GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 28 - April 2014

GPWAAFFILIATE INTERVIEWSERIES I have a lot of casino testing (on mobile devices) to do in the near future for my High Tech Gambling project – which should be fun. I’m open to offers from AMs who are doing interesting things in themobile space. If you’d like tomake it easy forme to test your products then let me know, although I can’t guarantee any top spots at this stage. How long do you give yourself for answering e-mail? I am pretty quick on thewhole. How do you manage your “to-do” lists? Do you use any special software to help you out? As a project manager for many years I’m pretty good at organizing and prioritizing and tend to work very intensely for 10+ hours a day. I feel genuinely annoyed with myself if I’ve had an unproductive day; I’m my own harshest critic. How much time do you devote to SEO and/or social networking inorder todrive more traffic to your sites? Not much, really. I understand both areas andmake an effort to get my on-page optimization right. Someofmy content gets shares and likes reasonably frequently, although this is almost impossible for things like bonus codepages. What’s the most difficult thing about running your sites? Technology – I really haveno ideahow it allworks. What’s the best thing about running your sites? The psychology, getting into the heads of the readers and working out how they think,what theywant andhow to convert them. What do you do to stay in shape – both physicallyandmentally? I run three times aweek and eat healthy food. Itblowsmymindhowbadly somepeople treat their own bodies. I look at it like a game with a house edge – which the Reaperwillwin in the end.Whygivehim an extra 10 percent edge by eating junk food, 10 percent more by eating excess processed sugars, 20 percent (at least!) by smoking, 15 percent by not staying fit – and so on? People seem to play the game of staying alive andhealthyverybadly. For mental health I practice gratitude and visualizing positive outcomes – and occasionallybreak things. If someone were visiting you, what’s the one place you’d definitely take them to see? Here in Budapest it would have to be the Szechenyi Baths. These are natural thermal baths in anhistorical building. When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go? Gettingaway fromwork isnot something I am very good at. I have never really understood the concept of relaxing, somy answer would have to be that I get away bymakingmyself extrabusy. What’s your favorite vacation spot? I love the Thai Islands, withCosta Rica a close second. What’s your all-time favorite movie? Difficult one. I liked Inception and like sci- fi ingeneral – and anythingwithorcs. If you could invite any five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be? This is a hard question. There would have to be people present whom I donotagreewith–toomanypeoplespend their days in the bubble of those who share their worldview. I’ll go with these: Shakespeare – I think he would have a coolsenseofhumor,and that16th-century banterwouldbeworth engaging in. Rene Descartes – For a good debate on artificial intelligence. Kylie Minogue – For decoration. She wouldneed topromisenot to sing. Kurt Vonnegut – To gather writing tips and insights into thehuman condition. Maggie Thatcher – I’d like to ask her views on Vladimir Putin. I think they wouldhave got onwell. What are three things that nobodyknows about you? 1. I run a private content service in addi- tion tomywebsites, supplying content whichblows away run-of-themillwrit- ers to someof themost successful affili- atesout there– inanumber of different verticals. You’d need to be very nice to me to be allowed in, although the door isnot entirely closed. 2.Many of my close friends know me as “Evil Mark” or just “Evil.” This is because of my dry sense of humor rather than anything evil in the theist mythologysense (orat least that iswhat they tellme).MeltedFeltwasmyoutlet for this formanyyears, andstillgets the occasional update. 3.My degree is in psychology and I’m on a lifelong mission to uncover the mysteries of the female mind. Yeah, I know –mission impossible! GPWAAffiliate InterviewSeries