~3 years, 8 figures in traffic driven, and 300+ brand deals later, I have compiled the 4 tips for starting an iGaming affiliation business I wish I would've known when I first started. Working with other affiliates, I have seen what works, and what doesn't.
Tip #1: Choose your brands very, very, very carefully
Your returns will likely come from a small percentage of brands returning a very large portion of your revenue. Over the years, I've tried hundreds of different brands, but to this day only a handful comprise the majority of my revenue.
iGaming brands will come and go, and many fly-by-night brands will offer enticing revenue share deals, only to cut them once they've leveled off growth, or worse bungle the traffic/not retain the customers you've sent them. A 70-80% Revshare deal isn't worth much if the brand isn't going to be around in a year, or if they're not converting the traffic very well.
The ideal brands to work with:
- Value affiliate-brand relationships - and provide longstanding stable and reliable deals
- Have been in business for a long period of time
- Convert your traffic well
It is tempting to go with brands offering the most enticing deals, however you need to carefully consider the brand's reputation, and whether there's longevity to the deal.
Tip #2: Choose the right deal for your traffic
There are really only two flavors of deal when it comes to affiliating - CPA and RevShare, with other deals being some combination of the two. There are certain advantages to each, which we break down here, however there is not a one size fit all solution for what's best to go with.
If you don't want deal risk, a CPA deal makes more sense as you don't depend on the brand to make future payments - however it's often difficult to truly price in the expected LTV of customers to get a CPA deal that equals the RevShare offered. So ultimately it usually becomes a risk/reward tradeoff, where affiliates that take the risk and go for RevShare deals will make more if those deals are honored.
Our blanket recommendation would be for starting out go with CPA deals - and once cashflow has been built and payment volatility can be tolerated, move to RevShare agreements.
Tip #3: Identify what traffic sources work, and double down
In the early days of affiliating, it is temping to try several different channels. As soon as you get some conversions from PPC, you might look to try organic search. As soon as you get some traction on both those, you may be tempted to try your hand at email marketing. What ends up happening, is you become a jack of all trades and master of none. 10 poorly converting channels is going to less valuable than one properly working channel.
My recommendation would be to try a few different channels, find what works, and then focus on scaling that. Focus is crucial for starting any business, and that applies here.
Tip #4: Niche down, then scale up
Its much better to start with a very specific niche, like say Pokies Reviews for Australians, than a very general market. The more specific of a niche you identify, that more targeted you'll be able to make your content, and the more efficiently you'll be able to send paid traffic and market your site. Once you've identified an niche market, it's easier to scale up to a broader audience, rather than the other way around.
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