One of the best ways to get your online casino noticed is with affiliate marketing. As the online gaming industry is growing, so is the competition. An affiliate marketer can send relevant traffic your way with a greater possibility of conversion. When you have an affiliate marketer strategizing for you, they get interested parties to your site. When the traffic sent to your site does sign up, you give them rewards. There are models out there like Revenue Share and CPA (Cost Per Action.)
Affiliate networks will connect you to lead-generating traffic. The publisher uses platforms that bring that traffic through to your site. The publisher will get offers from you and choose which one works best. This is because their message and your casino need to fit together for any of this to work. When a publisher chooses wisely, you’re likely to gain a high number of visitors.
The publisher will feature ads on their site that will channel traffic to you. When someone clicks on the ad, there will be a contact form or landing page provided by you, the casino. Your site records the activity of that visitor and if they perform a required action, you pay out the affiliate who generated the lead. Usually the required action on a platform will be a deposit and playing through with the amount of the deposit.
Having a highly skilled marketer who has a great influence can boost your sales and get more people playing at your casino. We’re going to show you how to maximize this particular style of marketing so there’s no hassle and high conversions. If you’re considering the idea of launching an online casino, put finding an affiliate marketing program on your life. This is a great way to gain exposure to the right traffic.
Working with a Legit Company
You want to make sure that the program uses efficient software that’s able to monitor the whole cycle of driving traffic and conversions. You want to work with a network that has various offers, programs that track and manage stats, and have strict guidelines for fair business practices between both parties.
Make sure you check out reviews of the affiliate network you’re thinking of working with. Watch out for things like delayed payments and managers that don’t return messages. A good affiliate network is also going to review your site for popularity and quality, making sure it’s viable for them to work with you.
Reputation and Transparency
While we discuss transparency, let’s look at an example of what transparency is not. Black box networks don’t let you know where your traffic comes from and what publishers are promoting your casino. This means you settle an invoice that’s unspecified. You never have the opportunity to build a good relationship with the person driving traffic to you. It’s important to have total transparency here, being able to communicate with the publisher or influencer. You should know where your traffic is coming from so you can pay out the affiliate market fairly.
You should be able to:
- Figure out what publisher and sites your traffic is coming from.
- Choose publishers that are promoting your business.
- Know what they have provided for you based on the invoice you’ve been given. This should all be trackable and well laid out.
Tracking and Reporting System
A casino affiliate program should be transparent and the easiest way to accomplish that is through highly efficient tracking and reporting systems. Do they use the best affiliate management software provider? Indications of a good provider includes centralized and scalable solutions. They should be able to manage the whole affiliate cycle.
This includes:
- When a player signs up
- Media serving
- Tracking CTM
- Tracking CRM
- Customer reports
- Performance-based ad tracking
- Automated payments back to you based on their streamlined system.
Real-time date reporting tools and an accounting team is also essential to ensure you get paid consistently and in a timely manner. Some names to watch for are casinos that work with NetRefer and Lindar.
Other Brands Connected to the Affiliate Network
There are many casino affiliate programs out there but you want to make sure you choose the right one. Firstly, you want to work in the niche of casino. The best affiliate marketer will focus on the same niche as you. Maybe they are somehow connected to the casino software provider that you’re powered by for example. Of course, knowing who your target audience is the foundation to your success. It also helps you choose what affiliate program you want to represent you. Find out if they are already representing your competitors and how they are helping them to succeed.
Competitors
Casino affiliates can be just one publisher or a company. Their purpose is the same no matter what. They make money by bringing traffic to your online casino. Affiliate marketing in the iGaming industry will often be players. They have experience with other online gamers and know how to speak their language. They are familiar with the games and may even do live streams, create helpful blogs, and do honest reviews. On the other end, a publisher may have experience with the operating side of an online casino. Whatever the stance, they can connect with your target market. They are trusted and they are in the exact niche you’re selling.
If an affiliate program happens to reach out to you and are already working with your competitors, this might not be such a bad thing. They may be highly successful and are able to work with both parties, not stepping on anyone’s toes. Publishers are fine doing this because your casino may offer something that others don’t. They want to give their readers every option so it’s a win/win for everyone.
Fees and Agreements
Fees are going to vary and are often based on the model that you choose. Here are the four models:
Cost Per Lead (CPL) – You’re going to pay out the affiliate a one-time commission for bringing a customer to your casino. They click through the link and sign up for the affiliate to get paid.
Cost Per Action (CPA) – You pay the affiliate a commission when the player signs up and makes a deposit for the first time. Sometimes, the player will have to spend the full amount before the commission is paid out. Often, as partnerships deepen, you’ll look to keep the publisher and offer more flexible rates and greater incentives.
Revenue Share Program – Similar to CPA, you will pay the affiliate a commission when the customer signs up and makes a deposit. The commission is based on revenue share though. The affiliate will get a percentage of the player’s losses. This might be a contract for a certain amount of time or for the lifetime of the player using the site.
Mixed Model Program – There are some programs that offer it all. You can combine the CPA and Revenue Share Model. These would often be offered to affiliates that are performing extremely well and are high-profile in the casino industry.
Negative Carryover
With revenue share, if a player wins a lot of money, you end up losing quite a lot. You then have a negative balance in the affiliate account. There are some programs that wipe out the negative balance at the end of the month. Some of them won’t so make sure you check this out in the contract.
As a publisher carries out sending traffic your way, you will often pay for the action performed. Then the affiliate network will take out a commission, which is often 20-30%. The publisher is then paid out from this.
Support
Your experience with a vendor will be defined by how well they support you. Things can happen so it’s important to know you can depend on support from your affiliate program. There should be good management backing up the customer service portion of any program. You should have a dedicated account manager that’s available on live chat or email. You should see what marketing material they have and quality of it.
When you’ve entered into an agreement with an affiliate program, you can help your publisher by giving them information about your online casino. This is going to give them a good idea of how you differ. You can explain your goals and tell them who your target audience is. You will want to make it easy for conversions by offering a simple contact form or a captivating landing page available. Your online casino can highly benefit when you choose the right affiliate program.
Conclusion
There are many expert marketers out there that know how to send traffic in your direction. You’ll see more traffic coming to your site that is highly relevant, making conversion rates much higher. When you find the right fit to promote your online casino, you should see a major increase of people coming to your site and putting down a deposit. This is the sole job purpose of an affiliate program, to increase awareness of your site, get them to your site through marketing persuasion, and getting them to spend some money. You pay out the program or publisher and everyone wins. These tips should help you find the right program or individual for your needs.
