Affiliate Interview Series: Imre Szucs - vmlinuz

**vinism** · 11 November 2009, 2:48 pm

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Age: 24<o:p></o:p>
Hometown: <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Reghin</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Romania</st1:country-region></st1:place><o:p></o:p>
Currently residing in: <st1:place w:st="on">Transylvania</st1:place><o:p></o:p>
Favorite food: Goulash (traditional Hungarian food)<o:p></o:p>
One book everyone must read: Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown<o:p></o:p>
Sites: sportfogadas.org, sfstats.net, ghidpariuri.ro, bonusz.info, bonushunter.ro<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
You’ve got an interesting group of sites, with sportsbetting being the predominant offering on all of them. What motivated you and your partner, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:city>, to focus on sportsbooks? My partner, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:city>, always liked sportsbetting. He started at offline bookmakers, but eventually switched to online bookmakers after doing some research. He visited some sites and also learned about affiliate programs.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What are your favorite sports teams? <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:city>'s favorite team is AC Milan ?that's where his nickname comes from. I'm not much into sports, so I don't have a favorite team.<o:p></o:p>
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You operate principally in the Hungarian and Romanian markets. Any plans to move more aggressively into other markets? We're planning on creating a German version of our stats site and something about sportsbetting also in German.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What prompted you to join the online gambling industry? Why did you become an affiliate? What were you doing before you became an online gambling affiliate? <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Milan</st1:place></st1:city> and I used to live together during college. He came with the idea of building a Web site about online bookmakers in Hungarian. I was studying computer science and knew a couple of things about building Web sites and started working on it. That's how we got into it and learned about gambling affiliate programs. We knew about affiliate stuff, but never thought it would generate a good income. Obviously we were wrong. Before becoming an affiliate I was at college. In my free time I worked as a freelancer building a couple of Web sites.<o:p></o:p>
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What prompted you to join the GPWA? Has membership helped you in any way? If so, how? I didn't know about the GPWA until this year. We were thinking about going to CAP Amsterdam this year but an affiliate manager invited us to CAC Amsterdam, which was on a better date for us. We learned about the GPWA on the CAC Web site and registered. I started to read the forum and liked it. It was something that we didn't know existed, a place where other affiliates like us were talking about a lot of interesting things, not to mention the presence of affiliate programs on the forum. Then came the private membership application, the approval, talks with other members, etc. It certainly helped in finding valuable info and in establishing better contact with some programs.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
How did you choose your GPWA screen name? This is a nickname I use everywhere. I started using it in 2002 if I remember correctly. I was a Linux fan back then (still am), and used this name in some IRC channels.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What influence, if any, does feedback from GPWA members have on you as you develop and fine-tune your sites? I haven’t asked for any feedback yet but I will on new sites.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
Do you like to gamble? If so, what are your favorite games at a live casino, and what are your favorites online? I like to play poker once in a while. I used to bet in the beginning but it wasn't anything serious. I never played in a live casino but I'd like to try it sometime.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
You’ve been an affiliate since 2005. As you look back over the last four years, what’s the worst thing you’ve had to deal with so far? What’s the best thing that’s happened? The worst thing was probably when our main site, sportfogadas.org, was excluded from Google because it had hidden keywords in it (we're pretty sure somebody sent a complaint to Google). It took a month to get it back. I didn't know much about SEO back then but this pushed me to learning a lot about it. The best thing happened this year when we attended CAC Amsterdam. We'd never been to a conference before so this was a new experience. We met a couple of other affiliates and affiliate managers and spent some pleasant days in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Amsterdam</st1:city></st1:place>. <o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What’s your favorite vacation spot? Why? I like hills and mountains and we have plenty here in <st1:place w:st="on">Transylvania</st1:place> so this makes this place my favorite vacation spot. I can always find something new here, something to explore. I also like to travel abroad and visit new places.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What does your family think about your work as an affiliate? They have mixed opinions about it. My parents say it's an uncertain income. Other family members don't even understand what it is, so I tell them I work in advertising.<o:p></o:p>
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How long was it before your sites started earning you money? We made some after the first month. It wasn't much but we invested it in buying a domain and paid hosting for our site. In the second month we made a little more and took a couple of friends out for pizza to celebrate. As time passed, our incomes started growing.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
You’re based in <st1:place w:st="on">Transylvania</st1:place>, and vampires are incredibly cool right now (“Twilight,?“True Blood,?etc.). How are the undead of <st1:place w:st="on">Transylvania</st1:place> dealing with all of this newfound notoriety, or celebrity, depending on one’s point of view? It's good for tourists but natives don't really care about it. I, for example, first learned about Dracula from some movies and cartoons as a kid. Since then I’ve seen a couple of other movies about Dracula but most of them weren't even shot here and have nothing to do with Vlad Tepes, considered to be the real Count Dracula. It's a story, nothing more.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What challenges do you face operating out of <st1:place w:st="on">Transylvania</st1:place> that other affiliates might not have to face? I can't think of any challenges, but there are some advantages: we speak Hungarian as a native language and Romanian as an official language. This makes operating in two markets easier.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
What do you know now about the industry that you wish you’d known when you got started? Communication with affiliate managers is important. We didn't realize this in the beginning and just signed up for a bunch of programs. We also didn't know much about rogue programs and bookmakers and predatory affiliate terms.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
If you had to pick 5 keys to success as an affiliate, what would they be and why? Good content. I know everybody says this but it's true. You need it for your visitors and for SEO. You need patience, especially in the beginning. Design: a site looks more professional with good design but don't forget about readability. Don't promote programs that don't generate any revenue after 6-8 months; it's a waste of advertising space. Be fully informed about everything that's going on in this industry even if it's not relevant to your market.<o:p></o:p>

**hiddenchamp** · 11 November 2009, 6:13 pm

Nice interview. I am also from Transilvania

**Renee** · 11 November 2009, 6:32 pm

Great interview

I was playing trivia a few years ago and one of the questions was "What is the native language of Romania?"

My initial thought was "Romanian", but then I thought "wait, some Romanians I know speak Hungarian" (and having a hungarian father everyone looked at me like i should know) so I put Hungarian thinking that maybe that was the native language.. Didn't realise that both were known there.

You learn something new every day

Thanks for sharing!

**milan** · 12 November 2009, 2:22 am

Great interview. Thanks GPWA for this opportunity.

szury, I'm glad to hear that you're also from Transylvania.

**thepokerkeep** · 12 November 2009, 5:44 am

Good interview.
Solid advice.
Thanks for sharing.

**casinostoplayat** · 12 November 2009, 5:47 am

Hi,

I'm a new Bee at the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association

Thanks,
Ani

**vmlinuz** · 12 November 2009, 6:33 am

@szury: I'm glad to see that milan and I aren't the only Hungarian affiliates from Transylvania

**giggles7p** · 12 November 2009, 7:09 am

Nice to get more personal with ya VM....Nice interview and i would love to see Romania someday, i am sure its just beautiful!

Just keep Dracula away from me, I think he is to damn sexy and i might just have to become a night feeder! LOLLLLL

Cheers
Pat

**Renee** · 12 November 2009, 5:49 pm

Originally Posted by giggles7p

Nice to get more personal with ya VM....Nice interview and i would love to see Romania someday, i am sure its just beautiful!

Just keep Dracula away from me, I think he is to damn sexy and i might just have to become a night feeder! LOLLLLL

Cheers
Pat

I was watching Ghost Hunters International a couple of weeks ago (and this is rare for me because I usually refuse to watch it)..

Anyway, they went to Transylvania to the castle of Count Dracula (can't remember if it has an official name?) to see if there were ghosts etc there...

Well, just as I thought, there was nothing there..

The interesting part for me was that they were talking about the history of the castle about Vlad etc but they never once mentioned the "vampire" thing and why he was known as Count Dracula, the Vampire... I guess I'll have to read up on it, but Imre/Milan, if you know about it, please share

Cheers

**ecobika** · 13 November 2009, 2:31 pm

very nice interview, thank you Imi to share your conspiracy theories too, you have very good skills in the business, just like me, but you are a real veteran in this industry!

**doisapte** · 6 July 2011, 12:49 pm

Originally Posted by Renee

Great interview

I was playing trivia a few years ago and one of the questions was "What is the native language of Romania?"

My initial thought was "Romanian", but then I thought "wait, some Romanians I know speak Hungarian" (and having a hungarian father everyone looked at me like i should know) so I put Hungarian thinking that maybe that was the native language.. Didn't realise that both were known there.

You learn something new every day

Thanks for sharing!

The official language in Romania is romanian , in some parts of Transilvania (part of Romania ) like Covasna and Harghita there are many romanians with hungarian ancestry , so people there speak romanian and hungarian .

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