Affiliate marketing is an instrument to help casino operators or any other company get new customers. One of the features of affiliate marketing is the potential to become a valuable financial resource for affiliates who know how to get people’s attention and interest. But how does affiliate marketing work? Let’s find out.
Affiliate Niches: Which One is For You?
First, define the kind of product you’d like to advertise. Every product belongs to a certain field. It can be betting and gambling, finance, IT, healthcare, TV and entertainment, and so on.
Whatever area you pick, you are going to encounter it all the time. It can be daunting at times, so you better be enthusiastic about your sphere. You can be a lot more effective if you care. Having any extra knowledge about it won’t hurt either. However, it is completely possible to master the essentials of the field from the ground up.
Don’t immediately throw out the idea of picking a smaller niche. It may have a narrower audience, but you will have a better chance of ranking higher. And if you’ve chosen a widely known field, try to set yourself apart from your competitors, find something fresh and different about that field. And the traffic will show.
How Does Affiliate Marketing Work?
To get a handle on how affiliate marketing works, we need to determine the core participants. Let’s see who they are and how they are interconnected.
- Operator
In the iGaming industry, a casino operator or a bookmaker acts as a vendor. The operator intends to attract new players to their website, so a strategy is required. The operator creates an affiliate program and finds partners (affiliates) who are interested in advertising the iGaming project. To track the performance statistics of all the partners, the operators rely on casino affiliate software.
- Affiliate
It can be anyone who promotes a vendor’s product for a commission. The affiliates persuade the viewers to take some pre-arranged action, like registration on a casino platform or making a deposit.
- Customer
The ultimate link in the chain. The potential customers see the ad provided by the affiliate, they become interested in what it advertises, click on the link and end up on the provider’s website. That pretty much sums up what affiliate marketing is and how it works.
How Do Affiliate Marketers Get Paid?
In terms of payments, everything is relatively simple. For every referred player affiliates get a remuneration. The reward depends on the affiliate program. The referred customers are tracked by the customised links and referral codes.
The exact action to be completed by the player is dictated by the commission type of the operator’s affiliate program. Below are three of the most widespread commission types in iGaming:
- CPA
Also called ‘Cost per Acquisition’ and ‘Cost per Action’. The title implies that the promoter gets the commission after the referred visitor takes some action. The specific action to be taken is agreed in advance.
- Revenue Share
Another commission type, usually referred to as RevShare. What is interesting about it, is that the affiliate is going to get the revenue percentage as long as the referred player brings revenue to the operator.
- Hybrid
Something in between the first two types. First, the affiliate is rewarded for referring the player and then constantly gets paid if that player keeps generating revenue.
Affiliate Marketing Mistakes and Strategies to Avoid
Before you start learning from your own mistakes, it is worth learning from the mistakes of others. Not all marketing strategies are equally effective.
If you want to drive quality traffic that brings revenue, consider the following don’ts:
- Don’t create low-quality content. Today you cannot solely rely on keywords to make your articles (ads) shine. The content has to be relevant, quality, and readable.
- Don’t rely on direct sales. Building relationships and trust first proved to be much more effective.
- Don’t advertise substandard brands and products. At this point, your reputation is at stake.
- Don’t exaggerate the brand’s benefits. It sure is nice for any affiliate to receive big commissions, there is always a line you shouldn’t cross. Especially if it’s at least unethical and at most illegal.
Be honest, value your reputation, and build trusted relationships.
Common Types of Affiliate Marketing Channels
You can let the audience know about your product by using different channels. Some affiliates may prioritise one marketing channel over another. Let’s see how affiliate marketing works via the following channels:
- Blogs
For any blogger, who wishes to gain profits from their project, affiliate marketing is a classic choice to turn to. Most blogs focus on specific topics, therefore bloggers advertise products connected to their sphere to grab the audience’s attention.
- Media websites
The large portals that specialise in iGaming regularly generate high traffic. They can promote your product by using ads. Even if the website is not directly connected to your field, it still can be a good opportunity for exposure.
- Microsites
These can be separate websites or sub-domains of your main site. It focuses on something specific, like an event, new casino section, special promotion, could be anything. There is nothing superfluous on these websites, so they successfully appeal to a specific audience and bring them to your platform.
- Influencers
Influencers of any industry have massive followings on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, TikTok, etc. Usually, brands pay influencers to promote their products via referral links. It can be a simple link, a discount coupon with a unique code, or even a tag on an Instagram post.
- Email lists
Although in today’s world email is not at its peak popularity-wise, it is still largely used all the time, to say the least. Affiliates gather an email database of their audience, for example, by offering newsletters. Later they send out promotional emails and include referral links to your product.
FAQs About Affiliate Marketing
Is affiliate marketing legal?
Absolutely. As long as it is revealed to the viewers that the affiliate is rewarded for endorsing the product.
What are the best affiliate marketing brands?
It is all relative. The best advice would be to go for the balance between what is trending and who you trust as a vendor.
How much money can I make as an affiliate?
It all comes down to the sphere, the product, your influence, and how much you contribute to the vendor’s goals. Sometimes it’s hundreds of dollars, sometimes it’s thousands.
What is the difference between referral and affiliate marketing?
With affiliate marketing, you get a third party to endorse your brands. With referral one, you stimulate your existing customers to invite new ones.
