The Forums At Poker Affiliate Listings - Blogs - PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/ An Poker Affiliate Forum and Community For Poker Affiliates To Discuss Poker Affiliate Programs en Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:59:18 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/images/styles/ShinyBlue/misc/rss.jpg The Forums At Poker Affiliate Listings - Blogs - PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/ <![CDATA[Entering Wine Industry (Who's Comin' With Me?)]]> http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1275-entering-wine-industry-whos-comin-me.html Sun, 08 May 2011 09:14:08 GMT It has been a long journey over the last 12 months as I have ventured outside of the poker industry. Right now I am aligned with a small winemaker... It has been a long journey over the last 12 months as I have ventured outside of the poker industry.

Right now I am aligned with a small winemaker (Colorado based, using Santa Barbara grapes). Current production is low, but can easily exceed low xx,xxx cases per year using current facilities. We are examining several market attack strategies at the moment. This includes the full internet marketing playbook combined with brick and mortar strategies that are essential in the wine industry.

There is a great crew put together here so far, but right now there are a few things missing from the equation before we can beat Gary Vaynerchuck (The Steve Badger of the wine industry).

So... if this interests you, you are welcome to PM the PTC or Skype me. ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1275-entering-wine-industry-whos-comin-me.html Popular Mechanics And My Image http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1204-popular-mechanics-my-image.html Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:27:45 GMT EDIT: I now have credit and a link here. You can scroll through a few pages to see the Woodward at Copper image here -... EDIT: I now have credit and a link here.

You can scroll through a few pages to see the Woodward at Copper image here - http://www.popularmechanics.com/outd...sorts#fbIndex1

Clearly the same image that I have here
coloradoskiauthority.com/copper-mountain/woodward/ ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1204-popular-mechanics-my-image.html Virtual Google Bowling http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1108-virtual-google-bowling.html Tue, 07 Sep 2010 20:03:39 GMT This isn't really "Google bowling" as most people would use the term, but the end goal is nearly the same... get someone else's web page to rank lower.

Someone outsourced some grade-d style link building to me recently. The reason was that when you did a brand name search, this site came up #1 (ripoffreport.com) and this was not good. So several social profiles and run-of-the-mill junk pages were created in order to out rank the domain you see above. Next, we had to make these pages stronger.

As mentioned, I was asked to use some pretty junky link building techniques to do this. I thought it was a bad idea and mentioned this to the boss, but decided to take the job anyway. The ripoffreport website turned out to be pretty damn strong and in my opinion it has made people look foolish because it still ranks #2 and #3 for the brand name search.

Also worthy of note... I tried to more genuinly googlebowl one of my own websites fairly recently. I added incoming links that were sitewide from about 50 of my non-poker autoblogs. It looked like I was taking a dive but it has resulted in overall huge improvement. ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1108-virtual-google-bowling.html More Link building from PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1028-more-link-building-ptc.html Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:16:32 GMT 2 more tips that have been working for me lately. 1)write PTC 2)ask for link building tip There is really only room for maybe 5 people to be... 2 more tips that have been working for me lately.

1)write PTC
2)ask for link building tip

There is really only room for maybe 5 people to be using this technique in poker industry and publishing this entry was detrimental to the link building techniques discussed, here so it was removed. Welcome to PM me if it interests you ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1028-more-link-building-ptc.html Value in Nofollowed Links http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1023-value-nofollowed-links.html Wed, 24 Mar 2010 01:55:27 GMT I probably think these are a bit more valuable than the average webmaster. Here is a few reasons why I believe that nofollowed links are important. ... I probably think these are a bit more valuable than the average webmaster. Here is a few reasons why I believe that nofollowed links are important.

- nofollowed links might not always be nofollowed. Plugins can change, people change platforms etc. Don't forget that the opposite can happen as well.

- Google might not always treat all nofollowed links the same, and google might not always be the #1 search engine, things can change, if you are building a site on a 5 + year time horizon, this aspect should be considered. In general; I believe a diversified link portfolio is important for sites planning on a long term horizon.

- nofollowed links are crawled by search engines. Im almost positive of that statement just from experience. This is a good thing IMHO.

- You will waste the time of anyone harvesting your backlinks and you will usually get them to jump on someone else's link trail after a bit. Nofollowed links can rank very high in your yahoo backlink profile so this can often be successful in distracting competitors who are doing research.

- You don't usually get the best links by submitting your URL or sending a form email. You get them by networking. Since not much of your competition is going after nofollowed links, these are a great way to get a webmasters attention with some good comments. Make friends, don't go for the link right away. Great links come from real partnerships and relationships. If your site is truly great, dropping some nofollowed comments should be a great way to draw natural links that are not nofollowed. You are basically just calling attention to your site and doing it to the right kind of people (The kind that write blog entries about poker).

- Nofollowed links can still provide traffic. In some cases; they can provide targeted traffic.

Written by Mark W.
Ski Vacation Rentals ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1023-value-nofollowed-links.html FT Agreement Section 6 http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1008-ft-agreement-section-6.html Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:54:13 GMT I get tired of explaining this to people so I will just make a blog post that I can link to in the future. Let me state this plain and clear;... I get tired of explaining this to people so I will just make a blog post that I can link to in the future.

Let me state this plain and clear; Full Tilt owns your ass. They can do whatever they want to you and there is nothing that you can do about it. Below you will see sub-sections 5 and 6 from section 6 of their affiliate agreement. Even a novice webmaster who opened his first godaddy account today could be violating these terms without knowing it. Because of this; you have no clout, you have no weight, there is virtually nothing that you can do about anything, you are in violation of the agreement, you were likely in violation of the agreement when you generated your players, and your account can be terminated without giving you any of your owed funds.

Let me also be clear about this - Full Tilt is at the top of most of my websites, Im building several more specifically to help promote the brand, I do this because I look at the numbers, think about the risk and then decide who will get listed on top. I don't take these things personally. This is the online poker industry, you should expect no less from either party.



#6 NON-COMPETITION

...

5. Page Optimization. You may not optimize any page of a website(s) for keyword or keyword phrases that include the words Full Tilt Poker, or any variation thereon, including but not limited to Full Tilt, Full-Tilt-Poker, or FullTiltPoker in any format. This provision includes but is not limited to meta tags, headers and body content.

6. Off-Site Links. You may not buy or build off-site text links with anchor text for Full Tilt Poker-branded keyword phrases, including but not limited to Full Tilt, Full Tilt Poker, Full-Tilt-Poker, or FullTiltPoker in any format.
]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1008-ft-agreement-section-6.html Webmaster Outsourcing Tips http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1000-webmaster-outsourcing-tips.html Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:03:51 GMT *Content* If you really care about your website, this is more difficult for you than for someone who is just hiring out reviews for their... Content
If you really care about your website, this is more difficult for you than for someone who is just hiring out reviews for their minisites. Even a great writer will not be able to write well in terms of conversions and long tail SEO performance. My best advice for this is to give your writers a format to follow. I usually ask for something like this; 5 bullet points, intro and hook text, meat, post-meat conversion attempt text. Topics and specifics are usually easy for a good writer as long as you give them something to follow for format.


Outsource Your Template Design
There is only one type of person who can do this properly and that is a designer. Designers can code, coders can do SEO, people who do SEO can usually code, everyone can write content... but if your template was not designed by a pro, it will be painfully obvious. This will hurt your avg time on site, conversions, and can even be counter-productive to making business deals.

Web 2.0 Functions
This is another aspect that almost has to get outsourced to a professional. The tricky part is that someone who does acceptable work is not really going to help you reach your potential. Since creativity and capability are usually the constraints here, it's almost impossible for your site to reach it's potential without giving someone free reign and the ability to try ideas that you could never have thought of. Someone who can do this well for you can be hard to find in a pile of resumes. If you find them, just pay them whatever they ask for.

With regards to the 3 aspects above, one of the most important things that you can do is figure out exactly what you want before you start really getting into anything with someone. It's fine to probe around and see what someone is capable of, but one of the biggest leaks of time and effort is when a webmaster can't figure out what they want or how they want something done. Make some demo pages on a desktop or private version of your site, you can even just use photoshop to mock things up and map out ideas visually.

SEO
The first advice I got from anyone in this industry was to learn SEO. One of the things that I have learned is that basic SEO isn't hard, its mostly just about not screwing things up and not doing anything wrong on your site. Most people can handle this and just pop into the forums if there is a question or an issue. If you are building an empire, you might want to consider outsourcing this element of your websites development. The issue of how to outsource off-site SEO was raised in a thread that I started here on PAL not too long ago. The largest issue is accountability and just the ability to keep track of what kind of work is being done.

To outsource SEO, you really need to have some kind of database to work with, or a spread sheet at the least. You can create one if you know what you want or you can use an online service like buzzstream. The key elements to something like this are the following.

-The ability to track who you have contacted and view correspondences.
-Ability to monitor purchased advertising for it's presence, nofollow attribute, # of outgoing links on a page (so you can see if someone is selling out a page that you bought into as a solo link w/expensive deal).

You can also outsource just a portion of your off-site SEO efforts; you can hire someone just to log opportunities. This is much simpler and often much cheaper than hiring a true SEO guru. Then... you can come in and evaluate link opportunities, start relationships and handle payments yourself. I wouldn't suggest going beyond this level of outsourcing until you know that you have someone who is savvy in SEO, business, and will represent your website well among advertisers and competition.

As a more general tip; do your research before you hire someone for any large projects. We have all heard nightmare stories about junk product/services and money issues when people start to outsource. I suggest looking around the forums and see who everyone else is using for their services. Find someone with a good reputation and strong skills, get them on your IM list, and don't be rude and try to bargain down the price of their services unless you are pulling some weight (A big project or ongoing projects).

Be sure to lay out all of your expectations and discuss payments. Decide in your head how much tolerance you will have for laziness and mistakes. If you know exactly when you are going to fire someone, this makes the decision and entire process of working with substandard folks much less stressful. It sucks getting rid of someone; be nice, be leniant, be understanding, but know how much you will take and when the time comes, be ruthless with your decision - this is business and this is money, nothing personal. If your expectations were laid out clearly, firing someone should be a simple process.

Written By Mark W.
Design SEO and Web Services Directory ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/1000-webmaster-outsourcing-tips.html Pimp Your Design http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/982-pimp-your-design.html Mon, 18 Jan 2010 08:10:09 GMT ... it's for your own good. I think this aspect of website building is often underestimated in the online poker industry. This isn't just an effective tool when it comes to keeping players on your website, it is huge when it comes to forming partnerships (especially with the big dogs). If your site looks like an authority site, you already have your foot in the door.

As far as effectiveness, I look to other industries for ideas. Huge calls to action are always important on the homepage especially... I don't know anyone who claims to have the perfect call to action yet... and I've seen most of your websites already... so I look around.

I'm also becoming a proponent of only promoting 2-3 poker rooms... so I can live without a huge list on my homepage; 1 big call to action is usually effective and covers 50% of the rooms I promote. Hence, lodging and travel websites are often a good place for inspiration. Here is a few of my favorite designs..


Great Dog Site

Liftopia

Snow.com

Colorado Ski Authority

Karmojo - This is here mostly because I like the use of icons and I think this is something that can be used in the poker industry very effectively. This also belongs to a PAL member I believe.

Chris Pirillo - Heavily optimized for adsense... good example for learning about placement- mostly right hand side and dead center. Also big bold icons on top right, im a big fan of this no matter what type of icon.

Bombay - Simple, Big Bold design elements. Can't miss the calls to action.. maybe go without the pink. ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/982-pimp-your-design.html Money for Nothin, Chips for Free http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/828-money-nothin-chips-free.html Wed, 06 May 2009 14:15:04 GMT I regretted making this post a few months afterwards so I deleted it. I guess it wasn't really that bad and now I wish I didn't delete it, but oh well. If I could totally delete this, I would, but I can't, so I won't. ]]> PTC http://www.pokeraffiliatelistings.com/forums/blogs/ptc/828-money-nothin-chips-free.html