GPWA Times - Issue 20 - March 2012

How did you become involved in the in- dustry? I used to work as a financial cus- tomer service advisor in a call center for a well-known U.K. retailer chain. I got to a stage where the job wasn’t challenging any- more and every day was like Groundhog Day. I wanted to challenge myself and look at something that I could do in my spare time with the goal to make some extra mon- ey and eventually work for myself. How long did it take for your site to start earning money? A lot longer than I thought it would. I was naive at first, thinking that I could build a basic HTML site with very little content; a few banners and Google would automatically rank my new site high in SERPs. I then started to do a lot of research, added more content, etc., and I remember jumping up and down when I got my first check through the door for about £50. A little over a year ago, you switched from operating your site on a part-time basis to working at it full-time. What factors led to your decision to leave your previous full-time position? When I first started the website it was always with the impression that one day I would be my own boss. I had reached as far as I could go in my old job and realized that I was never going to be promoted any high- er or make any more money. So I focused my efforts on the site more in 2010, so that I could start 2011 as a new year with a new job. In late December you revealed that you were looking to add a casino site to your portfolio.Why did you decide to di- versify outside of bingo? And how did conversations at LAC go in that regard? When do you expect to launch your casino-focused site? And do you plan on expanding into poker and sports bet- ting as well? Bingo is a saturated market and there only seems to be a small percent- age of sites that outperform the rest. We had a setback with our Web designer and couldn’t get the site launched in time for LAC, so talks didn’t go as well as we would have liked. However, we did make lot of new contacts and hope to have the casino site up by the middle of March at the latest. We are hoping to have a sports betting site launched in the summer and a poker site early next year. In your opinion, how long is too long for a site to load for a first-time visitor? What can webmasters do to speed up the process? Anything over four seconds load time and you’re going to be losing a lot of potential customers to the back but- ton. There are a lot of things that webmas- ters can do to speed up their sites. The main ones are listed below: • Have the site on a dedicated VPS server; • Optimize all your images, JavaScript and CSS; and • Make sure the coding off your sites is clean and rid of any 404-type errors. What traits do you look for in an affili- ate manager? Professionalism is a must; you need to be able to have a good work- ing relationship with them. It also helps if they are available if you need them and that they keep you up to date with all the latest promotions. What advice would you offer some- one just starting out in the industry? DON’T! It’s too competitive! No, seriously the best advice I can give anybody just starting out is to analyze your competi- tors, see what they are doing. Then try to think outside the box and offer visitors something that is different and make your site unique. What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? When I first started attending the conferences and found your magazine, I really liked the layout and the wealth of information in it. However, when I joined the forum it was for a GPWA seal for madaboutbingo. When I started to have a look around the forum I was overwhelmed with the amount of knowledge freely available. Years ago I had to spend many a late night searching Google for the answers, but with the forum it’s only a search or new post away. What do you like about the industry? The flexibility I have as an affiliate. If you’re well organized and make the most of your time you can really make a differ- ence in the market. 51 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series