Hello from Norway

[Engineer]

I have chosen not to use any (blinking) banners on my site. I usually find them a bit annoying. But I know that many (or maybe most?) casino affiliates are using these on their site. So my question. Banners or not?

When I surf, I often click text links, but I rarely click banners. I've never really liked banners that much, either.

I use text links (without banners) on most of my sites, but I do use gif banners on a few sites here and there, mostly for decoration.

 

[rainmaker]

Yeah me too. I usually only click on text links and seldom on banners. But I have noticed that so many affiliate programs are really "pushing" these blinking banners. I have no idea how many times I have told them that I do not need them. I find it a bit ironic because my thought is that text links will convert better. Whether this is the case or not I do not know yet since my site is brand new.

By the way. I am a fan of your site. I have it on my favorite list. I have referred to it quite many times when writing about big jackpots ;D (that paf jackpot is crazy high!)

 

[Engineer]

Hey, thanks; I'm glad you find it useful. ;D Yeah, that jackpot is insane at the moment -- what I would do with €8 million! :emoticon-0169-dance

 

[Rhondagrace]

Welcome to AGD rainmaker!

 

[Guard Dog]

Welcome to AGD

Also agree with Engineer about banners. I do place banners on occasion on my sites, but not excessively like some. Too much blinking causes: indecision, leaving a site, seizures...

Anyway, welcome!

 

[rainmaker]

Thank you Rhondagrace and Guard Dog!

Nice to meet you ;D

 

[slotsaff]

Welcome rainmaker - you post some great stuff over at CM!

I'm sure with your knowledge, hard work and pesistance, you will do very well

 

[rainmaker]

Thank you for your kind words slotsaff!

I have of course not many visitors yet and no Google traffic (except for a guy who had searched for some NetEnt images hehe!), but I am hoping that I over time will manage to at least get some traffic. I will just continue to add content and see how it goes ;D

 

[baldidiot]

I use banners sparingly - more as a source of relevant images than anything else. In case you're interested I'd say about 1 RMP comes through a banner for every 10 through text links. This number goes up if the banners are highly targeted to either the site or the user (ie: geotargetting).

Do you have any plans to do a niche norwegian site on a norwegian ccTLD? You'll probably find that you'll get traffic much faster and it will convert way better. My advice for anyone starting out is start with a smaller niche site before working up to a big one.

Also, I would consider using a CMS such as wordpress or joomla - you'll find it makes your life a whole lot easier in the long run.

 

[rainmaker]

baldidiot:

Yes, I have thought about doing a Norwegian .no site. This is something quite many have advised me to do as well since the Norwegian market is quite attractive.

I see you mentioned Wordpress and yeah...my thought is that my next site (most likely in Norwegian) will be a typical blog that probably will be a lot more Google friendly than my current site ;D

 

[baldidiot]

Good plan - you'll have a massive advantage in that market over non-norwegian affiliates. Just be sure to do plenty of localised keyword research first.

 

[rainmaker]

I wrote that I considered to register a .no domain, but I do actually think that the most popular Norwegian casino sites are .com sites. The thing is that those who want to register a .no domain in Norway can only do so through a company or organization to my knowledge. It is not like registering a .com site where basically anyone can buy a domain. I searched for "Norwegian casinos" (in Norwegian) and all I can see is .com and .net sites (with a Norwegian address of course).

I have been told by a couple of I-gaming people that there are surprisingly few (local) affiliates targeting the Norwegian market considering its potential. Need to look more into this later. For the moment I am busy playing with my first (google unfriendly) site ;D

 

[baldidiot]

Wish it was like that for .uk domains - would eliminate a lot of the competitions

You can always do it on a .com and set the target country to norway in google webmaster tools. If i were you I'd at the very least start a blog, even if you just write one post a week or something - in a years time you'll be glad you've got it!

From what I've seen scandinavian player values are significantly higher than the average for europe, and you're right - there doesn't seem to be a lot of competition. Probably because there aren't too many local affiliates and it's difficult for us to compete when we don't know the language. I would be jumping all over this market if I were you...

I have a question for you actually mate, one of my swedish friends says that (when he was in sweden) he would often search on google in english rather than swedish, particularly when the information he was after wasn't 'local' (eg: he would search in swedish for local bars, but in english for 'how to skin a cat' etc...). Is this common, or is he just weird?

 

[rainmaker]

Yes, your friend is really weird

I do exactly the same as your friend. My unqualified guess is that this is the typical way for Scandinavians to do a Google search. It is actually quite seldom I visit a .no site. Scandinavians in general have very good English skills, and English sites usually have much more (and better) information.

 

[baldidiot]

Thanks mate - good to have some confirmation.

I have a B&M casino review site and I was wondering if it would be weird to do the sections for scandinavia in english. Guess not - makes my life a lot easier!

 

[fastbonusru]

good luck mate)

 

[praveenben]

I hearty welcome here stian.

 

[LuckyX]

Welcome! I'm a fan of the casinomeister forum, so have seen your post, even if I'm not active.