Promoting Smaller Poker Sites

Jeremy Enke from Poker Affiliate Listings posted a great blog the other day about promoting smaller poker sites that made me want to cry with joy. Not from Jeremy’s heartbreakingly candid prose (which, I admit, IS touching), but more because it is so refreshing to hear an outspoken poker affiliate express this point of view, which affiliate managers and operators of medium and small poker rooms are always trying to emphasize, often it seems to no avail. The fact is, the affiliate industry is OVERLY FOCUSED ON BIG BRANDS, which causes a ton of problems.

Just a few of the problems resulting from everyone focusing on the top brands:
*Less choice for the consumer
*More chance that the visitors coming to your site will already have an account with the 5 big rooms you promote
*Everyone is competing to promote the same offers and thus cannibalizing and fighting eachother
*Big brands become overly confident and refuse to offer the kind of customization that helps affiliates to differentiate themselves and add real value, plus they do the kind of things that get people screaming (and rightfully so) on Affiliate Guard Dog.
*Little poker rooms wind up having to break the bank to get affiliate exposure, which means they lose money (good for the affiliate in the short term but bad in the long term because they may shut down their affiliate program, resulting in the loss of commissions).

On the other hand, if affiliates promote smaller, lesser known (but good quality) poker rooms, affiliates benefit from:
*Flexibility (custom campaigns)
*Conversions (less customers have an account already established)
*Better service from your AM
***A NICHE*** (this last one can not be over rated — the number one rule of marketing is find your niche, don’t just promote a mass consumer product. Even Coke learned not to go after Pepsi drinkers).

On that note, I highly recommend affiliates to give Devilfish Poker a try. Not just because I’m the affiliate manager. But because I KNOW that we give affiliates what really matters — Customization, service, and most of all, a quality partner you can count on. Plus, we don’t skimp on affiliate and player promotions — Just check our monthly newsletters on the A4U forum. Plus, this week we’re giving affiliates two extra good reasons to partner with us:

1) 1000 Euro Industry Free Roll – Anyone can play, and you can promote it to your players with a Devilfish affiliate link.

2) 50% Commissions until 2010 for all affiliates that sign up in November.

If you’re interested in either, or if you’re smart, both, feel free to give us a buzz at affiliates [at] devilfishpartners [dot] com.

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