GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 17 - September 2011

You’ve said that you would be bored if you had only one site to concentrate on, and that you have a schedule for working on your five or six sites.Howdoes it work? Yes, I basically try to update them weekly, but it also depends on the site and if there is anything to add. Some weeks there is not much going on, so I don’t worry about it. I figure it is better to fill up with content slowly over time, then upload everything and be done with it. Usually I do each site page and link building once a week; I just put it on my to-do list. You’ve posted that doing SEO, link build- ing, content management, etc., for your gambling sites is very different from doing the same work for your non-gam- bling sites. Please elaborate, and tell us a little bit about your non-gambling sites? Actually, what I’m finding is each site is completely different. It’s amazing to see what works for some and what doesn’t work for others. Gambling is specifically a challenge because tools won’t let you do keyword research on gambling sites, some link building is harder, such as link bait, and social media is harder in general – but then again I just made a fan page for my poker site on Facebook and got 42 us- ers in a couple of days. Not tons, but that was with no advertising and not even a post on the wall yet. I have two non-gambling sites, one about motorcycling off road (dirtymo- torcycleadventures.com), and the other about Sweden called SwedishFreak.com. Surprisingly the motorcycle site is gen- erally harder to generate traffic in SMM. Swedish Freak is surprisingly popular, especially on Twitter and with Swedes. I suppose it all depends on what is popular with your target market as well. What promptedyou to join theGPWA,and how has it helped you so far? I worked with GPWA first on the operator side of things and loved the idea of a forum for affiliates. Now as an affiliate it is a great resource if I have specific questions. What was your first affiliate conference? Was it worth the time, effort and ex- pense? My first conference as an affiliate was Budapest. I think all conferences are worth the time and effort, especially when it is in a city I haven’t been to before. It is much nicer to make it a work vacation. Luckily I live in Europe so flying to the conferences is not that expensive, and to save money I usually book my own hotel outside of the conference hotel. Time management is one of the biggest issues facing affiliates. What time man- agement tips can you offer your fellow webmasters? I need a to-do list. I also use Paymo Widget to track time on each project and what I have done – not only for records or analytics, but also to make sure I get a full day of work in on the weekdays. Where and how do motorcycles fit into your life? I basically ride any chance I get. I live in Sweden but decided to go down to Prague for the summer to visit friends. I drove my motorcycle. It took five days but it was well worth it. I now have planned some weekend trips with friends around the Czech Republic. When I’m home and it is good weather, we usually take the dirt bikes out for a spin in the forest! If you could have dinner with any five people, who would they be? Bryan Bailey, aka Casinomeister – he has been in the industry a long time and I’ve heard great things about him and I really like that he tries to make casinos fair, talks about licensing, and gives players a third party to complain 1. to if something does go wrong. I would just love to pick his brain about being an affiliate. I saw him in Dublin for a sec- ond and by the time I realized who I was staring at he was gone. Next time I will have to introduce myself. Travis Pastrana – amazing dirt biker; I would love to hear his stories and learn from him. My grandfather – he rode motorcycles and my first memory of a motorcycle was with him. I’d love to hear all his rid- ing stories. Neil deGrasse Tyson – an amazing as- trophysicist; read his book and you will understand. Chef Gordon Ramsay – I’d love for him to cook the dinner. When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go? To the cottage, where we don’t have an Internet connection. What are three things that nobody knows about you? Hate to say it, but I think there is nothing that nobody doesn’t know about me – I talk too much! What’s your all-time favorite movie? The Princess Bride has everything you can want in a movie and I remember watch- ing it at my grandmother’s house in the summers after swimming all day. 2. 3. 4. 5. HILARY ST. JONN GaGaGirl GPWA Affiliate Interview Series