Where do you see things going?

[xYassassinYx]

So there seems to be changes in the industry every few months and in the past few years there has been MASSIVE changes, but where do you guy's see gambling affiliating in like 5 years? or even 20 years?

This is just a general question to see you guys' opinions, I've never been one for a 'normal' 9-5 job lol

[pokerprop]

I see a few companies dominating the industry each offering only a very small commission ($25 to $65 CPA) or maybe if 5-10% rev share.

Whether I'm right or not, I think it would be foolish to not assume things will be worst for affiliates.

Online gambling is my 4th industry I marketed online. The others lasted a few years then died off, and it became very hard to compete and companies are willing to pay affiliates far less. What is nice with gambling is I don't see the market going away, the demand will always be there. I just don't see these easy to join high paying affiliate programs to last forever, and expect in time many more mergers and buyouts will happen to point there is a few big players running the show and in time many will start to view these affiliate programs as spewing profit they could keep, rather than a partnership.

I think their is still plenty of opportunity right now and someone starting in 6 months from now can still make it big. The changes won't come over night they'll be progressive so someone working hard and adapting with the changes won't notice them as much with it being easier to absorb a little at a time and making changes to find new ways to make the same content profitable.

[Randy Ray]

Revshare programs will disappear completely, to be replaced with CPA deals and paid advertising.

Quality content will become more important than ever.

The formula of creating quality content and then publicizing it via linkbuilding will still be alive and well.

A lot of the "microniches" will disappear, and the webmasters with the foresight to have invested in large, content-rich sites will be glad they did.

[Randy Ray]

Also, the people who are running consistent linkbaiting campaigns now will be glad they did so five years from now. Think about it. If you publish one article a week which has a purpose of attracting unsolicited one way links for the next five years, you'll have built 260 pieces of linkbait over the next 5 years. Even if you have a low success rate, you're still going to be way ahead of a lot of folks.

[MJ]

Randy would you expand on micro niches dissappearing more? I'm not sure I follow it.

Really hope revshare does not die personally, that thought keeps me up at night.

[Skint Eastwood]

I see a few companies dominating the industry each offering only a very small commission ($25 to $65 CPA) or maybe if 5-10% rev share.

Whether I'm right or not, I think it would be foolish to not assume things will be worst for affiliates.

Sure they might get worse, but it will never be that bad - CPAs are determined by player value.

If the average player value drops then CPAs drop - While player values are in like the $540 (partygaming) region - someone will always pay a good CPA.

Just like PG and 888 do in Europe even though they are huge brands and affiliates are not the main source of income - yet they still pay good CPAs because its good business to do so.

[PokerDude]

I see RakeBack continuing to hurt the industry further. I see more and more vendors looking to minimize REV share (with the likes of fee processing, chargebacks, etc.), and if/when online gambling gets legalized in the US, I see the brick-and-mortar casinos taking over, and cutting affiliates out almost entirely (due to their existing brand presence).

Might be time to start thinking about alternate careers. It's been a good run.

[xYassassinYx]

I see RakeBack continuing to hurt the industry further. I see more and more vendors looking to minimize REV share (with the likes of fee processing, chargebacks, etc.), and if/when online gambling gets legalized in the US, I see the brick-and-mortar casinos taking over, and cutting affiliates out almost entirely (due to their existing brand presence).

Might be time to start thinking about alternate careers. It's been a good run.

Well with Harrahs coming into the market this will be very interesting and they certainly will have the budget to compete.

Do you really think the future of poker affiliating is dead?

How about gambling in general...casino, sportsbook etc? There will be gamblers FOREVER.

[MJ]

If jarrahs was to cut us out a smart competitor would step in and see the oppurtunity.

Legitimate affiliates that actually convert new players ( not bonus code sites ) will always make good money in a competitive + high profit business.

[Randy Ray]

Brand presence doesn't mean affiliates will be cut out. Plenty of large brands have affiliate programs. People always predict doom and gloom when the Vegas casinos start offering online poker, but those Vegas casinos are eager enough to pay commissions to travel companies who bring them hotel bookings. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't offer commissions to affiliates who refer poker players. And even if they don't, they'll still buy advertising. That's how they got to be brands in the 1st place.