GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES It’s been more than 10 years since we first sat down with you as part of the GPWA Affiliate Interview Series (Issue 25, June 2013). Back then you told us you launched your first poker site in 2008 and that you had over 100 websites and 400 domains. How have things changed for you over the last decade? I guess I’m officially a dinosaur in the industry, since my last interview for GPWA I’ve developed and sold a few dozen websites, hundreds of domains, and consolidated our portfolio down to just a couple important websites we are working on as a very small team. Currently I have just five websites, three of which are what I’d qualify as “starter” sites, or just barely under development. Our main project the last few years has been BettingUSA.com, which we launched in 2014 in anticipation of the U.S. market eventually legalizing. As a team of two, with a few freelancers, we are doing our best to compete with giant media companies. I like to think that the information we present on BettingUSA.com is genuine, authentic, and less commercial than our competition. For example, we review every brand that legally does business in the U.S. market, whether we have an affiliate deal in place or not. The idea is to build trust with players first, and search engines second. The rest of our projects are currently in development, but realistically we don’t have a large enough team to handle them. A couple of years ago I merged smaller sites into a bigger one, and sold off some older projects in order to improve our focus. The U.S. market is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we are determined to become a success story for the “little guys.” I highly recommend that smaller affiliates focus on one or two projects versus starting dozens of new ones. It’s a lot harder to get traction compared to 10 years agowhenmini-sites could penetrate the SERPs and aging was valuable. I’m also an active domain buyer and seller, generally focusing on premium keyword domains. I currently have over 650 gambling domains in my portfolio. I didn’t intend to become a domain seller, but I’ve exceeded six figures in sales every year since 2015 doing it, so I guess it’s become a genuine part of our business strategy. and Prosper Adapt With 15years as an iGaming affiliate under his belt, “MJM” is changing with the times, but it’s his experience that sets the groundwork forhis success Mike Murphy - MJM G P W A t i m e s . o r g 44
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