummerback in2005and Iwas trying to find work as a freelance or full- timewebmaster. That didn’t go verywell; there were a few freelance projects, but generally it was not what I wanted. Then I thought,whyshould IproduceWebsites for others; why not formyself?Since I al- ways liked betting and sports, I did some research and that is how I startedmy af- filiate career. I built up the first site for a couple of weeks and started down the long, painful path of learning the affiliate business. Againbychance,thatsameyear,somewhere aroundChristmasIgotabusinessofferfrom my friend inDubai tomove thereandwork inacompletelydifferent industry.Theoffer was too good tobe rejected, so I took it. In spring 2006 Imoved toDubai and started workingat theoffice. It goeswithout saying thatmysitewas leftbehindsince therewere a lot of other priorities at the time. Anyone who has moved abroad with one’s family knows how demanding and challenging it is. New country, new job, painful adminis- tration, two littlekids... However, I already knew that Iwanted to be a gambling affiliate. I started working again on the site, when I settled inDubai sometime around fall 2006. That is my real start-up date. Working six days a week in the office for 12 hours a day and spending another four to five hours on the sitedaily– thatwasmy life for almost three years. I never left my idea, despite many problems and ups and downs, and even disapproval frommany people who are close tome.However, Ihavehad solid support frommywife and children at the mostdifficult times;without them Iwould neverhavebeenable todo it properly. So thesitegrew, incomestarted toriseand itbecameseriousenough toconsider leav- ing the job I didn’t fancy at all to become a full-time affiliate. After a few sleepless nights, somenastypolitics goingon in the officeandmanydiscussionswithmywife, I decided to pull the plug. Since March 2009 I’vebeena full-timeaffiliate. ItwasthebestdecisionIevermade;my life has turnedaround 100%; I’ma stress-free man (asmuchasanyaffiliatecanbestress free – ha ha ha), have plenty of time for my family and friends, and solid income is there. That income has been growing steadily each month because I now have all the time on theworld todedicate to it. Whatmore canyouwant? Both of your sites display the GPWAAp- provedPortal seal.Whenandhowdidyou discovertheGPWA?Howhasmembership helped you? I found the GPWA when I wassearching foran industryprofessional community. I was suprised when I saw howmanypeopleare involved in thegam- bling affiliate industry, either as affiliates or affiliatemanagers! The GPWA not only helpedme to under- stand the industrybetter, but also to learn a lot from other webmasters and, most important, to spot goodpartners and stop wasting time with no-good sharks. I’m very happy and proud to be an approved member of sucha community,wherepro- fessionals understand each other’s prob- lems and are willing to help. For me, the GPWA is irreplaceable! 52 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series