Dealer Dan, pictured here with WWE Superstar Mick Foley, has been in internet marketing since 1996. He likes hugs, long walks on the beach, and making money while wearing his jammy jams. For more information, you can read all 
I wrote one of these 2 months ago and then I just plain forgot about it, oops. Time to bring it back as a recurring article as I really enjoyed writing it.
Forum Friday Fun summed up in a paragraph: I don’t really have time to participate in affiliate forums anymore. However I always enjoyed doing it, and tackling new topics or helping people. I’ve decided instead to pick 4-5 threads every Friday from various affiliate forums, and reply to them here. That way it’s beneficial for both you, and me!
Let’s get right into this weeks Forum Friday Fun:
Players Winning Sucks!
GPWA: Player is winning nearly every day at TitanBet for 2 months.
Thread Summary: From May until current day, a player has been winning almost every day at Europartners Titan Bet sportsbook.
Unfortunately, these are one of the things that happen when it comes to promoting sports betting. Yes, 90% of sports betters are going to lose all their money – but even the biggest losers are going to win often. Online sportsbooks know this, which is why there are so few sportsbooks that offer no negative carryover.
It’s one of the concerns when you promote sports betting. But looking at that players stats – there have been quite a few big losing days for him too. There’s a good chance in the long run it will all even out.
Sometimes if you’re a big affiliate, you can negotiate your way out of these situations. While I prefer to ride them out(as the rewards long-term can be so much higher), you can point out to the affiliate program that you bring in XX-XXX players per month, and this player is hurting your bottom line. If they don’t remove him from your account you’ll just send those players elsewhere, because it’s pointless to send them somewhere where you won’t make money.
Of course, most affiliates don’t handle this in the most mature way. What you need to do is basically create a powerpoint presentation for affiliate programs. Show them exactly WHY they need to cut this player off from you – WHY it is beneficial to them. Affiliate programs and managers are a business too – you need to prove to them that it’s the best decision possible.
I had a recent situation like this where during football season, EVERY sportsbook affiliate account I had was in the negative. Most of them got turned around except for 5Dimes, which was $xx,xxx in the negative. However I decided to see it out, and after 8 months I finally got my first affiliate paycheck there, for $35. That $35 was the best payment I’ve received all year.
Give Me Facebook Likes!
Various threads all over affiliate forums for months.
Thread Summary: People post on affiliate forums all over the place, asking people to “like” their Facebook page etc.
There’s no point listing a specific thread because these are everywhere with affiliates asking fellow affiliates to “like” their Facebook page.
I’ve never understood this. If it was a Facebook page targeted at affiliates then yeah by all means – if I ever set up an Affiliate Bible facebook page I’ll be sure to ask people to “like” it – because they’re my target market! But what is the point of asking an internet marketer to like your casino bonus page or whatever?
There are only two reasons I can think of as to why someone would do that which make sense: (1) I believe Facebook still has the “25 likes needed” rule before you can get your own custom URL, and (2) To make it look like you have a lot of people that like your Facebook page, increasing the chance of others “liking” it because it looks more legitimate.
But really – why bother begging your non-audience to “like” it and only getting a few likes? Seriously, just hit up Fiverr. For $5 you can get thousands of “likes” immediately. It’s highly doubtful this is the audience you want to target, but it achieves both goals above easily, and with the least hassle.
If you’re worried about spammers etc – don’t be. I’ve used this service many times. I may see 1 spam post per month on one of my Facebook pages – at which point I’ll simply delete it(as you get an e-mail about it) and block the user, easy-peasy.
5Dimes Affiliate Review:
PAL: 5Dimes Affiliate Program – Your Opinion?
Thread Summary: An affiliate posted on PAL asking affiliates opinion on 5Dimes.
I actually replied in that thread “Top-notch” but I figure I should expand on that.
I’ve been with 5Dimes for years, both as a player and affiliate. Based on my affiliate ID, I think I may even be one of their first affiliates.
From a punters perspective, there’s quite a few negatives. Their user interface isn’t the best. Their mobile website is useless – I’ve tried betting so many times only to get logged out, and I’ve tried this with a couple of different mobile devices.
However the positives far outweigh the negatives at 5Dimes. The odds are the best for US punters usually – they even beat a lot of non-US sportsbooks at odds depending on the sport. I’ve always found their customer service and support fantastic, and withdrawals are very fast too.
From the affiliate front, I’ve really been impressed with 5Dimes too. This really seems to be a program that appreciates affiliates more and more as time goes on. When I signed up there it was so incredibly basic(they use their own custom interface) but all these years later it is fantastic. Their tracking is very detailed, and the big one is being able to see players reports. You can see what your players are betting on, what they’re winning on etc.
For me, that’s something EVERY affiliate program needs to offer in 2012. As a casino affiliate, it’s ridiculous that I have no idea if that player I sent through on a $500 deposit offer is playing slots or Blackjack. As a poker affiliate, it’s stupid that I don’t know whether my “play poker online” crowd are hitting up satellites, cash games or what type of game.
I’ve also never had a problem with affiliate communication either. Any time I’ve had issues they’ve been dealt with promptly. Their retention is excellent too – it’s one of those sportsbooks that I find punters just fall in love with. I’ve got players still betting there from 6 years ago.
If you have a US sportsbook crowd, 5Dimes is without a doubt the #1 sportsbook I would recommend you promote(with Bovada #2).
Memories From The Old Affiliate Days:
PAL: Memories From The Old Days (Pre UIEGA)
Thread Summary: This thread was actually started back in April. It’s affiliates who were in it for the long-term posting about old memories, such as using the “Granny” bonus code on Full Tilt which pissed off 2+2s GrannyMae; giving away Super/System for free but requiring them to sign up at Party Poker, and many other great memories.
As I mentioned – this thread was started a few months ago, however I remembered something yesterday that I wanted to share as I find it amusing. Way back in the day, the Poker.com affiliate program(back when Poker.com was a room and not a portal) actually offered a private link exchange service in their backend.
This used to be a goldmine in regard to getting links. You had a lot of clueless affiliates who really had no idea about the importance of backlinks, and I remember being able to get some really ridiculous backlinks in exchange for crap – people were just excited about the idea of actually getting a link.
It’s fun to think back to those days, as so many people in the gambling world(both from the affiliate side, and the affiliate program side) were so naive.
You hear a lot about the crazy CPA payments – but there is one memory that has always stuck with me. The Boss Network was a mess when it came to – well, everything. Poker rooms that would join up there only had the option of 1-3 bonuses to choose from, and most would choose a 100% to $100 bonus for players. The terms and conditions stated that the minimum requirement was you deposit $100, and play 500 hands at $1/$2 minimum tables before the bonus cleared.
Now that bonus was fairly standard for our time, but what made it even more amazing was the player didn’t actually have to play at $1/$2. They could play at the lowest limits offered by Boss Network which I believe was $0.05/$0.10 at the time. So even the worst poker player in the world could deposit $100, lose $10 at those tables and still come out with $90 after those 500 hands – mainly because the Boss Network sucked THAT much.
On top of that – the affiliate programs often paid big CPAs for every player! So they were getting shafted TWICE – from the player, and the affiliate. And bizarrely, it took MONTHS for the programs to catch onto this.
I still remember one affiliate program closing my affiliate account, and I asked them why. They informed me that over the course of 3 months I had brought them in revenue of NEGATIVE $30,000. Oops. Not one of those things you’ll see me advertise on my portfolio!
I’m really surprised no-one has ever written a book about it. I mean, we went from a world where casinos and poker rooms would practically give money away, to now, where month by month we don’t know what affiliate program is going to close up and shaft us next.
It really has been quite the crazy time.
This article was written on July 6, 2012 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
