For Aksana, Nothing Beats Being Your Own Boss.
Age: 23
Favorite food: Roasted salmon with vegetables and everything with chicken
One book everyone must read: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
How did you become interested in gambling?
My husband helped me learn about gambling although he also knew nothing about it. In 2005 I was a fifth-year student and it was time to find my place in life. I needed to find a job where I could apply my knowledge and get a good salary. I started working as a software developer. At first, this job seemed very good for me and I was very happy to work there. But I hated waking up early and the salary was not so good. At the same time my future husband told me about his friend, and about his friend’s business. I was interested in this business, although it was gambling, which was unknown to me. My husband’s friend explained what online gambling was, how much I could earn, and what I needed to do. Then I started working, working and working.
How did you learn about the online gaming industry?
From the GPWA, of course. It was my first source, and it has been very interesting and useful for me. Thanks to the GPWA forum and GPWA members, I now know a lot of things about the online gambling industry.
My friend was always asking me to register there. He told me that I would find a lot of useful, interesting information, but I was so busy with my site and also still working as a software developer, and at the same time I needed to pass my university exams, so I thought this forum could wait. A year ago, when all exams were passed and I had finished at the university, I decided to learn more about the online gambling industry. I’d already had a site, but I didn’t earn anything from it, so I registered at the GPWA. Soon I was accepted as a private member and my real learning began. I heard through the GPWA about the CAP forum, and that also became a source of knowledge. I started every morning by reading the GPWA and CAP forums for all the news and events in the online gambling industry.
What about the industry interests you?
Entertainment, games, beauty. It’s a very nice industry, but even my work needs some beautiful, fresh ideas that will help to attract more visitors. For example, I like to choose banners by myself; I don’t like it when an affiliate manager asks me only which sizes of banners I need and doesn’t let me choose them. I like to promote casinos with attractive graphics and design. If I see that a casino has poor graphics and looks like a template I will never upload it to my homepage. Also games interest me in this industry. I like to test new games and new casinos; and the unbelievable fact is that all this is my job!
When and why did you decide to become an affiliate?
In March, 2005 I’d decided to start my own business, because I liked this idea. First of all I was interested in this business because I could work at home; that was my dream. I could have my own business without any bosses and managers, and I could earn real money, which was impossible to earn in my country through conventional ways. I ordered a website in one company and in July 2005 I became an affiliate of several programs.
What languages do you speak?
Russian, Belorussian and English.
English is not your first language, yet both of your portals are English-language sites. Why did you choose to operate English-language sites? And what difficulties have you faced in running a site that's not your native tongue?
I chose English because it’s an international language, and most people know it. That was the first reason. The second reason was that my friend told me that the best players were Americans; they liked to gamble, and an English site would bring good money. My friend had a lot of experience and I believed him. I had some difficulties with my English site when I started it. Although I knew English, I didn’t know gambling English. So I read gambling articles and visited gambling sites to learn the correct idioms. Even now my site contains some mistakes, but soon I hope I’ll update all my content when I have enough time.
You're also running a site that targets U.K. gamblers. What attracted you to this market?
I’m trying to target U.K. gamblers, but right now I haven’t had enough time to do it better. So far I’ve only bought a domain name with a co.uk extension, uploaded it to a free hosting site and added some content which is not even unique (one affiliate program allows me to use their content), and that’s all. So I think that to say I’m targeting the U.K. market is not right. Yes, I’m planning to create a large portal for U.K. gamblers, but not now, only after my main portal is finished. The U.K. market attracts a lot of webmasters and attracts me because the government there tries to regulate online gambling to make it safe, secure and fair for U.K. gamblers.
Have you thought about creating a Russian-language portal?
Yes, I’m still thinking about it. Now I have only a subdomain, ru.777-online-gambling.net, which has some Russian traffic. I’m planning to improve it, add more reviews and monitor the results. Maybe I will create a Russian-language portal, but it will be later.
You recently left a full-time job as a software developer to work exclusively as a webmaster. Could you please describe the thought process of your decision?
It was very difficult for me, because it was unusual for me to leave a job in a good company, which is well-known abroad. So, I was afraid to leave it because every month I had a fixed salary. I had been working there for two years, and every morning when I went to work I was thinking only about my site and dreaming how I would leave this company. After my working day I worked at home with my site. I wanted to leave the company as soon as possible and therefore I worked on my site as much as I could. At the end of 2006 my site started to bring me some revenue, but it was not enough to leave the company. At the same time I was offered the opportunity to work at an affiliate program as a software engineer. This would allow me to leave the company and work at home, and would help me to get through this difficult period. I agreed to work at this affiliate program and left the company. Then, on July 1, 2007, I left this affiliate program and finally became a full-time webmaster.
Why did you want to become a full-time webmaster?
The main reason was money. I had a real chance to earn more and I couldn’t miss this chance. And my dreams could come true: to work at home, not get up early, have no bosses and managers, have my own business, earn good money, have a rest and days off whenever you want. So, it’s a dream job, and moreover I like what I do. I can work even 12-14 hours a day and I don’t notice that I’m tired.
What are the big differences between working for yourself and working for someone else?
I hate to work for someone; it’s not for me. The big differences are that you depend on your boss, you have to work for him, every month you have to wait for a special day when you get your salary, sometimes the salary may be delayed – so you are not free. Somebody may say that when you work for someone else you have no risks and you always get your salary. But I prefer to work more, to think more and to earn more. When I worked for others, I didn’t apply all my knowledge and efforts because I knew that my boss wouldn’t pay me the salary I wanted. When I work for myself I understand why I work, what I do, how many hours I work and for what I work.
Which things about working for yourself are easier? Which are more difficult?
Making my own schedule is very easy for me, and I like to do that best of all. Also, nobody can ask me why a particular task wasn’t finished on time. It’s difficult for me to wake up early. Even if I really need to start working earlier than usual, and it’s very urgent to do one thing on my site, in most cases I don’t wake up. And it’s difficult to control all processes; for example, sometimes it’s very difficult getting paid by some affiliate programs.
What challenges do you face working in Belarus that other affiliates might not have to deal with?
One of the challenges is that the Internet is too expensive in my country. We have the most expensive Internet in the world, although we are based in the center of Europe. It’s not a big problem for me now, but it was when I started my site. Another challenge was Neteller, which doesn’t work in Belarus. It was a big problem when I could receive commissions only via wire transfer or checks, but now I have a lot of other good payment methods. At present I don’t have any significant challenges related to being in Belarus.
What do your friends and family think about your gaming business?
My parents don’t know about my business; they think that I'm still working as a software developer. They won’t understand it. Maybe I’ll tell them later, but not now. One of my friends is interested in the business, and some of my friends think that it’s not serious (which is fine with me, because I don’t like when they ask a lot of questions). Of course, this business is very serious for my husband, because he always wanted to start it, but he couldn’t do it without me.
What does your husband do for a living? And when is he going to come to work for you full time?
My husband always helps me in everything. He exchanges links and submits the site to directories. He controls commission payments, and if one of the affiliate programs hasn’t yet paid he tells me about it and asks me to contact them. Also he helps me to do all the household chores. Almost from the launching of our site we decided that he would work only for our site. I couldn’t leave my job, because I’d made a commitment to work there at least a year after university.
What is currently the most difficult part of your work? And why?
Currently writing slot reviews is the most difficult for me, because it takes a lot of time, and to write a good review of a slot game I need to read a lot of other reviews from affiliate programs and try to play it. Video slot is a specific game and it’s very difficult to write about it, so the main problem is in my English – or maybe not, because in Russian it’s also very difficult for me to write a review! For example, at present I understand almost all terms of video slot in English but I don’t know these terms in Russian, so I need to learn video slots in Russian from the beginning.
What were the most difficult challenges for you as a new arrival into the industry? And how did you meet them?
When my site was new, it was very difficult to do link exchanges. I thought if my Page Rank was high I would have good traffic. And therefore I spent a lot of time exchanging links. Every day my husband found sites from Google and sent them offers to exchange links. Some of them replied and we exchanged links. My husband also submitted the site in directories. Another challenge was
SEO; I knew nothing about it. I thought it was enough to add banners, links and reviews from affiliate programs and I would earn money, but it was not true. I started reading articles about how to develop a site, how to make it interesting, and
SEO articles. Also I started reading forums. Another challenge was that I knew nothing about gambling, but I found what I needed in articles and forums.
Your sites have improved tremendously since you first started. What's been the key to their improvement?
Since 2005 I’d been learning something new every day; every day I read new articles, found something new on the Internet, and every day I had new ideas of my site improving. I wrote all my ideas in my diary, and soon I implemented them. Also the GPWA members helped me to improve my site. When I registered I asked members to review my site and they gave me very useful advice. Also key to my site’s improvement was my desire to make it interesting and of high quality. And currently its improvement is a work in progress; I continue to implement all my plans.
How has the GPWA helped you as an affiliate?
The GPWA has helped me to receive my commissions. A lot of affiliate programs don’t like it when affiliates say bad things about them on forums, so when I say to them that if they don’t send commissions I’ll start aggressive campaigns against them on the GPWA, in most cases they send commissions. The GPWA is a bridge between affiliates and affiliate managers, and if I want to contact an affiliate program I almost always do that through the GPWA.
What advice can you offer people who are just starting up in the industry?
I recommend that they read a lot of articles about
SEO and site building, and read forums before they launch their sites. After reading these materials I also recommend that they write their own content. The more you write, the better your chances of turning up in search engines’ results. So, make your sites interesting, imagine that you are players, look at your sites through players’ eyes and you will see what you need to add, and what you need to improve.
How long did it take for you to start earning money?
In March 2005 my domain name was registered, in August 2005 my site was launched, in June 2006 I saw my first commissions in the statistics, and in August 2006 I received them. So, after more than a year I started earning.
What was your favorite subject in school? And why was it your favorite subject?
Mathematics. I always liked to think of it as a self-contained world where everything could be solved. I especially liked Geometry. I knew a lot of theorems and I liked to solve different tasks by applying these theorems.
If you weren't working in online gaming right now, what would you be doing?
I would be continuing to work as a software developer and looking for ways to start my own business. I think I would find something on the Internet, and even become an affiliate of any programs of mobile phones – and maybe someday I would find the GPWA forum and launch my gambling portal!
Do you gamble online? If so, what's your favorite game and why?
I tried to gamble several times, won some money and then lost it. That’s all. Currently I don’t gamble. If I need to try new games I play as a fun player. As a gambler I played only blackjack. In this game I can have some control. I also like video slots, but you can’t control the situation and therefore I don’t play slots for real money.
If you could pick any animal to be for one day, which one would it be? And why?
I would pick the Red Panda. I think it’s one of the most beautiful animals, and it’s a defenseless animal, so I could protect it.
Portal Webmaster Interview Series: Aksana Radaman ("Aksana")
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