GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 36 - October 2016

not sure of the name; it’s a template on WordPress and most of them use it. But we’ve got a pretty uniqueWeb design, with nice colors. We also have thought about our own way of writing. We always speak straight to the visitor, in the “you” form. And every casino that wants to get listed on our website will get a full listing. A full listing includes aminimumof eight unique SEO pages, with a minimumof a thousand words. That’s a pretty good amount of text, which is also good for people to read. And I think our news section is pretty unique. We write casino news every day. It could be general casino news, new games, new bonuses or news about the legalization of online gaming in the Netherlands. It’s also one of themost-read sections of our website. The Dutch government passed a remote gaming bill in July, and it’s expected to be fully enacted as early as the beginning of 2017. What’s your reaction to this news? How will this bill affect you and your business? This will for sure affect our business and our strategy. Because we are a team of Dutch people, we will prepare a huge translation of our website. We are working with multiple languages at the moment. And when it is all sure and the final date is confirmed, we will start trans- lating our most important pages. But in your question you said beginning of 2017. I think this is impossible with the Dutch government; in my opinion, it will all be arranged at the start of 2018 at the earliest. It would be a great improvement if this goes on because almost everybody in the Netherlands already gambles, and around €500 million goes out of the Netherlands to betting companies in other countries. With this change, we can keep some of it in our own country, I imagine. Do you have employees, or is your affili- ate business a solo operation? It is a two- man operation. I started this website with my former employee KoenVerkerk. Shortly afterwe started to execute this project, it was clear that this was going be a good team. Koen is very strong in technical SEO and the onlinemarketing part of SEO.And I am themanwho leaves the office to set up deals and set up collaborations with partners. I love to chat with the casinos, love to go to conferences, to party, all that kind of stuff. I ama real dealmaker.Above that, we have a few freelancewriters and translators, which we usewhenwe need them. There’s one guy from Kenya, he’s writing for us every day, and he delivers good stuff, and, of course, he gets paid for every word he sends us. So the original team is two, and there are some freelancers hanging around it. Do you gamble yourself? Online or in brick-and-mortar casinos? I love to gam- ble; I don’t do it big, just for fun. Most of the time I do sports betting because placing a bet on the game makes it a little more interesting to watch. And I often go to foreign football games and sports events, and it’s always nice to put a bet on it when you go there. So yes, I like to gamble, but I’m not a big one, I don’t spend hundreds of euros a month on it. Maybe for some, one hundred euro a month is a lot? How often do you get to see and inter- act with other people in the industry? Have you attended any conferences? Through Skype we have daily contact with people from the industry. And I try to attend all iGaming conferences and some other interesting ones. My favorite confer- ence at the moment is the BAC (Berlin). I think it was the first one in Berlin, but I really loved that it’s a new city, and I love the people in Germany, and it’s a nice city to go to. And I really like the interactions with the people in the industry; I just made some appointments with some guys for a meeting in Malta. So there really are some awesome people who work in casinos, and I get to have fun over there. The last two conferences I couldn’t attend because I was on a skiing holiday and a cycling holiday, but I’m definitely going to visit Berlin again. What traits do you look for in an affili- ate manager? How about in an affiliate program? An affiliate manager must not be a pushy one. Pushing affiliates does not work to your advantage. An affiliate is good at what he does; let him do his thing. And if your brand is converting, it will automatically get better positions on the website. It will also get more content. I love it when an affiliate manager is proactive and contacts you with new promotions . . . It’s important that both affiliate manager and network are honest with you. Newcastle United is Sneekes’ (left) favorite football team and he often makes road trips with friends to see their matches in person. GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES 40 W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G