The online gambling or iGaming industry is one that ropes in billions of dollars in revenue every year. In fact, the industry is inching closer to being worth a mind boggling $1 trillion with each passing day. Needless to say, the industry is a very profitable one.
Despite the recession in 2008 and the global economy coming to a screeching halt during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the online gambling market remained largely unaffected. It was one of the few industries that continued to grow rapidly in spite of such economic bottlenecks.
7 Figure businesses are achievable
One of the best ways to capitalize on this ever-expanding market is by becoming an affiliate who markets online casinos and online sportsbooks. During the early years of online gambling services, a lot of young entrepreneurs around the world did exactly this. They became affiliates and are riding the wave even today. During that period, all it took was a one man army to roll up his or her sleeves and market online casino websites mostly through search engine optimization techniques.
However, times have changed radically as far as the internet and search engine algorithms are concerned. The competition in the world of SEO (search engine optimization) is fiercer than ever before. It is not an environment where one man is able to thrive without support. Unlike a couple of decades ago, keeping an online casino website ranked high in the search results is not a one-time thing. It is a continuous cycle and a perpetual process that takes a lot of time and effort.
What are affiliate websites?
These days, affiliate marketing websites have evolved into real, full time businesses and are known for being the best marketing technique for online casinos.
So, what are affiliate marketing websites? Affiliate websites are separate independent websites which are purposefully built particularly to redirect traffic to an online casino that they are affiliated with.
Some of the best digital marketing techniques for online casinos today include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay Per Click (Pay Per Click), and media advertising. However, the best Return on Investment (ROI) is affiliate marketing.
Having said that, the best interest of the online casino would be served by a combination of SEO, PPC, affiliate marketing, etc. and not solely affiliate marketing. As we mentioned, the finances of an online casino are substantial and there is plenty of competition in the market. For an online casino to make sufficient income it needs a lot of visitors coming to their website. It also needs a good conversion percentage where a significant number of the visitors actually sign up with the casino. Therefore, you want traffic coming in from various sources, which is generally achieved by various mediums of marketing.
It’s not so simple to put up a quality affiliate site. A good example, NoDepositDaily, would have taken many man hours and a one- man team would not be able to get to this level.
How affiliate websites make money
We now understand the objective of the affiliate website – to direct targeted traffic towards the online casino or online casinos that they are affiliated with. Usually affiliate websites achieve this by hosting valuable and relevant content and information on their own website which would attract internet users interested in all things online gambling. Therefore, affiliate websites could come in the form an online casino review website, a blog, a live streaming website, etc. This way, they are able to capture audience and then send them to their partner online casinos.
However, what do the affiliates get? Well, the online casino pays the affiliate website. What the payments are based on depends on the business model and agreement between the two parties. Below are some of the popular models for rewarding affiliates.
- Revenue sharing: As the name suggests, the affiliate gets a slice of the online casino’s net revenue. A certain percentage of the net revenue is paid to the affiliate website. This is good for the affiliate because it implies a stable, long term relationship (a reliable source of income). It is good for the casino website because the affiliate’s affluence is directly tied to the online casino’s affluence.
- Cost per action: This is where the online casino pays a fixed rate for each player sent via the affiliate website that either signs up with the casino or makes at least one deposit with the casino (depending on the agreement between the casino and the affiliate website).
- Mixed models: Usually, online casinos and affiliate websites have a many relationships. A casino might rely on multiple affiliates to gain conversion and likewise, an affiliate website may serve more than one casino to boost their finances. Therefore, online casinos usually have mixed models where they use the revenue sharing model with certain affiliates, the cost per action model with others and sometimes even a mix of the two for a few affiliate websites. The more dynamic and flexible an online casino is with their affiliates (in terms of rate and business model) the more successful they are in terms of amassing profit generating users.