GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES pliance constantly has been both challenging and rewarding. For the first time in my 15-year affiliate career I am proud to identify with what we are doing, and feel validated in my profession in personal circles. Years ago, when people asked me what I did for a living, often the answer was “build websites” or “online marketing.” Half of my neighborhood thought I was a professional gambler, the other half though I was a bookie. Neither was accurate, but the industry still lived in the shadows here in America, and I’m glad to finally be out from under that curtain. Most people now understand what it is I do, and the companies I work with are familiar to them. What advice would you have for a fellow iGaming affiliate looking to break into the U.S. market? The simple advice I would offer to any affiliate looking to enter the U.S. space is get startAlso back in 2013, you told us that your sites attracted players “from almost every country in the world.” Is this still the case or have you zeroed in your concentration on a smaller number of markets? This is still the case, thankfully – but we are mostly focused on the U.S. market for now, considering the scale of the opportunity in the largest gambling market in the world. For many years we focused on the U.K., Europe, and to a lesser extent, Asia – all while patiently waiting for our home market to open up. Now that we can promote online gambling in our home country, we are laser focused on that market. Thankfully we still have some good revenue streams that are international. This helps provide some peace of mind. Your company generates a large volume of content on a daily basis. How do you manage to produce that much content with a small staff? We experimented the last couple of years with building a bigger news team, and publishing lots of content that had short life cycles. Other companies have executed this strategy with great success and, honestly, we struggled to make it work. A decision was made last year to go back to focusing on high-quality, long formevergreen content – it’s what has always worked for us in the past, and continues to work now. I guess this is an example where it pays to know your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. Is it still true that “content is king”? What are some of the other key elements to attracting organic traffic? Absolutely, and I’d take it a step further “good content is king.” Writing an article that is already covered dozens or even hundreds of times isn’t going to get you anywhere, focus on finding topics that are helpful to people looking for answers. Answer questions in ways that others aren’t, always be on the lookout for new and emerging topics and brands. How much time do you specifically spend on SEO for your sites on weekly basis? I pretty much live and ed now, the market is getting incredibly crowded and it will only get worse in the next few years. If the licensing process seems daunting, and it certainly can be in some states, focus on states where licensing is not required. Illinois, Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, are all very big markets that don’t require affiliates to be licensed. Beyond that, I would advise new affiliates in the U.S. market to laser focus on finding less competitive niches that are hyper specific, and not generic in the approach. What are some things that you wish you knew 10 years ago about the industry that you now know to be facts? Everything changes, constantly. It’s easy to find success early on and think that income stream will always be there, or that website you built will always rank well. Always have multiple back up plans. G P W A t i m e s . o r g 46
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