Have you ever wondered what is it like to work as an affiliate manager and fall in love with being an affiliate? Well, our next interviewed affiliate has experienced that and as will explain in this interview, it isn’t an easy to switch especially if you are starting and growing your own business. Althought, she is a well known figure of the industry some of our audience will love to meet her and get the inspiration needed to get started in this evergreen and developing industry. Here goes our interview with Marit von Stedingk who is mostly British now and is the founder and owner of LuckyMobileSlots.com
- Name: Marit von Stedingk
- Age: 30
- Hometown: Mostly Europe 🙂
- Living in: The UK
- Favorite Food: Japanese
- Must Read Book: American Gods – Neil Gaiman
EEG: Hi Marit, firstly we would like to thank you for the opportunity to interview such a highly appreciated professional of the industry. We are really interested and I’m sure that all our readers are going to read this with huge interest.
Tell us a bit about yourself, we want to know who Marit von Stedingk really is, one of the two main people behind LuckyMobileSlots.com. Where were you born? What was the key idea of developing this great review site for top online casino slot games and reviews?
Marit: I’m a little bit of a mish-mash of cultures and origin, being Half Colombian / Half Swedish but lived most of my life in either France or the UK.
Still, I’d say I’m mostly British now, and it’s in this country that I encountered the crazy world of gambling.
I started working for iGaming Business back in 2007, helping organize the affiliate events for the online gambling industry.
Though I’d say that it wasn’t until I started working for the online casinos themselves that I started truly appreciated the games (especially slots). It was just fun to play, you know?
My husband told me I should totally write down my thoughts of all the new games as they came out, and seeing as I only played on mobile… well LuckyMobileSlots.com was born, shortly followed by LuckyMobileCasinos.com, which was where I put all the mobile casinos I was playing and testing.
Two years on, and I’m now working full time in creating honest, hopefully entertaining, slots and casino reviews.
EEG: Since there are thousands of casino game review websites out there, where do you think LuckyMobileSlots.com stands now?
Marit: For one, there’s not many sites that has the sheer number of mobile casino game reviews as we do.
And even those that do, I don’t feel give players what I always wanted to know about a slot.
It’s always “these are the symbols, these are the features, so much fun!”
When in actuality there are plenty of really crummy, or even just average, slots out there, and many that aren’t worth playing.
I actually play each one, for as many hours as it takes, and tell you my exact thoughts.
Not saying I am always right, but at least I’m rarely boring!
EEG: What are its strong points of LuckyMobileSlots.com and what makes it stand out from the niche websites?
Marit: I’d say, other than the sheer number and quality of the reviews, I think we tend to be one step ahead on gaming news and new slot releases.
I know I love hearing about the next big slot game due out, and our readers do too.
EEG: We have browsed your website and we found a lot of quality content, are you writing by yourself or you have a team of people writing the reviews? How many reviews are there on you site?
Marit: Currently there’s 488 slot reviews on LuckyMobileSlots.com alone, which basically keeps growing by a minimum of one a day.
We’ve also got about 40 game reviews on LuckyMobileCasinos.com, but that’s only because there’s less mobile roulette and video poker games than slots.
I am, pretty much, the content queen when it comes to the slot machines and the casino news. I write about what I know, and I think that shows in the casino content.
We have asked experts to help us with some of the casino guides for games that I simply do not know enough about – we’re currently adding a blackjack section for example.
And whilst I’ve dabbled in the occasional hand, being able to provide the kind of in-depth knowledge about the game requires experience.
Still, I edit and ensure the content has the same quality as the rest of the site. Which means fact checking everything that is written by a third party.
Mostly it’s easier to just do it myself!
EEG: Do you own any other websites related to the online gambling affiliate industry?
Marit: I’ve already mentioned LuckyMobileCasinos.com as the sister site of LuckyMobileSlots.com – the two fit together nicely and take up about 90% of my time, so adding any more isn’t on the cards until I learn to trust someone else with writing quality content.
We do also dabble in the financial world with BinaryOptionInsights.com, which is basically just financial betting and quite interesting when you go into the detail of it.
EEG: What can you advise new affiliates that are looking to venture in this great industry?
Marit: Be prepared to work long hours and don’t expect overnight success – unless, of course, you have the investment to do a lot of advertising.
But if not, give yourself a minimum of a year to get somewhere close to where you think you want to be.
Because it’s a hard business, with lots of competition. So think carefully about what will make you unique, and write about what you know and hopefully love.
EEG: What were the bumps in your road when you got started and how did you overcome them?
Marit: Getting some recognition from Google! It took several months before we saw any traffic, and many months after that till it got to a decent level.
Meanwhile, I was writing tons of content that no one was reading, working late nights, and was terribly afraid that maybe I was just wasting my time.
Thank-fully I have an amazing husband who didn’t let me give up (so make sure you have some great support) and realistic deadlines.
I told myself that I could build this website into something great by the end of the year, so we didn’t give up, and the commitment paid off.
EEG: You have been working as an Affiliate Manager for a while and then turned affiliate, what was the reason of this shift?
Marit: Turns out, I enjoy playing video slots for a living!
It really was just a matter that players responded well to LuckyMobileSlots.com.
Though it was a bit of a risky jump, I felt like I had to choose: keep working as an affiliate manager and my sites will just stay as they are, or jump in full steam ahead and commit myself to growing my own business.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make – I miss the people, and the team! – but it allowed me to devote all my time to my business, and the gamble paid off.
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 are built?
Marit: It’s a difficult one – having been an affiliate manager myself, I know how frustrating it can be when you get no reply, or very little commitment from an affiliate.
However, I have to very carefully pick my partners, we don’t actually work with very many programs.
Reason being, we test each casino we work with, and whilst I wouldn’t say we played on all of them equally (I have my favourites), if we add too many, it would be impossible to keep the quality in check.
It also means that we have great relationships with our main partners and work closely with them to ensure we always get the latest news and releases.
Generally my rule is: if someone contacts me who has clearly read and looked at my sites, then I will at least reply and decline politely. If they have done that, and have something different or unique to offer, I will investigate the casino a little further.
If they blank email me with thousands of other affiliates, and are of no interest, then I feel I am justified in ignoring their email. If they haven’t personally made the effort, why should I? There are only so many hours in the day.
Also a word of advice to some programs (not naming names): if you somehow have managed to get a hold of my personal phone number, which I haven’t given you, then I will consider all cold calling spam and not even look at your casino.
We have ‘contact me’ details on the websites for a reason – my personal phone is for friends and family only.
EEG: Who is your favourite celebrity?
Marit: I don’t think I have one really. I don’t really follow celebrity mags and gossip – though I am an absolute cinephile and watch far too many movies a month.
So if I had to say a favourite at the moment, Chris Pratt would probably be on my list. Loved him in Guardians of the Galaxy, awesome in Jurassic World, and rumored to be the next Indiana Jones…
That’s a triple dunk in my book.
EEG: Do you attend any igaming conferences? If so, which one and what is your most fun experience?
Marit: I generally attend at least 2 affiliate conferences a year, LAC is an absolute must for me – and then it depends on my mood of which gets my second vote.
This year I’m excited to go to BAC in Berlin in October. Never been to the German capital!
As you can tell, my most fun experience tends to be the destination. Once I’m at a conference I’m really just catching up with friends, rather than doing that much business, so part of the charm is going somewhere different and fun.
EEG: If you would just open your YouTube search bar, what would you search for?
Marit: The latest cinematic trailers for the upcoming blockbusters movies.
Or if I want to waste time, I highly recommend the How It Should Have Ended channels. Really funny videos.
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 your favourite destination around the world.
Marit: I could probably eat sushi for breakfast, lunch and dinner – which goes nicely with my answer of where I haven’t been yet that I want to go to… Japan!
Though I’ve travelled around the world, mostly Asia is still Terra Incognita for me.
As for Eastern Europe, I’ve been to quite a few places, but always fancied discovering Croatia or Slovenia. Two little countries with lots of history and, apparently, natural beauty.
My favourite place in the world? Too many to pick from, but I lived in Barcelona for two years and love that city. I could go there time and time again.
EEG: Where you wouldn’t want to travel in Eastern Europe?
Marit: I don’t think there’s anywhere in the world I wouldn’t travel to if I could! But I suppose I know very little and never really thought of Ukraine as a holiday destination.
EEG: What is your opinion about EEG(Eastern European Gaming – eegaming.org)?
Marit: Wonderful comprehensive website for old and new affiliates alike.
The amount of information you have on your markets is truly astounding, with some genuinely useful information.
One of those sites that if you’re in the Eastern European marketplace, you can’t afford to ignore.
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.
