Welcome to Affiliate Insider's Three Questions Podcast with me, Leanne Johnston. And today I'm really excited to invite Alexander Coston, who is quite an experienced digital marketer and has recently launched his own affiliate business with a website that is US facing. Hi, Alex.
SPEAKER_00Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for joining me here today. I'm really excited to have you on my podcast because we're going to talk about some of the learnings that you've had launching a new affiliate business in a really competitive marketplace and also the fact that it's US facing and some of the learnings that you can share with our community there. So tell us a little bit just to get the conversation started how you got into affiliate marketing and why the idea to launch a US-facing website.
SPEAKER_00Okay, fine. Thank you. Thank you for having me. And yeah, I've been working for Better Collective for the past six years. I was uh first responsible for the Russian-speaking markets. I started at the company when the company was only 25 people. And uh yeah, and I left the company six months after IPOs, yeah, uh recently. And uh I was responsible for B2B PR, and then I was uh creating a network of external internal forces um that could help us uh reaching um top links uh to support our organic growth um from the UK US. And um my last thing was uh NJcom partnership, it was the first uh US media collaboration with um European affiliate company, Better Collective. So I suggested NJcom a partnership and they were very happy about it. I don't know how it is going now, but then yeah, we see that now Katina is working with the NYPOST and USA Today, and Yahoo reached partnerships with affiliates and bookies, so the trend is there, and I'm happy uh that I was the one who maybe initiated uh something of a nature. So yeah, and uh I decided to leave uh Better Collective because I wanted to grow personally, and uh, in regards to my career and personal growth, I thought I could do more, and there was no uh room in the company anymore. And then it was unexpected that I thought that I could launch uh affiliate website. Everyone was saying, Oh, it's crazy, it's a saturated market, you cannot do it. I mean, sharks are there, you you just don't do it, it's crazy, you can't do it. And then uh because determination, motivation, and results, that's what uh is needed.
SPEAKER_01That's what drove you to actually take the plunge and and go to the affiliate side, as I call it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I decided to risk uh because I thought I could find another job uh anytime, and I wanted to try something. If it doesn't work out, then I will regret. But at least when I'm 65, I don't I don't regret that I didn't try. So I decided I decided to try. So I'll drink champagne later.
SPEAKER_01And here you are talking to me on the podcast. So I really wanted to talk a little bit about some of the key learnings that you shared with me before we got hopped onto this call. Um, because I think a lot of our community members will really benefit from hearing your experience, and especially for newer affiliates that are coming into the market, they can take away some of the learnings and key points that you're willing to share with us today. And the first thing that I wanted to touch on was um, you know, the fact that we all think that the US search or surmarket um is driven by big shocks in the industry and that you can't really make a living out of earning off of an affiliate site in the US anymore because it's such a regulated and closed market and it's opening up very slowly. So, what have you learned from your experience taking American Gambler live and you know putting the strategy behind that? Can you share a little bit of you know what your thoughts are on that point?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. First, I was a little bit naive and idealistic in my approach. I was thinking about launching a huge brand and uh uh going for uh professional text written by professional, expensive journalists, etc. And then I realized that actually uh all you have to do is to focus on commercial keywords, links, and really read contracts uh you uh make with operators in the US. And uh um coming back to uh sharks in the water, and uh uh it's too late maybe to launch the affiliate site in the US. That's what I hear from the guys I meet in uh New York and other cities in the US, and Pennsylvania, in New Jersey. A lot of guys out there, they have uh their sports blogs uh for some years, and they now think that maybe they can become an affiliate and earn extra money. But the thing that they share the thoughts and fear is that the US Google is taken by all these uh big sharks in the industry, and you can't earn your affiliate uh money anymore. What I would say is never too late to join the party, really. The breadcrumbs are always there on the table, so you don't need a huge table. It's okay with breadcrumbs uh in the beginning. And then it all depends on your appetite, your ambition, how hungry you are actually, your skills, and in general how fast you can learn. So without ambition and a plan, you just don't go there. I launched uh American Gambler as a professional hobby, and I with limited budget, my own budget, and um I started already earning, and I'm earning X time uh what's called two times more uh than my previous salary already after six months. So it's possible, even with limited budget, and even if you are alone or with a person um doing this website.
SPEAKER_01Now, some of the things you were speaking about there in terms of you know creating content and spending money unnecessarily on expensive journalists. I mean, I think that's something that we're all becoming more aware of as marketers, is that content doesn't have to be highly curated, it just has to be authentic. So, you know, you've you've spoken about the breadcrumbs in terms of the search engine. Um, you know, what what kind of um learnings did you have in terms of um creating content that really engages the audience in the US and understanding the localization and what actually converts players because their market is a lot further behind you know what what we are here in Europe. So, what are some of the key things that you picked up on um you know in this journey that you've had um that's really worked for you that you can share with our our readers?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, in the beginning, as I said, I invested uh more than $20,000 in some great content in form of answers to frequently asked questions about betting in the US. Because a lot of guys uh in the US they don't know what betting is, how to bet, what the um parley means, etc. So I thought, okay, I reached out to 35 professional journalists from The Guardian, Las Vegas Review Journal, etc., and order uh 1500 articles. Great guys, uh great content, but unfortunately it was not ranking because what you have to do is to research the right keywords and SEO edit those texts. So you spend a lot of money on the great content, but you understand that you're not the media, you're not the um what's called the source uh of uh time uh New York Times kind of uh media. So you research the keywords, and it's important to go for commercial keywords and you research uh and understand your audience.
SPEAKER_01And what about um like obviously you've seen you know instances where you've paid a lot of money for cont for highly curated content, and then other people have copied that content. So I think the key thing that I like to tell our clients, and and obviously you know you've experienced is that as long as you're authentic with your content, you actually end up building your own brand and your own community and using that content to speak to the community that's following you. You need to forget about everybody else that's around you because they're gonna be doing their thing and you need to be focusing on yours in order to make your website the best that it can be. So, one of the other things that I wanted to talk about as well is just talking about you know the technology that sits behind your website. So often, you know, people invest a lot of money on the tech that provides the platform. But what has your experience been in that area?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I would say that don't uh order expensive affiliate websites from some fancy agencies in the UK, US for more than 14,000 uh pounds, which I did unfortunately, uh, relying on the expertise and branding. Majority of these developers um get the job done by the talented uh Polish, Russian, Serbian uh web developers anyway. You can save up up to I mean 60-70% by going directly to the local programmers or buying a WordPress template and asking its developer to customize it for you, uh, and then it will be cheaper and easier because all you need from the website is the clean code, speed, links, and the right content. And I would say that go for the quality links, fewer but better, and uh don't go for hundreds of small domains and PBN links, and um yeah, you can easily reach out to a journalist uh on LinkedIn with relevant comment about let's say Colorado future sports baiting revenues, etc. So um I had a bad experience with one UK company. They promised to deliver the website, huge one, a great one, whatever. It didn't happen, I lost money, and now we are in negotiation how we can solve the situation. And then I went for the WordPress, and we see that WordPress is ranking, and I have uh some good rankings, some uh I I I have uh rich snippets, etc. So I could save a lot of money if I simply focused on other things uh rather than uh thinking about having a fancy, fancy website. So just go for low-hanging fruits and uh don't overspend with uh huge sites.
SPEAKER_01And I think the the next thing I wanted to talk about was just okay, so you've got your technology, you've got your audience engagement sorted, you've got your content sorted. What about reaching out and networking with people to actually get the deals in place? So which sort of conferences and things have you gone to that you found have been incredibly beneficial for you? And which ones would you advise new affiliates to maybe you know hang back from attending until they're starting to make a little bit more money?
SPEAKER_00When you see that you have rankings, reach out to the operator that you want to promote because you cannot reach to the operator uh without being sure that you can deliver actually. Don't waste their time. If you have uh rankings already, reach out and then um talk to an affiliate manager. Sometimes affiliate managers can be a little bullying in terms of they think that they're kind of doorman, they will let you in on uh etc. or not. So you be nice and patient and uh continue talking. Um networking is helping here, so you I would suggest that you attend the conferences. It's always nice with face-to-face meetings. For example, I went to uh Sports Betting US conference last year, and I talked to the score uh CEO John Levy, who had a great conversation. Unfortunately, as trend shows in the US, uh a lot of media companies would uh launch their websites, uh would launch their uh betting sites themselves, so it didn't help me to get uh to know him and and to make a collaboration in terms of like affiliate collaboration. But it's always nice to talk and make contacts face to face. And I would not um maybe uh recommend anyone, especially uh young entrepreneurs, spend more than eight hundred dollars for uh the conference uh for the ticket. There are a lot of nice conferences where you can participate for free, um, like Ice London. I would recommend because if you're um part of the community and if you are an affiliate, it's free for you to attend a lot of guys there, and everyone is uh welcoming and you can talk to them about partnerships.
SPEAKER_01And I guess it's also you know, what are you going to the event for? Are you going there to meet a specific person or are you going there to actually listen to some of the content that's going to be delivered? Because a lot of the events companies have very different um agendas. So, you know, some of them are there, are all about the networking and just you know seeing and and and being seen, and some of them are all about the content, like our own events. So, you know, we're all about getting in the right speakers, helping you to find you know the latest insights that will help you to drive traffic to your website. And the two events are very, very different, and you're gonna get very different outcomes from them. So maybe, you know, as you said, with a younger startup, you know, go to the events that are gonna give you the content and also provide the networking, but don't pay to go to the events that are specifically about the networking because they're obviously more expensive.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you're short on budget, it's up to you. If you have $800 uh to spend on um on the ticket to this conference, do it. But uh, I learned that I'd rather spend $800 on uh creating great content. Yeah, because yeah, I will get two, three depositors and I already uh pay it it already pays off.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. So in the last tip um out of the five uh key learnings that you've had in in the year that you've started your business, you spoke a little bit about you know the support structure that goes around starting a business and and relying on old contacts and networks and people that you've known in the industry. Talk to us a little bit about how that's gone for you and and what you've learned in that in that way.
SPEAKER_00I would say that uh you always rely only on yourself.
SPEAKER_01It's a lonely journey being an entrepreneur.
SPEAKER_00Yes, absolutely. You're working hard 25 hours a day, and uh it's not your friend's or your family's problem that you decided to start your own affiliate business. Yes. Uh and also don't really rely on your former colleagues, your former partners because they might be bound by their what it's called, NDAs and other agreements. You can always find um other guys who can help you or new contacts uh that you can help and they can help. And sometimes uh support in terms of words is more important than just actual actions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, sometimes and I find in my own journey that's something that we you know that that's very, very important because it is a lonely journey starting a business on your own. You do have to, you know, work incredibly hard to get something off the ground from nothing and to build something from nothing. And I think affiliates don't really have a network or a community of um you know experts that they can call on, which is something that you know we're trying to help solve and and provide in our community. Um, but also it's the it's almost like the shame of you know facing up to the fact that maybe you failed at something, that you've had these learnings, and and this is really why I wanted to have the conversation with you today, because you were willing to share these things.
SPEAKER_00Um if you fail, then you be nice and honest. I mean, it's okay to fail uh without uh mistakes you cannot learn. So, for example, I uh at some times um uh um I had some cash flow and I couldn't pay my partners, and then when I had money again, I added some compensation, and I was uh openly saying, See, I'm entrepreneur, I have some um unexpected uh costs happening, so sorry for that. I hope you understand, and we uh yeah, let's go for long-term instead of short-term thing. So transparency and honesty, I think, helps here in general.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Thank you so much for sharing all of these learnings with us today. I think it's really important that entrepreneurs talk about their success stories and also share their learnings with other people that are entering into the space. It's really, really good to hear that that there is opportunity available in the US for any new affiliates that are looking to get into that burgeoning market. But it's also very um great that you've explained that you know it's really clear that you need to have a message, you need to make sure that your technology is in place, you need to make sure that you've got a support network and that you are you know reaching out and meeting new people in order to help your business grow. So I really just want to be sharing that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and you always remember that uh even though the market is saturated, there is a space for you as long as you do it right and you have determination, motivation, and don't give up. It's hard, it's uh not easy, but it will pay off at some point.
SPEAKER_01Thanks very much for joining us on the podcast today, and we wish you all the very best of luck with um the future growth of AmericanGambler.com.
SPEAKER_00Thank you very much.