Poker Conversions for Non-Poker Websites vs. Poker Websites

[themike537]

Say you have a poker website getting traffic for terms like "poker sites", "poker reviews", "poker online", "poker strategy", etc converting unique visitors at 1.0% (assuming a conversion is a new, qualifying real money player).

What do you think the conversion ratio would be like for a non-poker website that has similar demographics to a poker website (lots of USA/Canada males between 20-40)?

Of course we will in no way be able to pin a real number down (or anything even close), but I'm more interested in hearing if you guys think conversions would be 10x worse, 100x worse, 1,000x worse, etc.

The reason I'm wondering this is because I see a lot of websites out there that obviously get mega-traffic but don't advertise gambling at all, even though their demographics are probably close to being right. Seems like gambling ads might make more money than Adsense/t-shirt sales for such sites, but I don't know so that's why I posted this thread

[Mr-AJ]

My experience is that it's way, way worse! Maybe even 1000 times. Most of the traffic was perfectly targeted and no porn site where people are looking for other things than online poker websites
And I think there's also a legal aspect why most of the high trafficked sites don't promote gambling. It's simply not way more attractive to take the risk.
Just my experience on this one.

[themike537]

And I think there's also a legal aspect why most of the high trafficked sites don't promote gambling. It's simply not way more attractive to take the risk.

Yeah I had considered that as well, I guess if you aren't in the business already it probably seems risky to promote poker sites (especially in the USA).

[MJ]

This type of question has to be 100% dependant on niche, there is a lot of 20-40 males out there that partake in the Mormon religion and probably wouldn't convert well whereas general sports traffic in the male 20-40 range might kickass.

Assuming what you said truly means a similar demographic not just based on age but also interest - I'm thinking it will do well on similar numbers to "anything else" as it's just a game of volume aka if you have a ton of traffic I don't think it matters too much what your selling it will just happen.

[thefarang]

I hear what the OP is saying. I used to try to push our affiliates to go after non-gaming related sites. For instance, certain meme and tech sites get huge traffic and they have some pretty vibrant conversations when the topic of poker does come up but the site doesn't run any gambling ads. My guess is that if these sites had run some freerolls and threw some banner ads up on their sites two years ago their monthly check from online poker would be more than what they make on the rest of their ad inventory combined.

So to the OP, it does depend on the site. I have a few examples in mind but don't want to give them away :-) I will throw out a site like Slashdot though because it's rather obvious. Just go do a search for poker over there and see how many people are players.

I would imagine a lot of these joke of the day or whatever sites would convert well too.

Even though they're US based I think many of them could target non-US traffic and make some decent coin.

[Stephen]

Indeed some of the sites would convert amazingly. Infact I know numerous affiliates that actually purchase traffic and make very good money from it. If you believe there is a fit, it can definitely be worth the try - 1 in 5 may convert, and 1-20 could be gold mines.

Stephen