That is the BIGGEST secret on the internet today. TRAFFIC. According to some of the internet rating services (such as Netratings), you will see who is getting the most amount of online traffic these days (it should be no surprise to you that Google and Yahoo are at the top of the list).
But beyond name recognition, there are many creative ways to generate traffic. An online casino operator will need to spend money advertising or bringing in traffic, and this is the determining factor of an internet casino's success. Most of the expense a company will face in this venture is marketing.
Simply listing a casino in search engines like Google, Yahoo!, Alta Vista, Excite, etc. will not get the traffic required. A search in Google for "Casino" comes back with millions of web pages. A Marketing Plan is absolutely necessary for a successful online gaming business.
Some companies contact one of the firms below to handle marketing for them. Most casinos now also do the marketing on their own. Required in the marketing plan is where the marketing firm or casino will advertise and the cost per acquisition (CPA) of new players must be watched. Every online casino now has an affiliate program. The Casino Affiliate Convention covers affiliate marketing and allows operators to meet with the webmaster affiliates. Affiliate marketing requires person to person contact for success.
There are a slew of online marketing strategies. The most common are the following:
Other things found in the industry are online site reviews and traffic exchange campaigns. Casino affiliate campaigns are now the defacto standard that all online casinos, sportsbooks, poker rooms and bingo operations use. This site and this site explains in much more detail about the subject. The casino affiliate convention is where gaming operators meet affiliates directly. Affiliate marketing requires person to person contact for success. Other sites to advertise a casino on can be found within the Links page as well as this article on the subject. A good domain name is essential in being successful in this business.
( Two books highly worth reading on internet marketing is Search Engine Optimization Bible 2007, by Jerri Ledford and The New Rules of Marketing and PR (2007) by David Meerman Scott
As said before, successful internet marketing strategies are a "Big Secret" and no firm gives it up easily. Usually, the Online Gambling Software Provider has marketing programs for your site (they charge for it monthly). In addition, the firms below can assist you in marketing your site.
Another good site worth looking at for marketing is Casino Master for webmaster programs.
What's in a Name? EVERYTHING. Casino.com is valued at over USD $2 million because it says it all. Blackjack.com sold for USD $ 436,000 in 1999.
The rules are:
You can register a domain name at Register.com
Save yourself some time here....ALL the casino games with a (Dot).com were taken YEARS ago (ie: Poker.com, Blackjack.com, Craps.com). There are MANY individuals actively looking up domain names to reserve every day. Some internet gaming companies with only one active online sportsbook and casino web site may own hundreds if not thousands of gambling related domain names.
However, in some cases, people forget to renew registration for a domain name, which become known as Expired Domains and are now available for anyone to take. This is perhaps the best way to find a good domain name inexpensively. A site which lists Expired Domains is the DNS Index. (They charge a fee of $4 per month for the most recent list of names).
You can also BUY a domain name. Usually they are auctioned off. Moniker, Afternic and Great Domains are good sites to go shopping for gambling domain names. EBAY is not a recommended site for this kind of stuff.
