GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 3 - January 2008

GPWA TIMES | GPWA Affiliate Interview Series 44 Robert Bray | Continued from p.11 business can tell you, the responsibility for your own business is 24/7. I tend to work six hours with the gym a day and then the rest of the day is spent on Jackpot Avenue. I work in the gym lounge on the couch with a laptop; this is where I built the site and still work every day. It allows me to keep an eye on the gym as well as work on the site. Some days I work on the site an hour or two a day and other times the whole night or weekend. What time management tips can you offer to fellow affiliates? And how do you manage to get work done without actually having a desk? I would advise all new affiliates to do a few hours’ work daily on your sites and when you have time knock out one or two weekends purely on the site. This is a good structure to build up a site around work. I spent a lot of time initially writing content but now I tend to outsource this to my content writer. I give him the titles of the articles and look over the articles but leave the rest to him. I think eventually you need to do this as there is so much else to oversee when running a good casino affiliate site. What are the similarities and differencesbetweenmarketingagym and a casino? For both industries it helps to rank high in Google for your relevant keywords. Most businesses want to rank high in Google, except that I would like Jackpot Avenue to rank high worldwide, but the gym only really needs to rank high for London searches as a customer in Ukraine, unless visiting London the following week, is not much good. How did you get involved in the physical fitness industry? In my teens I trained six days a week eating 6-7 meals a day to become at the time an amateur competitive bodybuilder. This was my passion and then became my career. I studied to be a personal trainer and later became one. I worked as a personal trainer seven days a week in a private studio I rented part time just off Baker Street and in a Fitness First health club. After quite a few years working as a personal trainer I opened Personal Training Studios, my gym in Notting Hill. It’s a gym providing one-on-one training for people who want results fast and also don’t want to train with lots of people; it is a small luxury facility providing for this type of client. You’ve mentioned in the forums that you work most days, holiday or not. How do you keep from burning out? I always have eight hours sleep plus I eat four good meals a day. This is certainly the key. I have never relied on coffee to keep me going but take regular breaks and sometimes a sleep in the afternoon. What was the thought process behind selecting Jackpot Avenue as the name of your site? When I thought of Jackpot Avenue I didn’t know much about SEO, so I didn’t pick it because it included the word jackpot but purely as a strong brand name, which I think it is. How has the GPWA helped you in your work as an affiliate? The GPWA has given me a large portion of the knowledge I needed to set up the site. I have asked everything I needed to know and got most of the answers. Everyone has been very friendly and it is certainly a great affiliate resource for newbies and experts in the affiliate business. What advice canyouoffer peoplewho are just starting up in the industry? Take time picking a great domain name and immerse yourself in the industry as much as you can, visit conferences, use the forums and read everything on the subject you can. Make sure you pick trustworthy, good affiliate programs. Listen to the experienced affiliates in the industry as they have more than likely experienced the good and bad affiliate programs, thus rescuing yourself from being burnt like they may have been. How long did it take for you to start earning money? Six months. Do you gamble online? If so, what’s your favorite game and why? And do you gamble just for fun, or is there a business reason behind it? I gamble online partly for fun now and again, but mainly so I can understand all the sites and games I advertise on my site. The only way to provide your players with accurate advice is by playing the sites yourself. We understand that London is a tough place to find parking. Just how bad is it? How strict is the parking enforcement?Andwhat kindof car do youdrive? London parking has got me angrier than anything else in the last four years. It is terrible. The parking wardens rush round trying to make as much money as they can due to the high commissions the government pays them. I drive a scooter in London as London is becoming so expensive and the congestion charge is one less fee I have to deal with. The parking wardens still get a couple of hundred out of me each year when I park on a yellow line on a Friday night, head to a bar, drink too much, and get a taxi, only remembering when tucked up in bed that I parked on a yellow line. This usually causes me to battle in my head between a £50 fine and picking it up, but usually I fall asleep about this time. Last question: who is your favorite superhero? And why? The Hulk. I think all weightlifters would pick him too, like a lot of rock climbers would pick Spider-Man.