GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 16 - May 2011

Affiliates can come into their very own by targeting the keywords they believe a new user will look for as well as by making their website as professional and informative as possible. The members of the public are in- terested in only a few things, including: Which horses are running? Who offers the best price? Background on the horses Where can I bet? If you can guide them down the right path and answer the above questions, you will earn from each player you send to a sponsored sportsbook through your af- filiate link – and you can easily send sev- eral hundred players in one day alone. Al- though the value of the player will tend to be much lower than a normal player you send, you will have the added possibility of receiving additional commissions as some of them will gamble on the casino as well as on other sporting events, and you will probably earn again when they bet on the Grand National the following year. The Grand National is a great U.K.-based sporting event to promote, but less experi- enced affiliates may find it very hard to get their sites listed well in the search terms, so it is worthwhile looking at other one-off sporting events, including boxing matches between two archrivals and derby games. In a derby game, two rival teams match it out between themselves. This could be the New York Mets versus the New York Yankees or Manchester United versus Manchester City. What makes derby games so special to tar- get is that fewer affiliates will be going after them and you have the ability to target a very local region rather than targeting the nation or globe. By targeting specific re- gions you can create entries in local blogs and directories promoting your website, giving you the chance to become number one in the local search terms as well as with Google for your specific search term. One of themost commonly asked questions I receive from affiliates includes “Which sporting events should I promote?” This question alone is quite difficult to answer; I can say to go after the key term “sports betting,” or “football betting,” and you should do well. But going after these key search terms is harder than it looks, so the key is to go after a niche and scope out • • • • specific sporting events to target. A niche in the long run can be quite profitable but will require that you know how competitive the sports-betting niche you are targeting is. Here is another example of something worth targeting. If we go after the term “FA Cup Final” we will need to find out which website is currently number one in Google, as well as other search terms re- lated to this that we can target. Since “FA Cup Final” will be nearly impossible to get listed for, we can go after a term such as “FA Cup Final Bet” and within the first page of Google there are a few affiliates listed with whom we can compete. Now you will need to build a series of ar- ticles and press releases and use these to target local press outlets as well as article directories to help link build your site to that page. Link building is just one task needed to be done to help get listed for your niche. You will also need to obtain historical information and find out what special incentives are being offered by specific sportsbooks for the sports-betting niche you are targeting. Once done, focus on getting your site live at least six months before the event, fol- lowed by regular article writing in the months leading up to the event. Do not give up! You will likely not see any results till a couple of days before the event as people searching for and betting on these events tend to be last-minute gamblers. Throughout my tenure in the sports-bet- ting affiliate world I have found that some of the most successful and profitable sportsbook affiliates are ones who have targeted key events. This holds true on both sides of the Atlantic. The sports-bet- ting world is driven by events and know- ing which events to target results in profit. Similar to what one sees in the poker af- filiate industry, players tend to sign up on certain key days, including the weekend, as well as in the hours leading up to major evening games. Here’s my final bit of advice for an af- filiate aspiring to become a success in the sports-betting industry: It is important to start off by going into one specific niche rather than targeting all major sporting events. Once you’re a success in a niche you can then, and only then, branch out into other areas. Simon Eaton Simon Eaton is the founder of Sportsbook Commission (sportsbookcommission.com). Simon has spent the past 10 years in the sportsbook affiliate market and is considered one of the most recognized affiliate managers in the sportsbook sector. Sportsbook Commission is a new sportsbook affiliate community for affiliates around the globe who have sports betting as their affiliate revenue stream. Simon has an impressive affiliate past going back to 2001. He implemented many of the leading gaming affiliate networks including VIP.com, Nine.com and SPORTSBETTING. COM and also worked for bet365. Simon currently consults for the BetOnline affiliate program, which caters to sports bettors around the world. 51 Making the most from one-off sporting events