We are excited to spotlight CAP’s Community Member of the Month for August 2013… Congratulations, orbetting! While orbetting has been a member of our affiliate marketing forums since late 2012, she has posed some great posts and asked some important questions around site building, WordPress and domains.
We caught up with her to learn more about her career in the business!
How did you get started as being an affiliate in iGaming?
I actually work in SEO, so I am not so new to the world of online marketing. A friend of mine had a bingo and sports site, and I advised them on it. I thought, “Why not get into it myself?” I still consider myself a bit of a newbie when it comes to things, but everything is a learning process. I guess the challenge for me is working on the conversion process and getting the traffic that comes to the site to convert. I have just started a new site newlivecasino.com where I am trying out new “display” style, and it seems to be working pretty well so far.
What are your top traffic drivers, and how did you learn them?
The main traffic driver is SEO. I consider myself to be pretty traditional when it comes to getting traffic to websites. We do roulettebet.co.uk, which does have a Facebook and Twitter account and I have been experimenting with that. They are both clearly great ways to get traffic. I think that it is important to think out the box a bit, there are far more search engines out there other than Google. I did dabble a bit in PPC however it is pretty specialised and you need a bit of a budget to get going (It’s all about the A/B testing). I didn’t have that budget so thought I would use my initial skills to and look to get ranking. There are, of course, a few tools that can be used to make things easier, but be cautious when looking to invest in them.
What factors do you look at when deciding on an operator?
The account manager makes it for me. An affiliate is in the fortunate position where they can go to any brand, get a deal and then make it work. Conversion is a bonus and I find that the smaller brands tend to convert pretty well. It is important to know what works best for that specific operator and the account manager is the person that can help you out with all that information. They are the ones that can help you out with all the creative, some with unique content as well as advice. I feel that the smaller brands really try and help out whereas some of the bigger brands are no so interested in the smaller affiliates.
What are your thoughts on legal standing of the online gambling industry?
I think it is important to stick with brands that you have heard of, or where there are reviews such as that on CAP, read peoples experiences and find out what you can. It is important to find out about the licenses the casinos have as well as see how they value responsible gaming, as it is important to try and drive home a responsibility to society when we are promoting the brands. I want to work with brands that offer people the best online experience possible, and if this is not given then I am not sure I would want to work with those brands. With regards to government legislation – I think that licensing of certain markets, such as the upcoming issue in the Netherlands, may prove problematic, as affiliates will be restricted by which brands they can promote. I guess the big question for everyone will be how the point of consumption tax will effect UK gaming, but I guess we will have to wait see where.
What was the biggest lesson you learned in your years of being in this business?
The biggest lesson that I have learned is that learning is an ongoing process. I received an email from an affiliate brand and it said $30K earning per month can be yours. It is very easy to get sucked into this. Yes, there are affiliates out there that are earning this but the most important thing to think is straight off the bat, “I am not going to be one of those.” I know this sounds negative; but it is important to drive home the point that nothing is going to happen overnight, and stick to your guns, stick with it, ask as many questions to everyone that you can, and slowly but surely you will get there and those earnings will be at a reachable distance.