Anyone who knows Karel will know what a great guy he is. We were all sad to see him leave Idealo, mainly because he doesn’t have much time for us these days.

They say a picture paints a thousand words, enough said then I guess….

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?

For those of you that don’t know me – I am Karel , despite the funny sounding name I am originally from Bristol and have lived in Berlin for the last 4 years. I am affiliate marketing manager at German affiliate network belboon-adbulter GmbH.

What is your day to day role?

I spend a lot of my time dealing with affiliate and merchant enquiries, I am responsible for 3 different industries so the questions can vary somewhat. Due to my past experience I have also recently been given the role of contact person for all our price comparison affiliates, I currently have a list of around 180 so I imagine this will keep me out of trouble for a while. It’s my first completely German speaking role and so I was really worried to begin with – but so far it seems to be holding up quiet well!
Oh, drinking coffee and looking out of the window as well – we have an amazing office with a fish tank with a lift through it one side and the Berliner Dome the other. If anyone comes to Berlin come and visit!

What was your previous job and was it related to affiliate marketing?

I spent 2 and a half great years at Idealo, my first role in affiliate marketing. I joined initially as an English content worker and managed to work my way through to UK country manager. It was a great role as I got to meet all the people I now in the UK affiliate marketing arena, firstly through MSN and then at A4U’s and a few lucky people in Barbados last year with Affiliate Future.  One worry about leaving Idealo was the lack of contact I would have with the UK…

What do you love about affiliate marketing?

You people. As I said I have met some fantastic people over the last few years and made some great friends.

What do you hate about affiliate marketing and what would you change if you could?

Hmm – good question. I personal hate of mine is being based in Germany when you are all having pub meets, football tournaments and having fun etc. – but that’s really more a geography hate…

People bitching on the forum I guess. Makes me not want to post as often as people will pick up on small irrelevant points and turn a good thread into a slagging match or into a voucher code thread – boring!

List your top 5 resources that help you with your day to day job?

A4U, XING, Linkedin, 100partnerprogramme.de and my iPhone for cheeky Facebook and Twitter checking. Twitter used to be big for me but in my new role I honestly don’t have the time – sorry guys.

If you were an affiliate how would you help someone in your role?

That’s a hard one as I am still pretty fresh to being network side – obviously sign up to our network, my programs and make lots of money with us and make me look great.

As an affiliate I would have asked Merchants and network account managers to get in touch when they honestly had a good promotion or merchant that I should have been pushing, and if it was worth getting in touch with me for then pester me until it I actually dealt with it.

In your opinion what is the future of affiliate marketing and how can affiliates take advantage of this?

Mobile Affiliate Marketing – without a doubt this is the future.

What is on your Ipod?

Not enough new stuff to be honest but a bit of everything really. Have been listening to Arctic Monkeys,  Murs and Royskopp recently – random mix I know!

How can people get in touch with you?

Karel.ellis-gray@belboon.de

Skype: karel.ellis.gray

msn: karelwork@hotmail.com