Please Brainstorm Ideas With Me

[Hazo]

So it has been a fair while since I've asked questions and I think it's is about time I start doing it again.

The problem I am having at the moment is more of a strategic one for a localised site I have. The problem that I am having is that there is one dominant player in my country. They are owned by pokernews and have reporting on all the local players etc. They also have the only successful poker forum, and it does have a lot of activity. The site has been around for ages and was designed very poorly but recently did an upgrade and looks great.

my question is, what sort of things would you implement to try and gain some of this market share? They aren't that great with SEO and their reviews and online stuff isn't particularly good at all. I guess it's more about their members, live poker and their news and updates. That is what attracts all the local players there.

Ideas would be cool

[Ridge]

Maybe doing an Aussie Poker League "The Aussie Poker Challenge" or something of that nature. You can get some AM's to help you with prizes, add some money on your own, etc.. The big thing would be to get them to a poker room that they haven't played at before.

Aced is out as an option too btw, or I would recommend them.. They have a block on Aussie players.. So maybe a lesser known room like Cake, Players only, Iron duke, Walker, etc

[TonyS]

You could always try setting up your own poker forum specific for that region and throwing a bunch of freerolls for your members. Require them to post 5 times or so before you can release the password to the tourny.

You will need to build a community before you can hope to compete with the likes of pokernews.

[Hazo]

Thanks for the replies guys but I will have to get better traffic going to the site before I can implement them. There doesn't seem to be many Australians that search for Aussie related terms. For example if they are looking for 'my city poker' etc they go to the other site. But if they are looking for bonus codes etc, then I am competing with the big international sites. I am going to add an Aussie Millions section with a few pages on that. And try and add as much local content as I can. But am struggling for ideas beyond that.

@Tony, there are several forums that have started up and all have failed miserably. That is why I was looking to attack other areas to attract players in first.

@ Ridge, that is a good idea. I will implement that soon, when i get more repeat visitors.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Thanks again for the suggestions fellas.

[Mark]

One thing big companies usually don't have that smaller companies (sites) can potentially do better is, more personalized customer service. Perhaps you can be the master affiliate when it comes to providing Australian poker information. Maybe you won't have the extensive reach, but if anyone has a question you can personally take care of it for them. Once your reputation grows, so does your brand. Some people do truly like to be taken care of on a more personal level and would go with a smaller company that can do that.

I'm not sure how you would go about doing that, but just a thought.

Mark

[Ozpoker]

Hazo, I don't think poker-crack failed miserbaly at all

[gooderpoker]

An idea for the Aussie Millions page is add sites where players can win their seat, maybe even do a review at what site is the easiest/ best chance to win a seat, when the satellite tournaments are held... full details on how and where to win a seat.

Is there any traffic that search for local bar tournaments and leagues? that may be a keyword you can tap into shouldn't be very hard either