Review My New Website - Constructive Criticism Is Welcome

[jake662]

Hey guys,

I have decided to start my own gambling affiliate venture.

I came across this forum and found out how helpful it is and how eager everyone in this forum is to succeed.

So I have decided to share my new website : www . theultimatebonus . xyz

Please let me know what you think and what I should improve.

I would Like to thank you in advance for your time

[yeahfree]

Positive:
- you use https

Negative:
- ugly theme
- no logo
- weird domain name
- almost hidden text in footer
- text logo does not resize well on mobile (it breaks the name)

Do you own the rights to the music that can be played through your site?
Subscribe for more deals, more music deals?

There is a lot of room for improvement. If you think this sounds harsh... try to be better than the competition.

[sweetbet]

The site loads very quickly and I like the design and color combo. Keep adding content. The more content and reviews the better. But it's a good start.

[Former Member 14]

Thought I'd throw a few things together, given your a newbie...

Being an igaming affiliate these days is a LOT of work. Out of 100 affiliates who commence, maybe 2 or 3 remain after 12 months.

It's not a 9 - 5 job. More so when you start out, and to make a good go of it, you basically have to live and breath the affiliate business. On top of that, if your not savvy with basic coding, or other skill sets (such as graphic design/SEO) which will help you make the most of your success, then you'll also need to learn that too. In the 1'st year it's a lot of work for very little return, but more often than not, you'll make bugger all.

Commit yourself to a well thought-out 3 year plan. At the end of that, with a little luck thrown in, you'll have a growing monthly income.

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Your Web Site

theultimatebonus.xyz

Creation Date: 2019-07-22
Updated Date: 2019-07-27
Expiry Date: 2020-07-22

Going on those dates, you've probably spend very little time setting this site up... Honestly mate, if your to make a genuine go of this, you need to spend a lot more time establishing a site. It requires a game-plan, not just throw stuff up on an incomplete site, and hope for the best.

NB - spammers register domains for one year. Hence, you need to register your domain for at least 2 years. However an active site, then your best for 3 years or more. Google does factor this into their alog matrix.

I've never dealt with .xyz domains. TBH I'm not sure if it would compete well against competitors with the usual TLD's. Personally, I'd ditch the .xyz, and instead be creative and find myself a .com, then you'll have a decent domain (don't keyword stuff or use all generic words). Instead, find a domain name you can make a marketable Brand Name with. Standing out from the crowd is important!

Decent .com etc., etc., are still around, but and reiterating you just need to be creative, and spend time at it.

I picked a new one up a few weeks back (couldn't obtain casinofile.com) so instead got: casinodossier.com (no it's not for sale)

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Good your using SSL.

Yes it loads quickly, but there's sweat FA content, so if it didn't load fast, I'd be worried.

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As yeahfree recommended, lose the music. It's tacky.

If you don't hold a license to use said music, you risk a DMCA take down order (valid for use in USA). If your not hosted in USA, but your hosting provider receives a take-down-order, make no mistake, they will yank your site in the blink of an eye (they don't want to risk being sued). Worse, using unlicensed (copyrighted/trademarked) music could find you being sued. Simple, don't use other people's copyrighted works.

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The WP theme, doesn't do it for me. Might be fine for a personal blog, but not an affiliate site. Go and purchase yourself https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/ (you can thank me for it later)...

Worded logo, that needs changing, it breaks on mobile. And logo like this doesn't really Brand your site. Your better off using it as a H1 heading, if your going to use the domain wording as your logo. Though, I'd avoid that practice, and instead go for a domain you can Brand.

The site header is huge and empty (aside from the worded logo). Add the navigation height to that, and approx 1/4 of your above the fold view (PC) is take up with blankness. On mobile it's even worse. Home nav link is MIA - aside from loading fast, there's nothing to encourage a visitor to stay, sorry.

Your navigation needs more content. But TBH the site just looks bland and uninviting. When it first opened, thought I'd copied the name wrong, the header and navigation looks a bit too much like a parked-domain page.

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SEO Needs Attention

Your home page is using part of your "blackjack blog" title as its home page title. That needs sorting out. Maybe fine if the site was about Blackjack, but it's not. Your marketing sportsbook, slots etc., etc., etc.

Yoast is a good SEO plugin, but...

If you don't know how to use it, it can quite easily have a negative impact. My suggestion, https://yoast.com/academy/ (spend a few bucks and learn how to use it to your advantage). Also, learn SEO. Mainstream SEO is fine for the basics. However, SEO and igaming are funny fishes. What works well in a mainstream SEO framework, doesn't always pan out for an affiliate site.

Knowing how to maximise your site's SEO potential for its given niche/content/market/visitors, is what will make your aff business successful.

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Aside from all of that, all the best going forward... Maybe you'll be one of the minority, and you'll be still going in 12 months time.


Cheers

Dave

[drifter8]

I am coming with my remarks, as Aussie Dave said "it is very hard game and we/ you will see what the deal will be after 12 months of hard work".

Positive staff:

- https

- site loads very fast

Negative issuess:

- .xyz domain is too strange for me, maybe if you want to make it a site for e-sport or virtual games, will sound more futuristic or kind of a thing that will make sense in reader's mind.

- there are a lot blamk(white) spaces. It definitely distracts users ' attention.

- concentrate on long and good lenght of content. An artile is not just about to be there, just to fill the space and have something for Google to be recognized for.

- add more reviews about bookies , bonuses and offers. If i have come across to your project, I would rather been very confused.

- before doing anything, or adding anything on the page and off page, think like a user. What will you like? Will you come again to this site? Every day think about improvemenet.

- your menu navigations are horrible or just missing. Take some time and reseacrh the sites in most of the people signatures aorund this lovely forum.

- think of your site as a sport newspaper. You need and are about to give and serve very good and smart info to new and coming again visitors.

- all I see here as for nor, just a first step and a child play : "I will start with a site and will see what will happen in few months".

- if you really want to make it and deserve the difference, in order to win from it, you need to make some serious job and skills invested on it.

- SEO - read as much as you can and ask questions.

[Cash Bonus]

Your site has a clean look to it, but at the same time though, it seems fairly simple and bare. I like how you allow your visitors to leave comments as this will give you a better understanding and idea of what they’re looking for. Your visitors probably won’t stay too long because you need to have more captivating content, so you will need to work on this part. It’s good seeing that your site loads quickly and because of this, your visitors won’t feel deterred to leave sooner because your site’s taking too long to load or just suddenly times out on them. I feel that you can still add more content to your website and make it even bigger and better than what it is. I think you should reconsider another colour instead of orange for your various sub-headers throughout your pages. I would personally use a lighter shade of maybe something like a light blue colour. I think you should experiment with other colours and see what works best for you. But that’s only my personal opinion. Maybe even consider some better casino themes and templates. There’s many of them for you to choose from. The other problem I’ve noticed is that when you click on a link on the index page to go to another page, there’s no link that connects back to your homepage and this issue is the same throughout your entire site. You should also consider having a “back to the top” button once the user reaches the end of any page. Remember that there’s always room for improvements. Your site is okay overall and don’t hesitate to reach out if you ever need any help on the forum.

[jake662]

Massive thanks to all the support received!

Over such a short period of time!

Grateful to have such helpful ppl motivate me & offer such in depth tips to improve my website for this affiliate venture.

Thanks for all the feedback and I will be sure to Keep you guys updated

Regards,
Jake

[yeahfree]

to be honest i wonder why anyone with the right intention would ever go for a .xyz. they are one of the cheapest domains, which normally results in a lot of ****** sites on those kind of extensions. of course it does not necessarily mean that all sites will be ****** just because of the extension, but i can imagine it will not work in your advantage.
i have checked, the .com is still available for reg fee. i would have gone for that one (or probably another .com domain) instead.

[feedinco]

For sure better domain than .xyz. Website theme is so and so but for sure increase website content and add more seo effort into it.

[drifter8]

I definitely agree with (yeahfree). You should go and fight for .com domain, it will be the first good step to take.

One last sentence - just give yourself a time frame , let's say 3 months from now and come again to us to see what you have repaired or done in the correct direction
The key is patience and a LOT OT LABOUR.

[Former Member 14]

Massive thanks to all the support received!

Over such a short period of time!

Grateful to have such helpful ppl motivate me & offer such in depth tips to improve my website for this affiliate venture.

Thanks for all the feedback and I will be sure to Keep you guys updated

Hi Jake,

Lots of people ask for help these days, but not too many post a thank you, or even acknowledge one's effort with a "Thanks". You've done both!

You seem like a decent guy. I truly hope you stick at it.


Cheers

Dave

[DanHorvat]

I only see some ugly Hello World page as .xyz redirects to .com.

But I can share general advice anyway - the design isn't important at all. What's important is UX, navigation, structure, speed. Long story short, if your user can find what he's looking for easily and if he goes through the funnel to convert, then the design is good. Colors and sh*t don't matter. Less is more.

I mean, of course the design has to be nice, but on the starting level it's much better to focus on usability than to fall into the trap of making the website look "pretty". You can spend months, years even, trying to find that perfect color for <a href>.

Also embrace the philosophy of "good enough". If something is 90% perfect, then it's good enough, move to something else. It's expensive (in terms of time) to chase the 99%.

Just some basic advice.

[jake662]

Little update:

1. Trying a new theme(still in the process of setting up)
2.Registered a .com domain (this domain also has the ssl)
3.Currently looking for article writers
4.Logo updated(idk if i'm feeling it, let me know )

Once again, thanks to everyone for taking their time to respond. It is greatly appreciated.

[jake662]

Hey guys a lil update

I have installed and started using the divi theme as suggested, I do honestly thank you for the suggestion as it made thing a whole lot simpler.

I am currently not sure on what setup I should use for my homepage.

I currently have a list of offers that are set as images with redirects to the aff links.

if anyone has any suggestions please let me know as im feeling kinda stuck at the moment.

I also have a blog page set up where I aim to get most of my seo traffic from.

I wrote some content but still need to boost how often I get it posted

Updated URL: www theultimatebonus com

Thank you

[drifter8]

In order to stat competing with other players in the industry you need to produce quality content each day ( between 2 to 5 good posts per day).

Excuse me, but site as per now it looks like s Cartoon movie.

YOu need to have structured menu like :

- in the header - think about it like you are just came user.


- you need to have different categories like casino, thir bonuses, mobile application, useful information.

- take a look at the sites we all are having in our signature.

- Before you have at least 100 posts on your site, you do not have nothing as a valuable informtion to any single user coming.

- Set yourself a time of couple of months of total devotion for what you are doing, otherwise someone else will take your place.

I hope all I said has been helpful to you

-Would you by yourself a newspaper onlu with pics with hidden affiliate links behind.

- It is really good that you have bought the .com domain , but the serious work just starts now.

- If it is a wordpress theme, you need install yourslef the most appropriate plug-ins not over 30. There area lots of threads about it in the forum.

- Search for common sites like your and take a look what is missing.

- Be very seriosu in what you are doing, there are millions of sites like your and the real players stay alive after the first 12 months.

[jake662]

Thank you , I will definitely work on your suggestions. thank you for taking the time to reply

[Former Member 14]

Hi Jake,

Glad to hear you've taken my advice and purchased DIVI. And, switched to the .com TLD.

I don't want to discourage you, but on the same token, no point sugar coating stuff either. That wont help you now, or in the future.

Maybe you are a complete newbie, and are unable right now , to produce the 'look and feel' of the affiliate site you picture in your head.

That's OK, we all started some place. My first site back in 1996 (not affiliate related, and way before Wordpress). Back then you used NotePad to write all your HTML coding. Anyway, thought it was the bees-knees, my 1'st site made. Looking back now, it gives me a chuckle. It was pretty rough and ready, with eye burning text colours, different fonts, scrolling marques, like you had previously, even embedded music. The site was an eye-sore. But, I thought it was great at the time.

Hence, I'm of the opinion, spend a few days, just cruising the web looking at how other igaming affiliates construct their portals. The once you have an idea of what you want, grab a large piece of butcher's paper and mock that site up.


BUT... FFS don't clone/copy anyone's site design, but instead, look at how they've setup their navigation, promotions, blog, textual content.

If at that point you don't know how to make that happen in DIVI, then go to the site and read up, or get some help there. They have plenty of howto videos, and a ton of help files too. Within your DIVI builder, you can also commence with a pre-designed theme template. I'll admit not a great selection for use as an affiliate site. BUT... don't look for that, instead, seek out the elements your looking for in your overall design.

Frankly, right now, I think your trying to achieve something which, either you don't know how to, or haven't got a clear focus on what you want.


Cheers

Dave

P.S. I'd also look at the Kb size of your images. Just because there's fast internet these days, doesn't mean everyone has access to it. Therefore, you need to optimise the Kb size of your images. You can do that by search google for (depending on the image type, lets say *.jpg)... You search for...

jpg imagine optimizer or if it's a png... png image optimizer.

My site logos are saved a Transparent 32bit png. I run them through an online optimizer, and they drastically reduce the Kb size, but not the quality.

EG - latest logo designed (32bit png)... Original save: 79Kb... same image optimized (32bit png): 14.7Kb

You can use Smushit and alike (wordpress plugin) but I'm fussy, and like to make sure the image looks decent. Hence I manually do each one. Maybe if you had a heap to do, and lots always, then Smushit would be far better time wise

[jake662]

Dave, I cannot thank you enough for your assistance on this thread, it's truly motivating to have someone there for guidance.

I really appreciate the time and effort you put into these replies.

As you said , I only have an idea at the moment of what I want my site to look like rather than what it should look like.

I am currently doing as you suggested by browsing others casino portals and analyzing placements of menu's offers content etc..

I will definitely have a look at divi's how-to tutorials to get my skills warmed up for divi too.

Once these steps have been taken I will report back to this thread.

Thanks again.

Regards,
Jake

[jake662]

UPDATE:

I have managed to acquire my first customer, what would you guys recommend revshare/cpa lemme know. Currently using Revshare

I am currently struggling with fining the right theme for my website

Content is being made I am just waiting for the right theme set up to go ahead and post regular daily content

Thank you.

[drifter8]

I would advise you to go wih pokatheme. There are many things written here and most of the users are very, very satisfied.

Take a look at one site with that theme : https://casino24.bg/

It looks awesome.

About the first customer of your, stick to the rev. share so far. CPA in some programs can give you just instant income at first, but you will lose a lot if your customer is good and long-standing.