Super Affiliate looking to learn the gambling side!

[ntrs]

Hey guys,

A good friend of mine recommended I try to dip into the gambling/casino market of affiliate marketing. I'm heavy into promoting diet/health products and have been doing it for quite some time. I recently jumped into the mobile space and have been seeing some very profitable runs. I just need you guys to help me take a grasp on this market, which is why I joined this forum. I know all about the CPA (mainstream product) side of affiliate marketing, but I want to learn more about the gambling vertical of affiliate marketing.

A few questions I have (maybe it will start a solid discussion):

- Who are the good/bad guys? Who should I avoid, and who should I start running with? Any fools?
- Is there a place where I can find a list of the small programs and big programs? I know that there are a lot of public companies.
- Any strategy's you want to share on how to rake in players?
- Who should I be meeting? I have a lot of traffic, I have huge budgets, I'm here to rake in cash.
- Is it better to run with rev-share or CPA?
- Top programs you recommend I join?

Thanks for helping me out, not sure where to start as I have zero contacts on this side. I feel sort of hopeless!

[universal4]

Spend a week reading threads here since these very questions are asked on a regular basis.

Some may be old, in fact some may even be 5 or 8 or even 10 years old, but a few of those same companies are still serving players today.

Rev-share is always better for the long term, and try and stick with groups that have fewer player complaints.

Rick
Universal4

[muffincrumbs]

Welcome NTRS,

One of the big ones I think people have a misunderstanding about this is they assume it is like other affiliate markets. Let me put your mind at ease sir and let you know the the gambling vertical is unlike anything you have seen before.

As a "super affiliate" you are most likely into SEO and that's where you get your traffic, your life blood, your everything. If your a CCP turn over kind of marketer you will see that is practically impossible. No one is going to out bid the big companies on Adwords K/W in the UK and/or elsewhere for that matter. While these campaigns can (usually) not be run the the US at all.

Imagine going to the places you are used to getting some visibility from and asking to post your article about gambling and online casinos. Yeah...

So we work together. I give some space on one of my sites and eventually that webmaster returns the favor. Sometimes it takes months to turn around and make any gains as the amount of competition is very high.

Why?

Because you can make a crap load of money.

Ask specific questions and I happy to help.

This is merely an extension of Universals post above.

Great to meet you!

[F-L-C]

I would recommend AGD approved programs and I am not sure where you are based but there is an igaming affiliate conference coming up soon in Barcelona you can read about here http://www.igbaffiliate.com/

[Louis - Income Access]

Hi ntrs

We've done hand holding consulting with similar cases (super affiliates from other industries who step into iGaming with a big budget), and I can tell you that this is not an industry where simply having a large budget means you can print money. There are plenty of big budgets vying to get every last player from every available traffic source even if it means acquiring them at a loss. You have to find a creative niche, be extremely good converting long tail key words, or grind out the long haul to get Google rankings.

If you want to start sending traffic to programs ASAP, Income Access can help get you diversified portfolio of brands, big and small, and commission structures (CPA, rev-share, hybrid) to test out. We represent over 200 affiliate programs across all verticals and legal markets, so you have a lot of options.

(FYI - Unlike the traditional affiliate marketing industry, most iGaming brands operate standalone affiliate programs rather than running their principal program through an affiliate network. We provide one of the most popular software platforms which powers these standalone programs, and also provide outsourced affiliate program management to many of these brands)

We could also discuss supporting you with a dedicated account manager who could upskill you in the key industry info you will need to be successful, as well as co-manage PPC, PR, or content campaigns, depending on your budget. Please PM me or send an email to louis at incomeaccess dot com if you're interested.

Good luck!

[Marit VS]

- Who are the good/bad guys? Who should I avoid, and who should I start running with? Any fools?
- Is there a place where I can find a list of the small programs and big programs? I know that there are a lot of public companies.
- Any strategy's you want to share on how to rake in players?
- Who should I be meeting? I have a lot of traffic, I have huge budgets, I'm here to rake in cash.
- Is it better to run with rev-share or CPA?
- Top programs you recommend I join?

Universal is right, most of these questions you can find on the forum itself! But here is my two pence:


- Who are the good/bad guys? Who should I avoid, and who should I start running with? Any fools? Affiliate Guard Dog & APCW are great to have a look at the programs that are bad/good in terms of how they treat players. Which convert better will depends on a million factors, including the kind of traffic you are looking to bring in. Do a little research both here and on the two sites I mentioned, and make a top 20 list and contact the afiliate managers. Then it's a matter of testing and coming back here and asking about a specific program and it's reputation. Asking which are 'good or bad' is too broad! especially as it will change depending on which vertical (poker, casino, sports etc...)
- Is there a place where I can find a list of the small programs and big programs? I know that there are a lot of public companies. Small/Big is relative to the size of the casino I guess? As long as your players are converting for the markets you are targetting, it's not the size that counts? But check out Affiliate Guard Dog and APCW all the same.
- Any strategy's you want to share on how to rake in players? I'll leave that with other affiliates, but all types of online (and even some offline) marketing works from what I've seen. It's about being good at what you do or having the resource to hire the people who are.
- Who should I be meeting? I have a lot of traffic, I have huge budgets, I'm here to rake in cash. www.BarcelonaAffiliateConference.com or www.LondonAffiliateConference.com are two of the biggest gambling affiliate conferences - have a look at the exhibitor list and start meeting those!
- Is it better to run with rev-share or CPA? Revenue share, long term, I feel.
- Top programs you recommend I join? Us? Again, depends on the vertical, market and what you look for in a program!

Thanks,

Marit

[ntrs]

I really, really appreciate all the feedback you guys have given. A very nice welcoming to this industry, I can already tell this will be fun!

[blendtec]

If you have experience with media buying I would recommend starting there - it's relatively easy to implement similar strategies (if you're good at it and can produce a decent ROI) to this niche. I would focus on large companies if you go down this route because there is a far greater chance a user interested in gambling will return organically and signup than a lesser known brand.

This is just my opinion because it works for me - once you have an automated, ROI generating campaign you can continue trialing new placements and expand into other avenues of traffic.

[gaffg]

Attend the Barcelona Affiliate Conference and you will probably meet many affiliates.
http://www.igbaffiliate.com/events/b...ateconference/

Look at some established affiliate sites and monitor which programs they promote or even ask them which programs they recommend and trust.

affiliateguarddog.com is where you go to find out if an affiliate program has terms and conditions that are good or bad for affiliates.

Commission is up to you but it might be wise to mix revenue share, cpa and possibly prepaid deals. Many major programs in the past few years have been retroactively changing their terms and conditions which has wiped out revenue share on many affiliates. This makes CPA more appealing for these reasons and also in the cases when programs fail or exit certain markets.