GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 15 - January 2011

The Web Site/Domain Marketplace is a nearly completed service. It has been in development for longer than I would have hoped, but for good reason. It is a place to buy and sell both domains and developed Web sites as either a single site or a package purchase. All purchases are escrow-type and verified. The main engine has been completed for quite some time, but since we are very picky as to the interface, it is taking some time for our final blessing. This is another first-quar- ter release, but with everything involved we are being very careful with our quality control and will delay it rather than releasing an im- perfect offering. Each of the services you offer re- quired some serious technical know-how to launch. What sort of technical work went into making them happen? How did you man- age the process? And what lessons did you learn from managing the projects that other affiliates can benefit from? As an engineer and a project manager for over 15 years (yikes!), I feel that I have some unique qualifications that help me manage the process. Each service has required a dif- ferent set of skills to manage, though. Terms and conditions monitoring – I wrote this application myself as I am also a software designer. The only manage- ment here is my own time. That makes this application simple for management, but difficult to allocate the time. Luckily, the majority of the work was done B.K. (before kids). Affiliate payments calendar – I am very lucky that the designer of this application is a highly talented programmer. I wrote the design specifications and designed the interface, graphically, while she did all the behind-the-scenes development. Management of this application was mostly from a quality-control perspective to ensure that the data was anonymous and that the interface was flawless. Translation services – Again, the pro- grammer here is very talented. That made management of the coding quite simple. However, the front end of this project re- quired the knowledge and wherewithal to create a proper validation architecture. By this I mean that having an overall manager (translation manager), a proj- ect manager (for each translation), and a series of native-speaking translators was no easy task. In the end we came up with what is a very solid foundation and the time it took was well spent. Each project has its own lessons to be learned. Time allocation and programmer expertise are always the toughest lessons learned for me. For example, on the link marketplace project, I have had several programmers who have failed. Even if a programmer tells you he or she is capable of accomplishing a set of tasks, this is not always the case. The programmer in charge of the payments calendar will be assigned to the link marketplace for completion of that project and this time I know it will be completed on time and with quality. But money was lost and there was plenty of frustration over having initially picked the wrong programmer. What are you most proud of about the payment calendar and the translation service? For the payments service, I am most proud of the interface, even though I should be most proud of the in- formation it provides to affiliates. With the translation service, with- out a doubt I am most proud of the architecture we set up to provide the most accurate and validated translations. I can, without worry, be confident that translations are always accurate and always taking gambling terms into account. In addition to operating AGD, you also have a full-time job. What in- dustry is your job in? And how do you balance your job, family and your AGD obligations? I am a full- time engineer (both software engi- neer and project manager) in the manufacturing industry (food/bev- erage/pharmaceutical). Balancing this is very difficult, to be honest. Without the certifications team and the moderators at AGD, I am fairly certain I would be insane. They are the foundation of AGD. I have a certifications manager as well, who sends out e-mail and structures AGD for newly certified (or newly updated as predatory) affiliate pro- grams. That helps tremendously. For all other tasks, I try to prioritize but it’s certainly difficult at best. What do your wife and kids think about your busy life? While my kids are too young to really know much about it, my wife likes me to stay off the computer as much as possible. I tend to get up early and get a lot of my AGD work done be- fore the kids and wife wake up. That makes the work a bit more manageable for my family. How would you characterize the majority of changes made to terms and conditions for affiliate programs? Are most of the changes harmful, beneficial or neutral for affiliates? The majority of changes are simple, necessary changes such as PPC or new law requirements. Harmful changes to existing contracts are probably in the one to three percent range of all contract changes. I would say that 94 percent are neutral changes. The remaining three to five percent are changes required for cer- tification at AGD, which should benefit the affiliate. The numbers are not gener- ated based upon real data, but are more of an educated guess at where the num- bers would fall. “ The majority of changes to terms and conditions are simple, necessary changes such as PPC or new law requirements. Harmful changes to existing contracts are probably in the one to three percent range of all contract changes. ” 49 Always on the lookout