Adding Rakeback to my site

[Stocks]

Hey guys I was thinking of adding rakeback to my site PokerSelect.com and I was wondering where and how to get started with rakeback.

I took a look at pokeraffiliatesolutions seems pretty good but seeing I dont know much about rakeback I figured I'd ask and see what others think about rakeback in general and the best options for adding it to you site.

[Tea Flow]

Cant go wrong with PAS.

[Ridge]

I think that is as just as simple to go with the rooms directly. PAS is great, don't get me wrong.. But you will get better %'s and own your players. Only Bodog and Full Tilt are difficult to get Rakeback at for new affiliates, Nell is very cool to work with, and Bodog is a non factor anyway IMO..

If you are a long term affiliate, I think going direct is the way to go.. The PAS and RU's sites do offer "Rake Races", but most of the players I knwo and deal with don't care about freerolls anyway. So although it sounds good and works well for new players, Rakeback players are a whole different niche. Also, keep in mind almost all poker rooms pay the players for you now, so it;s not like it was 3 years ago.

So, unless a PAS or RU type site offers you 15% to start with, there is no reason to go through them.

[Ridge]

Cant go wrong with PAS.

Well, as I said above you will cost yourself money long term and not won your players. So, I disagree because you can go wrong. Again, the PAS guys are great! I have a ton of respect for them, but for long term affiliate this is not a great move..

[Tim]

I agree with Randy, if possible go on your own. Some sites are very open to direct negotiations, and others don't respond at all. Personally I think PAS and others offer a good service for some, but I guess I'm a control freak.

As for my thoughts on rakeback - as a player it's great. As an affiliate I've never really liked the idea of rakeback, since the % are much less than those for non-rakeback rooms like Party, iPoker sites, etc. Ideally none of the rooms would offer it.

But when a site offers rakeback then I don't see how anyone can promote the rooms without offering rakeback. Of course you can decided not to offer it, but it doesn't take long for players to find out and then a) sign up under another name, thus you lose them, and b) they never sign up via your site to another room ever again. If you're on CPA then maybe it's okay for covering (a), but I'd never promote a rakeback friendly site on rev share. You'll make more on small % of RB.

I've changed my opinion slightly as an affiliate and I'm now working on a rakeback guide for my site. The main reasons is that I want to offer my players the best deals, and like it or not, many players want RB, so I feel I may as well get a piece of the action. The other issue is that apart from Poker Stars, nearly all US friendly sites offer RB.

[DealerDan]

PAS is a great option - especially for newer affiliates. If you're able to go direct though, and get the same standard rates offered elsewhere, I'd always go that route.

What are your reasons for adding rakeback though? Don't add it just because "everyone else has it" for example. Only add it if you think it is necessary - in that the conversions and earnings you get right now would grow substantially if you start promoting rakeback.

Also just a small thing - but I looked at your site and for your top poker rooms, you've got like 8s below 7.5s, 7.5s below 7 etc. Any specific reason for that?

Site looks really nice btw. alance/kundan has did a great job as always cosmetically

[MJ]

After the way my day is going, I'd have to say direct.

That comment does not relate to PAS in any way, but let me just point out if your players have problems and need extra attention or creative solutions - not having them be "your" players leaves you in a bit of a bind.

[Stocks]

PAS is a great option - especially for newer affiliates. If you're able to go direct though, and get the same standard rates offered elsewhere, I'd always go that route.

What are your reasons for adding rakeback though? Don't add it just because "everyone else has it" for example. Only add it if you think it is necessary - in that the conversions and earnings you get right now would grow substantially if you start promoting rakeback.

Also just a small thing - but I looked at your site and for your top poker rooms, you've got like 8s below 7.5s, 7.5s below 7 etc. Any specific reason for that?

Site looks really nice btw. alance/kundan has did a great job as always cosmetically

Thanks ya Kundan does great work.

About the numbers I cant remember why they ended up like that but I got to update a few things on the site after christmas so I'll fix those aswell.

The reason I was considering rakeback is because I dont get any conversions so I'm looking into a couple options to help out and though maybe rackback would help. Although I guess I can give things another couple months and see if things pick up a bit.

[DealerDan]

The reason I was considering rakeback is because I dont get any conversions so I'm looking into a couple options to help out and though maybe rackback would help. Although I guess I can give things another couple months and see if things pick up a bit.

Are you getting hits at all, and from what keywords? Are people at least clicking through? Like you have great reviews, with the "visit ____" and download links at the end - it seems crazy if you're getting lots of traffic that you wouldn't be getting any conversions.

[Stocks]

Are you getting hits at all, and from what keywords? Are people at least clicking through? Like you have great reviews, with the "visit ____" and download links at the end - it seems crazy if you're getting lots of traffic that you wouldn't be getting any conversions.

I'm not getting a ton of traffic I think last month I got

500 uniques
700 visitors

And about the same pace this month with 60 visits so far comming from search engines and 120 from links.

My google rankings have been bouncing around a bit lately I was ranking 12 for "Poker Reviews" untill just now when I checked it looks like I dropped for a few keywords hopefully they'll come back up.