Yesterday a friend of mine, who due to recently losing his job, is thinking of entering the world of gambling affiliation, asked me for my top tips for a new affiliate. After a little thought I settled on the following.
Build a Brand
Yes I know I have stated this fact time and time again, but I strongly believe that brand type sites now have more power than ever before. I also believe that in the years ahead, big quality brand sites will gain even more power from search engines.
If I was starting out as a new gambling affiliate today, I would not bother about finding an exact match domain, I would be happy to start with an aged domain that I could brand. The reason I would opt for an aged domain, is simply because using sites such as Godaddy Auctions, you can acquire aged domains, that even in some cases have quality back links, for as little as ten bucks. Of course, you have to be careful that the domain you decide to purchase does not have any penalty or indeed has spam back links, but in most cases you just need to use a little common sense.
Most affiliates end up with a network of thin exact match affiliate sites, of which many have been hit by PANDA or other Google algorithm changes in the past year or so. From experience, I can tell you that if you build a quality brand type site with 1000+ pages, you will rank for a stream of hundreds of long tail key phrases, plus you find it easier to rank for competitive key phrases just from your own internal links.
Adding just three pages of quality content a day, will result in over 1000 pages during the course of a year.
Monitor Every Click
Our goal as affiliates is to generate clicks, which in turn generate sign ups, which in turn generate real money players. Yes it is as simple as that! I’m amazed that many affiliates don’t even know which of their pages get the most clicks! Furthermore, most defiantly have no idea in regards to pages with multiple affiliate links, which links are generating the most clicks.
In my opinion the name of the game is to simply find out which links and anchors produce the most clicks, plus of course, which links and anchors produce less clicks. Once you have this information then you can add more of the type of links and call to actions that get more clicks, and remove the type of links and call to actions that get fewer clicks. Basic affiliate marketing in my opinion, but in reality how many affiliate actually has this data and act upon it?
Many affiliate sites have in effect wasted clicks, which in effect are just like throwing money down the drain. Watch out for my next article which will cover this topic in far more detail.
Get a Better Deal
The rates offered to affiliates on operators affiliate pages are simply rates offered to everyone. The way I see it is that if you are an established affiliate, why should you get the same rate as someone just starting out, with perhaps no idea of what they are doing? For new affiliates I would strongly advise to push most of your traffic to one of two operators only during your first few months. If you are generating let’s say £500 a month, it is a fact that you are in a better bargaining position if all the revenue is at one program, rather than have the revenue split between several programs.
Most affiliate managers will be happy to strike an increased deal for new affiliates with revenue as little as £500 a month or in some cases even less. Once you have an approved deal you can in effect contact other affiliate managers, telling them that you already have an improved deal with another operator, and you would be happy to promote their product if they would match it or even better it.
If you are an established affiliate and still on basic rates, then your next job should be to contact your affiliate manager and tell them you want a better deal. If they will not offer you a better deal, although most will, start looking at other programs.
Add New Content Every Day
Many affiliates start new sites full of enthusiasm to build the best site in the niche. Most though lose interest after a few months moving on to other projects. I would guess that many affiliates reading this article have sites that they have not updated for months or even years. Am I right?
Google loves sites that are constantly updated, plus furthermore, many who use Google now utilise the extra Google search options that show new content from the last hour, past 24 hours and past week. It is a fact that you can rank for competitive search terms including the likes of online poker and online casino through these search options. The key is simply to create fresh content that targets these key phrases on a regular basis.
Explore Different Demographics
As a UK affiliate I will be honest and say the UK gambling niches are now extremely saturated. I have been in this game long enough to remember that back in the day, even a crappy website would generate a healthy stream of sign ups. Those days have now gone! The good news is that there are new markets opening up all around the world. Again from experience I will tell you that these new markets are very profitable and extremely competitive.
When you start making money, invest in translating your site into different languages. Yes I know this can prove to be expensive, and to say the least awkward, but doing so will prove to be very profitable. Of course most affiliates don’t bother because of the expense involved and the hassle of doing so. You can use the Google External Keyword Tool to seek out key phrases plus there are many other quality key phrase tools you can use.
So there you have it, my top tips for new gambling affiliates. Stick firmly to the above and I can virtually guarantee you will make money!
