GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 5 - May 2008

52 GPWA TIMES | GPWA Affiliate Interview Series Ellen Jacobs | Continued from page 22 would be surprised at how well freeroll hunters convert to real money players. The freeroll site attracts mostly freeroll hunters, but every now and then you end up with a real money play- er looking to play the freerolls, and overall the conversions are fairly good. The tournament site attracts the seasoned, more serious players for the most part – hence the decent conver- sions. Is marketing poker to women different from marketing to men? And if so, how? The seri- ous poker player is in it to make money, whether you’re a male or female. The market for male poker players is obviously on a much larger scale and that’s why some of these sexy banner ads convert well. But overall I think marketing to women ver- sus men is quite similar. In an ideal world, how would you divide the efforts you put into your site? What percent- age would go tomarketing, up- dating content,managing your books and other tasks (please list the tasks, include a % and an explanation)? Hmm, I’ve never really thought about this one, but I’ll give it a go. 30% goes to updating banners, links and content, including new promotions. I think that this is the most important part of the business. Players are looking for nice sign-up offers, certain promo- tions that they are attracted to. It’s good to have a variety to choose from, and promos change frequently so you need to keep these up to date. 20% goes to adding new poker rooms, casinos and other card games. There are new poker rooms opening up so often now that I get several emails a week asking me to join poker room affiliate programs. I then reply to find out what network they are with, and ask other ques- tions I may have. If they reply in a timely manner and I feel I can use them, 30% of my time right now is going to my forum www.po - keranalysis.com, which I co- own with my ex-husband for the time being. Until we decide who will own it, I’m putting in a lot of time with it. I have to spend at least an hour or two a day there to answer questions. We have a freeroll and buy-in league which I have to stay on top of with a league game going every other day or so. 10% goes to managing books. I check stats maybe once or twice a week with the biggest rooms, and I keep records of all income, expenses, etc. 10% goes to keeping in contact with a handful of affiliate man- agers, either by email, phone or MSN. What advice would you offer someone who has just started in the industry? I just talked a good friend of mine from Ten- nessee into starting up in this industry and first thing I said was to join the webmaster fo- rums and start reading, posting and asking questions. GPWA and CAP are so useful, I suggest that every webmaster join the forums and become active. I also say it takes time; nothing hap- pens overnight and most who get into this business will not be able to make a living off of it. I worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day the first year to get where I am. Then I slowed down to maybe six hours a day, five days a week, and the last few years it’s a few hours a day or more. And if I want a vaca- tion, I can take off for a week and not stress too much. If you had to pick five keys to success as an affiliate, what would they be and why? Be honest, ethical, know the prod- uct whether it’s casino games or poker, never be scared to ask questions or ask for help from other webmasters, keep your sites updated with the lat- est info. And a sixth one I have to add is to provide resourceful information. I think all of those things make a reputable and profitable web- master. It’s so important to know what you’re selling, make sure to let the customers know everything so they can decide if they want to download that ca- sino or poker room. And if you play yourself, people trust you more; it’s a big selling point.. What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? How about in an affiliate program? The first thing I look for is promptness with return e-mails or phone calls. I realize that many affiliate managers have too many affiliates to handle so you can’t expect responses in hours or a day, but a few working days to me is plenty of time to at least respond. The next important thing is the reading and accuracy of stats. If something isn’t tracking prop- erly and the affiliate manager isn’t quick to take care of the problem and come up with a good reason why it happened, I will probably kiss them good- bye. If I’ve been involved for a long time with the program and this happens, which is the case right now with one particular program, I stick it out and give second chances, but I will warn new affiliates about any prob- lems. I feel this is only fair. What prompted you to join the GPWA? And how has it helped you so far? As I mentioned earlier, I was in contact with Cynthia Carley, the original owner of the GPWA, and that’s how I first got involved with it. It has helped me in many ways. I was warned of rogue affili- ate programs early on, and got help from other webmasters with how to do certain things in Dreamweaver. I’ve had other webmasters critique my sites at times. The GPWA has helped me in so many ways. You’ve mentioned you like to go to the gymat least four days aweek.What areyourworkouts like? What kinds of exercise do youdo? In 2004 I gained A LOT of weight. I had just quit smok- ing and then found out I had an autoimmune disease of the thy- roid, so you can imagine how quickly I piled on the pounds! I started working out probably three years ago, but have gotten really serious in the last year. Unless I am sick, I am at the gym anywhere from three to six days a week. A normal week is four days for me. I try to get in two body-pump classes and two RPM (spin) classes. And just this week I started taking karate with my partner. We also try to get a good bike ride in at least once a week. I’ve lost more than half of the weight I