GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 7 - January 2009

70 GPWA Times | Ready tobreak into thepokermarket? Don’t do any of these things! By Jeremy Enke Throughout the last seven years, I have had the unique opportunity to work close- ly with and mentor hundreds of new poker affiliates. During this time I have had the chance to see many affiliates go from do- ing poker affiliate marketing as a hobby, to making it a full-time, six-figure career. Any time you enter a new affiliate mar- keting vertical, there is a definite learning curve. With online poker, this is especially true. Promoting online poker is a com- pletely different animal than promoting online casinos. Nonetheless it is a market that is consistently growing throughout the world. And even more exciting, it is a market where gaming affiliates can build a great residual income. Inevitably, how- ever, when starting out, most new poker affiliates will make mistakes. In this article, I will point out some of the more common mistakes I have seen new poker affiliates make through the years. My hope is that by learning about these common mistakes and pitfalls, GPWA readers considering breaking into the poker affiliate market will decrease their learning curve. They are listed in no spe- cific order. 1 Expecting toomuch too soon — Running a poker affiliate busi- ness is just that; you are running a business. Although there is a huge amount of money to be made in the industry, it is not a get rich quick scheme. As with any business, you are investing time and energy for future earnings. You should not expect to make any type of sub- stantial income in your first six months. Furthermore, you should be re-investing a good portion of your initial poker affili- ate earnings back into growing your busi- ness. 2 Playing poker with your af- filiate revenue — I feel com- pelled to write this because I see it happen all too often. Many new poker affiliates started in the indus- try because they were poker players first. This is fine, but if you want to become a successful poker affiliate, it will be critical that you separate your affiliate earnings from your traditional poker bankroll. The fact is that 90% of online poker players are losing or break-even players. More than likely you’re not a multi-millionaire from playing online poker. If you were, you probably wouldn’t be reading this af- filiate article! Just as important as separating your affili- ate earnings from your bankroll is separat- ing your work time from your poker play- ing time. Anyone who has played online poker knows that it can be a black hole in terms of eating away at your time. If you want to be a successful poker affiliate, you will have to focus on your business more than your play. Sorry, that is just the real- ity of it. But trust me: getting five-figure poker affiliate payments each month is much more rewarding than winning an occasional pot or tournament. 3 Not learning the fundamen- tals of SEO — Learning the fundamentals of search engine optimization is critical for your success as a poker affiliate. You can still make a decent income as a poker affiliate without utilizing SEO. However, if you plan on having any type of Web site or portal, embracing SEO will increase your traffic and earnings exponentially. In fact, 99% of the affiliates who are earning six figures per month are doing so because they mastered SEO. There are still several keywords and long-tail phrases in the on- line poker market that are profitable and attainable for new affiliates. 4 Business ethics — It is not hard to see the potential revenue that can be made as a poker af- filiate. Many new affiliates, how- ever, get blinded by these numbers and try “black hat” techniques or unethical practices. If you are going to build a long- term business model, you have to be ethi- cal and earn the trust and respect of the affiliate programs, as well as your fellow poker affiliates in the industry. Once you establish your reputation as an unethical affiliate, it is very difficult to do business in the industry. A few of the most common unethical practices we see new affiliates partake in are spamming, copying content and CPA fraud. Smart affiliates realize that being a poker affiliate can be a great long-term career and do not want to risk their future earning potential by making bad decisions in the beginning. 5 Promoting too many Web sites at once — Of course the goal for any successful poker af- filiate is to diversify and operate multiple Web sites in various niches. It is easy in the beginning, however, to lose fo- cus and have too many eggs in too many baskets. When starting out, it is best to learn the core fundamentals while keep- ing your focus on either one or just a few Internet properties. Doing this will also al- low you to develop your “flagship” brand, which can act as a catalyst for future proj- ects or sites. AVOIDING THE 8 COMMON POKER AFFILIATE MISTAKES & PITFALLS Avoiding the 8 Common Poker Affiliate Mistakes & Pitfalls