Question What is an affiliate? What does it mean?

[RikkiGT-R]

I see this word mentioned all the time around this forum, but I don't understand it at all. What exactly is an affiliate, and what does it/he/she/they do?

 

[dionysus]

this was pretty much addressed a couple days ago, to save everyone rewriting it you can find it here:

https://www.casinomeister.com/forums/threads/just-wondering-about-affiliates.55114/

 

[RikkiGT-R]

Ah.. should've searched. My apologies

EDIT: I still don't understand what it means

 

[dionysus]

lmao
you have a forum, you promote sites, you get people to play at them, the casino gives you a kick back

 

[RikkiGT-R]

And now I understand. Thank you

 

[dionysus]

Obviously, some do more, some less
ie CM acts as a true affiliate, a go between, between casinos and players
some just banner farm links hoping for residuals

 

[incrediblestuff]

Obviously, some do more, some less
ie CM acts as a true affiliate, a go between, between casinos and players
some just banner farm links hoping for residuals

I disagree, CM is not much of an affiliate at all, it's primarily an informational place, where players, affiliates, and casino-reps meet, under the guidance of Bryan, Max, Simmo, Webzcas and Vortran. It's more like a reversed affiliate idea, casinos actually want to be on here since the time CM was started, it has risen on top, as online gaming authority (more or less) and maintained as such.
It is now a plus for a casino to be accredited here.

Of course the casinos that are represented here pay something in some form or another, but a pure affiliate site is something else entirely.

I recently developed one myself, still on it and a long way to go, but i agree there are a lot of banner farms out there, the likes of which have always irked me, and then some where you can actually find some decent info, or participate in "out of the ordinary" promos, there's just a handful of people that have their own code of honor and with integrity i.m.o, that's the only reason i even started.
If there was too much competition with high quality, and a decent approach, it would be pretty futile.

I don't think its a task for affiliates to "go between players and casinos" but rather to only promote the best casinos out there.
The best thing would be that all casinos online, and all affiliates would follow the same proper guidelines, then CM would be redundant,
(no offense Bryan) or just a place to have fun, no longer the need for policing and mediating between disgruntled parties.

Anyway, i am drifting off, but you get the point, we are a long way from a perfect gambling environment, things recently shown by all the software "issues", help file mysteries and amount of slow pay complaints, just here, in the forum.
And Were lucky to have CM, saying he is just a good affiliate is a bit wrong, both to Bryan and to all real affiliates out there.
It's a different concept, job description and philosophy, although if all things are right, they do crossover at certain points.
No offense of course

 

[dionysus]

well, it may be MANY things, but to the OP as what an affiliate is, CM i still an affiliate; they just happen to offer and do more than most

 

[Simmo!]

Of course the casinos that are represented here pay something in some form or another, but a pure affiliate site is something else entirely.

A good post Incredible but just want to clarify one thing. And I'm sure CM won't mind me saying this but he, me and many other affiliates get paid on referrals. A casino can't pay to be on the CM site, nor can they buy banners or media placements. It's a crucial part of the CM model because it guarantees money can't affect impartiality.

I say this because every now and again you see a jibe along the lines of "he'll never take them off the site because they pay him to be there". That conveniently overlooks the fact that it makes no financial difference what-so-ever to CM (or any site that works on referrals) if a casino is or isn't on the site, because players looking at the Link Outdated / Removed are blissfully unaware and just visit some other casino anyway! And what's more, removing a casino doesn't stop the revenue because the players to that point have already been referred. Even if CM rogues a casino, the previous players were sent under contract.

An affiliate site that works on media buys, placements or up-front placements doesn't have that flexibility.

 

[incrediblestuff]

A good post Incredible but just want to clarify one thing. And I'm sure CM won't mind me saying this but he, me and many other affiliates get paid on referrals. A casino can't pay to be on the CM site, nor can they buy banners or media placements. It's a crucial part of the CM model because it guarantees money can't affect impartiality.

I say this because every now and again you see a jibe along the lines of "he'll never take them off the site because they pay him to be there". That conveniently overlooks the fact that it makes no financial difference what-so-ever to CM (or any site that works on referrals) if a casino is or isn't on the site, because players looking at the Link Outdated / Removed are blissfully unaware and just visit some other casino anyway! And what's more, removing a casino doesn't stop the revenue because the players to that point have already been referred. Even if CM rogues a casino, the previous players were sent under contract.

An affiliate site that works on media buys, placements or up-front placements doesn't have that flexibility.

I said "one form or another" as in, the Casinomeister affiliate links, the free beer @ Waxy 'o Connors, the free food and drinks on certain other occasions and sometimes even the attendance fees, and/or flights to conventions all around the globe

I actually posted the whole thing because i also see the part i bolded in the quote as a problem, and that is why i felt the need to say that: i should have added a more thorough explaining of one way or another, in the first place

 

[Simmo!]

Sorry, I didn't mean it to come across as a criticism of your post, just a clarification of how CM works that's all

 

[Mousey]

I'm just a player, so pardon me if I stick my foot in it, but I've got a bit of a burr under my saddle about this so... I'm going to make myself a nuisance anyway and get it off my chest (or out from under my saddle )

Why do casinos have affiliates at all? Most are totally useless (present CM company excepted) to the player, totally unexperienced from both the player and business (affiliate) end, and have little or no clue and can't be doing much good for the casinos. How can a business have a working, profitable relationship with untrained, unexperienced affiliates? The banner farms - some host malware unbeknownst to the webmaster because said affiliate/webmaster doesn't know how or care how to properly maintain a website - are the trash heap of the internet.

Can't casinos simply hire marketing people and host their own little websites (some might even offer information - what a unique idea!) with banners or whatever. And don't get off on the group (I forget which one) that had a hired seo marketing person/company who put offensive garbage (I poor and I'm broke and I'm very sick, but I won gambling and now everything is wonderful!! wheeeee, etc.) out there for the spiders. That was lack of oversight. You don't simply hand over an entire section/department without someone in your company checking on things to protect your interests.

I understand that the affiliate model has been around ... well, forever... but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way.

 

[dionysus]

Well, it's like any business; familiarity is spread through word of mouth (in this case, spread online).
If I don't know of a particular casino, and I just type video slot, I'm not going to hit the casino that's targeting for me, I'm going to hit them all, and be lost in a sea of ads. A site with several lets me wade through, look at deals and promotions. There isnt one or 2 casinos out there, there's thousands, it's a competitive market.

Can't casinos simply hire marketing people and host their own little websites (some might even offer information - what a unique idea!) with banners or whatever
They do. The casino itself, it has the ads, banners and promos; their homepage. More sites equals more hits as theyre stumbled across.

 

[incrediblestuff]

I agree to a certain extent: banner farms are mostly scummy by nature, some are just lazy and careless webmasters, both should not be rewarded for their "efforts" i.m.o., but that is the way it was, remember its still a bit of a wild west situation, except for CM, the few good casinos and a handful of "sherrifs" out there ( no Nate, tirilej, rainy and the rest of the dead or alive gang, not you ^^) we would actually all be in trouble, or not be able to gamble online safely.

Personally, i want to be a part of the "good guys", the bad ones were the reason i started to look further then my own pc screen, and bank-account, and trying to find a way to get my money back, and warning people of malpractice by some, was how i found CM.

But that is just an extra point for you to hopefully judge me by, as i mean to say i am primarily a player, and as such i want to be an affiliate: not everybody will find CM, and may be looking for a good casino, and then i, as "good guy" hope to catch them instead of the bad guys, and lead them into a friendly town with a good sherrif: the sherrif, thankfull for another hard working citizen will reward me a gold coin...

That's the way it should go, i.m.o., and to answer your initial question: the need for affiliates from the casino part is not immense, but certainly helpful, as you might know there is a whole grey area in terms of legislation/jurisdiction and for some casinos, it is forbidden to directly advertise themselves in the specific language of that region, etc etc... which is not the case for affiliates.

Don't ask me why it is so, but that is the current state of affairs, and solely for this reason it can be an asset for some casinos to have active affiliates that bring a lot of otherwise unreachable traffic.
Mind you i'm pretty new, but this is what my research has learned me, and also one of the reasons i found it worth the money and time
(many of the not caring affiliates, and the banner farms probably have low costs, but i invested a lot in my site, so it better pay something, in the long run )

I hope that sheds some light on the good part of the how and why this is still apart of the online gaming industry, and will remain until all gambling is truly regulated: which would be perfectly fine by me

 

[Mousey]

It would be interesting to know the typical budget (this would be a portion of marketing, no?) at a good casino group for their affiliate program.

 

[Simmo!]

Why do casinos have affiliates at all...Can't casinos simply hire marketing people and host their own little websites (some might even offer information - what a unique idea!) with banners or whatever.

A few have tried but - impartiality issues aside - they don't generally succeed for a variety of reasons. Affiliate are a relatively cost-effective way of getting lots and lots of expsoure. For a smaller brand with less capital to spend but big ambitions it's probably the *only* way they can try to compete to be honest.

The affiliate model is a huge part of most online verticals, not just gambling. Good sites can offer things that are very useful: comparisons, personal experiences & user reviews, communities, information you won't find "on the tin" (especially pertinent in our market) and more.

And low barriers to entry means anyone can *try* which is good but also means you end up with a lot of sites that don't deliver what you want. A double-edged sword and one that was sharpened considerably (outside of the gambling sphere) when Google introduced their "Adsense" advertising network.