GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 39 - November 2017

These four webmasters have found their niches and plan to fill them We swear we didn’t do this on purpose, but three out of this issue’s four affiliates focus predominantly or exclusively on sports betting—one on mobile sports betting, one on the Bulgarian market, and one on the U.K. market. Our fourth affiliate also has a pretty specific lane: helping players navigate the legal, regulated Belgian casino market. Here, they share their thoughts and advice on succeeding in a saturated, fiercely competitive industry. * Due to space constraints, we could not print the interviews in their entirety. The complete text is posted on the GPWA forums. This affiliate got his start in domaining, and self-educated his way into the iGaming sphere GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES How did you first get into the iGaming business? The first time I learned about the iGaming industry in 2012, I can say that it was a very random discovery. One day, I learned that the domain vodka.com was sold for $3 million, and that was quite a surprise to me. Back then I was an ordi- nary internet user, and such news made a shocking impression on me. Of course, after getting involved with domaining I had very little in the way of results, just like most beginners. I started to analyze the market, the demand and sup- ply, and the market trends and dynamics. And then I noticed that, alongwith financial and adult domains, gambling domains had great demand – their prices were reaching to hundreds of thousands of dollars. I found using the domains sold at such prices just for advertising purposes strange. I was thinking there was anoth- er, hidden goal. Apparently, I had no idea about affiliate marketing. After a lot of research, I found out about the gambling industry and affiliate marketing. Tell us about your sites. When did you launch them? How long did it take for you to start making money? I started to work on my first gambling website in January 2015. At the beginning, it was very difficult – I didn’t knowHTML and wasn’t familiar with WordPress, but the most difficult part was the content. With the help of YouTube videos, I started to learn and created SportsBetting777.com by solving the problems step by step. I received income from it for the first time quite late, after almost one year. It was really encouraging to see the results of the work I did over the months, day and night. Your sites are in English, but your GPWA profile says you speak Armenian, Rus- sian and Spanish, as well. Do you have any plans to translate your site into other languages? Why or why not? Yes, my websites are in English. Researching the industry, its potential and the legal states in different countries, I decided to focus on the U.K. market, because it is more liberal. Some time ago I tried to translate some of the website content into other languages, but the resultsweren’t as good as I expected. However, making SportsBetting777multilin- gual is included amongmy long-termplans. Are you a full-time or part-time affiliate? Since 2016 I have been a full-time affiliate. EURO 2016 gave me that opportunity. Now I enjoy my work, and it provides me with income. I would advise beginners to seriously re- search the industry, educate themselves and get as much information as possible before making any serious investment. I also have several other non-gambling-relat- edprojects; however, they aremore for learn- ing, applying new tactics and as a hobby. Do you have employees, or do you run your site by yourself? I work on my web- sites on my own. I have several contacts with content writers who provide me with necessary materials. A friend of mine is helping me with web development, with whose help and direct participation it was Vardan - vardan W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G 42