GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 13 - June 2010

Bjorn Bos | Madnesz Forgetabout casinos–forex is where it’sat! How long have you beenworking in the industry? I started in the casino affili- ate industry about four years ago. At the time Iwasdoingverywell inonlinepoker, and spent quite a bit of time at a Dutch poker forum. When I found out that the ownersof suchWeb siteswere thebiggest winners of the emergingpoker hype, I got very interested in thismoney-makingpos- sibility and started to make plans for af- filiate sites. Whatdoyou likeabout the industry? The very strongcorrelationbetweeneffort and reward. Themore time you put into your Websites, thebigger the rewards.Plus the freedom to choose locationand time todo yourwork. What don’t you like about the industry? The unregulated environment. Because of this, the casino operators still have ul- timate power over their players. I’ve seen the most ridiculous terms and condi- tions that donothingbutmake the player completely powerless in the case of any disputes. Also, most players cannot go to their local court to fight an operator’s decision, since thepracticeof onlinegam- bling is illegal inmany countries. What surprised you most about the in- dustry? Howwell organizedandclose this industry really is.Most people arewilling tohelp eachother, and a lot of knowledge is shared freely among the affiliates. The conferences are always a good place to meet interestingpeople. Youhavefoursitesdedicatedtobackgam- mon and one that provides information on bonus offers for casino games. Why somany backgammon sites? And where does tommydanger fit into all of this? During thepoker boom, therewas a lot of buzz that backgammon could become the next big thing. I decided that I wanted to be one of the first backgammon affiliates, so that if it really became as big as poker, Iwouldbe in the front row. After awhile, it became clear that backgammondidnot havea lotofgrowthpotential and Istarted to develop otherWeb sites. At first, I cre- ated some poker and casino subpages at the backgammonWeb site. Then I start- ed working together with tommydanger (LuukNoordhoff),who is agood friendof mine fromuniversity, andwedevelopeda casinoWebsite.After that, Istartedwork- ingon forex-relatedWeb sites. Dutch is your native language, yet you operate English- and German-language sites (in addition to a Dutch-language site).Howdifficult is ittoworkonthenon- Dutch sites? Most of myWeb sites are in English. Since I’ve studied in Englishmy whole life, and since I spent fourmonths in South Africa, I am quite familiar with the language. I can understand German when reading, but I’mnot able towrite it. For this Iuse freelancers. You alsooperate a forex site and a crude oilsite.Howarethesesitesperforming for you? I got in touchwith the forexmarket at one of the casino conferences and got enthusiastic to start a financial site. I now have seen the tremendous player value in this industry,which isevenbiggerthanthe casino industry.TheseWebsitescurrently bring inmost of the revenue forme. Whatpromptedyouto jointheGPWA,and howhas ithelpedyouso far? The amount of knowledge available at the forums. Unfortunately, I still lack the time to get actively involved in this community, but I hope this will change when I graduate at theendof this year. You’ve said that attending CAC Amster- dam in 2007 increased your enthusiasm for the industry.Howdid that conference get you excited about being an affiliate? Haveyouattendedany conferences since then? I’ve visited CAC three times, and have attended both CAP Barcelona and CAP Amsterdam one time. They always are a great source of SEO knowledge and theperfectplace toget face timewithyour affiliatemanager. Ialsohave toadmit that the parties account for a lot of the excite- ment! Howdoyour familyand friends feelabout howyoumakeyour living? They are hap- py for me that I manage to earn a nice extra buck during my time as a student, and that I cando thework I like insteadof some shitty jobat thegas station. A couple of years ago (July 2008) you posted that youbelieved that“theonline gamblingmarket could die pretty soon.” Do you still feel thatway? The closure of the U.S. market was a huge surprise to many andwewere pretty powerless. For- tunately therestillwas theEUmarket that weall could turn to, but therearenoguar- antees that thiswill alwaysbeso. If theEU decided to put an end to online gambling in the same way the U.S. did, the mar- ket will be pretty dead. The opposite can happen just as easily if the U.S. opens its doors again, but no one can predict what will reallyhappen. Time management is one of the biggest issues facing affiliates. What time man- agement tips can you offer your fellow webmasters? Andwhat are you studying at university? I am studying industrial engineering andmanagement. I expect to graduateat theendof thisyear,whichwill open up a lot of time for me. Timeman- agement can be really simple: just make effective use of your resources. Don’t for- get that you can outsource almost any- thing to freeup some time. How long do you give yourself for re- spondingtoe-mail?Andwhate-mailman- agement tips can you offer? Don’t forget that at least 80percent of themessages in your inbox are nothing but time consum- ers. Choose to spend timeon themwisely. Howmuche-maildoyoureceive fromnew onlinecasinos that say theyhave thehigh- est conversion, and that theywant towork together with you? Or automated e-mail from webmasters who want to exchange links?Although it is polite to answer each one of them, most are just time consum- ingand caneasilybe ignored. 56 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series