GPWA Times Magaine - Issue 23 - February 2013

T his issue of the GPWA Times Magazine – the 23rd – is going with us to London! It will be distributed February 4-5 at ICE Totally Gaming and February 7-10 at the London Affiliate Conference (LAC). If you’re attending either of these great events, be sure to look us up. Our cover story comes from Lorien Pilling, who tells us that consolidation is now the name of the game in our industry, and that being more corporate doesn’t necessarily mean being better. He then discusses some of the“growing pains” affiliates will have to endure as a result of the current flurry of mergers and acquisitions. Also in this issue, we dazzle you with photos from our recent sojourn to Barcelona, Gary Beal gives us 12 (actually 36!) SEO tips for the new year, Deanna Dobson explains how affiliates can learn a lot about successful marketing from the 1992 movie Glengarry Glen Ross , Paul Reilly gives us his personal – but never jaundiced! – views on how to read between the lines of the PR that Google releases when rolling out their algorithm updates, and Jeremy Enke shares with poker affiliates and operators his invaluable perspective on what is likely to happen in 2013 and beyond. Also not to be missed in this issue are our interviews with four very astute affiliates and four highly dedicated affiliate managers, some of the latest webmaster news, notable quotes, the event calendar and the latest addition to our Wall of Shame. And if I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand (or at least 23) times: If you’re not yet subscribing to this magazine, don’t let another day go by without setting up your subscription. It’s easy! It’s free! Go to gpwatimes.com and get it done. Have a wonderful rest of the year, everyone! Sincerely, Michael A. Corfman GPWA Executive Director LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR GPWA Executive Director: Michael Corfman ProgramManager: Steven Corfman ForumModerator: Anthony Telesca Membership Manager: Nancy Troy Marketing Director: Andrea Mullaney GPWA Times Magazine Editor-in-chief: Vin Narayanan Senior Editor: Aaron Todd Copy Chief: Bill Riley Designer: George Choi Advertising To advertise in the GPWA Times, please e-mail: sales@gpwa.org Subscriptions For a FREE subscription to the GPWA Times Magazine, visit: gpwatimes.com ISSN 1941-9872 ALSO IN THIS ISSUE 12 GPWA Photo Album: Barcelona and Las Vegas 22 Poker affiliate marketing in 2013 and beyond, by Jeremy Enke DEPARTMENTS 4 Webmaster News 6 By the Numbers 19 Event Calendar 38 Affiliate Interview Series 59 GPWA Sponsors 60 Affiliate Manager Interviews 72 APCW’s Wall of Shame 8 Improving conversions by overcoming breaking points Deanna Dobson discusses the obstacles that both affiliates and operators face in reaching and converting players and explains why these problems can actually be a positive motivational force. 30 Top 12 SEO tips for 2013 Gary Beal’s 12 tips this year are heavy on ways to deal with content and how to optimize it – and there’s no math involved – we promise! XII 52 Deciphering today’s Google propaganda Paul Reilly helps us distinguish between“the almighty search engine’s”frequently self-serving statements and what he sees to be“the absolute truth.” 26 Cover Story: Growing up is hard to do Lorien Pilling takes a look at the forces driving the recent acceleration of acquisitions and mergers in the iGaming industry – and then looks at the positive and negative implications this activity has for affiliates.