I am curious

[mlauriat]

I am curious as to the members of GPWA and owners of these gambling web-sites, does everybody here make a full time living off of these sites, do some of you have full time jobs on the side? I don't want to know what people make, that is none of my business, but I find these sites amazing. I always check the copyright dates on the bottom of the home pages and some of these have been established for years, so they are obviously growing leaps and bounds. And is this a busines that continues to grow or do you actually have players fall of the grid and pop back up later? Do you do alot of advertising? I would appreciate any insight on this from anyone who is well established or even starting out. Thanks so much.

[wagerprofits]

A serious amount of people make a full time gig out of affiliate marketing a small % are making serious money I know of several affiliate that have 6 figure cheques every month, I know of one company based in Costa Rica that have 50 staff working on there sites....


Shaun

I am curious as to the members of GPWA and owners of these gambling web-sites, does everybody here make a full time living off of these sites, do some of you have full time jobs on the side? I don't want to know what people make, that is none of my business, but I find these sites amazing. I always check the copyright dates on the bottom of the home pages and some of these have been established for years, so they are obviously growing leaps and bounds. And is this a busines that continues to grow or do you actually have players fall of the grid and pop back up later? Do you do alot of advertising? I would appreciate any insight on this from anyone who is well established or even starting out. Thanks so much.

[mlauriat]

Thanks Shaun, that is absolutely amazing. Now this company with 50 employees, are

they gambling or other types of affiliations? And have they been around for a long time?

Knowing what I know now I am not sure that I would have chosen gambling for the simple

reason that the market is so saturated but it has allowed me the privilege of meeting some

awfully nice people and for that I am very grateful. If I ever go back to Costa Rica I plan on

visiting with you guys, maybe I will be able to watch a paintball war. LOL

[GamTrak]

I started out in 2001 and this is my only job. I've managed to support myself and do the majority of travelling that I want whenever I want. I have the 'toy's that I want and manage to save for the future.

I've been really fortunate to find this livelyhood as it's perfect for me as I get bored easily and this job is to overwhelming to get bored.

We bought a newly built home in 2006 that is almost 4,000 square feet for two adults and two furkids that we were able to fully furnish after I wasted a ton of money by shipping our belonging to the Dom Rep. and then decided to leave after 3 months and decided to gave everything away to the locals.

Taking the leap of faith and quiting my day job has been the best decision I ever made. The only drawback is that I work to much and need to spend more time and attention to my hubby and furkids.

[mlauriat]

Very impressive Robin, thanks for being so candid, your web-sites are gorgeous, so professional looking.

[GamTrak]

Thanks for the kind words Marilyn!

I would have answered more about the players and such, but to be honest I have not had time to study my stats for over a year. I hired my mom to take care of all my affiliate account bookkeeping and I give staff a percentage of what I make and they are responsible for telling me who owes what, payment method used and when I can expect it.

Once it hits my bank I do payroll from their records which I keep and send a copy to mom. hehe

I do think that it varies greatly about the players as some programs have excellent retention and then others will contact you asking what they can do to improve conversions and I want to say "that's NOT my job! I send the traffic and you need to get them to sign up and continue to play", but I don't. hehe

It would be nice to know my player information and stats like some, but I'd rather spend my time completing the last two major projects that I have and then take a long vacation where I would spend it doing something like that.

If you have any more questions or need any tips then just holla!

[MichaelCorfman]

We actually had a poll on this topic some time ago. You can see it here:

Have you or do you want to make the jump to working on a portal being your main job?.

In general, I think the polls are full of a lot of interesting information, and I highly recommend looking through them to discover the many gems they contain.

Michael

[mlauriat]

Thank you Michael, I think that's a great suggestion, my problem is I start looking around and then I end up being so entertained that I lose focus on where I was going. LOL, old age does that to me. There are some fun people on here.

[dino4949]

I have affiliate sites for a hobby, i have a full time job.
I started out small and i am growing slowly. I also know i am still a newbie (i think that).

[wagerprofits]

A great way to start is by having your sites as a hobby and then once you have a good solid income stream, take the step and tell you boss what he can do with is job.....

A number of affiliates that I work with now make 3 or 4 times what they with a day job.

I wish you luck, I think this industry can make dreams people always dream of being able to open at laptop and work anywhere in the this industry and the trading indsurty allow you to do that.

Shaun

I have affiliate sites for a hobby, i have a full time job.
I started out small and i am growing slowly. I also know i am still a newbie (i think that).

[dino4949]

A great way to start is by having your sites as a hobby and then once you have a good solid income stream, take the step and tell you boss what he can do with is job.....

A number of affiliates that I work with now make 3 or 4 times what they with a day job.

I wish you luck, I think this industry can make dreams people always dream of being able to open at laptop and work anywhere in the this industry and the trading indsurty allow you to do that.

Shaun

Wow that would be great yes.

[casinobonusguy]

When I started my first gambling site I did it for a hobby and thought if i can make a few hundred a month would be great. Now 5 years later I have nearly 100 websites and we have nearly a dozen full and part time people.
My partner and I just sold off 47 non gambling websites so we can concentrate 100% on this industry.


Judy

[aksana]

I started my site that to leave my full-time job. A year later I left it and became a full-time webmaster. But my first year was very very difficult, but it was one of the most important year in my life.

[Dominique]

The first year I made very little and all went back into the site. Then it slowly started taking off. I still pump a good portion of revenues back into the business after 8 years. I find that this is the only industry worth putting my time into, although I have some other types of sites now too.

I worked very hard all these years, long long days and 7 days a week. It has been fun and profitable, I love travelling to conventions (although I wish for shorter flights) and I am completely debt free.

There are always new challenges when you work online, and it keeps it interesting and challenging. Never a boring moment in all these years.

I have always been an entrepreneur and hope to never be employed. I like the freedom, and there is a pride of the work accomplished I just don't think you can get when you work for someone else.

It may seem like a lot to learn, but really, you never finish learning. And regarding the competition, I was told the same thing when I started. The market is too crowded, I will never be able to compete.

If you apply yourself, think outside the box and provide a good service to players, you'll do fine.

[giggles7p]

Well i started in the business 6 years ago as a gambler, then i found gambling fourms, and after a year i started moderating at one, then two, then three, and then finally after 2 years i decided to try my own forum. After 6 months i started making some money and i thought, hey this is cool! lol...i love gambling, know alot about it, and i am meeting some great people, it was just what i wanted. I had never even thought of opening a portal, new nothing about them. i was happy with my little forum of 870 members and running contests and working with the casinos. But then my husband lost his job, about 2 years ago, and things got tough, so i started my own portal, and that was a learning experience! I would never of been able to work my way through all the ins and outs of this business if i hadn;'t found "Affiliate Forums like CAP, GPWA, GIA, etc...this was the turning point for me. I have learned so much valuable information, and little by little i have improved what i do and how i do it. THere has been a lot said in the past two days or so about "content theft" , i was guilty of this when i first started out, i had no idea it was against the rules until a couple of webmasters showed me what a no no it is. lol....Still to this day, i have issues with PR releases, i thought they were fine to copy and post at your sites, but some people still tell me its really not a good idea? so i am still confused about somethings, and i am never afraid to ask now. But my real money just started coming in this past year, and it has nothing to do with either of my sites!! lollllllllllll...i have found content writing, and casino and slot reviews as my "niche" in this business. lol who would of thought! I used to love to write, but never went to school for it, so gave up on writing, and now....20 years later, i am making a decent living "writing"!! LOL

So, i have my sites, which are part time, and my writing is full time now, so in this business, you never know what will come your way or how thats the best part about it, it is very spontanenous and never dull!

Good Luck with whatever you do, and enjoy yourself, thats what will make or break you. If you really enjoy what your doing, you will succeed.

Cheers
Pat