GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 28 - April 2014

GPWAAFFILIATE INTERVIEWSERIES a lot of them in real life at industry events inVegas in thepast. I’vealsohaveaffiliate buds in Colorado and in the BayArea in San Francisco and Napa, and I see them frequently because I have family living very close to them in those areas. Someof these guys are extremely close tome and are some of my best friends, so it’s been really cool interacting with them face to face as opposed to just online in a Skype conversationor something. You’ve discussed a few incidents of content theft on the GPWA message boards. How difficult is it to deal with contentpiracy?Andwhy is itso important to track down those that steal content? Whoever coined the phrase “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” clearlywas never awebmaster in the iGaming space. It is the single most annoying thing to police and stayon topof, especiallywhen you’re running dozens of sites. Thank God I have some pretty great friends in the industry who have always helped me identify sites that frequently steal my content, or else I would hardly ever catch it. What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? How about in an affiliate program? UnresponsiveAMs are the kiss of death in this industry. If you’re not responding to e-mail for days or weeks at a time, then why should affiliates take any of the time to put up reviews, videos and othermedia for your brands? C’mon,maaannnn! As farasprogramsgo, havingnonegative carryover is always an attractive selling point forme, especiallywhen it comes to casino affiliate programs. Keeping their banner/media sections up to date and e-mailing affiliateswith the latest promos are also pretty big for me, because that way I canupdatemy content properly. Howdifficult is it tofindaqualityaffiliate program for a U.S.-facing online poker site these days? It’s not as nonexistent as you might imagine, but it’s still slim pickings regardless. Ever since “Black Friday” hit the online poker industry there aren’t exactly a huge line of poker rooms that actually have it together. In fact, I could probably list only a handful ofU.S.-facingprograms Iwould trust and promote today. What are you hoping to see improve for affiliates if/when sites start offering affiliate deals in Nevada, New Jersey and other states that have regulated online gambling? I’m hoping that these programs will embrace affiliates as integral parts of their operations. Right now, the legalization of online gaming in a lot of these states is still in its infancy – there’sa longway togobeforemorestates jump on the bandwagon andwe affiliates canfinally capitalizeonUSA trafficagain. I can say, though, that there are a lot of big things going on behind the scenes in Nevada andNew Jersey and therewill be a lot of opportunities fornewandexisting affiliates tomarket toUSAplayers.We just have to prove to these operators that as affiliates we will always be an important assetandwill alwayshaveunique ideas to promote their properties onourwebsites. What’syour preferredmethodof commu- nication with affiliatemanagers? Do you like to talkon the phone, by e-mail or via Skype? Since I’ma slave to technology it’s probably e-mail all the way. I can easily respond on the go or when I’mwatching my son or hanging out with my family – simple as that! And when I’m work- ing inmy office I’m a huge fan of Skype and have uninstalledAIM andMSN . . . they’re justofnouse tomeanymorewhen I can either chat viamykeyboardorweb- camonSkype, yaknow? What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? I first joined years and years ago. What drew me to the community was the amount of information that members just freely gave out, especially in regards to SEO and content management. Back when I was a noob I could never imagine people who barely knew one another would be so nice as to offer helpful tips and advice, especially inabusiness that canbe pretty cutthroat. I’ve done a horrible job of posting at GPWA, especially since I’m such a regu- lar at Poker Affiliate Listings, but I’m hoping to change that going forward – pinkie swear! You recently posted about the disgraced Bitcoin trading site MtGox. Do you have any experience with Bitcoin? And what do you think the future holds for the virtual currency? I have a lot of friends who jumped on the BTC bandwagon when it was in the double figures and have made a pretty small fortune from the unforeseeable rise in value over the past fewmonths.While I think theMtGox controversy taintedBitcoin’s reputation a littlebit, it’sclearlyshown it’shere tostay, as BTC’s value has stabilized nicely since Gox’sdownfall. I believe the future is still pretty bright for crypto-currency likeBitcoin andother similar virtual currency like Dogecoin and Litecoin. If you’re like me and have no faith in the U.S. banking system in its current state then I think BTC is a viable option when it comes to moving money andprotecting it long term – andkeeping it far,FARRRRRaway from“BigBrother.” What do you like about the industry? The freedom it givesme to just do anything I want. There aren’t many jobs where you canwork a couple hours aweek and still pull in sixfigures ayear!!! It’s allowedme the freedom tospend timewithmy family and friends, travel a ton and still have money toput away forwhen I’m ready to retire (although let’s face it, I don’t think I everwant to stopdoingwhat I’mdoing –wouldyou?). Also, the people Iworkwithhave shown me some amazing things and I’ve had the opportunity to mentor some pretty awesome people. Hell, a few of them even make more money than me now! It makes me super proud to see some of the big things they’ve done and gets me motivated to do bigger and better things formyself. If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be? Shady programs and even shadier affiliate managers. I’d like to also see more transparency between programs and affiliates and players. Just stop being horrible and quit trying to pull the wool over the eyes of people who are smarter thanyou andhave the resources toprove fraudulent circumstances. Example: Lock Poker. Enough said. GPWAAffiliate InterviewSeries