Hey Forum! A couple of questions to experienced webmasters

[ganymede]

Good day, people!

After a few weeks of deep research, I am launching my first casino affiliates website as well as on track to kick off an online casino project.

I came from the fintech industry and have experience in launching web- and app- based B2C digital products.

I have a couple of questions:

How long, in your experience, does it take to see some traction when launching a fresh gambling affiliate website on a new domain? (Let's consider that the website will be implemented in the niche with the moderate competition level using good SEO, content and backlink practices).

Shall I consider registering with affiliate programs while the site is at development stage or only after it is live even with mock affiliate links. I mean, do the affiliate programs consider applications from the “in-development” projects.

Have a great day!

[universal4]

Aint really an affiliate website if there are NO affiliate links.

Will the site get even ONE visitor during the early stages once the site is live?

If so, "what if" that one visitor is the one that will visit a recommended operator and sign up, and deposit?

If so, would you rather they read your review or ad and since you did not give them a method to click through to that operator, would you rather they then search for that operator at a search engine and join direct or under another affiliate?

And as for the approval from affiliate programs, it is slightly affected based on geo you will target, but there are plenty of programs that approval is automatic or very quickly.

You also state

as well as on track to kick off an online casino project

Are you also planning on entering the operator space?

Rick
Universal4

[chaumi]

.How long, in your experience, does it take to see some traction when launching a fresh gambling affiliate website on a new domain? (Let's consider that the website will be implemented in the niche with the moderate competition level using good SEO, content and backlink practices).

No one will be able to give you a sensible answer to this. The best you could possibly get would be a real-life example from someone that might say "I launched a new site x months ago and within x months it had pages ranking (in Google)"

But even that wouldn't help you, because every site will be different and there are multiple inputs to how long anything will take.

The best you can do is not worry about that...because you cannot control many aspects. What you can control is the site itself. Make it the best you possibly can (and, by that, I mean really strong). That way, you will be giving search engines reason to index it, rank it, and show pages to potential visitors.

[PaulEchere]

As chaumi said above - it is difficult (and probably impossible) to say how soon you will get your first visitor. It depends on a lot of different factors as well as some luck.

Your choice of brands to promote may largely impact how quickly you get good rankings as well as your strategy and budget (if applicable) for getting backlinks.
The region you target will also play a huge role in how fast and how likely you will get organic traffic. Some GEOs are much more competitive than others. That being said - the competitive ones are much more profitable.

It might be possible to set semi-realistic expectations based on your geo, brands, budget and seo experience, but it's probably not worth the effort. A good advice above is to not really get worried about timelines, if this is something you want to do - make a plan and follow it, adjust accordingly.

[ganymede]

Thank you! So, I will focus on auto- or quick-approval programs and when the website is live will apply for larger ones.

Yes, as I mentioned, we'd like to try the online casino niche as an operator. I understand that it is a subject of complex preparations, strong expertise and a solid budget. Regardless, ready to try in the observable future.

Thank you!

Will focus on doing my best instead of guessing

What is the correlation between "brands to promote" and good rankings, by your opinion? Do you mean that good brands will increase the overall click-through rate?

[baldidiot]

Aint really an affiliate website if there are NO affiliate links.

Will the site get even ONE visitor during the early stages once the site is live?

If so, "what if" that one visitor is the one that will visit a recommended operator and sign up, and deposit?

I'm not sure if I agree with this any more. Back in the day it made sense but now with quotas and compliance and all manner of hoops to jump through I think adding links later somethings makes more sense, although it does affect what content you do early on.

Ie: I wouldn't be adding reviews and branded content without aff links. But there's no reason why you can't start out a site with non-aff content first and then add in the affiliate site once it's got going a bit.

For example, if you're doing a slot site you could focus on the slots first etc..

[chaumi]

What is the correlation between "brands to promote" and good rankings, by your opinion? Do you mean that good brands will increase the overall click-through rate?

I'm not sure if this is what Paul meant, but fwiw here's one way you could look at it........

You have a page titled 'list of the best online casinos'
The first entry is.....'Apple Pie Casino'. The second is 'Wendy's Wild Donuts Casino'.....etc etc etc

Google will crawl the page (or you hope they will!)...and the algorithm will say ' you're kidding me, I don't recognize these names...so how could I possibly show this page to someone who's looking for a 'best online casinos' list.

They (or the algorithm) will be expecting to see specific names on that list (although, ofc, you could have lesser known names if there was good reason for them to be there...and if your page was very very very strong - in content, presentation, and other signals to it - then lesser known names alone might be enough to have an impact).

The bottom line is - the brands you promote won't help you rank per se. Only the strength of your page/site (and note 'strength' as used here brings in many different elements) will help you rank. But having certain brands might help with relevance to your subject (depending on what that is). And relevance is one (of the many dozens/hundreds/thousands) of factors that play a part in how a search engine interprets the meaning or intent of a page.

[chaumi]

I'm not sure if I agree with this any more. Back in the day it made sense but now with quotas and compliance and all manner of hoops to jump through I think adding links later somethings makes more sense, although it does affect what content you do early on.

Ie: I wouldn't be adding reviews and branded content without aff links. But there's no reason why you can't start out a site with non-aff content first and then add in the affiliate site once it's got going a bit.

For example, if you're doing a slot site you could focus on the slots first etc..

Eloquently said, and +1

[mickyfu]

I'm not sure if I agree with this any more. Back in the day it made sense but now with quotas and compliance and all manner of hoops to jump through I think adding links later somethings makes more sense, although it does affect what content you do early on.

Ie: I wouldn't be adding reviews and branded content without aff links. But there's no reason why you can't start out a site with non-aff content first and then add in the affiliate site once it's got going a bit.

For example, if you're doing a slot site you could focus on the slots first etc..

I'd slightly disagree, quotas are only put in place to steal off affiliates who have a player base to steal. New affiliates with nothing to steal are not worth closing down.

These parasites love a good Google update and when affiliates with a decent player base lose traffic, go in for the kill and take their last.

[baldidiot]

I'd slightly disagree, quotas are only put in place to steal off affiliates who have a player base to steal. New affiliates with nothing to steal are not worth closing down.

Yeah I guess that is true to some extent. Although a lot of brands have automatic quotas in place - ie: cut to 10% if less than x RMPs for x months, or closed if no RMPs for y months.

[Grand_RexAffiliates]

Hi, ganymede!

1) This depends on many factors, especially of GEO. A relevant timeframe estimation you can get when you already launched the website, even as beta and without any links.
2) It is a good idea to register for affiliate programs weeks before the launch, even if your project is only a draft. It's much easier to adjust links, reviews, uniform the design, etc. on early stages of development. Regarding quotas, terms and possible closing of account - it's not a problem at all, since you can register a new account from the scratch. And account with some history has better chances to discuss a better deal.

Best regards,
Andrey

[loosecanoli]

Don't expect your website to blow up in the first months. That's for sure. If you're an experienced tech guy, facing some problems along the way or fixing and updating your website's SEO etc will help you a lot (very very much) But other than that, you will have to be patient and have a direct kinda connection with the niche. ( know your stuff)

[drifter8]

iN the first 5-6 months, do not expect miracles.

Patience is the key to success.