Make Money With Poker

A poker affiliate is somebody who refers individuals to a poker site in return for monetary compensation. Each player that makes a deposit into a poker site and plays will generate rake. This fee called rake is taken out of each hand based on the size of the pot. Although it amounts to usually no more than a few dollars, over the course of thousands of hands it can add up fast. Rake has allowed online poker sites to become extremely prosperous. More players at the site equals more hands played and consequently more rake generated. It is easy to see why online poker sites are so concerned about attracting new players. Take advantage of player referrals by becoming an online affiliate today!

An affiliate can use a variety of techniques to attract players. The most common form of attracting players is through tracking links. Each affiliate is provided with a unique link to refer potential players. The link directs prospective players to the desired poker site and installs a “cookie” on the user’s computer. The affiliate is given credit for a player signup if that person deposits money on the site and plays a certain amount of hands. The affiliate link provided should look something like this:

http://www.fulltiltpoker.com?key=MDAwMDMwMjgwMDAwNzJGQTAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDA-&sa=1

The second widely used method of attracting online poker players is through the use of bonus codes. These codes allow players to market with catchy poker phrases or identifying words. When prospective players enter the bonus code provided affiliates are given credit for a signup. Furthermore, bonus codes usually provide lucrative deposit bonuses and rakeback offers. Bonus codes are unique to each affiliate, but usually look something like this:

Use the bonus code “PSONLINE” for a 100% deposit bonus and monthly rakeback!

Although you could get by as an affiliate without a website, your potential signup total could be limited by the amount of people you know. As an offline affiliate you could simply pass on your bonus code by word of mouth to friends or create business cards with your information on it. Mail campaigns are possible as long as they are opt in mailing lists and not spam promotions. Mailings created through spam are not tolerated by most poker sites. CD distribution is another way to promote poker offline since users can download poker software directly on their computer with the bonus code included. All of these things can aid in capturing poker players. However, online promotion and advertising are much more successful methods of attracting new players. Online affiliates need to keep a few critical things in mind when building an online website.

Content is King

As with any online website, content is the most important aspect of building an online presence. The popular saying, “quality is more important that quantity” holds true for website content as well. More importantly, the content should be educational and target specific keywords for search engine placement. Your site should reflect a library of content with ads placed sparingly throughout the site. People don’t want to be sold to poker sites. Instead they want to be offered compelling reasons for playing online and a selection of places to play at. The way content and advertisements are presented on websites has everything to do with conversion rates.

Target Top Poker Rooms

Instead of signing up for every affiliate card room on the internet, target your favorite sites. Try to stay with the top card rooms out there. Full Tilt poker is arguably the top poker site on the internet and is a great starting point. The popular poker rooms have much better conversion rates than the small time startup rooms. Focusing on a few poker rooms in the beginning goes along with the quality being better than quantity argument. As you master the promotion of two or three rooms you can branch off into other more lucrative programs.

Build a Community

Social networking has exploded on the internet over the past couple of years. With the arrival of myspace and facebook, people have grown accustomed toPoker community affilate a sense of community and belonging. Take advantage of this trend and try to get visitors to return to your site. Forums, chat rooms and comment boxes are all great ways to build a poker network. Repeat visitors help attract new visitors and give a website the image of being popular. Visitor traffic reaches a tipping point and builds popularity via blogger links.

Find a Niche

The poker room “review” and “rakeback” sites have been overdone to say the least. Thousands of these type of sites exist on the web, seemingly everywhere you look. Although it is never a bad idea to offer site reviews and rakeback these topics shouldn’t be the focus of your site. Try to find a unique focus for the site. If you play micro-limits or are an expert sit and go player these topics could be appealing to a more specific audience. Unless you intend on spending a lot of money up front to build your site, you will have to rely on superior content to drive traffic. The top 1% of online poker sites make over 90% of the total revenue. Finding that unique focus could give you the edge you need to grab some of the revenue pie.

Identify Your Audience

As mentioned in the niche section, targeting a unique audience could give you an edge in attracting viewer-ship. Again stay away from banner farms, room review sites and the like. These have already been done several times over. A few basic questions could be asked of yourself in trying to target a unique audience. Before doing any type of ad placement on your site, a unique readership must be identified.

* Are you targeting cash game players or tourney players?
* Will you create articles for new players or experts?
* What service can you provide to your audience?
* What age of player will you target?
* What country do you aim to pinpoint?

Sponsor Contests & Freerolls

If you have the time and money sponsorships are a great way to attract people. People new to poker who are skeptical of depositing their own hard earned money will be very interested in a freeroll or contest. Sponsor a tournament or create an affiliate contest with a monetary prize or player transfer. Everyone loves a giveaway on the internet. Doing so will keep visitors checking back often for future contests and promotions.

Affiliate marketing is a difficult proposition for new players in the market. As mentioned earlier, the top players make a vast majority of affiliate revenue. This is usually the result of great search engine placement and heavy back linking. These advantages come through a solid foundation of quality content over the long term. A little bit of work on your poker website each day is much better than infrequent article posting or activity. Readers like being engaged on a daily basis. Fresh and exciting content is key to any affiliate website. Build your poker web presence one day at a time and focus on quality writing with targeted keywords for search engine placement. Most of all engage your readers and build a sense of community.