Downsides to accepting an Advancement?

[Online18Casino]

Hey guys, quick question. What are the downsides to accepting an advancement from an affiliate program? I've been offered two, one in the past and one recently, that I have turned down due to the fact that I like to be free to move things around on my sites according to my stats. Other then that... Are there any real downsides to accepting an advancement?

What happens if the sites don't perform at all as expected? As for some programs I have no problems getting players, and others don't convert very well at all. Or any other hidden downsides?

I kinda prefer to keep things simple, keep my % RevShare and send players where I earn the most.. But just thinking for future offers.. lol am I the only one turning down advancements? Or does anyone have any additional thoughts on this..?

 

[ultra100]

Hi,

Firstly, it depends if you are making a pre-paid deal with the affiliate program you already sent traffic to, or is it a totally new program? Obviously, from the first scenario you have an estimates how this program could perform, and it is more predictable in the terms of conversions, in which time-frame you could reach advance amount. On the other hand, affiliate program 'knows you', and they are also more confident about results of that kind of campaign. It's all about trust.

The second example - you (as well as aff.program peeps) should be more careful. As you don't have any numbers in your head, you should talk (and write) openly about your and their performance – What would happen if ads don't convert?

What if you send hundred's of players, and performance is very low? You should protect yourself.
What if they send you prepayment and your traffic sent to them is very low? They should be protected.

So, back to your question, when all cards are open, the risk is minimum. My suggestion would be to put the deal on the paper, including resolutions in the cases mentioned above. I have had few deals in the past, it was a win-win situation. The new affiliate program worked perfectly for me, and they were more then happy with the results of that campaign.

Good luck,
Alex

 

[Redbush54]

GamTrak always does a very simple insertion order with no guaranteed traffic. The program rep was emailed the i/o and had to sign it and send it back. We placed them where they wanted to go and left it there until the i/o expired.

 

[ultra100]

BTW, in your post above I was assuming you were offered pre-payment, which would be then charged from your future commission. (Not the flat rate fee for a certain period of time for the position on your Website - that's another story.)

 

[muffincrumbs]

You really have to think about these things carefully. Of course the brand offering the huge advancement and placement fee is probably not the best converting brand. They are likely older and have deep pockets to squeeze out the smaller online casinos. They also have a saturated player base filled with old timers, whales, sharks, and other awesome sea creatures that fund our lives.

But can you leverage that to still win, or come up on top of where you would have been if you were pushing a top converting brand? It depends on a lot of factors...

1. Do people tend to stay on your site to come back time and again and get more and more bonuses, reviews, etc.? Of course they do your casino18 and they love your sites. But if your a high bounce rate site, with little to read... they may never get to your other brands before they start searching with very long-tailed queries where they find other resources leaving only your dimly light advanced brand to generate your money.

2. Will it suit all your traffics needs? I.e. I get a lot of no deposit bonus casino players looking to break my balls playing for free and cashing out money I end up paying. This kind of traffic has lower conversion anyway so if they want to advance on that... great imo.

3. What better way to make huge earnings than to be a shady operator and secure all your top traffic and then scrape you, close their doors, and email cross promote them to something else non-stop... or worse. Oh that never happens I'm sure.

 

[Online18Casino]

That's for the feedback Ultra, Red and Muffins.

3. What better way to make huge earnings than to be a shady operator and secure all your top traffic and then scrape you, close their doors, and email cross promote them to something else non-stop... or worse. Oh that never happens I'm sure.

That's the one that's always in the back of my mind. We all know that a good program can go rouge in the blink of an eye...

I also would not want to get into a deal where you 'owe' an affiliate program traffic... I could see a program giving you a 10k advance or pre-payment, not track / tag all your players and try to keep you sending more, where under normal circumstances when a program does not perform well, we would quickly change them out. I think the recourse of being able to remove a program at will, helps keep them honest.

Good stuff to think about..