GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 25 - June 2013

GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES Learn to understand what players think and what they need When did you launch your sites? My first website was created in June 2007. Many others followed. Your sites span several different seg- ments/aspects of the industry. Describe the decision-making process that went into the development of your sites. I must admit that when I started out I was very excited about all the options, from poker, casino and sports betting to bingo and even backgammon. I didn’t know ex- actly how profitable each could become. I wanted to try out everything, to see what worked best. That’s how I decided to build GamblerAwards.com, which was sup- posed to be the flagship. Any plans to add additional sites or con- solidate any of your existing sites? I ac- tually have many more sites right now, in even more niches. I operate around 30 sites right now, and I may add some more this year. This doesn’t give me too much time to consolidate on existing ones, but since Google seems to go easier on newer sites I prefer to start new projects from scratch. You promote SharkPoker.info as “the best poker portal for both sharks and fishes!” Does the site attract more sharks or more fish? I actually think it attracts more fishes since people inter- ested in the concept of “poker sharks” are usually new to poker. I hope some of them become sharks one day. SharkPoker.info does not list Poker- Stars, Full Tilt Poker or Party Poker in its list of “Best EU Poker Rooms.” Why have you decided not to promote the three largest online poker rooms on your site? PokerStars never had a good affiliate program, and I personally dislike their software. I tried many poker rooms myself and PokerStars was never among my favorites. As for Full Tilt, I think they are a shame to the poker industry after go- ing bankrupt and putting their players in such an awful situation. For me they are a discredited brand. And Party Poker, well, they are a scam. They are associated with bwin and are well known for scamming both affiliates and players. Several times I had money deducted from my Party Poker account just for not logging in for six months and they constantly reduce af- filiate commissions that were supposed to be lifetime. Affiliates know bwin and Party are not to be trusted. What segment of the online gambling industry (casino, sports betting, poker) brings in the most revenue for you? His- torically I’ve earned the most from sports betting, but right now I am doing better with poker andcasinogames offeredbypoker sites. How did you become involved in the industry? I started out playing poker and backgammon for real money and after a while I found out about the affiliate pro- grams. As I always thought the rake I was paying was huge, I considered that an af- filiate could earn pretty well if he deliv- ered a decent number of players. How long did it take for your sites to start earning money? It was a long time ago, but from what I remember it was about four to six months. What traits do you look for in an affili- ate manager? How about in an affiliate program? I like affiliate managers who answer my questions. I like the ones who can answer an e-mail with 10 questions without ignoring any of them. I don’t like affiliate managers who send too much spam and use copy/pasted messages. As for affiliate programs, I like the ones that have a strong history of on-time pay- ments and did not change their terms in the past. Predictability is what I want, and very few affiliate programs offer it. If you had to pick five keys to success as an affiliate, what would they be? 1. Luck. 2. Patience. You may have to wait a long time before earning well, and you can ruin your work if you try to force things too much. I have destroyed many web- sites just by overdoing things in order to get quicker results. 3. More patience. 4. Perseverance. No matter how hard it seems to be, it is possible, so affiliates should keep trying even if they fail. 5. Experience in the field. An affiliate must understand how players think and what they need. What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? I wanted to join because I liked the Seal of Approval other sites had. I wanted one for my website as well. I tried to join with my first web- site, SharkPoker.info, but at that time the website was of very poor quality and GPWA Nancy kindly explained me what I should do to improve it in order to get CLAUDIU abscident Age: 30 Hometown: Bucharest, Romania Living in: Bucharest Favorite Food: Argentine beef Must Read Book: Doyle Brunson’s Super System , by Doyle Brunson Sites: SharkPoker.info Affiliate-Program-Ratings.com Casinators.com GamblerAwards.com GamblerInsight.com PokerOnlineRealMoney.com GPWA Affiliate Interview Series