Is it Trust or is it a Popularity contest? Affiliates vs Straight up

[casino employee]

I think what critics of advertising sites are trying to say is that the material found on many sites is "not useful" at best and in many cases even misleading.

For example, if I type "online casinos" into Google, among the first 5 results are I see is one site promoting casinos all belonging to the same brand group of casinos; the site title is "Webs Best Casinos...". Chances are that site is owned by the same people who managed the promoted casino on that site.

The initial content is packed with keywords and deliberate misspellings making it basically "not useful" to an average newbie: This site is built for the purpose of sharing information about Casinos. Either Land Based Casinos, or the Online Casinos. Online casinos gambling became very popular in the last few years as a medium for gambling on the internet. Players can place bets from their own home on every casino game they desire. Different online casinos have different games and their variations. Paying methods are used by depositing money into your account using a Credit Card. The casino players pay a cash advance in order to get virtual chips for playing onlne.

Another site in the top 5 results claims that it's "...a directory of certified online casinos". Many of the posters in this thread being employed in this industry can all appreciate the confusion raised by the phrase "certified online casinos" - what is that? Certified by who?

The online advertiser has a tough job balancing between apparent conflicts of interest: to make a living promoting sites, but to be honest in the presentation.

Above I raised certain objections to content tactics. To the advertisers' benefit, what needs to be made clear to web surfers is that affiliation programs don't come at their expense. The % commission paid to an affiliate is the same money a casino would have spent on print/TV advertising if such a thing was allowed. It's not, in most cases, and so that budget is spent paying a sort of "finders fee" (in laymans terms) to affiliates who send traffic to casino sites. There's nothing wrong in this and many industries, like the travel industry, do the same sort of thing.

[marinchen]

Great topic Bingo T/ Party T. It seems you've touched on something many have been wondering about. This topic has had a ranged from affiliates, to posters to forums. All and all said, it's really up to the user to understand the ins and outs of the online gambling community. Affiliates can just have their website just boasting of banners and promotions or to the friendly side of a forum where things can be discussed, questions asked, complaints heard and yes HONEST contests. In most cases, these aren't "stupid" little contests. They allow the player to be rewarded with a bit of something for supporting that casino.

There are many sites out there that are looking to make a quick buck and plenty of fly by night forums. The honest and good forums stick around and are active on a daily basis. It's hard to distinquish between a great forum and someone who is promoting just to make a quick buck. The sites that have the rogue casino's plastered all over their pages is a sure way to tell whether or not you want to sign up through them. Many websites out there have just been put together and left there. It's too bad there wasn't a way to take down sites that haven't been active in the past year.

Many webmasters spend hours upon hours updating their pages, presenting current and accurate information and general upkeep. If the average "Joe" realized how much time is put into some sites, you'd be quite surprised. Some webmasters spend up to 8 hours daily on their sites. Are you going to deny this hard working individual a bit of a commission? If earning something as an affiliate offends anyone, then it's your choice as to whether or not you sign up through their banner.

I thoroughly appreciate all the hard work and effort put into the great sites. It shows the care and concern for members and the general public. Whether or not you chose to join a forum and agree to the terms and conditions, that's your choice.

On the subject of forums, I feel I must defend some of the comments here.

Most friends rooms are set up with rules in place; ie....no affiliate links allowed, only post current contests etc. (why would a well run forum allow a user to use the forums space for their advertising venue?) rules are put in place for a reason.

Many contests are run for the benefit of the members. Do you realize alot of the cash that is giving away comes from the pocket of the site owner?

I appreciate all the hard work my mods and others out there put into their contest and site upkeep posts. And they ask for nothing in return.

The online gambling industry is a dog eat, dog world. We all need to stand together and promote what's honest out there. Thanks for letting me have my say.

[dominique]

Many webmasters spend hours upon hours updating their pages, presenting current and accurate information and general upkeep. If the average "Joe" realized how much time is put into some sites, you'd be quite surprised. Some webmasters spend up to 8 hours daily on their sites.

That's putting it mildly. I have spent some 12hrs a day 7 days a week on my site for 7 years. And I have over ten other people, some full time and some part time, working just to keep everything updated properly.

Things change all the time, new games come out constantly and need to be reviewed, casinos go rogue and have to be removed, new casinos appear, news happen daily on many gambling related subjects and on and on it goes.

Providing up to date info, complete info and making sure no rogues sneek in is never ending work. I am always short staffed. Clicks are what supports the staff and their families. Why give all that money to casinos for free by avoiding clicks and not supporting people who can collect unbiased information for you all in one spot?

Makes no sense. A whole lot of work goes into the gathering of info, I don't know how people can say that webmasters are lazy. We work harder than most people.

[Simmo!]

Oh my God! You mean, I have to update my sites too?

[bingolady]

A whole lot of work goes into the gathering of info, I don't know how people can say that webmasters are lazy.

I think this is the point where "rogue" affiliates come to the people's mind. Bannerfarms, spam emails to players and these kind of crap tools what can make ALL affiliates seem like shady persons in the player's mind. Unfortunately rogue affiliates exist as there are lots of rogue casinos. As Dom said in her earlier post, it is the player who can weed out these crap affiliate website by not clicking on the links on those pages.

I am a player and affiliate at the same time. As a player I expect help if I need from my affiliate. As an affiliate I feel the need to help whatever happens to my players. And since I'm an affiliate, I can see behind the curtains, and saw how those loads of honest affiliates can move as a mass and stop casinos make stupid things that can hurt players and affiliates.

As a single player I have no chance to change a casino's intention to introduce something bad. But as an affiliate in a strong and honest community I can protest against predatory rules, against rogue casinos, etc and believe me, it has the effect; casinos re-think their policy, they don't do the predatory changes they wanted. Just all these things happen in the background, so players are not really aware of them.

I value my visitors with handing them free, rich info for free, with help when they need it, or just with a chit-chat if they want to talk about anything.

I value honest affiliates by signing up through their website.

It is only up to us, players who we appreciate with our clicks