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Poker To Sports Betting – 5 Mistakes To Avoid

One simple way to diversify as a poker affiliate is to move into other gaming categories and a sports betting is a natural route to take for many marketers. It’s also a very good option; there’s plenty of good programs to work with, loads of categories to target and plenty of content options.

 However, many who make the move from poker to sports betting affiliate marketing make several key mistakes, and boy are they common ones, so in this guide I’m going to cover them and hopefully get you thinking about how you can make the transition more successful for your business.

sportsbetting

 #1 Tips Content

Producing a bunch of betting tips/picks and previews for your new sports website seems like a logical step. There’s loads of events to cover and you can promote the best odds on your tips which should generate a few real money players right?

Well… Technically you’re not wrong but you’re not really going to get the results you want either, unless you like about a 1 in 1500-2000 unique visitor conversion rate. Making tips traffic pay is difficult but if you’re going to make tips/picks a big part of your strategy you should focus more on capturing your visitors email address than you should on trying to push them to a sportsbook. You can then remarket specific offers or bonuses to them which should show a much better long terms ROI.

Instead why not try something a bit more unique like the podcast like this site or if you’re not keen on having your voice heard written interviews with known pundits or tipsters.

 #2 Targeting Sports As A Niche

Lots of new sports affiliates breakdown the category in their own minds by the different sports that are available to bet on thinking they’ll build one site about football, one about tennis, one about golf and so on and so forth.

If you’ve been a poker affiliate for any length of time you’ll know that keywords like ‘Omaha Poker Strategy’ or ‘Rules Of Texas Holdem’ aren’t going to bag you the signups you’re looking for (well certainly not at a high conversion rate anyway).

You are much better off isolating your current high converting content and seeing how that would directly translate to a different vertical instead of approaching the vertical from a clean slate perspective. The same kind of keywords which convert for poker affiliates, when logically translated, can convert for sports affiliates as well.

 #3 Working With The Wrong Programs

Just because your poker affiliate program also offers a sports betting platform doesn’t mean that’s instantly a program you want to be working with. Similarly, just because one program offers a great starting revenue share deal doesn’t mean you need to be pushing them hard in your top spots.

If you’re promoting to a US based audience, then your options here are going to be limited but if you’re outside the US then there’s literally thousands of different operators to promote.

Player retention is a huge deal in sports in the UK right now. Every weekend bookmakers are pushing new enhanced odds promotions to try to poach custom from their rivals but beyond that what have the got available to their current customers? Do they offer live streaming, cash out in-play, any loyalty bonuses, promotions that target current players and a wide enough range of sports and events to keep punters happy?

Player value from someone referred specifically for an enhanced odds promotion is way lower than if you’ve sold them on an option because of review or recommendation.

 #4 Assuming Player Value Is Low

For some reason there’s a common misconception that sports offers a lower player value than casino and poker traffic. For casino that’s very much true but sports traffic is worth at least, and likely more, than poker traffic. Even more so now the poker boom has slowed right down.

You do not want to take CPA as a sports affiliate unless you are entering the market with a very short term strategy or you need to pay your PPC bills. Revenue share at programs which have good player retention is worth so much more.

Betting sports is more widely accepted in the vast majority of countries than casino or poker. It’s definitely considered more socially acceptable and less degenerate. There’s also a crazy amount of sport taking place and if your referrals are betting on one sport you can bet your bottom dollar their betting on others.

Player value is good.

 #5 Giving Up Too Soon

This is a pretty common mistakes made by affiliate marketers and webmasters but it’s even more apparent when someone moves from being a success in one space to a new player in another.

You can’t expect the same results straight away when you enter a new competitive niche as you’re having in the niche you’ve likely worked in for a number of years. It takes time to get to know the type of content to produce and the keywords which will refer your highest value players.

There’s way too many sports betting affiliate sites out there which clearly haven’t been updated in a long time. If you’re going to diversify you need to give yourself at least a year before you can make any kind of judgement on whether or not your move has been a success of failure.

This is a guest post by long time affiliate and PAL member David. Big thanks to him for this article!

SEO Basics Part 2 – Finding Profitable Keywords

Finding profitable keywords is one of the biggest challenges for affiliate websites, after all if it was easy then everyone would be making money right? Finding profitable keywords is a big challenge, but I have some simple tips to help you find keywords that will:

1. Help drive traffic to your website

2. Ensure you get the traffic you WANT to your website

3. Find keywords which are low volume/low competition but will make you money

Best of all anyone can use these simple tips for FREE. You just have to be willing to put in the time and effort into creative your content with these easy goals in mind. Be sure and check out SEO Basics Part 1 where I discussed the basics of On-Page SEO for your website.

SEO Basics Part 2 – Finding Profitable Keywords

 

SEO Basics Video Part 1

For years Search Engine Optimization has been a big topic in the world of online marketing, and there still seems to be a bit of mystery surrounding basic SEO. The truth is SEO is not a magic power, or some set of secret Technics (regardless of what so called SEO Experts will tell you). Webmaster do not need super powers to rank their websites, and you don’t need to buy hundreds of links either. The fact is you just need to understand the basics of a webpage, and know how to use the tools you already have.

Affiliate SEO Basics Part 1

The video below covers the basics of Search Engine Optimization, and is a great first step in helping you understand how you can improve your website rankings today! Check out SEO Basics Part 2 – Finding Profitable Keywords

Call To Action Basics

In the affiliate industry having good “Calls To Actions” (CTA’s) is often what separates a website that makes money, from one that doesn’t. It can be easy to lose focus on your Calls To Actions, after all we are constantly fighting to gain more traffic and keep up with the latest promos. While growing your traffic numbers is important, if you are not converting that traffic into revenue, then none of it matters. Remember, if your website has traffic, then it should  be making money!

Below is a short video where I discuss and review the various types of Calls To Actions on affiliate websites. I also share some tips on how you can implement and test CTA’s on your websites to achieve the best results. You should always be reviewing, updating, and testing your CTA’s. Keep in mind that the slightest change can boost your conversion rate exponentially. This is one of the most overlooked aspects of gaming affiliate websites, and once you get in the habit of testing and tweaking your CTA’s, you’ll never look back.

In This Video We Discuss:

  • Basic Types of Calls To Action (CTA)
  • Review Websites CTA Examples
  • Discuss CTA’s Variations
  • Discuss CTA Split Testing Variables

Call To Action Basics – Video

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Like this video? Let us know in the comment! Do you want another topic covered? Let us know and we will make it happen!

Top 5 Poker Affiliate Traffic Sources

Affiliate Traffic SourcesOne of the most frequently asked questions from new Poker and Casino Affiliates are about finding stable new Traffic Sources. One of the most common questions I hear is “Where Can I get More Traffic?” Finding traffic sources can be a daunting task for new gambling affiliates, and it’s an important goal. After all, you must have multiple traffic sources for your website in order to thrive long term.

Search Traffic is often the go-to traffic source for most webmasters, but what happens  your website loses search rankings? Or your website gets hit with a penalty? Losing your main source of traffic can also mean losing most of your income, so it’s important to expand your reach beyond one source to ensure long term success.

Below are some great additional traffic source options for Poker and Casino Affiliates looking to hedge their bets.

Top 5 Affiliate Traffic Sources

#1 – Facebook.com

A lot of Gambling Affiliates don’t bother promoting their gambling website or brand on facebook, and that is a huge missed opportunity. While you cannot use the Facebook PPC option or Boost Page/Post option to advertise specific “Gambling Offers”, However you can post your content on your facebook page and drive traffic to your website without issue.

“Boosting” your facebook posts (As long as it is not a flat gambling offer) for $5 can get your post/page seen by 500-1000 people. I’ve used this boost option on many pages and it works very well. It’s easily the best $5 you can spend to get new traffic to your poker or casino site.

#2 – Twitter

Twitter is another excellent source for additional gambling traffic. Much like Facebook, if you own a website you need to have a page/profile set up for it. There’s no need to just spam offer after offer, tweet links to good/strong content and don’t blast your followers with SPAM offers. You must try and provide some type of value beyond whatever the latest deposit or reload bonus is.

#3 – YouTube.com

Youtube.com is the most under utilized potential traffic source in the gmaing industry. Video content is easily the most popular form on content in 2015, and just like Facebook and Twitter you need to have a page setup for your website. Post quick 2-3 minute videos showing things such as: How to claim deposit bonuses, How To Claim reload bonuses, or simply showing visitors features of a poker room or casino can work well.

Then be sure and post these quick videos on your Website, Facebook Page, and your Twitter page.

#4 – Other Affiliate Websites

This tip is one of the simplest ones on this list, but it’s often overlooked. I am not a big fan of “Link swaps” but I do recommend trying to find a few fellow affiliates and setting up deal where they list your site some place relevant, and they do the same. For this to be effective, the ad/link to each site needs to be featured in a prominent high traffic area of each site. Ideally, your site offers something their site doesn’t, and vice versa.

#5 – Article Submission Websites

I’ve heard a lot of debate over the years about how useful article submission websites like digg.com or Stumbleupon.com can be, but in my experience if you submit a good piece of content on a relevant topic, these types of sites can bring your great traffic.

Once again be sure to not submit article such as:

New Poker Room Deposit Bonus blah blah blah”…

Nobody cares or reads that sort of info normally. Instead try submitting an article on topics such as:

“5 Tips To Winning Your Next Sit-n-Go”

Keep in mind, you can add a small snippet about a new Poker Room Offer/Promo, and it has a much higher chance of being read, and actually converting a new player in the process.

I hope this article has given you some new ideas for generating additional traffic sources to ensure your website has a steady stream of potential players. As mentioned in the start of this article, SEO and Ranking for high traffic keywords is great! But if something should happen to those rankings, where will that leave your business?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this article, and what great traffic sources we left out. Please let us know in the comments below!