Affiliate Interview Series | Paulo Faustino - fxdiamond

**GPWA Dan** · 2 March 2016, 10:04 am

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Age: 30

Hometown: Leiria, Portugal

Living in: Leiria, Portugal

Favorite Food: Duck Rice

Must-Read Book: How to Build a Billion Dollar App, by George Berkowski

Sites:
www.asmelhoresapostasonline.com
www.apostasesportivasonline.net
www.apuestasdeportivas.es
www.guiacasinoonline.com
www.sportsbettingpro.co.uk
www.sportzmanager.com

Which of your sites was the first to launch? When did it go live, and how long did it take before you received your first payment?

My first website launched in 2007. It was a blog that no longer exists. I launched www.asmelhoresapostasonline.com in 2008, and it is our biggest website to date. My first payment arrived almost 30 days after I started work on my first blog. I can't remember the exact value, but I think it was something like €30.

Are you a full-time affiliate? If so, how long has it been your primary source of income?

I've been doing full-time affiliate work since 2009. I've worked with affiliate programs in several industries, not just gambling. But gambling quickly became my main source of income. Before that, I did some WordPress websites and design for a few clients.

You appear to be a serial entrepreneur. What is it about starting a business from scratch that gets your juices flowing?

I started my first company at age 19. I can't understand the patterns and ways of thinking of some entrepreneurs that have huge companies but can't recognize and value their employees. I thought it would be easier to build my own company, so I risked everything on that. My motivation in building companies is always related to my goals and my desire to make people's lives better. I started with a blog network, called Escolas+, that includes www.escoladinheiro.com, www.escolapsicologia.com, www.escolafreelancer.com and some other projects. Our contents have been read by over 50 million people all over the world. After that, I co-founded a digital marketing agency, and after that I built a shoe company with some partners, co-founded the biggest digital marketing conference in Brazil, and opened an alternative therapies business with my wife, who is my partner in all my businesses. The main goals for every single business are the same: do my best, take on some risks and big challenges, learn new things and make people's lives better.

You primarily promote sportsbooks, and also have one site dedicated to online casinos. Why did you decided to devote most of your attention to sportsbooks?

I started in the gambling scene in 2004 as a gambler. I really enjoy watching football matches, and I think the passion came from that. As I know a lot about football, players, games and all that stuff, I naturally started with sportsbooks. I was fortunate to find some very nice writers to help me to build what we have today. Casinos are my wife's passion. She loves the casino games, especially blackjack and slots, so I thought it would be great to make something for that also. In the future we are planning to do some things in bingo, binary options and live casino.

What search terms do your sites rank highest for? How much time do you spend on SEO?

My websites rank really well for Portuguese keywords like "online betting," "betting" and "betting previews." As my background is digital marketing, I've studied SEO a lot over the last six or seven years, not only online, but through conversations with some Portuguese people from Google Search and Quality Team, and also at conferences. Now I really don't spend too much time on SEO, as the main foundations are built. Our focus is to produce really good content and a huge database with all the information a punter needs.

You're based in Portugal and most of your sites are in Portuguese. Do you have experience running a site in a non-native language?

We have some websites in Spanish, Polish, German, Dutch, Russian and Romanian. I really don't know other languages except English and Spanish. For those other sites, I rely on the expertise of Kobalt Languages, which helps us translate our gambling content to several other languages.

How big is the sports betting market in Portugal? How fast is it growing?

Our market is growing at a fast pace. Unfortunately, we are now in the middle of a regulation process, which means the market had to shrink because of the licensing and the taxes. We are waiting for the regulations and mainly for the licenses, so operators can run their businesses and so can we. But I really think Portugal is a huge market. It's a small country that likes to gamble a lot.

Which operators do you find to be the best to convert and the easiest to work with?

I think bet365 is a really good choice when it comes to conversion rates and high-quality affiliate support. It really is the best company to work with. In Portugal we have also Dhoze, which is from Betsafe, and the conversion rates are huge, mainly because they have a more regional approach.

Do you have any plans to branch out into other languages or focus on any other new jurisdictions?

We are investing a lot of money and resources to gather a good percentage of the Brazilian, Spanish and U.K. markets in the upcoming years.

What are some of your sites' unique selling points? How do you stand out from the crowd?

I think one of our unique selling points is our content. We create really good content that helps people make better decisions on their betting. We also offer a huge amount of data, including games, results, live scores, a player database, club database, a huge games calendar, etc. We work hard to deliver the best content and stats so gamblers can make the best decisions on their bets. Every piece of content, be it a blog post, a betting preview or a club history, is created to help our visitors to make better decisions.

What do you think is a better strategy for affiliates? To launch numerous sites, or to be laser-focused on creating great content for a small number of sites?

I really like the Pareto principle: 80% of the return comes from 20% of your websites. That 20% is where the money is, which means that you need to work on that and stop wasting your time on other things. I do prefer to have fewer websites, built bigger to make a difference.

How many people work for your site?

We are about six people.

How often do you get to see and interact with other people in the industry? Do you attend any industry conferences?

I normally attend the iGaming conferences, like LAC, BAC, etc. In 2015 I attended LAC and AAC, but I only go when there is some business to do.

What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? How about in an affiliate program?

I like an affiliate manager who cares about you and your goals. One of the things I like most at bet365 are the yearly goals. That's a big motivation to drive more sales and make more money. In addition to that, an affiliate manager who is ready to help you with anything you need is great.

In an affiliate program, I rely on good daily or real-time stats, good campaigns and promotions, a wide variety of creative materials in the languages I need, and also a good revenue share deal.

What's your preferred method of communication with affiliate managers?

I prefer Skype chat or calls.

What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you?

I joined the GPWA a few years ago. I really like the badges, the community, the newsletters and the magazine. It helped me a lot early on to understand some principles and strategies for this market.

You've been a member of the GPWA for more than seven years, but are one of our many "lurkers." What might prompt you to join a discussion on our message boards?

I really don't have that much time to spend on forums. I do prefer to talk with people at conferences or Skype if needed. Sorry for that. (Editor's note: No apology necessary!)

What do you like about the industry?

I like many things about the industry, especially the opportunity to make money with games, which is really nice. The conferences, the people, the brands . . . I think it's a really good market and a huge opportunity.

If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be and why?

The lack of affiliate contracts. An affiliate is like a partner. It must be respected in every way, including paying commissions when there is a problem, sending affiliates all the inside information so they can be prepared for changes, all that stuff. The reality is that affiliates are treated the same way as a person that doesn't make the company better or bigger. Affiliates are really important for the brands and their success. And they need to understand and value that.

What do your family and friends think of your work as an affiliate?

Most of them don't really understand what I'm doing and how I make money through affiliate programs. It's really confusing to them, and I try to not explain too much, because I know it is difficult for them to understand. My mother still thinks that I'm making websites for clients.

Do you gamble online? If so, what do you play?

I don't gamble like I used to, but when I do, I prefer a blackjack table at a physical casino.

How do you manage your to-do lists? Do you use any special software to help you out?

I'm working with ASANA to help us with that. It's amazing for to-do lists and for assigning individual tasks to the team.

What's the most difficult thing about running your sites?

Probably the content revision and the timing for publishing and spreading the news. As we do a lot of betting predictions, we need to treat them carefully and publish only at the perfect time, after the day's matches are finished. It also takes a lot of time to spread them on social media and marketing channels, but the results are pretty good in the end.

What's the best thing about running your sites?

Seeing that 1 million people visited us in the past 30 days.

For those of us who haven't been there, what's the best thing about living in Leiria?

Leiria is a small city, one hour from Lisbon. It is quiet, peaceful and charming. It's a good place to live. It's like a small village, where everyone knows everyone. And there isn't traffic or pollution. We have very good restaurants, a really good theater, a castle and some fancy monuments.

What do you do to stay in shape ?both physically and mentally?

I used to play football with friends and do some personal training classes. Over the last two months, the lack of time forced me to stop everything. But I know I need to exercise to recover my energy and sanity.

What do you do with your spare time?

Where's the spare time? I need to find it! When I have some, I like to enjoy a good restaurant with my wife or friends, watch some football matches on TV, or simply take a plane and have a nice trip with my wife around Europe.

What did you dream of doing, both professionally and personally, when you were a kid?

When I was a kid I wanted to be a fireman. Now, I want to be a good person to all the people that surround me, and leave my mark in the world.

When you need to get as far away from work as possible, where do you go?

I'll go to my beach house which is 60km away from my work.

What's your all-time favorite movie?

The Lord of the Rings. I really enjoy Peter Jackson.

If you could invite any five people, living or dead, to dinner, who would they be?

The Dalai Lama, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jos?Mourinho.

Name three things that people reading this magazine don't know about you.

I am a two-time national long jump champion. I played soccer at União Desportiva de Leiria when I was a kid. I've written two books about blogging and online marketing.

**MrBinaryAff** · 2 March 2016, 4:45 pm

It was nice reading your interview Paulo, and we have something in common as I would invite Jos?Mourinho for a dinner as well

You have really good projects, well done and good luck!

**sweetbet** · 2 March 2016, 5:29 pm

Great interview. I think if I had a beach house, I would never get any work done

**Renee** · 2 March 2016, 5:54 pm

Two time national long jump champion. I was not expecting that. How cool!

**Miles_FTA** · 3 March 2016, 2:19 am

Great Interview .. You and I would have made great Fire Fighters

**fxdiamond** · 3 March 2016, 10:02 am

Thanks for the comments guys

**bonusapostasonline** · 4 July 2016, 6:10 am

Paulo is one of the greatest online affiliates in Portugal and he deserves all the credit for his excellent work. Well done Paulo!

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