GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 32 - June 2015

How much time do you devote to SEO and/or social networking in order to drive more traffic to your sites? We in- vest a lot of time in these two items. For social networking we have a full-time worker on that, but in terms of team hours it’s actually a small percentage of the time we invest here. If we could, we would spend more time on that, as we have seen social networks become a good source of traffic. Every day we move our social pag- es, at least on the main websites. As for SEO, we focus on creating new con- tent either by new messages in the forum or by new articles on the website. What’s the most difficult thing about running your sites? What’s the best thing about running your sites? The answer is the same for us. The most difficult thing to manage is the forum and the communi- ty. It is a big community, and sometimes interactions can create conflicts that can be hard to manage. Often those conflicts happen during difficult hours, holidays, etc. But it has to be done in that moment; it can’t wait. That’s the most difficult part of this job. But on the other hand, the best and most rewarding things also come from the fo- rum and our forum members. It’s a dy- namic community with real people that many times can get to know each other in person, and we have made some good friends this way! What do you do to stay in shape – both physically and mentally? To break the routine, we have hobbies! Every once in a while we have go-karting championships with the entire team. That’s awesome to unite the team and relax at the same time. But of course the gym two or three times a week is good to clear the mind. Some of us prefer to go in the morning before work, and others go after work. If someone were visiting you, what are some places you’d definitely take them to see? We love our city. Maybe we would start by climbing the Clérigos Tower in the city center, followed by a one-hour trip on the river for the “six bridges cruise.” Then we would have a drink in a terrace bar on the riverside near Dom Luís I Bridge. Serra do Pilar is a great sightseeing spot nearby, in Vila Nova de Gaia (south side). From there you’ll have a breathtaking view of Porto. For those who like to go out at night and have a drink, we recommend the area nearby Rua da Galeria de Paris, which has very good nightlife. For those who prefer nature, we recommend a visit to the city park. With 83 hectares and 10 kilometers of pedestrian walkways, it’s the only city park in Europe connected to the beach! We also recommend visiting other cities and areas like the Douro wine region, the capital city (Lisbon), the beaches in Algarve, and even some Portuguese is- lands like Madeira and Açores! When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go? On vacation! Pedro: I prefer to go to the countryside for a few days, where there is no Internet or cell phone network. Rui: I prefer to go to Madeira on holi- days and hike on the beautiful trails in deep nature. We both agree that when we need to get away from the work, we like pre- cisely that: to be as far away as possible from work. What are some of your favorite vacation spots? Pedro: I love the Douro wine re- gion, the Douro river valley. Rui: It’s also in Portugal, but requires a flight. The Madeira Islands have it all: na- ture, beach, breathtaking landscapes and very good food. What are some of your team’s all-time favorite movies? Rui: I prefer movies to relax and just enjoy the action, the so- called popcorn movies. The Matrix is my favorite right now. Pedro: I prefer historical movies. Here is a small list of my favorites: Schindler's List , Ben-Hur , Casablanca and Black Cat White Cat . If your team could invite any five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be? This is the toughest question so far, so we decided to call the help of our team to answer. We took a vote and the final five we chose were: 1. Albert Einstein, for everything he could teach us; 2. Eusébio, great Portuguese football player, to hear all his stories; 3. Confucius, Chinese philosopher, to find out if it was really him who wrote or said everything we find on the Inter- net quoting him; 4. Gordon Ramsay, to cook the best meal ever; 5. And last but not least, we would take the inventor of “Francesinha” sauce (Fran- cesinha is a Portuguese sandwich origi- nally from Porto), so that he could teach Ramsay the secret of the original sauce! 57 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series