Freaking Out and not Getting Anywhere!

[Gamblemaster]

Hi there - I recently signed up to Affiliate Guard Dog and think the site and forums are fantastic. I have been reading through the many forums for inspiration - reason being is that I am not getting anywhere with traffic and conversions from my site - it has been up for a while now and traffic rarely gets above 200 a month and the number of sign ups and paying players has been rubbish.

If anyone is willing to take the time to have a look at my site and give me some direction (don't get too harsh as I am ready to give it up and very despondent about it at the moment) it would be very much appreciated:

xxx gamblemaster.co.uk

 

[Guard Dog]

For my preference... there are just too many banners. It leaves me thinking, where should I go? Articles are good and that brings traffic, but you have to figure out a better way to convert that traffic than over-stimulation (IMO)

 

[bonustreak]

I think your header is a bit large to be honest and wasting space you can be using for casino listings... Maybe make your font a bit smaller as well and lest banners would be of help. Last maybe it is the brands your marketing?

 

[Gamblemaster]

Hi Bonustreak - Thank you for your input it is much appreciated - are there any Brands that you would suggest I should promote?

 

[Gamblemaster]

Thanks Guard Dog - much appreciated - if you don't mind me asking. How long have you been going for and how much traffic do you generate now?

 

[buddy m]

You dont have a bad looking site at all. I get the point made above about the header being to big, but the look of the header other than that is really cool looking to me.

Looking at your home page from gambling eyes, I think your opening, or wellcome pitch is a bit too generic. Your saying things in general that tons of other casino portals are saying. Not hopeless thpugh, not by a long shot. On the right track I think.

Good luck with it. Time ans sticktoitness is whats needed.

 

[mattsgame]

Hey Gamble Master.

Nice looking site to start off

Apart from what has already been suggested, I would take a look at your casino introductions/articles. These are very generic and looks like you have grabbed them straight from the affiliates promotional material. For example your Ruby Fortune Caisno page here xxhttp://gamblemaster.co.uk/casino/rubycasino.htm.

If I Google the first line "The award-winning Ruby Fortune has proved a firm favorite amongst players since its arrival in May 2003." there is quite a few sites using the same article.

You need to look at writing your own or re writing the article in a different way. You have 77 pages indexed by Google but if half of those are similar to the Ruby Fortune one you will not get as much traffic as you like, because your competing with the same article as everyone else who has used the generic one.

Now with your headers <"meta tags"> It looks a touch like keyword stuffing and Google will not like this. You have

"Free Cash and Casino Bonuses - free guide to the best online gambling, casinos, poker rooms, bingo, fruit machines, pokies, scratch cards and a host of free games.

Then

The one stop shop for the best of online gambling and sign up bonuses. Check out our free directory of Casinos, Bingo, Slots, Poker & Scratch Cards. Browse through and select the best Sign up bonus deal for free cash and games today.

and then

free casino bonuses, no deposit bonus, sign up bonuses, pokies, free slots, slot machine bonuses, bingo, bingo bonuses, free fruit machines, free poker, free scratch cards, free online games

I would also look at removing those banners form the header and footer. This is a tough game and your not the first to want to throw it away ( I have though about it myself) but you will learn things everyday that makes the experience a worth while one in the end. I wish you luck mate.

Cheers
Matt

 

[Gamblemaster]

Thanks Matt for taking the time to look over the site - gonna take a good look at the SEO etc... Thanks Again

 

[Gamblemaster]

Thanks Buddy M - for taking the time to look at the site and your encouragement is much appreciated - Gamblemaster

 

[baldidiot]

I agree with the consensus so far - too many banners and the header is far too big, personally I'd ditch all the banners except maybe one or two very well placed highly relevant ones (there's a discussion about banner use on AGD, you might want to give it a read). I'm also not a fan of the animation in the header as I find it distracting, but that could just be me.

As for the content... so far as I can tell it's just reviews, right? You're not going to get traffic for 'online casino' so start going after the lower hanging fruit and do articles and guides for micro-niche topics. So things like: the best casinos for playing craps online, top 10 easiest bonuses, mobile bingo apps, best microgaming casinos etc...

Just start typing in topics into google and see what the auto suggest says - that'll should give you some ideas.

This will hopefully a) get you traffic relating to the term and b) distinguish your site from all the other aff sites that have the same info on them.

As a side note, targeted traffic (if it's the right kind of keyword) converts way better than generic traffic - visitors to a well thought out page from the right keywords can easily convert at over 10% (visitors to your site to RMP).

Couple of other things:

- I would suggest standardizing the casino icons you're using, currently they're all different sizes and it looks a bit odd (eg: here: Online Casino - Casino Directory - Free Cash and Casino Bonuses)

- Improve your bonus lists. Currently they say 'Jackpot City Casino - Click Here for More Info', wouldn't this be better 'Jackpot City Casino - Get £500 Free'

- Redirect your affiliate links so that the user is clicking on 'yoursite.com/go/thecasino' rather than 'somecasino.com?tracking=xxxxx&id=xxxxx&payload=xxxx'. Two reasons for this, one it looks better to the user and two it means that when you have to update your links you only have to change it in one place rather than editing every page on your site.

That's all from me for now - have at it!

 

[LandofOz]

It might also be a good idea to add a few USA friendly online casinos.

 

[baldidiot]

It might also be a good idea to add a few USA friendly online casinos.

As the site is a .co.uk I'm assuming it's targeted at the UK.

 

[Guard Dog]

Thanks Guard Dog - much appreciated - if you don't mind me asking. How long have you been going for and how much traffic do you generate now?

No problem I didn't have as great advice as the others have had, but I can sum it up well:

* Remove a few of the banners, but find out which ones/locations are converting first

* Write your own articles (this is huge, IMO). Think about when you go find an article and see the same thing on 10 pages... aren't you searching for that unique article that convinces you? I know I am

* UnStuff your meta tags

* Take your SEO to another level, hit the low-hanging fruit - not the major keywords the 'big guys' go after

* Might be worth taking a look at redirecting your affiliate links to make them 'prettier'. It is not a #1, #2, or #3 for me, but worthwhile in the end


I like your site a lot, BTW. I do like the header and don't even mind the banners at the top, although my eyes skip right by them. I would worry about 1 thing.. As you re-write the articles, users will come looking for those. When they get there, how will you sell to them? You mention that your top banners are clicked. That is great, but when people come to read your articles, those are going to be off the page. I think your other banner locations will become more valuable at that point. It is something to think about.

As far as me... I have been doing this since 2005, only. I would love to give you traffic numbers, but I am still fixing all of my websites after a central database hack. I have very little to no traffic since this happened But - I will get it back.

 

[KasinoKing]

I'm a pretty hopeless amateur webmaster myself, but as a player I have to agree with all the comments posted by the proper webmasters above.

The header is so big I can only see the first 2 lines of your intro text, which is pretty off-putting IMO.
Definitely ditch the banners above your logo - that's very tacky.
And the ones down the side don't look good either (too big for starters).
The logo itself is WAY too big - reduce it by 50% and you might be getting close to ideal.
The intro is too long and "wordy" - try to shorten it and try to use a series of small sentences, rather than big paragraphs.

As for WHO you are promoting - well I have to say this could be a MAJOR reason why you are not earning.
I would definitely ditch Affiliates United and BetFair (dodgy and rogue respectively).
WagerShare too are on the dodgy side - get out now if you don't have any/many players. (See threads in this forum!)

Playtech casinos (for me at least) convert by far the WORST of all platforms (especially for the UK) - so look at some others;
Get more GOOD QUALITY Microgaming casinos, and add some decent NetEnts.
A couple of RTGs and Rivals would give players wider choice too - DeckMedia are a superb operator and can offer both.

Use this forum!
At the bottom of the forum you will find lists of the best operators to work with (Certified Programs) - have a look at some of them and ditch those dodgy ones!

Good luck!
KK

 

[Viriatu]

Hey

I dont think this is a bad site, its a good starter site and a lot better than my first poker forum for sure, both domain and design are far superior.

What you dont have is a way to catch the less than 30 seconds visitor that is totally ad blind...

Content on the main page in the first aproah does not offer me a imediate call to action, lets not consider the banners on top and right because people simnply dont click ads or banners for the most part, wether it is because of firefox/noscript/adblock, or simply because they dont give a fuck about another 5 no deposit... they might also already have the casino for a long time, no depositors are always on the hunt and if you are not 1# for casino xpto no deposit some other webmaster gets the bulk of the new boys imo... so maybe a in text call to action would work with some other program you have with good conversion.

Then still regarding content ask yourself the player questions, and make proper intro pages about this to rank on goolge and the player can go to a particular page instead of your main page, i divide this pages in what i call, entry points and squeeze pages, one is a way to get some kind of traffic the later ones are the ones i want to convert the visitor into registry asap, you need to find what works for you and know your traffic.
Some good examples of this kind of keywords and titles are for example

How To Play Keyword
Where To Play Keyword
Best Place To Play Keyword
Winning At Keyword
Make Money Playing Keyword
Basics Of Keyword
Keyword Games Online
Play Real Money Keyword
Is Online Keyword A Scam?

After you have found this keywords that work for you you are still in the get go anyway, that is nothing if the article wont rank 1# or top 10 for you keyword... for this you need to keep your witts and cool, not freak out and work your ass off, make yourself a social media presence for your brand, you can get easy 200 visitors from your facebookpage or G+ page if you take the time and work to build your crowd.

Organic traffic is important of course but if you have a loyal base that signs and jumps at any new offer you post this is imo super, you can always get some feedback from players about a lot of details, and then use the details to make your reviews and articles and helps you decide what is worthy from the PLAYER point of view.

And if you keep doing things in this lines not overoptimizing your page for google but working your time in new ways to talk and help players you will get better results for sure.

Keep you dick up and they will come...

 

[LandofOz]

As the site is a .co.uk I'm assuming it's targeted at the UK.

True, but it doesn't hurt to have something for the odd U.S player who might visit the site.