My first little project - Finally

lotusch

A little mix of Dutch and Irish
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Location
Dún Dealgan
Hey guys,

Finally I have started a little project for myself.
Have worked on it for a day or 2 now and it is by far not finished yet.
But I feel confident enough to share the website for now and see what you guys think so far.

I have chosen a simple design and not too big fonts as I don't want my website to be a yelling over the top website.

I have many more things to add but I have made a small start and I am quite happy with the result.

Waiting for a lot of affiliate programs to come back to me as my applications are under review.
Also I need to start writing proper casino reviews but that will take a few days I suppose.

Think the website works great on desktops, on my mobile it distorts some of the banners or makes them bigger than the actual size.

Any tips, feedback are more than welcome.

Remember these are my first ever steps in affiliating so I know I have a long way to go before I can optimise my little project. ;);)

A Youtube channel, Twitter and Facebook page have also been created but those are for later worries. Will not post any content until the website is finished.

One question,I have added a SSL cert to the website but I see it gives sometimes issues with certain banners, java based. They do not load.
Should I remove the SSL certificate for now as it is not really needed for an affi website I suppose?

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Cheers,

Lotusch.
 
Looks nice and professional, that's the first thing I noticed, from a non- affiliate/ industry, player- only point of view :thumbsup:

Seems you put a lot of effort into it :cool:

Only thing is how you used smaller font like on the 'Tips for new players'. I would just keep it the same size ;)
 
Hey cheers for the feedback .. :)
Yes I have not decided on the final font size yet ..
I tend to lean more towards the smaller size as it reads more pleasurable i.m.h.o.

Also I am far from a pro and every change takes me ages lol.
But I am happy with what I have so far. ^^ We will take it from here. :cool:
 
In my humble opinion as web manager for several years, I would strongly recommend to have that certificate on a page that somewhat governs deposits and withdrawals even though your current page does not withdraw and deposit.
But it links to these sites.
Most people does not know what SSL is, but if they read this: "your connection to this site is not secure, your personal information can be stolen....etc." they will flee before reading anything.

I think it is to much text to catch an immidiate interest. Teaser texts with drop down menu for each casino would be nice.

And also if you are not using it already, Google Webmaster tool is recommended to use at an early stage of creation of web pages.


Great work, need more of sites like these that is serious and to flush out the dirty casinos.


Good luck :)
 
Your issues with javascript banners not loading are likley because you are trying to load insecure web content over https, so you would need to make sure that the iframe link or images the banners are using are using https. Your affiliate portals should have downloads to both types of content I would suspect.
 
ok, firstly, its fast loading, well presented, clear, concise and easy to read.

However (sorry)

casinos doesn't have an apostrophe (sorry my pet hate lol)

All the banners bar the BGO/Powerspins are blocked by adblock. You need to do a work round for that (locally host them for example).

You have the casino names in the same colour as links, so its confusing when they don't click, BUT you should make them all links. If you can't see the banner, and there are no links, then people can't click through to the casino. You also want to do a redirect rather than link direct, to beat ad blockers (same on the banners). Also, consider using goo.gl or bit.ly (or code your own tracking) in conjunction with that so you can track your clicks and check it against the affiliate backend. If you need a small php script to do it I'll post it below, simple but does the trick.

Don't use javascript banners, they are shit, use HML5 ones.

Use SSL, you will not get in the top 100 pages of results if the page isn't secure.

Links should ALWAYS open in a new window. Keeps your site open so when they close the casino they might try another.

Be careful you don't get classed as a banner farm by google (which you don't want), especially if you put more on the page, consider splitting the casinos into different types, or by location or something. If you have a page with 100 banners on, especially if they aren't locally hosted, you will get penalised. even something like list them 1-10, then have a next page for 11-20 etc.

Once your site has been indexed by google, ensure you keep an eye on backlinks and disavow any dodgy ones.

You are placing cookies on users machines, you need to be compliant with the GDPR, there is no pop up to accept them

Look for a new host, 1&1 are terrible.

I know, its a lot, its negative, but they are thinks you will wish you did from the start, rather than in 6-12 months time having to change it ll once you realise the reasons behind them.

I would link the social media channels with it sooner than later, just to help with SEO

Wishing you all the best with it and hope it works out for you,

Avoid any affiliate programes with any form of quotas or fuck you clauses.
 
Site looks nice.

From a compliance point of view you may wish to research:

- I can't see any direct links to the Casino T's and C's at all (it is my understanding they have to be one click away)
- Some banners use the term "free spins" - Ikibu as an example. Not allowed in the UK so if your traffic is directed towards UK customers worth looking into
- As Colin said above, when using an ad blocker the majority of the banners are blocked

I am by no means an expert, so may well be talking out of my arse!
 
Also, consider using goo.gl or bit.ly (or code your own tracking) in conjunction with that so you can track your clicks and check it against the affiliate backend.

Goo.gle is being discontinued shortly I believe so I wouldn't suggest using it.

That reminds me to change my Goo.gle links to an alternative.
 
Thanks for all the feedback so far guys.

I have changed all the words with an apostrophe. :) casinos, videos etc etc. A small change but I was pointed to that already yesterday.
Some affiliate programs only give me these Java banners option, So I am not sure where to get a html5 banner from those.
Might be worth e-mailing the affiliate manager I suppose.

Furthermore I will look into above feedback and see what I can do with it. :)

Like I said I am no expert by all means and this is my first project so still a lot to learn. :rolleyes:
 
" I can't see any direct links to the Casino T's and C's at all (it is my understanding they have to be one click away)"

I know but I wasn't sure how to make a t&c's link that would also have my affiliate ID in it, I mean if they click the t&c's link instead of my banner it would be a waste then?

"All the banners bar the BGO/Powerspins are blocked by adblock. You need to do a work round for that (locally host them for example)."

And here comes my inexperienced me, I would need some tips in how to do that. :)

Will google search for it too. :oops:
 
IIRC, you need to have a live link to Gambleaware.org or similar.

The site is simple, as you said it and that is rather a good thing. However, the color palette should help the reader to easily classify the information. A slight background grey-shading of the website tabs on top plus every other casino listed would make it easier to read.

As for the T&C's link, you can ask your aff manager to provide a link that includes your aff ID.

Use WordPress to hide your aff ID so the player only sees something like: www DOT safetoplaycasinos.com/go/energy

If you need any help with content writing, let me know. I've written tons of it - games, casinos, reviews, promo articles etc. Approaching some 3Mio words now.

Didn't see more at first glance. Good luck!
 
"Links should ALWAYS open in a new window. Keeps your site open so when they close the casino they might try another."
Changed that

"Look for a new host, 1&1 are terrible."
So far they have been very helpful, maybe I was lucky but yeah if it is not what I am looking for I can always change. :)

"I can't see any direct links to the Casino T's and C's at all (it is my understanding they have to be one click away"
Working on that today,already added the one for Energy Casino on Homepage and Casino of the Month Page. :)

"IIRC, you need to have a live link to Gambleaware.org or similar."
Will add one today in the when the fun stops tab.

"You have the casino names in the same colour as links, so its confusing when they don't click, BUT you should make them all links"
Good and valid point, I will make all casino names clickable too and change non clickable items to a different colour.

Thanks for all the feedback so far guys, really appreciate it.

Mark.
 
Just so you know, my experience is the UK market so anything I say should be only used for that. The rules are similar for other EU countries, but not always exactly the same. However, unless you geoblock the UK you should use UK rules as they are stricter than anywhere else.

As you aren't promoting bonuses, you don't actually need to list significant T&C's, nor link to them, but obviously doesn't hurt to have them if you want. It is also an idea to ask your affiliate manager to check it just to be doubly sure.

You need the begambleaware link on any page you are promoting any casino, just stick it in a site wide footer, along with the 18+ logo and T&C's apply.

As Harry said 'Use WordPress to hide your aff ID so the player only sees something like: www DOT safetoplaycasinos.com/go/energy' that was what I was meaning by a redirection, if wordpress has a plugin or something to do it then just use that, otherwise a simple php script like this will do the trick

<?php
header( 'Location: PASTEAFFILIATELINKHERE' ) ;
?>

just save it as a php file using notepad or similar, if it was for say casumo, save it as casumo.php
create a new directory on your server called go or links or something and pop the file in there
Instead of using the affiliate link you would have all your links go to yourdomain . com / go /casumo.php
which will redirect visitors to casumo using your affiliate tags.
It also has the added advantage that if the link changes, you just edit the php file, rather than have to go through the site and change every one you have on there.

For the actual banners, save the image, upload to your server and pull the image from there, that combined with the redirection above will beat a lot of ad blocking.

One other thing, you have a mix of EURO and GBP banners on there. I would either do them all the same or have one page for EU and another for UK. You can have the same casino twice, but makes it much easier if people don't have to click 10 links before they find one that accepts UK customers, or at least specify which countries they accept in the description :)

Hope that helps, other people probably have other ways of doing things, but that works for me. Only downside to locally hosting banners is they won't auto update so you need to keep a closer eye on any changes.

Sorry, being the grammar police here a bit

'Energy Casino is around for a long time '
Energy Casino has been around for a long time

'Cashmio
– Their deposit options are quite limited it this time but that might be improved over time.

'CashmioTheir deposit options are quite limited at this time but that might be improved over time.

I actually wouldn't put the bit in the italics in, don't create negativity before a player clicks a link.
 
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Hi Colin, many thank for your feedback. My heart sinks in my shoes now lol.
I have made all casino names clickable and changed the color of non clickable text lines.
Also started with t&c links but got stuck quickly as not all affiliate programs have them ready made it seems. So I stopped with that for now, will look at that later again.
I tried to create redirects to the t&c pages but it would still revert to the casinos homepage. Probably me doing something wrong.

I will have a closer look to your comments tomorrow.

Like I said, it is a project that is not finished yet and I defo will not be able to compete with any professional websites. That is not my intention either.
 
What I did with my site, is put the link to the T's and C's at the footer of each page (mind you, I only promote a very limited number of them so it is quite manageable). This satisfies that a one click link to the T's and C's is on the page for the reader. They most probably won't click on it as we all know we are lazy reading T's and C's :p

As Colin suggested, the footer of the page is a very good tool to display compulsory information. such as the 18+ sign and a link to Gambleaware.
 
Great site name (and address) and the layout is clear and easy to navigate. As others have pointed out, it's important to add links to T&C otherwise you may be fined or have affiliate payments withheld as it doesn't meet current ASA guidelines :)

From a SEO point of view (important if you want traffic these days)

- SSL vital for Google rankings and brower compatibility - some browsers will block site visitors now if they are not secure
- Missing meta description tags - will limit search rankings
- You have no XML Sitemap - this is something search engines use to index pages and discover pages
- Add a blog - even if you only update it once a week (or month) it helps keep your site being indexed and fresh

If not, sign up to Google Webmaster Tools, which includes free site analytics and sitemap submissions

From an affiliate point of view...

Listing VideoSlots and LeoVegas top will limit sign-ups, as 90% of visitors will have already joined those - or indeed any well known brands. Listing new brands top will see a higher increase in clickthroughs / sign-ups

It takes anywhere from 6-12 months to see search engine traffic for new sites. A very competitve market so don't be disappointed if traffic levels are low to start with. It took us from February 2017 to August 2017 before traffic picked up from Google.

Best of luck with the site :)
 
I would nearly say,who offers me their time whilst I come over and I can have a crash course on a few things in regards to creating a decent website..Of course time and stay paid..Really want this to w:Dork but I might need some guidance..Watching Youtube videos on how to do certain things only seem to confuse me even more..:oops:

Need to have a clear understanding about difference in UKGC regulations and other European countries.
Want to make sure all my banners are visible on SSL site (host banners localy)
How to create custom links in certain affi panels
What commission structure I should choose.

I feel like a noob.. :eek2::D
 
The biggest issue for sure will be UKGC compliance, if you decide to promote to this market. Round 1 of regulations is over (and still many affiliates have ignored the changes) but the next later this year will be tougher for affiliates to cope with. What the ASA want is for affiliate sites to seperate UK and 'other' traffic so essentially visitors to your site from the UK only see promotions in local currency and offers that are relevant to them. For example, if you promoted a casino which doesn't accept UK players, then you would be in breach.

The casinos themselves have now seperated traffic by directing UK visitors to casinoname.com/uk/ instead of the generic promotions showing 100% Match Bonus up to £/€/$100 on the front pages.

Thinking ahead, I have used webmaster tools to block any of our sites and/or pages from appearing in Google's global search index only the local UK results.

Hosting banners - hmmm. That's a tricky one. As offers change so frequently and with compliance being so tough now, the majority of affiliate managers insist you link through the system instead of hosting them yourself. I've never been a fan of banners and never used them on any of the sites I manage. As long as you make good use of CTA on the front page and heavy traffic pages, it works just as well.

IMO RevShare is the best for commission structure as once you have sign-ups, it's revenue for life. Even 40-60 players can net you £1000 a month per casino.
 
Hosting banners - hmmm. That's a tricky one. As offers change so frequently and with compliance being so tough now, the majority of affiliate managers insist you link through the system instead of hosting them yourself. I've never been a fan of banners and never used them on any of the sites I manage. As long as you make good use of CTA on the front page and heavy traffic pages, it works just as well.

IMO RevShare is the best for commission structure as once you have sign-ups, it's revenue for life. Even 40-60 players can net you £1000 a month per casino.

Must say, I haven't had a single affiliate manager tell me I can't localhost banners, and anyone who does will just be removed from the site. If players can't see them because of ad blocking, then no point having them on there. I don't use many banners but do have some on the entry point to the site, I'm just careful who I put on there and ensure its ones that keep me up to date by email, Coral for example, get emails from them pretty much daily with offers, whenever anything changes, they give at least a few days notice. Certain casinos I haven't had a single affiliate email from since joining, some of them for around 10 years, they don't go on there!

I used to think Revshare too, but if you can get a decent CPA deal they can pay better, especially if you aren't sure the casino won't screw you at some point like 32Red are at the moment. Sky I was always on rev share, getting usually around £750-1000 or so a month, when they announced they were ending, for the last months swapped my links to a third party offering £100 CPA, done over £2k, in hindsight the CPA deal would have been better but was staying with rev share thinking about the future. What a mistake that was :(
 
I think I might just wait with UK for now and start focussing on the EU market like Ireland, Netherlands,Germany etc etc.
It is quite confusing with all these separate rules for UK players.
Once I have the non UK facing casino's in order I can always make a special page for UK players with relevant offers.
 
I've got uBlock and Ghostery installed and didn't see any banners, once I disabled them your site just looked like a typical banner farm site. And as many people have said, you need to host them locally!

In regards to the hosting comment from Colin, out of Godaddy, Krystal, 1and1, Host Gator and Host Winds (Have/had accounts with all) 1and1 have been the most reliable for me.

Also, if you don't have an SSL certificate I personally believe it doesn't really matter. I have sites with and without them. One of the sites without currently sits #1 on Google for 36 keywords. I'm sure they will play a bigger factor in the future, but for now...
 
"once I disabled them your site just looked like a typical banner farm site"

Okay that is what I do not want but thanks for your honest opinion.
If I compare my site with others I have only few banners up so I thought it was not that bad.
Also I want to focus on a small group of casinos as I do not want to just affiliate for any casino on the www.
Once I have solid traffic I can always see how and where I can expand.

As said, it is my first project and it will probably take me ages to get the site completed the way I want it.
I have it all in my head but my know how is just limited so to say.

But thanks for your feedback!
 

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