GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 18 - October 2011

4 Stop being an affiliate and build your own product – Throughout the years as the poker affiliate industry has become more and more challenging, many affiliates have chosen to simply build their own products or business versus promoting someone else’s. While it may be hard for an affiliate to step outside of their comfort zone, this can be an extremely lucrative move. Depending on the product or platform, instead of being an affiliate, you can now get on the other side of the business and launch your own affiliate program. By having been an affiliate first, this will also allow you to understand the needs of af- filiates and run a much more effective af- filiate program. Whether you decide to launch a new product within gaming or outside of gaming, you’ll need to be creative. While an entire article could be written on en- trepreneurship or product launches, the key is to find demand in the market that is not currently being met. The beauty of launching a new product or business is that you are only limited by your creativ- ity and potential resources. 5 Explore joint ventures – With several poker affiliates looking to diversify and essentially start from scratch, there has never been a better time to investigate joint ventures. Many of the industry’s largest affiliates and operators over the years have been born out of initial joint ventures. Entering into a joint venture can allow you to combine skills and strengths with others. As the old saying goes, “Two heads are better than one,” and this is very accurate when entering into a joint venture. Additionally, working together with others yields a higher level of ac- countability and work ethic by both par- ties. Most affiliates I know are the first to admit that working alone makes it very easy to not be accountable. The real value of a joint venture is real- ized when both parties can bring sepa- rate resources and skills to the table. For example, maybe you are a great coder or content writer but terrible web designer or SEO. Imagine the possibilities for a new business where you can collectively bring together all of these talents. Many poker affiliates often fail to reach their full potential simply because they lack certain skills or resources. If this sounds familiar, there has never been a better time in the poker affiliate industry to explore joint ventures. In closing, it’s hard to predict exactly what will transpire in the poker affiliate indus- try over the next year, not to mention the next several years. The most sensible thing poker affiliates can do at this point, how- ever, is to diversify in some fashion. While diversification strategies will differ among individual affiliates, there is no question that given the recent developments it has become a necessity in order to continue growing in a market overflowing with uncertainty. 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. Five diversification strategies for poker affiliates post Black Friday 24