Imagine running a business with huge margins, low labor costs and limited equipment needs. Even better is running that business nearly twenty-four hours a day, three-hundred sixty days per year. From an accounting perspective this seems like a fairy-tale. However, several online poker rooms experience these business characteristics everyday. The online poker industry is a multi-billion dollar industry with the top players taking the biggest piece of the pie. The industry is still growing with emerging countries starting to add to the player base. With recent legislative pressures finally in check, online poker is once again on the rise. If poker rooms can continue to successfully build or even maintain player base during this soft period, they can expect huge profits in the future. Here are some of the methods and ideas poker sites use in marketing campaigns to build their player base and build their brand.

Wealth Projection

Let’s first take a look at growth statistics in the online gaming industry. Online gaming has exploded in the last decade with poker becoming the industry leader. Gaming revenues have now reached in the billions of dollars and are still growing. Some projections call for an increase of twenty percent or more in the next year alone. Christiansen Capital Advisors stated that online poker revenues grew from $82.7 million in 2001 to $2.4 billion in 2005. This demonstrates the explosive growth in the industry. Industry giant, Party Poker announced in 2008 that it had revenues of $473 million and net income of $70 million. Had it not been for recent prohibitive legislature by the United States government, Party Poker would already be generating well over a billion dollars in revenue. Keep a watch on United States legislature regarding online gaming and poker. Should the federal government decide to let poker sites back into the American gaming market, you could see an immediate and dramatic rise in poker revenue.

Player Endorsements

One of the biggest hurdles for startup poker rooms is building a safe and secure image. New players only want to play at safe poker rooms projecting safety and integrity. Professional poker players endorse online poker sites. Full Tilt poker is home to the most professional poker player endorsements. Coincidentally, they are also in the top three poker rooms in terms of traffic. Pro players help project a honest and trustworthy image to potential players. New players conclude that professionals wouldn’t endorse any poker site that was a scam or unfair. While poker rooms like PokerStars, Ultimate Bet and Full Tilt pay large premiums for celebrity and professional endorsements, they reap the benefits many times over. The return on investment for worthy endorsees is phenomenal to say the least. Putting well-known faces with popular poker sites gives that room the much needed “rock solid” image they are after.

Software Enhancements

Ease of use and clarity are two of the main criteria used by beginning poker players when selecting a site to play on. Nobody wants complicated software with long learning curves and errors while playing. Poker rooms that keep their software simple and easy often become more popular than those with complicated study intensive sites. Enhancements like customer loyalty, free rolls, and custom filters also help attract players. Any type of software enhancement that lessons the burden of finding a game to play in improves user experience. Organization and transparency play big parts in separating successful poker sites from failing ones.

Affiliate Network

With online and television advertising becoming expensive for poker sites, managers have turned to affiliate networking to cover their advertising needs. Instead of paying for overpriced television ads, poker rooms have created an incentive based system for anyone who wishes to participate. Refer-a-friend and revenue sharing programs have become very popular with players and bloggers alike. Tracking links and bonus codes identify new poker players to a given affiliate account and credit accordingly. Anyone can become an online poker affiliate, regardless of experience. Websites are not required either since bonus codes can track player referrals. Whether you intend to open up a website or just refer friends by word of mouth, anyone can make money as a poker affiliate. All successful poker rooms have extensive affiliate networks with managers and customer service.

Reliability& Integrity

Game fairness and integrity have everything to do with the success of an online poker room. Even whispers of unfair game play or financial transactions can cause a “hiccup” in poker room traffic. In 2008 Ultimate Bet and Absolute poker had a scandal involving a “super-user” account. The scam was revealed based on examination of hand history on the suspected account. Business at each of these two rooms was decimated, and has still not fully recovered over a year later. Keeping a squeaky clean image is the main goal of every card room. Doing otherwise often results in a room being virtually shut down overnight. Small discrepancies over hands and financial problems are often handled with compensation like extended bonus offers. Having a reliable and honest poker site image is crucial to long term success.

Obstacles Overcome

Many obstacles arise for poker rooms over time. For starters, laws like the Internet Port Act have threatened the very existence of online poker. Although they didn’t directly ban online poker, they put a stop to the methods of funding for poker room accounts. This made it difficult for poker players to both deposit and cash-out winnings. The law was added to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act under the Bush administration. Recent court rulings have been made regarding online poker. Several courts have ruled that poker is in fact a skill game and not a game of chance. While poker players have known this all along, the courts have finally figured it out.

Online poker has been around for a while now with some even saying that the industry is temporarily saturated. Despite the gaming industry experiencing “softness” experts believe it will only grow in the future. With recent court rulings finding in favor of poker as a skill game, this softness could be alleviated in 2010. The poker sites most resilient to industry softness and government actions will be the winners in the long run. A recent downturn in the global economy has also hurt the prospects for online gaming. When the overall world economy begins strengthening online poker could resume growth once again. Untapped countries like China could also enter the market soon as countries may support online gaming to generate tax revenue. Despite the current negativity in the poker market, huge margins and fairly reasonable overhead costs will allow poker sites to be profitable. This period we are currently in is as bad as it gets. Those poker rooms that can made it now will be the winners for years to come. Expect big things for online poker by the end of 2010.

People play poker for a variety of reasons, but people become poker affiliates for only one reason. People choose to promote poker to make money. While a successful poker player can make a lot of money, a successful affiliate can make several times that. Some of the top performing poker affiliates are making six figures annually. Affiliate revenue doesn’t have swings like the game of poker does. Income is based strictly on the amount of players referred. Whether you choose the flat commission or percentage revenue plan, your long term affiliate earnings will be based on the amount of people you refer. It doesn’t get any clearer than that. Now that you know why people promote poker, here are some reasons you should sign up.

Pad Your Bankroll

Most affiliate earnings are released through player accounts. Meaning, poker sites deposit your affiliate earnings directly into your poker account. You can either cash these earnings out or play poker with it. For poker players wishing to pad their bankroll, they can use affiliate revenue  to play.  For beginning players with small bankrolls, affiliate commissions will definitely become useful by allowing you to play at higher limits earlier. Instead of grinding away at micro limit games you can move up levels using your affiliate commissions to make even more money.

Promote the Game

Although monetary rewards are the main reason people become poker affiliates it never hurts to promote the game you love. Referring fellow poker players helps the strength of the industry, ensuring that you will have people to play against for years to come. You may even make money off of one of your referred players in a live game.  Poker promotion also helps grow the games popularity and acceptance in society. Lets face it, recent legislature by the federal government has threatened the survival of online poker. Building the volume of players helps ensure the games existence in the future.

Free and Easy

Becoming a poker affiliate is both free and easy. You don’t necessarily even need a website to get started. Poker affiliates can use bonus codes and tracking links to get credit for players they refer. They can also use mailing campaigns or pass on information by word of mouth to friends and family. Poker affiliate programs are completely free other than the time you invest in working on promotion.

Growing Industry

Online gaming is a growing industry. With the widespread popularity of the World Series of Poker televised, more and more people are giving online poker a try. The movie, "Rounders" has also inspired thousands of people around the world to play texas holdem poker. After a recent setback resulting from harmful federal legislature, poker seems to be making a comeback.  As more people log on to the internet, poker should grow in popularity. Already a multi-billion dollar industry, only gaming will only increase. This is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor and make some serious money.

Promoting online poker is a great way to make supplemental income. Whether you are new to the poker scene or a seasoned player, you can make money promoting online poker. Poker affiliate programs are 100% free and easier than you could imagine. You have absolutely nothing to lose since these programs cost nothing - other than potential profits you could be missing. Get started promoting poker today and check out featured poker affiliate programs.

Bodog originally started as a sportsbook in the late 90’s and finally decided to join the online poker boom in early 2000. The poker site launched an aggressive marketing campaign and took some market share away from industry giants. A recent copyright infringement lawsuit has set Bodog back. Now officially bodoglife.com, Calvin Arye’s empire needs rebuilding. This lucrative affiliate program could land you big commissions if Bodog can successfully rebuild its tarnished brand name.

Bodog has an aggressive marketing campaign across many levels of gambling. They have sports book wagering, poker and an online casino. To top that off they have the Bodog girls, a team of beautiful women promoting the Bodog brand at sporting and gambling events. This group of girls turns heads and generates major publicity for the struggling brand. Look for the Bodog Life brand to make a major comeback in 2009.