Content Question for Affiliates and Affiliate Managers

[Miles_Videoslots]

For Affiliates

1) How many of you have asked a program for a written review and been given it? Can you say what programs have helped?

2) How many News articles have you been given by an operator to Post that has been uniquely written for you or have you done all this yourself?


For Operators and Managers

1) Do you write content for affiliates on request review, News etc?

2) If yes what have been the results have you seen an increase in Player numbers

3) do you think this is a good idea or do you feel as its a business the affiliate should be responsible for it?

4) How many Articles etc a week do you think you feed to affiliates for posting if any.


I have always believed in going the extra Mile its good for business, SEO etc et what is the general feeling?

[DavidChu]

For Affiliates

1) How many of you have asked a program for a written review and been given it? Can you say what programs have helped?

2) How many News articles have you been given by an operator to Post that has been uniquely written for you or have you done all this yourself?


For Operators and Managers

1) Do you write content for affiliates on request review, News etc?

2) If yes what have been the results have you seen an increase in Player numbers

3) do you think this is a good idea or do you feel as its a business the affiliate should be responsible for it?

4) How many Articles etc a week do you think you feed to affiliates for posting if any.


I have always believed in going the extra Mile its good for business, SEO etc et what is the general feeling?

For Affiliates

1. Requested previously, results were mix of good and bad. Fact is majority players these days don't really bother reading them.
Minority or new players might read them just to know more info before getting started to play or maybe when they feel like reading it.

2. Depends on the type of news article availability during that time upon request. News article type ranges from casino promotions, games news etc. Affiliates may edit the article if they feel like it, but not encourage, unless deem necessary.

Operators & Managers

1. Yes upon request from affiliates.

2. Results were mix of good and bad. Of course we want a win-win situation for both parties.

3. Depends on the organization. It's a good move to do so, as it helps promote your branding in some way. However, the affiliates has to put some effort into it as well, and not solely rely on getting spoon fed by Operators.

4. Depending on that week's article availability. Eg. Minimum at least 1 on weekly casino promotions.

SEO is good to have, but don't place too much hopes on it as the casino industry is so competitive these days.

[PromoteCasino]

For Affiliates

1) How many of you have asked a program for a written review and been given it? Can you say what programs have helped?

Still waiting for mine Miles,

[Miles_Videoslots]

Basically, I want to know if you're getting what you've asked for at present from other operators or are you getting turned away?

Our Content Team has a huge amount of work to do so we have put these requests on Hold but if you remind me your username in an email ill gladly do it for you!

[PromoteCasino]

Basically, I want to know if you're getting what you've asked for at present from other operators or are you getting turned away?

Our Content Team has a huge amount of work to do so we have put these requests on Hold but if you remind me your username in an email ill gladly do it for you!

Not to worry Miles I was just messing with you, I know you have lots of work to sort out stats etc...

[-Shay-]

We do ask for (and receive) content from programs we work with that we use in reviews. The program provides us the information we ask for (in "review format") and we use it in our review of the program (it is not an entire review we ask for - ever but we do require that they participate in the review process). If a program will not (or does not) provide the information in content form that we are after, they do not receive exposure.

We also ask that programs wishing for more exposure on our sites provide "news" to us that is uniquely written. Those that provide such a thing get more exposure via their "news" (providing it is well written, unique, and relevant).

[paulpuolakka]

For Operators and Managers

1) Do you write content for affiliates on request review, News etc?

I feel strongly that in the end of the day the content should be made by the affiliates. I do provide generic review that affiliates can use as a base. If we would write all the content ready for affiliates then that would be basically all we would do all day long. Depends ofc the amount of traffic, I´ve helped few times a good affiliate that can drive good traffic it they for example haven´t have ability to write content quickly for for finnish language.

2) If yes what have been the results have you seen an increase in Player numbers
We´ve seen some solid numbers when the campaign has been good.

3) do you think this is a good idea or do you feel as its a business the affiliate should be responsible for it?
We pay for the traffic and affiliate should be responsible to drive the traffic, when ever it means quality content etc. Naturally I want to help the both parties to drive traffic and provide the needed help when it comes to content etc. marketing material.

4) How many Articles etc a week do you think you feed to affiliates for posting if any.
I try not to "spam" affiliates, because I know how much they probably get contacts and newsletters from various casinos. We try to build individual campaign for each good performing affiliates.

[wolfie]

I am a firm believer that you should always write your own casino reviews (and test them out yourself with real money). Only then will you be able to get a good feel for some of the more important questions:

- how easy is the signup process?
- how easy is the deposit process?
- how easy is the document verification process?
- how fast do withdrawals really take?
- how does the live chat react to queries and/or complaints?

I can easily pick out the generic reviews from the ones that have been written by an affiliate that has really tested out a online casino. I also believe that, as customers become smarter and better informed, they will be increasingly be able to tell the experts apart from the "posers".

That said, I do use the generic news articles from time to time as a framework for my news and promotion articles. What really gets me sometimes is why some casino fail to give out some of the most important information.
You will just get two or three lines of blurb and that is it.

Usually something along the lines of:

"Last week, a Lucky player won 300k at our great casino and now he is very happy. Don't forget to promote this on your site"

How am I supposed to write a 500 - 600 word article with just those shreds of information?

I need to know:

- Which game did the player win on?
- How did he win it (progressive jackpot, bonus game etc)
- The exact date (don't say "a few days ago")
- The deposit
- Where is the player from?
- How long was he with the casino?
- What did the player have to say about the big win? What is he going to do with the money?
- Does the casino itself have anything to say about it?

People love success stories, but I do need a story to tell.

And also, would it kill the affiliate managers to give us a clear rundown of the bonus terms of a promotion? Very often, I need to contact the affiliate manager because the terms of a promotion are unclear or are nowhere to be found. By the time you get a clear answer, the promotion has already started.

A final note: when announcing the big promotions, do not send me the details the night before the promotion starts. At least one week before the promotion starts will increase the chance that I will write about it fivefold.

[Triple7]

1) I prefer to get this input as some help when I write my own articles, reviews, etc. For a website in a language which is not my native languages, I asked a time reviews of casinos.

99,9% of what I received was total crap:

- basic SEO rules were completely ignored;
- reviews were full of errors: spelling errors, grammatical errors, but also simply information that was not correct or even misleading. It seem that many programs don't even understand the terms of the brands they're pushing;
- content that didn't even pass 'Copyscape';
- essential information that wasn't in the review, etc.

In the best case, I got an article that was written having a look at the SEO-tool, without any errors, but totally uninteresting to read because of the way it was written.

2) I am already a happy man if I get enough input for an article. Programs should have in mind that most affiliates want to spend at least 500 - 600 words to a news article and have not an unlimited fantasy. Hence, some input is needed and this must contain more than just some headlines or completely uninteresting facts or bonuses.

Some brands have interesting interviews with winners or interesting facts about improvements they made. Others just know to shout how awesome their conversion is, how well they're doing in [insert random market] (sometimes not even the market I am targeting) or to make an appointment for the next conference. Of which the only goal seem to be some KPI of the affiliate manager. It doesn't matter if appointments make any sense and they don't need to be prepared well at all, but full agenda = extra sticker for the album.

Also annoying are:

- tournaments that are announced as very interesting, but in fact are just a ranking of who plays the most. Completely not interesting for the average player, but many times announced as interesting. Sometimes I see tournaments where people have to stake half a million to get an old-model-iPhone. Of course the cheapest one with the fewer gigabytes.
- free spins offer where you have to deposit like 50 euro or even more, to get 10 free spins 1, 2 or even 3 days later. Really, who cares about it?

[Alex_PlayAttack]

Thanks a lot to Triple7 and wolfie, your info will definitely help us do improve content support strategy.

Regarding your questions Miles:

1. We do provide reviews on demand and affiliates find it helpful.

2. Of course it affects the results and it's also understood that another one or two reviews can't affect site's ranking seriously.

3,4. It's good idea for sure, imo every ability to help your partner should be used. Updating once a week is acceptable.

[Muppet]

An uncritical piece written by the entity being "reviewed" is not a review. Sites that pretend that they are reviewing casinos or poker rooms while publishing this sort of PR are worthless.

[Renee]

Of the programs who give affiliates unique reviews, how do you manage to write thousands of unique reviews on the same product? Just curious.

If players are looking for a review on X casino and go to 5 sites where the review sounds exactly the same, then the 6th site sounds completely different with less generic information, the 6th site is most likely going to convert the player.

When I'm looking for a review on a product I open multiple tabs from the search results and read every one of them before clicking through anything or making a decision.

IMO it's in the affiliate's best interest to write the review themselves and just looking at our affiliate database, the affiliates who do their own reviews rather than basing their content on our generic information provided are getting more conversions.

My 2 cents.

[MMM]

I don't ask for reviews but it would help me a lot to get from a program all the details so I won't have to go searching for it. In many cases, things are not updated, you can still find casinos that list payment options that went down 5 years ago (US related). Having an updated doc with all info: bonuses, wr, max cashout terms, reload bonuses, payment methods, withdrawal methods, speed - would be very helpful.

Now that Im thinking of it: I will add a review of each (not rogue) program that can send me that. A small warning - the review will be fair, so if you slowpay - thats how it will appear.

[Miles_Videoslots]

Good question as I agree with your views here my intention is to gauge opinion as to if its a good thing or a bad one to do it.

If you do it does it have a positive effect on your numbers, I have done some tests and there was some improvement when we provided Content not just reviews but stuff on games and general information also, We could get more information out and posted quicker.

It aided in our generic conversions as well as an uplift in the affiliates we did this for but as for reviews I would say 60% - 70% of the content needed for a review can't be unique so only a small amount that is not generic like Offers, Banking, Software are etc would need to be unique correct ?

Of the programs who give affiliates unique reviews, how do you manage to write thousands of unique reviews on the same product? Just curious.

If players are looking for a review on X casino and go to 5 sites where the review sounds exactly the same, then the 6th site sounds completely different with less generic information, the 6th site is most likely going to convert the player.

When I'm looking for a review on a product I open multiple tabs from the search results and read every one of them before clicking through anything or making a decision.

IMO it's in the affiliate's best interest to write the review themselves and just looking at our affiliate database, the affiliates who do their own reviews rather than basing their content on our generic information provided are getting more conversions.

My 2 cents.

[Renee]

If you do it does it have a positive effect on your numbers, I have done some tests and there was some improvement when we provided Content not just reviews but stuff on games and general information also, We could get more information out and posted quicker.

Yes, if you give an affiliate information that they don't have to search for themselves (not a review), it's always going to make a difference. Humans in general will do what's easy first. There are companies out there who will purposely hire lazy employees because people who are lazy will always find the easiest way to do things.

It aided in our generic conversions as well as an uplift in the affiliates we did this for but as for reviews I would say 60% - 70% of the content needed for a review can't be unique so only a small amount that is not generic like Offers, Banking, Software are etc would need to be unique correct ?

Even so, how do you write something unique about the same thing thousands of times? That's my question.

[loquax]

I've had content from different operators in the past, and pretty much 95% of the time it's rewritten or not used. Although it's often claimed to be unique it's unique in the sense it's been rinsed through a thesaurus a number of times - and quite often doesn't make sense.

Operators also like to big their brands up (e.g Number One Bingo site is hosting the promotion of the year by giving away a fabulous £5 voucher") - understandable I guess - but there needs to be realism.

One operator likes to send me articles each week - each one gives the welcome offer in some form to make up one paragraph. When you take that out, remove the over inflated guff and put it in to readable English, the articles goes down from 300 to about 50 words.

Personally I'd rather AMs/Operators spent time giving out info about up and coming promos, newsworthy articles, new games etc. - it's amazing just how few do that.

Jason

[PromoteCasino]

I would prefer to get some kind of review written by the AM. Purely to make sure that i have the current information on bonuses, withdrawals etc...
But this would then be written to fit the style of our site.

There is nothing worse than hiring a writer and then finding out that the info they have supplied is wrong or out of date.

[allaboutthebets]

Always had mixed experiences with this. Some really good and say no problem give us a few days, some say yes no problem and send generic stuff taken from their website, some say yes and never get back to you...........Others just say no.

I have asked a few non UK facing programs for unique content as I can not access there sites (I know I can use a VPN) but you cant sign up and use them properly.

[petimi]

I agree on most points of wolfie.
If an affiliate is going to promote a brand the minimum he/she should do is to try the casino. Sign up for an actual account and go through what any customer would: register, deposit, play games, withdraw, talk to customer service etc. Cover the typical life-cycle of a user.
THEN you are in a position to write a review.

Would you recommend / promote a physical product that you haven't tried yourself? Maybe you would but I don't think it's ethical.

Wolfie pointed out well what should be included in a good review article. Generic copy doesn't get you far anyway - it will not convert. Concentrate on story telling - I think a personal tone can also bring your story much closer to players as they can imagine themselves doing the same think like the writer did trying the specific casino / game.

The only material I seen from operators / affiliate programs is press release style or very generic articles. Using those would also make me worried about duplicate content issues on my site as it's likely that many other affiliates picked up the same copy and published it.

[ocreditor]

I would say that about 50% of the programs are willing to supply unique content of any kind..

But when it comes to a more important issue - basic players stats many programs are not so cooperative which is a shame because other programs just giving all the data and being completely transparent as it should be !