The search to find inspirational stories for online gambling affiliates goes on. We have stumbled upon an interesting approach in the online casino affiliate niche, a website dedicated exclusively to NetEnt. We have gone thorough its content and found the website really interesting and the content was so well written we had a curiosity to find the affiliate or team of affiliates behind it. We have managed to find the person behind this already well known affiliate brand and let’s just say it’s going to be one inspirational interview for all you affiliates out there who are reading our articles and interviews day to day. So, here goes, our interview with Femke Stigter, founder and owner of NetentCasinos.com:
Name: Femke Stigter
Age: 32
Living in: Malta
Favourite Food: Chicken Caesar Salad
Must Read Book: The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho
EEG: Firstly we would like to thank you for this opportunity. We are really interested and I’m sure that all our readers will read this with huge interest.
Tell us a bit about yourself, we want to know who Femke really is, the main person behind NetentCasinos.com. Where were you born? What was the key idea for developing this great review site for NetEnt casino games?
Femke: I was born in the south of the Netherlands where I spent 26 years in different cities before I decided to follow my parents to Malta, who left the Netherlands three years before. After more than eight years working as a publisher in my family’s business, it was in June 2009 I got the opportunity to start blogging for one of the largest casino affiliate sites in the Netherlands. Even though I had never written one article myself until that day, I decided to take the offer which eventually brought me to where I am today. Luckily for me, website content wasn’t of big importance yet which gave me a chance to develop my writing skills and get familiar with the iGaming industry in general.
My first article ever was about the Super Lucky Frog slot and it was certainly not the last article that involved a NetEnt game. Along the way my appreciation for these specific casino games grew, just as I started to respect NetEnt as a company. Being an advocate of transparency in iGaming, I admire NetEnt for being one of the most transparent companies in the industry, the reason I linked my own name to NetentCasinos.com. Therefore a review site for NetEnt games and NetEnt Casinos seemed a logical step.
EEG: Since there are thousands of casino game review websites out there, where do you think NetentCasinos.com stands now?
Femke: Working for online casino sites for 4,5 years already, I knew I was going to enter an ultra-competitive industry. A true challenge, I know, but that was exactly what I needed to achieve my goal: writing half a million words before going online, half of them in Dutch and half of them in English. I started writing in December, 2013 and on the 9th of April, 2014 NetentCasinos.com went online, followed by the Dutch site on June 10th, 2014. Now, exactly one year later, the Swedish site went online as well and I’m sure this will have a positive effect on the site in general. Considering the fact NetentCasinos.com doesn’t exist for that long, I am extremely happy with the performance of the website so far.
EEG: What are the strong points of NetentCasinos.com and why the exclusivity?
Femke: As mentioned before, a lot of content was added before going online in April 2014 and I’m sure this resulted in a huge boost for the site right after its launch. Now the site is being offered in three different languages, I’m sure the site will grow even faster. I also hope that my personal approach is giving visitors of the site the trust they are looking for.
EEG: We have browsed your website and we found a lot of quality content. Do you write on your own or you have a team of people writing the reviews? How many review are there on your site?
Femke: Thank you so much for the compliment which is of course much appreciated, especially because it was me indeed who wrote every single page available on the Dutch and English site. All I want to do is to offer the visitor what he or she is looking for and before the website went online in 2014 over 200 pages were written already. By now 286 pages for each of the websites are available to visitors including general information about NetEnt while every single NetEnt game, live casino game, mobile game and NetEnt Casino got its own review. Besides that I try my best to provide as much information about casino licenses, casino promotions and payment options as possible. Most of the articles I have personally written but recently I have added two new writers, one for Swedish and another for Dutch. Both writers are highly skilled and we work together as a team.
EEG: What can you advise new affiliates that are looking to venture in this great industry?
Femke: To survive in an ultra-competitive industry like the iGaming industry, you have to be prepared to work hard while being patience as well. Around ten years ago, when content wasn’t ‘King’ yet and hardly anyone heard about social media, all you needed was a website and some traffic. Times have changed and being an affiliate brings loads of challenges, also due to the google algorithm updates of the past years. Therefore experience can be of benefit, but even without experience but hard work you can still become very successful in the business, especially when you meet the right people at the right time.
EEG: What were the bumps in your road when you got started and how did you overcome them?
Femke: I can honestly say that I have not run across any ‘Bumps’ as I love every second of what I do and even more so, I love the subject I am writing about, NetEnt! Yes, some things are challenging but I would not call them ‘Bumps’ as there is always a solution to a problem and with the support of my friends and family I always manage to iron out any ‘Bump’/challenges.
EEG: We are sure that you receive daily messages from Affiliate Managers showcasing their products. You of course select them by brands they work with, but what are your thoughts on how Affiliate Manager-Affiliate relationships be built?
Femke: Yes, I receive messages on a daily base and sometimes it can become quite frustrating as there are so many different casinos and affiliate managers. A relationship with any person, affiliate managers or even friend takes time to build and is not built within minutes, days or even weeks. I built this site because I love NetEnt and admire everything they do. I did not build it to become a rich affiliate as I do not think that will ever happen. So all I can say is, if any affiliate manager thinks that by throwing around money can get them on the site or even get them a good review is very, very wrong. I work every day of the week because I really like doing it and not because I am incentivised by money.
EEG: Who is your favourite celebrity?
Femke: Nice question, but I simply don’t care much about celebrities or politicians. I respect anyone who is willing to work, no matter if successful or not. If I do have to give an answer though, I would rather go for entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs as I do respect their ingenuity. And even though they are sort of ‘celebrities’, they manage to stay out of the spotlights.
EEG: Do you attend any iGaming conferences? If so, which one and what is your most fun experience?
Femke: The moment NetentCasinos.com was created, I started attending iGaming conferences such as the LAC and ICE in London and the AAC in Amsterdam. It is a good way to network and meet up with people from the industry, but we all know they are famous for its parties. Despite my clumsiness, I am almost sure I managed to stay away from funny experiences during those parties. As far as I know – although I’m sure there have been many more – there was only one moment I can call a bit embarrassing. For the first time since the launch of NetentCasinos.com I visited the stand of NetEnt at ICE 2015. Curious about the new games coming up I entered the NetEnt area. As friendly as the NetEnt employees are, they explained me all about the new Dracula™ slot and after a few more chats here and there I left the NetEnt area with a smile. At least until I realised that the entire time I was there, I was holding a few iGaming magazines with on the back of one of them a slot game advertisement of the competition. Knowing myself, all I could do was giggle, and I’m pretty sure more of these clumsy actions will follow at future iGaming events.
EEG: If you would just open your Youtube search bar, what would you search for?
Femke: NetEnt Official as I am waiting for a new video slot to be announced. When it comes to music I am using Spotify so no need for YouTube there.
EEG: Alright, here comes the fun part….favourite food, where would you like to travel in Eastern Europe, some part of the region maybe that you haven’t visited yet and favourite destination around the world.
Femke: I love a good Chicken Caesar salad or an even better steak. Prague is already on my list for quite a while, but so far I didn’t managed to go there. I love travelling these days and therefore I’m sure I will see Prague one day, even though Cuba is definitely on top of my list of countries I want to visit. Living in Florence for almost a year, this is certainly still one of my favourite destinations, just as I was very much impressed when walking around in New York.
EEG: Where wouldn’t you want to travel to in Eastern Europe?
Femke: One of the countries in Eastern Europe that never attracted me is Russia although I heard some very positive stories about Saint Petersburg. Who knows, I might change my mind in the future.
EEG: What is your opinion on EEG(Eastern European Gaming – eegaming.org)?
Femke: I have to admit the site looks very professional, providing a lot of information. With Romania as a new regulated market, the Eastern European iGaming Market is definitely a promise for the future. The faster countries regulate and decide to collect some taxes and protect players the better in my opinion. The market is still to unregulated and any movement towards a regulated market is good in my eyes.
EEG: Thank you for this opportunity and have a great one!
EEG would like to hear your inspirational story as well, be sure to contact us for further enquiries.
