Is It Really Worth It .

BonusDepot · #1 03-29-2007, 02:17 AM

I was wondering is it really worth promoting the Older Big poker sites . Such as Full Tilt , Poker Stars , Absolute, poker.com and a few others . I know alot of people have these sites downloaded already and they were probably there first choice when they started to play online . So would it really be worth it to promote these sites . The reason I ask this cause , it doesn't seem that there will be a new poker boom soon with a bunch of new players that are new to online poker .This I can say with all the Laws and deposit methods coming up that are hurting the industry. I think it's just going to be the same old crowd that knows how to deposit and are hip to online poker . So Why promote sites that they have already , promote a newer trusted site . Maybe an American Friendly new site , that has a great deposit bonus .

I haven't promoted many older big sites in awile so I don't know what the stat's are .

NewPokerGirl · #2 03-29-2007, 02:37 AM

Im no expert but the big ones have the best conversion rates. If you were a 21yo guy from chicago and you wanted to try online poker, you most likely wouldnt know anything about online poker including the new laws. Even if you were a veteran poker player, most people play at the first site they find for quite a while because they dont want to keep giving their personal info up. I think promoting the big sites are a must.

losercore · #3 03-29-2007, 07:28 AM

Here's the thing. There are new kids turning 18 everyday just waiting to play some online poker. There are people for the first time getting a credit card or bank account just waiting to play. This goes back to the Budwieser theory of marketing.

All these people have been waiting to play or are ready to play. Where do they go with the 1000's of sites out there? Well it's like the Budwieser theory. They have with no doubt seen FTP, Party poker and Stars ads on TV, in magazines by word of mouth and that's where they are going. just like a first time purchaser of a beer a t a bar is lickley to get a Budwieser because he knows about it, see's the ads, and of course Budwiesr neain sign are right there to tell him they have it and from seeing it his whole life and does not know what the 100 beers they have are. These new guys are going to Full tilt and Stars without doubt. First they do a search and find a poker affiliate site then they read about Stars and say oh yea that's where Chris Moneymaker plays. oh i get a $100 for using this link? Cool. Viola! you got $75 buck in your pocket unless of couse you pulled your head out and got a better Stars CPA.

That's why you still see Bud ads every single day all day long at every event, in every magazine, bar. TV show and more. Branding is the key to this. They are marketing experts at their best.

freydaddy · #4 03-29-2007, 11:24 AM

Theres a new poker player born every minute, so i would say its worth it to promote all the popular rooms

SunPoker.com · #5 03-29-2007, 12:16 PM

I would say a nice mix of established brands and some other poker rooms would be your best choice. There are plenty of fish in the sea for both huge brands and mid-sized rooms.

Mark

Jeremy · #6 03-29-2007, 03:22 PM

Yes I remember even before all the UIGEA stuff when people were saying the market is saturated. This is far from true. Also thinking globally you have to remember that just cause a room is big in the U.S. doesn't mean it has any market share in other countries.

A great example is Boss Media. Many U.S. players hated the software when they took U.S. players. Yet in the Scandinavian countries they loved it for some reason.

This is why it is good to have a mix of sites in your promotions. Same reason the porn industry has hundreds of different fetish sites........did I really just say that

. But seriously what attract one person to a certain card room may not be attractive to the next person.

kaus · #7 03-29-2007, 03:53 PM

I felt the same way as you BonusDepot. I thought the big rooms had been done. Seriously do you know anyone who plays poker that has not heard of pokerstars or fulltilt? During my many frustrations Ellen had gave me some advice, which was aim for the new players, the ones who are just starting out with online poker. Not everyone has downloaded these rooms (although it seems like they have), there are still plenty of new players out there.

On a side note. My personal feelings on the smaller rooms is that they don't convert all that great, especially rooms who no one has ever heard of. They usually still have many bugs in the system and not only that would you go to a poker room that only has 200 people on and you have to wait 20 min to play a SnG? Not likely. The low traffic rooms I prefer to promote are the ones that have fantastic overlays, this is about the only thing that a low traffic room really has to offer me as a player.

casinocitymatt · #8 03-29-2007, 04:58 PM

The bigger name Poker Rooms still do very well for us on Casino City. The ones not accepting US players did drop in conversions but the ones still accepting US players are converting well. Since we work mostly on CPA, every new player is very important because we are not collecting rev share off of existing players.

This being said, since our rankings are unbiased and taken from out side resources, the bigger names usually rank pretty and and in turn convert well. I would say Bodog has done the best so far for us since the act in September. Even with Casino City moving to more of an international market, we still plan on promoting the bigger names (plus the medium and small ones as well).

PokerProp · #9 03-29-2007, 05:55 PM

Bodog has done the best for me as well. More so on the sports and casino side. I think most of our players come in from poker and then go on Tilt in the Casino or Sportsbook. This is a site i am very glad I am not on CPA - the player values have been higher for me then at any other site and retention is amazing.

PPP · #10 03-29-2007, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaus

Seriously do you know anyone who plays poker that has not heard of pokerstars or fulltilt?

The big rooms sign up more players each month. Before the UIGEA, Party's public numbers showed it was signing up more players than any other site.

So, the big rooms are where the players go, and if you are in it for the long run you will promote them.

The real queation an affiliate should ask is what sort of players do they get. An affiliate catering to novices should likely focus on the big rooms. An affiliate with a forum that requires a player to have played online for a year before they can join the forum likely should focus on smaller or more obscure rooms.

In other words, refering first time players is not at all like refering players who have been playing online since 1998.

If you had a gun to your head though and had to choose, it would be the big rooms, no question. They sign up more new players. They have brand value to make a newbie more comfortable. Etc. But of course you don't have a gun to your head. Having big rooms and some upstarts is not a bad philosophy.