An idea for alternative to WordPress (Casino Affiliate Website Builder)

[codexman]

Hello, everybody!

In summer I made a post on GPWA about a gambling-related product idea I had in my mind. The discussion on that thread was interesting with mixed opinions on idea's viability. Maybe some of you have already read it, but for those who have not, I will qoute it below. I'm genuinely interested in your opinions about this!

So.. 99% of gambling affiliates use WordPress for their websites, and it's a great CMS - there are plenty of themes and plugins available, however it comes with some drawbacks too, specifically
- it is hard to optimize for speed - for various reasons - even with caching plugins enabled;
- it is hard to pick a theme (too many options in general, but only a few high-quality gambling-related themes are available);
- page builders like Elementor are too bloatedcomplex;
- needs hosting (not all hosting providers are happy with gambling content, also there are speed issues);
- security - loads of hackers and bots are trying to hack wp-admin folder day and night;
- update hell - constant updates of WP itself, themes and plugins can break things.

Then there are other website builders like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace etc., but those are barely usable at all for gambling affiliate websites.

I like to make fun projects on the web, so I have this crazy idea - should I make a website builder specifically for gambling affiliate sites?


Here are key concepts of this thing in my mind:

- all-in-one platform for building and hosting gambling affiliate websites;
- themes with customizable blocks;
- easy to use editor;
- page types homepage, casino review, slot review, bonus, blog post, etc.;
- optional auto-import of basic casino data and images (basic data for casino review pages);
- optional auto-import of basic slots data and demo games (basic data for slot review pages);
- works as a static website generator (hereby sites are optimized for lightning speed, clean code);
- websites are optimized for SEO by default;
- GEO targeting by default (choose to disable whole website or exclude restricted casinos from showing in selected GEOs);
- link cloaking (for pretty affiliate links);
- lazy loading images;
- email capture via popups;
- custom domains;
- integrated analytics;

What do you think of this idea, guys? Would you use it?

 

[Cazinon.com]

That would be awesome! Btw, as a programmer, I could help on this

 

[xecutable]

Sounds like reinventing the wheel, especially when the wheel works well and all of the drawbacks listed are overly exaggerated to the point most of them are not even true:

-hard to optimize for speed - definitely not true. Combined with Cloudflare and a decently coded theme, it's flawless.
-hard to pick a theme - not a Wordpress problem, sounds like a make up your mind problem
-page builders too bloated - use the default one, it's been polished and optimized in the past like 4 releases and it's really good. (Or use the HTML editior, but even a coder like me switched)
-needs hosting - literally any site regardless of what's using and how it's made
-security - again literally any site
-update hell - if you are using a few plugins and a decently coded theme with frequent updates, nothing can be easier than a self-updating platform.

As for what you are proposing, half of that is already offered by a bunch of gambling affiliate themes, the technical stuff is solved by cloudflare + more (a lot more).

The last issue would be trust. There's a downside to having 1 company control all of your data, especially if there are no guarantees it will make it through the first year. Most gambling affiliates are already using w/e they are using, and will not move, because like I've said these so called "issues" are not issues, or they would have went custom backends (or already have) and would not use a third-party.

 

[BoatDrinks]

I'd recommend updating your WP server core for better performance with site speed tools.
Many are not compatible unless your WP server core is more recent.
WordPress 6.1 or newer is what to look for in 2023

 

[codexman]

On reinventing the wheel - well, it kinda is so, but I think once you will experience how effortless it is to create a well-optimized site and once you will open an affiliate site created by my builder, you will definetely feel that this is on entirely different level in terms of speed and "feel" of the site. Clicking around will be butter smooth and fast thanks to Next.js - pages will be rendered without full reload.

I think that my site builder will be most liked by new affiliates who don't have the experience / technical knowledge of ins and outs of Wordpress core / plugins / hosting/ etc. Everything will be ready, optimized and FAST (both on frontend and backend), so you will be able to focus on creating content and marketing your site, and don't worry about technical stuff.

On trust issues - yes, site content will be stored on site builder's server, but if you decide to switch, well - you still own your domain. Replicating content elsewhere is not a problem, I think.

 

[Casinojunkie]

Hello, everybody!

In summer I made a post on GPWA about a gambling-related product idea I had in my mind. The discussion on that thread was interesting with mixed opinions on idea's viability. Maybe some of you have already read it, but for those who have not, I will qoute it below. I'm genuinely interested in your opinions about this!

I'd be interested!! Def keep us in the loop of what you end up doing! I am honestly super frustrated with WP. Ive made sites on many platforms before without any problems but I purchased a " casino Theme" and now it seems I have to pay $300 just to be able to use my new theme I purchased because I have to pay to upgrade to a business site if I want to install my theme? Sounds like a bunch of bs and I'm so far not happy about this site being so difficult for me to get put together ughhhhhhh...I have been promoting other ways but I know I'm just wasting my time and $ by not having a decent site like 99% of everyone else on here. So, people like me would be very grateful for an easier one stop option!

 

[euromill]

I think that all of you are right and depending on your needs - WP may or may not be the platform for you. We recently moved to a bespoke CMS as we found that WP limited us in ways we never envisaged. I still have some sites on WP and wont be changing that - I was an early user of WP and the changes they have come up with in recent times has been good.

 

[Frank]

A custom built wordpress theme is all you really need, the plugins are a big plus I get speeds at 100, it doesnt get any better however cost was high. but I always have support when I need it

 

[AussieDave]

On trust issues - yes, site content will be stored on site builder's server, but if you decide to switch, well - you still own your domain. Replicating content elsewhere is not a problem, I think.

The site builder's server retains ALL the content. And, the affiliate can't save a backup of their own "content", instead, they have to replicate it IF they decided to drop this CMS. That's a lot of free content you'd have FREE access to, and could use for FREE. You might be able to sucker non-coders or noobs into this, but I can assure you, no seasoned-affiliate, with any brains, would touch it with a barge pole.