Ponder this complaint - operators linking to affiliates

I'm not sure how many members here get exclusive deals with webmasters and online casinos but today I got an odd complaint from an affiliate manager that another website was complaining I and another website received a footer pr link on there casino page.

They claimed this sent there affiliated incoming traffic coming in to them OUT per say to my website. Obviously we could care less about the few "incoming traffic clicks" from the casino and basically only perk is the PR.

It's pretty common to see GPWA, CAP, A few others, and myself on casino main pages.

What's your thoughts?

While I might not send traffic to an aff program if they linked out to affiliate sites, i certainly won't hold any grudge for the affiliate with the link, congrats to him.

Many people don't want to work with casinos linking back to competing affiliates

It's always nice to get perks from the programs we do business with. But, in this case, I think it's a short sighted plan by the casino. Why risk alienating the bulk of your partners to please a few? There are other ways to reward your top earners.

Simply put.... If I were looking to add a new program to my portfolio and I had narrowed down the choices to two properties, and all other things being equal, the one displaying competitors links would lose my business.

Fair and equal treatment would be nice but it will not happening anytime soon. For those who work just as hard as the other person deserves this equality IMO.

Seems to be the latest trend in thinking, fairness.

An equal opportunity for everyone sounds pretty good.

Good question AK because favoritism is alive and well in this business. Would I complain no there are plenty of other opportunities to level my field.

JMO

greek39

Thanks for the quality replies.

warm regards

ak

yes, not your fault a program is willing to alienate others.

Take what you can get.

Not very wise of the program but that's their problem.

There are plenty of ways to show gratitude or even favoritism that don't involve hurting other affs.

We have links page on http://www.vegasregalcasino.com/links/en

However it is only linked to from a small link on the home page, which makes it so very few people actually end up visiting the links page. :eyebrow:

Having said that, we take a fair and equal approach to all our affiliates. Any of our affiliates can get a link from that page by either offering a link in exchange or some other form of retribution.

I think this allows us to give some perks to our affiliates without isolating any of them. :lalala:

If you're linked on the casino's home page there is the possiblilty that a potential player could visit the affiliates' site and see an offer they like better and play there. Perhaps a high roller.

On the other hand it could help move casino up in the SE's resulting in a net gain of new players that out weigh those they might lose to the affiliates' site.

Our program doesn't give links on the casino page, but I do place some affiliate links on the homepage of http://www.livecasinopartners.com/ . I pick the ones who ask it. The only thing I require at this point is that the affiliate is actively marketing our casino (LuckyLiveCasino).

So, it is like a perk to those I know who are trying, regardless of absolute numbers.

So far, we have received no complaints.

Several years ago this was more of a problem, since aff progs were posting "awards" from sites on their front page, and giving live links back. Of course, these sites were giving out awards for just this reason, and it worked. Who could blame them?

After progs were made aware of what other affs thought about this, then adjustments were made, so as not to penalize sites who didin't give them "awards". Links from awards to pages on their own sites listing the awards they have received seems to be the best way to handle this.