In order to win in the online game, you need to develop a strong strategy to draw in website traffic. Your website may have an appealing design and valuable information and content, but it will not survive unless you can attract a continual stream of viewers. Fortunately, there are plenty of great ways to build an audience without spending a lot of money. Enhancing your content, link building are excellent and efficient strategies to name a few. While these techniques require some time and effort on your part, this investment will be well worth it in the long run to effectively increase your traffic.

Strategy # 1: Create Top-Notch Website Content

Spend some time looking at the information on your favorite websites. What draws traffic like yourself to them? The answer, of course, is quality content. The information and materials you present on your site are what bring traffic to your site time and time again. Creating quality content is about more than simply publishing information; it’s about posting information people can use. The best way to accomplish this is to become an authority on your topic. Present your own unique experience, knowledge, information and opinions to your readers in a readable entertaining manner with a logical link structure and give them an opportunity to learn from your expertise.  This is the foundation to increase traffic to your site.

Strategy # 2: Become A Link Magnet

One of the best ways to build website traffic is to get other sites to link to yours. In many cases, simply asking for a link is an effective way to get a number of people to provide incoming links to your site. However, becoming a link magnet is the absolute best way to generate a mass quantity of high quality links.

How can you create this type of link success? Dare to be bold, creative and innovative. Webmasters and bloggers are far more likely to link to content that is perceived as unique. Instead of simply repeating information found on multiple other websites, deliver a totally different perspective on a story or topic.

Strategy # 3: Consider All Of Your Options

When building website traffic, it is important to look at every tool you have available. Content development and link building are two essential strategies, but there are multiple other methods that should never be overlooked. Search engine optimization (SEO), paid advertising, social marketing and word-of-mouth advertising are all proven ways to maximize your website traffic.

Most importantly, never stop working on your traffic development strategy. In addition to using tried-and-tested approaches, consider ideas that are perhaps a bit off of the beaten path. By always experimenting and utilizing innovative new techniques, you can win at the website traffic game.

By Christopher Shawn
Gambling Affiliate Programs Expert

Strategy to Increase Traffic to Your Website – Part II

Gian Perroni – Canadian Affiliate Management Company

Everyone is on a mailing list. Hell, we are all on lots of mailing lists! We hate getting unsolicited mail, we curse, we crumple the offers up, and we bitch about the needless destruction of forests for the paper used to send us the junk mail. But wait…what happens when it stops arriving? Doesn’t anybody care about us anymore?

True story – many years ago Canada Post offered residential customers the option to place a sticker on their mailboxes proclaiming their right to stop receiving unaddressed mail. Within a year almost every sticker disappeared as customers decided that they actually liked some of that mail, especially the mail that was well targeted to them.

Aha! Well targeted. That is the key – the key to every successfully mailed new customer acquisition campaign. It all comes down to who you mail to. If you are trying to sell diapers to people without babies, (or grandparents), you are not going to achieve a great response. If you want to sell online gambling to prospects you should do your best to ensure that they have an interest in this activity.

There is an old adage that says “birds of a feather flock together”, and this holds true for consumers of all types. My first piece of advice to companies or affiliates that are looking for a prospect list is to start by taking a look at their current customers. Which of them provide the best value, and what is their demographic and psychographic (lifestyle) profile? Are them male, living in Sweden, and between 25 and 35 years of age? You should know this information, or if you don’t, you should adjust the way that you collect information on your customers to ensure that you get it.

Once you know which of your customers provide you with the highest life-time value, and have determined their profiles, you can now look for lists that contain prospects that most closely resemble these people. Finding a list of 25-35 year old male Swedes is easy. 45 year old married ladies living in Montana – no problem. Blind clowns that play video poker? A little tougher, but not impossible.

Look up “list brokers” on Google – you may be surprised at how prolific this business is. As with all marketing you do, work with reputable suppliers, take the time to do some research, and most importantly, test all lists before making large buys.

The VP Marketing for the most successful online casino group told me that their expectation was that for every 10 lists that they tested only 3 would provide them with a positive ROI, but if managed correctly, this more than made up for their other tests, and once they found lists that performed, they could roll out to them in confidence.

Using a targeted list is like hunting with a rifle versus a shotgun. You can be a lot more confident that you will hit your target, and bag yourself some new customers.

Gian Perroni is the President of the Canadian Affiliate Management Company, (CanAffco.com), and has been in the online gaming industry since 1997. A frequent speaker at gaming conferences, Gian has himself been an affiliate, an affiliate program director, and an operator. He and his team work with gaming and retail merchants, helping them manage their affiliate programs. Gian can be reached by email at gian@canaffco.com.

Gian Perroni – Canadian Affiliate Management Company

To mail or not to mail, that is the question.  Having now posed the question let me give you my best answer…YES!

Back in the day, I spent several years in the direct mail business, and by direct mail I am referring to the old-fashioned lick-it, stick-it and throw it in the post box kind of mail.  In fact my introduction to the online gaming business back in ’96 was through the provision of print and mailing services to some of the early adopters in this industry.  But these operators were visionaries in many senses of the word, and it took many more years before most online gaming companies started to look offline for effective marketing solutions.

What never fails to amaze me is the lack of direct mail that I receive personally. I am a depositing player with dozens of sites, some of them at an embarrassingly significant level, and I can truthfully still count the total number of pieces of direct mail that I have been sent on my fingers.

Does that mean that direct mail doesn’t work, or is it a case of a generation of online marketers that simply don’t understand the incredible power of placing a piece of personalized communication directly into the hands of their customers, and their prospects?  I believe that it is the latter.

In marketing we have four customer communication goals; acquisition, conversion, retention through relationship management, and reacquisition.  Direct mail can be used for all of these goals, and in fact is the only single cost effective communication medium that can.  Personalized mail allows you to speak to new prospects, converse with existing customers, and address lost players effectively, all at a reasonable cost to your business.

A well designed mail piece is its own salesperson; containing visual images, written information, attractive offers, and of course a call to action.  Mailings to existing customers can be further personalized to include information that is specific to each individual, allowing the sender to tailor offers to the individual recipients based on their history.

Determining if using a direct mail piece is a cost effective way for new customer acquisition is easy to determine.  If you sell a product that provides you with an average profit of $100, and you get a 1% response, as long as your mailing package has a total cost of less than $1.00 per piece you are making money.  If your customer is worth $200 the same 1% response and mailing cost means that you are making some serious profit.

Rather than get bogged down with math, the easy rule of thumb is this; if you use a well targeted list, ensure you have a great offer, and include both a response device and a call to action, you won’t go wrong. A response device is as simple as including your url and support department contact information – you just need to give recipients a way to take you up on your offer.  An effective call to action is one that says “do this now and get this, and by the way, the offer expires soon”.  Tell them what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and why they should.  Do not leave any of this up to them to figure out.

Direct mail is also the single most effective way to cross-sell your existing customers to another product or service that you offer.  Have two casino sites?  Let the players at one site know about the other one.  Tell your forum members about your rakeback site. Inform your sportsbook customers about the new poker site you are promoting.

We all know that communication is paramount to success – add direct mail to your advertising and customer relationship strategies.  You will not be disappointed.

Gian Perroni is the President of the Canadian Affiliate Management Company, (CanAffco.com), and has been in the online gaming industry since 1997.  A frequent speaker at gaming conferences, Gian has himself been an affiliate, an affiliate program director, and an operator.  He and his team work with gaming and retail merchants, helping them manage their affiliate programs.  Gian can be reached by email at gian@canaffco.com.

Gian Perroni – Canadian Affiliate Management Company

Almost every company has affiliates, although before the advent of the internet they were simply called “salespeople”.  The internet has provided businesses with the opportunity to have a virtually unlimited number of salespeople, promoting their products and services to literally millions of prospects that otherwise may not heard of them.

It is unfortunately common for both affiliates and merchants to misunderstand, or ignore, this synergistic relationship, and to try and take unfair advantage of the other party.  The most successful programs are based on mutual respect, open dialogue, and proper recognition and reward for success.

Affiliates, like many salespeople, work on performance-based compensation, and in the gaming industry this is either a commission as a percentage of revenue, termed “rev share”, a one time payment based on a predetermined sales result, called a “CPA” (cost per acquisition), or a blend of both, known as a “hybrid” plan.

To be successful in promoting the products of a merchant the affiliates need to have the proper tools to sell the products and services.  For online promotion these include creative; usually online banners, as well as text links, site reviews, and other information about the merchants services.

Affiliates also need to have the proper reporting of their efforts so that they can determine how well they are succeeding, and make the necessary adjustments to maximize this success. In the gaming industry reporting is usually provided by the merchant themselves, and includes tracking of impressions, clicks, customer registrations, customer conversions, (purchases), and ongoing activity.  In some cases this reporting is handled by an outside provider which works as well, and in many cases better.

Successful affiliate programs have dedicated personnel that work with the affiliates to ensure that they have the tools that they need, the reporting that is required, and to ensure that they are compensated fairly and in a timely fashion.  Again these services are either provided to the affiliates by an individual or team that works directly for the merchant, or by an independent affiliate management company.  Either solution is acceptable to affiliates providing that they receive the level of support that they require.

Providing that the affiliates are successful in delivering prospects to a merchant – customers that convert into paying customers – and they earn money, they will continue to promote them, and the more that they earn, the better the promotion is likely to be.  Online affiliates have a set amount of “real estate” on their sites for promotion – they of course have to provide content to their visitors – and this is allocated to those merchants from whom they earn the best return.

To keep affiliates motivated, merchants should work with them to create incentive programs and special events that will provide them with opportunities for increased recognition, and revenue.  They should also take the time to meet with them whenever possible to help them with their promotions.

A successful affiliate program can, and will, provide both parties with a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship.

Gian Perroni is the President of the Canadian Affiliate Management Company, (CanAffco.com), and has been in the online gaming industry since 1997.  A frequent speaker at gaming conferences, Gian has himself been an affiliate, an affiliate program director, and an operator.  He and his team work with gaming and retail merchants, helping them manage their affiliate programs.  Gian can be reached by email at gian@canaffco.com.