CHAPTER 4: Player Benefits
Besides great content, one of the biggest reasons players will be coming to your site is for access to bonuses, tournaments and other promotions. These little, and sometimes big, perks can seriously influence how much money a player drops, so pay attention to them.
Offers and Bonuses
Pokerlistings.com and askgamblers.com are two sites that do a really great job of presenting special offers and bonuses to their visitors. Note how both of these sites display the bonuses in big, easy to read fonts that jump off the page. Askgamblers bonuses are displayed in the same way travel sites like Travelocity.com show off airfares. This makes them very readable and easy to navigate.
Both sites offer a wide range of bonus offers that draw the reader in to learn more. They also offer special, exclusive, bonuses. Exclusive offers are an incredible deal for affiliates because they’re only associated with one web master. That means the players need your bonus code, and only your bonus code, to collect their reward.
Private Tournaments
Many poker sites give affiliate partners a chance to host private tournaments for their players , (like our old friends at Full Tilt used to do). Tournaments can be marketed to the entire range of players from whales on down to low stake, more casual players. This arrangement has obvious benefits for everyone involved, but it’s an especially good deal for the web master. (To learn more about tournaments, free rolls and player bonuses, check out this video with former PokerStars VIP Manager, Scott Yeates.)
Private tournaments are a value proposition that makes players feel like they’re getting something extra from their connection to your site. The more engaged an affiliate is with their players, the more likely they are to keep playing and depositing.
Most poker sites require the web master to pony up some cash for the prize pot. But this is a small price to pay and should be written off as a normal marketing expense.
For a great example of how to run a private tournament for your affiliates check out the Money Added Poker Tournament at flopturnriver.com. Flopturnriver has players put a few dollars in the pot, which keeps out trolls, and puts in another $300 themselves. That makes the weekly tournaments a value add for players; keeps them depositing; and keeps them on the affiliate partner’s site.
What’s Next: Chapter 5: The Importance of Customer Service