Some questions about affiliate marketing...

[Irefutabilul]

There are some questions that have been bothering me for a while:

1. How affiliate programs of today track mobile traffic?

I don't want to say anything, but my traffic is 50% mobile today (from which 30% is Apple that has the option to disable cookies) and what I've noticed is that although traffic got better both in terms of quality and numbers and my website is mobile-friendly, generating more clicks to promoted websites, registrations & real money players got worse. The question is, WHY? Is it because of my traffic or maybe we do indeed have a tracking problem with mobile traffic?

2. Is affiliate marketing half-dead?

The minimum five players rules, the closing overnight brands, the affiliate managers detagging and stealing from affiliates and the "we do what we want" approach of affiliate programs of today, makes me wonder if there's any future in this industry at all? OK, I am not a big affiliate and I'm not even full-time in this. But I am not a newbie either and I know how things work, I am aware of the fact there's a tight competition. Nevertheless, I don't see many lights at the end of the tunnel. There is no middle class anymore. You are either a big affiliate making a lot, either a small one and you shouldn't even bother doing this at all it looks. I want to be understood correctly. I do not complain. I just have a feeling that affiliate marketing of today is not going into the right direction and it's not just small affiliates that get affected I have a feeling. Is there any future in this at all or will it end up like in Adwords, webmasters selling clicks and traffic for a certain rate?

3. Do affiliates have a voice at all?

Assuming that affiliate marketing is still an important segment of today's online gambling industry and some % of revenue is generated from this niche, why affiliate programs are generally not so bothered when messing things up? Say affiliate program X was found detagging players or having abusive terms. Some of the affiliate marketing sites, GPWA included, will probably mention it somewhere. But likely, there will be no centralised efforts in order to boycott affiliate program X and although some affiliates might take notice and remove affiliate program X from their websites, affiliate program X will continue the crap and won't be bothered to lose its source of income (from affiliate marketing in this case). WHY?

Any answers are appreciated

[ElaineGardiner]

Hi,

I'll answer number 1 for you from an affiliate program perspective, and I’ll leave the other questions for affiliates.

There are different methods for this, but I presume it's done on all program now, but never presume - I'd double check if your affiliate manager.

Here at cherryaffiliates we use local storage to store affiliate information rather than cookie tracking. Disabling cookies isn't something new and most software providers have done something about this. Another method is forcing the affiliate code into the URL which is then grabbed on registration.

Elaine

[KasinoKing]

Answers to your Main questions:

1. No idea.
2. Yes.
3. No.

Well you did say...

Any answers are appreciated

KK

[Irefutabilul]

Here at cherryaffiliates we use local storage to store affiliate information rather than cookie tracking. Disabling cookies isn't something new and most software providers have done something about this. Another method is forcing the affiliate code into the URL which is then grabbed on registration.

Elaine

Elaine, so if you force the affiliate code into the URL but the player only takes a glance and decides to write down the URL manually a few hours later, what happens?

Also what happens when a player goes to your website from mobile via a tracking link but signs up a few hours/day later, from another device? Isn't this like lost traffic?

[Irefutabilul]

As far as question #2 is concerned, I tend to believe that pure affiliate marketing doesn't exist even for big affiliates. Don't they take flat commissions for certain positions, listings, and so? Do they 100% depend on that tracking link?

[ElaineGardiner]

Elaine, so if you force the affiliate code into the URL but the player only takes a glance and decides to write down the URL manually a few hours later, what happens?

The people i know who do this, also drop a cookie, so the ID the url is a back up. So if it's on the same device it will track. But again best to ask your affiliate manager, each program is different.

Also what happens when a player goes to your website from mobile via a tracking link but signs up a few hours/day later, from another device? Isn't this like lost traffic?

Yes it's lost traffic. Theres no possible way to know which mobile user uses which desktop or tablet, unless you know of a way and i'd be happy to have it developed

My recommendation if you want catch the users in the above scenario (which is really few and far between that people do this)..is to request offline tracking codes from your affiliate program (if they provide them)

[555]

3. The problem is that affiliates are not organized. What is unethical to me does not bother some other affiliate. Also, most of the affiliates (small to mid) don't care to interpret the stats but just the bottom line every month. Many are lazy and don't understand how it could/should work. Many affiliates don't complain when their partners are hiding information from their affiliates and dodging questions (like Videoslots). There are no business ethics in the gambling affiliate world. That is why it is important to always let other affiliates know when you suspect something or think that a program is behaving in an unethical way. Forums like GPWA and AGD are crucial in this ever going battle.

What also complicates everything is that many forums and communities are being financed by sponsorships, certifications. It is hard to bite the hand that feeds you. This makes many programs get away with borderline "rogueness".

There is also a problem that there is no communication in these issues between affiliate managers and affiliates. AM's never discusses things like transparency issues, shaving etc with affiliates. They just stay out of the discussions and hope that it will fade away.