How Affiliate Marketing Drives Traffic and Revenue for Online Casinos
Affiliate marketing has earned itself an important role in industries that operate online. Casinos pursue huge amounts of traffic which are actually quite common for online casinos available internationally as they can welcome visitors from all corners of the world. Getting to the point that a casino is considered a recognised brand however is the most important challenge and many casinos have turned to affiliate marketing to achieve this.
The question is how these casino affiliates are and why they are so heavily used by casino operators? In our in-depth guide we’ll discuss what drives traffic and revenues for these websites. Keep reading for a closer look at one of today’s most popular affiliate industries.
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What Exactly Is Casino Affiliate Marketing?
Affiliate marketing is a predominantly online marketing strategy that is followed in many industries and not only limited to casino operators. It is considered one of the most favourable ways of marketing products, brands, or businesses as it uses a fair and measurable model. This creates a win-win situation for both parties with the casino affiliates being the websites getting permission to create, publish, and spread content which directly or indirectly promotes the online casino. These website owners get a commission from the operator for directing customers towards the promoted company.
Content is delivered in all ways and moves along with modern trends including links, ads, banners, video content, infographics, images, interviews, podcasts and whatever can help an online casino gain exposure. Affiliate companies have content creators and publishers that work together to gain the reputation of a trustworthy online source. Agreements between an affiliate and a partner online casino can be made on an individual basis or as part of collective affiliate programmes. In order to get to certain agreements they need to get in a certain level of traffic.
Casino affiliates can also be market oriented, focusing on markets such as New Zealand, Canada, India, and the US. Crypto casinos in New Zealand are an example of a hyper-specialised target group. Casino affiliate marketing exists both in countries that have licensed online gambling activities and those that do not allow online gambling sites at all. There are a few examples of countries where (online) gambling is fully banned, but where affiliate marketing for casino sites is still common practice. Although online casinos and affiliates work together on a daily basis, they can not be held responsible for their operations.
How Does Casino Affiliate Marketing Work?
Online casino affiliates share the same goal to gather a large number of followers which allows them to send out their messages. The ones that have a strong reputation as well as strong content marketing will be able to turn their visitors into converting visitors. In return, casino affiliates are rewarded by the casino operators with the most used reward models being:
- Pay Per Click (PPC): every time a user clicks on an outbound link, the affiliate will get a, typically monetary reward. As not all clicks mean real money conversions, rewards tend to be a lot lower.
- Cost per View (CPV): affiliates are paid when a visitor sees an ad, whether or not they actually click on it. CPV rewards are generally lower than in other models.
- Pay per Sale (PPS): affiliates are rewarded if the visitor makes a real money conversion. PPS rewards are amongst the highest in the casino affiliate industry
- Revenue Share (Revshare): the affiliate receives a percentage of a player’s lifetime losses which is clearly pretty dramatic for the player, but does add money to the house and thus the affiliate.
- Cost Per action (CPA): affiliates get rewarded for every action, not necessarily financially. This can also include filling in a form or deposits are both considered actions and are thus both valid to get rewarded.
Affiliate partnerships are supposed to be mutually beneficial, providing operators on the one hand with the traffic they’re looking for and affiliates on the other with financial compensation. This setup keeps both parties motivated to maintain a relationship.
Why Do Online Casinos Work With Affiliates?
Every business needs brand awareness amongst consumers and this is particularly true in the online industry that is mainly debated online. In order to grow they will first need to build a solid base which basically requires a steady and continuous flow of web traffic, with affiliate marketing being considered one of the easiest ways to bring this in.
Online operators have massively turned their attention to both Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Advertising (SEA) which are employed to promote their brands in their target markets. Affiliate marketing is performance-based which means that rewards are paid only after obtaining a certain result. SEO, or marketing in general, works with budgets that are predetermined. The hope of sending out an ad that reaches the right target group is the main concern of affiliate marketing.
How To Drive Traffic and Revenue?
In order to get started with implementing affiliate marketing into a casino’s online strategy, the first step would be to choose proper affiliate networks. There are many of them available and the number of options will depend on your region. Ideally, an affiliate partnership is mutually beneficial, giving operators traffic and affiliates financial rewards, making sure that both parties are motivated to build the relationship.
Traffic and revenue are also highly driven by continuous monitoring and analysis. Although affiliate marketing is one of the most important drivers for web traffic, casino websites are giving third-party websites a certain level of freedom to promote their brand which can also be risky and even negatively impact a website’s brand image.
Rewards systems, like loyalty programmes and VIP clubs, are also essential for player retention. In order to work players will need to be retained in the first place. Affiliates can only retain this kind of long-term players after bringing in high amounts of traffic to start with. Alternative online marketing strategies, such as email marketing and even SMS marketing are still used by lots of new online casinos and can have varying effectiveness. Affiliate marketing involves a set of marketing strategies, most of them focused on the internet.
In a time where online brand recognition has become even more challenging, it is important to spread brand awareness at all times. Trying to stay ahead of the competition can therefore be done via an affiliate programme as operators already have their hands full with running their own gaming platform. This explains why affiliate marketing is still on top.
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