GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 27 - February 2014

the industry and me being approached the first time when I had the sport site, I prob- ably would have missed a lot of the skill sets that I obtained from many people in this industry. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be? Of course, what bothers us locally is the uncertain legal framework. It would be great if steps were taken to enforce cooperation among the countries. What do your family and friends think of your work as an affiliate? Right now I work more in the online marketing com- pany I mentioned earlier. In the past my affiliate activities were more of a hobby than a full-time job. Everyone accepted that I enjoyed working on these websites. Do you gamble online? If so, what do you play? I used to bet more. I still like to play live-betting on Betfair and I bet on matches that I watch on TV or attend in person. How long do you give yourself for an- swering e-mail? What e-mail tips can you offer? I take as much time as needed when I feel that the answer needs to be better. I think it is not a good idea to have your smartphone with you everywhere and read your e-mail as soon as it comes in. It’s better to look at new e-mail at spe- cific intervals and handle it at that time if possible. How do you manage your “to-do” lists? Do you use any special software to help you out? I only use reminders on my Mac. In work I also enjoy using paper and a pen; it helps me clear my mind a bit when I write down stuff that pops into my head. How much time do you devote to SEO and/or social networking in order to drive more traffic to your sites? A big part of my day is spent on SEO, because it is also my job. A lot of the SEO skill I have came through working on my affiliate websites in the past, where I experiment- ed and gained a lot of knowledge. What’s the most difficult thing about running your sites? I’ve had some of my websites for years, and I feel bad when I don’t give them enough attention these days because of something else I have to do. But right now I am getting back to them and preparing some new features, which I hope will be running soon. What’s the best thing about running your sites? As I work on clients’ sites and also on my own sites, doing the lat- ter gives me a different feeling. Working on my own sites gives me the satisfaction of creating something: I can decide how I want it to look like and what it should do. I don’t want to earn a fortune as an affili- ate, but rather create a service that people want to use. If someone were visiting you, what’s the one place you’d definitely take them to see? I would take him to my home town, Kosice, Slovakia. It is an unknown but still beautiful place with history, mountains, nature, modern life, nightlife and inter- esting, tasty food. People who visited me here in the past were always impressed. When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go? It is very hard to find places without a cellular network these days! What’s your favorite vacation spot? I really enjoyed Sweden. The people are re- ally nice and there is a great atmosphere. I simply feel good there. What’s your all-time favorite movie? While I don’t have a favorite movie, I do enjoy watching a lot of them. I also regu- larly lower my productivity by watching too many TV shows! If you could invite any five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be? I won’t go with specific names but I would say these would be some of the world’s greatest minds and inventors. I really en- joy listening to people who are thinking outside the box, thinking big, or people who know much more than I do. 59 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series