GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 12 - April 2010

Disadvantage of SEO: Here are a couple of things to consider about SEO that aren’t so great. If time is a factor for you, seeing the resultsof yourSEOefforts maybe, for lackof abetterword, lengthy. Search engines usually take between 6 and 12 months to rank a site, which is quite a long time for those looking to see an immediateROI on their investment in SEO. Also, the wait can be even longer, depending on your keyword. The more competitive the keyword, the harder it will be to rank on the top of sites such as Google and Yahoo! Indeed, some busi- nessesmight opt not to invest in SEO at all if their market is oversaturated. For keywords such as “travel” or “books,” the competition is already fierce, and to see any SEO results whatsoever could liter- ally takeyears (andyears). 2 PPCAffiliates Pay Per Click, or PPC, has become a very lucrative means of generating revenue throughaffiliateprograms.Basically,PPC advertising is a form of paid advertising where ads are displayed above and to the side of organic search results for certain keywords, and the advertiser pays every time an ad is clicked. Managing such a marketing campaign canbevery complex askeywords,bids,click-throughratesand other factorsneed tobeverycloselymoni- tored tocontrol spendandmaximizeROI. This has become a very lucrative channel for affiliates tomakemoney. Benefit of PPC: The benefits of using PPC in your affiliate market- ing include (a) being able to control your budget; (b) the ability to target a specificmarket; (c) it canbe easily tracked; and (d) brandawareness. Disadvantage of PPC: Too many people launch into PPC withoutreallyhavingagood idea of how to do it well. It can be complex,andwhenapproached thewrongwayabudget canbe wiped out quicker than you can say…PPC. Not knowing how tobidproperly, orwhat kindof ads reallywork, can be a great disadvantage. Also, depending on your keyword, you maybeupagainst someheavy-duty com- petitorswhohavealreadymastered these skills all toowell. Chances are then, un- less you spend an absolute fortune on your PPC advertising, you’re never going to land the top covetedpositions. 3 BonusSites Other affiliates take advantage of the commissions they are paid on sales to offer rebates or gifts to their customers. These incentivized sitesbuildgoodbrand loyalty and capitalize on the online shop- pers’ quest for a bargain. In the case of a bonussite,playersaregivengifts, inaddi- tion toanygamingwinnings. BenefitofBonusSites: Bigbenefits of bonus sites are (a) retaining existing customers: players are getting something above and beyond their winnings at the casinoorpoker room, andhave reason to stickwith the site; and (b) attractingnew customers who have the potential of be- coming loyal customers. Disadvantage of Bonus Sites: If you start out giving your customers gifts, don’t expect to stop, unless you’re prepared to lose some of your customers along theway. Let’s face it; if you gained a user by giving him or her a gift, and then take that gift away, chances areyour gift-hunterwill find another affiliate that iswilling to offer a bonus— just like you oncewere. 4 LoyaltyAffiliates Loyaltyaffiliatesaregenerallygivensome sort of incentive to entice their traffic to remain loyal. Incentivization, however, is not necessarily limited to giving play- ersmoremoney to playwith. Thosewho choose to pursue incentivization can also do so through other means, such as de- livery of exclusive interactive content, player tourneys and prize giveaways, which entire communities can be based on. Playerswho like to interact with oth- ers will keep coming back, reinforcing a connection with the affiliate’s Web site andbeingexposed tonewbrands that the affiliatepromotes. Benefit of Loyalty Affiliates: If youcanbuildupenoughof a rapportwith the players who visit your site, theymay take your subsequent recommendations for new sites to try, signing up through your affiliate links! The benefit here is clearly anopportunity for you to increase your earnings. Disadvantage of Loyalty Affili- ates: Like the bonus affiliate, the loyalty affiliate has to keep up the hardwork. If your users have come to expect regular player tournaments and exclusive inter- active content, then youhave to continue to liveup to your side of the bargain. The consequences of not doing so would be similar to the consequences for thebonus affiliates: losing customers. 5 RakebackAffiliates Rake is a set percentage of every pot that the House, or online poker site, takes as a commission; it’s how they make their money. Rakeback is a strategy that’s es- peciallypopularamongpokeraffiliates. It consists of giving players back a percent- ageof the rake. Benefit ofRakeback: Nobody likes to lose, especiallywhen it comes tomon- ey.Rakebackoffersplayersa “condolence prize” or, in this case, a small return on the money they lost, in the hopes of in- creasing player loyalty. Many consider the benefits of rakeback to include (a) repeat play; (b) higher commissions; and (c) it gives players the sense that they are part of amembers-only club. Disadvantage of Rakeback: Oth- ers feel that this marketing technique is actually quite harmful to affiliates and operators alike. With rakeback affiliates mixed in with “regular” affiliates, play- ers are sometimes eager toabandon their existing “regular” accounts to create new ones throughaffiliateswhowillpay them. For this reason, rakeback is bannedwith- 25 Top 12Ways iGaming Affiliates Can EarnMoney