Sounds like how I started.
I got made redundant, had 12 months of money in the bank and someone said I ought to give this Affiliate thing a go.
That was 7 years ago, and I have been full time since then.
I did partner with an existing affiliate and did a JV where I was able to learn the ropes. We sold that site after two years.
I had started my own alongside the JV, so when we sold I dedicated myself to that.
I've done the English speaking thing, on a .com site and do get traffic/players from English speaking countries (and non, which I'm now thinking about translating content for).
I chose a niche and went deep, so I'd don't get a massive amount of traffic, but what I do get is targetted and converts well.
I outperform the big sites for most niche related terms because they can't get the depth I go into, and Google likes the authority I have built up.
I definitely wouldn't do a general site - there are thousands of them and they can't all possibly rank. A casino review site has been done to death. Bonus Sites likewise. If I was doing casino I'd probably concentrate on just one slot provider or just one slot game or one slot type or one slot bonus round type, and produce content that is better than anyone else.
Make sure the site you build flies on Mobile and Desktop - lots of sites don't and that is a ranking factor.
Understand and learn about what impacts speed and make sure you produce content that is optimised. Loads of sites are full of big fat images, css etc that just slow things down - mine included. It's this type of technical debt that is hard and expensive to fix. You have the advantage of not having that - so use it. Make sure you test the themes before you buy.
Stick with it, it will take months. Don't wait to get your site up. Create a home page, publish it and then add content regularly - don't wait for the site to be complete. Just get on and do it. Then you'll start to create content that starts to rank, you'll get bits of traffic and the rest is a snowball effect. As for aff progs, don't worry about them to begin with. Content and traffic is your first goal.
I got made redundant, had 12 months of money in the bank and someone said I ought to give this Affiliate thing a go.
That was 7 years ago, and I have been full time since then.
I did partner with an existing affiliate and did a JV where I was able to learn the ropes. We sold that site after two years.
I had started my own alongside the JV, so when we sold I dedicated myself to that.
I've done the English speaking thing, on a .com site and do get traffic/players from English speaking countries (and non, which I'm now thinking about translating content for).
I chose a niche and went deep, so I'd don't get a massive amount of traffic, but what I do get is targetted and converts well.
I outperform the big sites for most niche related terms because they can't get the depth I go into, and Google likes the authority I have built up.
I definitely wouldn't do a general site - there are thousands of them and they can't all possibly rank. A casino review site has been done to death. Bonus Sites likewise. If I was doing casino I'd probably concentrate on just one slot provider or just one slot game or one slot type or one slot bonus round type, and produce content that is better than anyone else.
Make sure the site you build flies on Mobile and Desktop - lots of sites don't and that is a ranking factor.
Understand and learn about what impacts speed and make sure you produce content that is optimised. Loads of sites are full of big fat images, css etc that just slow things down - mine included. It's this type of technical debt that is hard and expensive to fix. You have the advantage of not having that - so use it. Make sure you test the themes before you buy.
Stick with it, it will take months. Don't wait to get your site up. Create a home page, publish it and then add content regularly - don't wait for the site to be complete. Just get on and do it. Then you'll start to create content that starts to rank, you'll get bits of traffic and the rest is a snowball effect. As for aff progs, don't worry about them to begin with. Content and traffic is your first goal.