GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 6 - September 2008

GPWA Affiliate Interview Series 60 GPWA Times | Bill Jordan | Continued from page 27 be had. You put £20 ($40) into a U.K. slot machine, play mini- mum bet, and it can be gone in less than five minutes. It was only when I visited Ve- gas on vacation that I discov- ered that slots could give good value entertainment. Not only were the slots far more inter- esting than U.K. slots, with multi-line, 5-reel video slots, fun bonus rounds, multiplayer games, etc., but I found that you could make your money last by playing penny slots and also get free drinks, comps, etc. After that vacation, I went home and searched for Ve- gas slots online. There didn’t seem to be a great deal out there focusing on them (prob- ably because U.S. players can’t play IGT slots online for real money), so I decided to start my own site. My favorite slots in the bricks and mortar casinos? I really like the big multiplayer Wheel of Fortune slot, although it is quite expensive to play. My fa- vorite penny slot is called Pen- ny Barn, but it’s old and so dif- ficult to find now. My favorite online slots are Cleopatra and Wolf Run. I get a buzz out of playing the Vegas slots online, as they give a little bit of that feeling of being in a bricks and mortar casino. You mentioned on the forums that youwere interested in set- ting up an opt-in newsletter. What kind of progress are you making on it? Most visitors to my site are U.S. players look- ing for free Vegas slots online. So, I wanted a way of inform- ing people when there was a new free Vegas slot released. Unfortunately, Wagerworks recently stopped allowing U.S. players to play IGT slots for free, which means I can’t help them in that respect anymore. So, I’m now spending my time re-designing the site to focus on other types of slot play U.S. players might have enjoyed in Vegas, like slot tournaments. Once I’ve done that, I’ll get the newsletter up and running. The good thing is that the re- sponse to my question on the forum was really useful and so I now have all the information I need to set one up. Thanks, everyone! Why was it important to you to attend trade shows? For me, attending these shows has been essential. They have provided a great opportunity to put faces to the names of people I’ve been working with online, which is important to me. Also, the shows are great for getting an update on the latest industry developments and to meet with real experts in the industry. The CAP con- ference was really useful for me, too. The SEO question and answer session was particu- larly good and I gained a lot of useful knowledge about how to go about optimizing and mar- keting in order to get useful, targeted traffic. How long did it take for you to start earning money? Amaz- ingly, my first revenue came almost immediately after I uploaded my site for the first time. I had about 10 sign-ups and a few deposits in the first few days. I also had visions of making a fortune very quickly! After that, there was a period of a few months before I saw regular traffic and revenue coming in. I still have no idea why I had that initial success in those first few days. What do you wish you knew when you got started in the in- dustry that you know now? I wish I had known the benefits of joining the GPWA as a pri- vate member. The information on the private boards is a tre- mendous resource to the new- bie. It would have saved me a lot of wasted time and effort had I joined earlier. What advice would you offer someone who has just start- ed in the industry? Join the GPWA as a private member, take part in forums and learn as much as you can from peo- ple who have been there and done it already. At the same time, find your own niche and develop it. Ask yourself how your site will be different from all the other portals, who you will be marketing to and why they would like to visit your site regularly once they have discovered it. If you had to pick five keys to success as an affiliate, what would they be and why? Only promote sites that you know and trust. If you don’t trust a site enough to deposit your ownmoney, then you shouldn’t expect your visitors to do so. - Learn from others – Join GPWA and ask questions on the forums. - Patience is key – this is es- pecially true when you are starting out and trying to build good traffic to the site. It does take a lot of time and effort. - Only do it if you enjoy it. If you don’t enjoy it, then every- thing is automatically 10 times more difficult. - Get to know which affiliate programs work for your site. Some will work and others will not. What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? How about in an affiliate program? I expect them to be available to provide a quick response when I have a query. I also expect them to be honest and respect- ful, which means never trying the hard sell. With respect to the programs themselves, they have to represent a casino I trust and enjoy playing. After that, a lot comes down to the terms and conditions. There are programs out there with ‘predatory’ terms and condi- tions. In an ideal world, how would you divide the efforts you put into your site? What percent- age would go to marketing, updating content, managing your books and other tasks? Creating new content and up- dating the site – 50% Marketing – 20% Research, like reading forums, testing out casinos, attending industry conferences, etc. – 20% Managing books, examining stats etc – 10% One of the things that everyone tells you when you start is that ‘content is king.’ It’s become a cliché, but it really is true. Pag- es on my site that I consider to have good and useful con- tent really do convert well, but those pages I know are poor are worse than useless. Like many other affiliates, I have found it challenging to get the balance right and I still spend too much time thinking about the design of the site, and look- ing at stats, when I should be creating new content. So I need to work a lot more on the content in the future. What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? And why is it important to you? I decided to join GPWA because I wanted to learn from experts in the business. Joining has been tremendously impor- tant to me for the information found in the private forums and also in having the forums as a simple way to pose ques- tions to the experts out there. I’m impressed by the commu- nity and the professionalism that GPWA members tend to have. If you could change one thing about the online gaming in- dustry, what would it be, and why? I would like to see all countries legalize and regulate online gambling as they have done in the U.K. British play- ers can select a reputable and trustworthy online casino to play at that is regulated by the U.K. government and that is a good thing for the industry as a whole – players, casinos and those involved in marketing.