Gaambol - my poker social network - feedback welcome

[gaambol]

I'm a new member to this network of forums and have recently launched a poker social network at gaambol.com and was told this is a great place to get feedback on my site, its design and whether it has legs are not. I hope I'm not spamming... but would really appreciate feedback as I've been up for a month now and completely underestimated just how tough it is to generate traffic.

Is there a view on which newtworks to advertise? I used Adbrite but the performance is not great at all!

Also, would the network benefit from some AJAX poker tables?

My press release is below:

Gaambol.com Launches Social Networking Website to Connect the Online Poker Community.

DUBLIN, IRELAND (xxxxx NEWSWIRE) - Gaambol.com is the first European social networking service devoted to online Poker. Gaambol offers a great range of poker analysis, blogging and networking tools, along with a comprehensive gambling directory.

Developed by a small group of Irish gambling enthusiasts, their mission is to create an online social-networking community designed for online poker players. Gaambol.com offers poker players of all levels the opportunity to have fun, analyze, blog, interact, and socialize with their poker buddies. Members can create detailed profiles with their username, country of residence, photo, and their favorite game.

At the core of the Gaambol network is their free poker analysis & networking tool called the Gaambol Tracker. It allows users to easily upload their hand history game log files. The Gaambol Tracker then presents several key statistics about their play and illustrates their hands in an easily digestible format that enables the user to review and analyze their play with the Gaambol community in more depth.

“The Gaambol Tracker is our unique poker analysis & networking tool, that allows our users to analayse and improve their play… and with one simple click they can post their game to their blog and have fun analyzing their performance with the wider Gaambol network”.

In conjunction with the powerful poker tool and blogging suite, Gaambol offers a comprehensive online gambling directory, where the community can both submit and rate sites. Gaambol also streams the latest poker news from around the web with an easy-to-use Blog It tool so you can easily debate the latest gambling news with their Gaambol buddies.

Aidan Finn, founder said “This niche social network is for the keen online poker player who can enjoy the community in the knowledge that the content is powered by its members with a common passion”.

Gaambol.com is a privately held business, based in Dublin, Ireland. Privacy guidelines are adhered to on the website.

Go on! Show your hand? Find out at http://www.Gaambol.com

[gaambol]

I should have said, in return for feedback I'll happily share my experience in site design, ad network performance and deep knowledge of the social networking space...

[haynesey]

love the idea and the design! Just out of curiousity how will this make you money? I cant seem to find any affiliate links etc.

[gaambol]

To be honest we built every element (all fresh code) of the site ourselves and wanted to get the concept right first. We could add affiliate links to the directory later. Right now I want to develop a network where people have free access to great poker software that we develop based on what the community wants. Then when we generate enough page views we serve sponsored links. Right now its costing our time and some server costs.

Do you think if we added some poker tables it would make the concept much better?

[haynesey]

personally i think any addition is a bonus! If you find there isnt a large enough "want" for it you can always delete it!

[Graham]

Site looks really good. I like the nice clean look a lot. Good luck with it! I submitted my link to your directory.

[gaambol]

What ad networks do you guys use to drive traffic to your sites?

[SunPoker.com]

Nice site, like anything else though, you will need to advertise it heavily. I have seen other social networking sites dedicated to poker. This is one of the better ones I have seen.

Mark

[gaambol]

What ad networks do you recommend? Tried Adbrite and textlinks.com - with some success. Any recommendations

Also - to get more bnter going would you recommend forums and or groups? Or is the blog and comment structure fine for now?

[Graham]

I personally have never used an ad network, so I really am not sure. I generate all my traffic through a variety of different methods. Blog and content are probably two of the best ways to do it.