GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 17 - September 2011

Begin driving and converting non-U.S. traffic Easier said than done, I know. Howev- er, if you have a site that has historically ranked well and driven a great deal of traffic, you may as well build upon this existing platform versus starting from scratch. The easiest way to begin driving non-U.S. traffic and revenues is through translation. I would suggest choosing a few languages in emerging markets and have your existing top 10 converting pages professionally translated. Certainly you can do more, but starting with just 10 pages will allow you to experiment and see which languages are converting better for you. When doing this you’ll also want to place these newly translated pages in separate language-specific folders or sub- domains on your site. If you are going to target English-speaking European traffic, there are also some con- siderations to keep in mind with this as well. You will need to familiarize yourself with the proper dialect of the region you are targeting. For example, when writing about “friends” in the U.K., you would use the term “mates.” Or when writing Euro- pean news or articles about how many players played in a poker tournament, you would refer to players as “runners.” When trying to convert non-U.S. traffic, it’s the subtle things like dialect in your content that will make a world of differ- ence in your conversion rates. Diversify into new niches While I do think it makes sense to remain in the poker affiliate industry, I think it’s imperative for poker affiliates to diversify and not continue to have all their eggs in one basket. Poker affiliate marketing is recognized as one of the most competi- tive affiliate industries. If individuals can have success as poker affiliates, there is no question they should be able to parlay their skills into several different niches. I often get asked by affiliates, “What are the best niches to get into outside of gam- bling?” The answer is the same as the an- swer a poker expert will give you if you ask what you should do when you’re dealt a specific starting hand: It depends. The most important aspect to consider when exploring new niches is to pick an indus- try or product that interests you or that you have passion for. Your success rate in a new affiliate market will be greatly in- creased if you choose a niche that you’re already knowledgeable about or enjoy working within. Explore newmarketing platforms Over the past few years it has been easy for poker affiliates to get stuck in the same routine when it comes to driving newplay- ers and conversions. While many of these traditional marketing efforts such as SEO have helped affiliates build solid revenue streams, it may be time to branch out and try new things. For those affiliates whose primary focus was the U.S. market, trying to quickly regain their revenue through SEO alone is going to be a challenge. Now would be a great time to experiment with marketing strategies that maybe you haven’t worked with for a while or always wanted to try. For example, press release marketing seems to have lost some popu- larity over the past few years. However, did you know that many press releases written with your keywords in mind will often show up in the top five results of Google for a few days? Another example is video marketing. Ranking organically and getting on the first page of Google for some keywords may take several months and hours of effort. However, like recent news ar- ticles or press releases, oftentimes key- word-rich videos will rank very well in a short period of time. These are just a few different outside-the-box marketing platforms that affiliates should start ex- perimenting with. Bottom line is that there are a wealth of opportunities and innovative ways to grow your affiliate business other than by simply creating content and optimizing for search engines. Most poker affiliates would agree that what transpired on Black Friday was truly a “game changer” for the online poker in- dustry. The closing and seizure of the four largest U.S.-facing online poker sites by the DOJ is by far the most significant bad beat this industry has ever been dealt. While I expect many affiliates will simply leave the industry, I also expect there will be affiliates who use this turbulent period in the online poker industry to learn new marketing strategies and innovative ways to grow their affiliate businesses. “ Should you continue promoting online poker and targeting U.S. players? This seems to be the million-dollar question lately. ” Jeremy Enke Jeremy Enke is the CEO of Poker Affliate Listings (PokerAffiliateListings. com). Jeremy has dedicated over seven years to the poker affiliate market, with an overall mission throughout this time of helping affiliate marketers reach their full potential and become more successful in this terrific industry. Jeremy has been involved in the poker affiliate industry since 2003. Founding the world’s largest poker affiliate community, followed by the world’s largest poker affiliate network, Jeremy likes to refer to himself as a self- proclaimed Certified Baller. Jeremy’s sense of humor and entrepreneurial spirit are second to none. 65