If you knew what you know now..

[Guard Dog]

If you knew what you know now..

If you were to 'start from scratch' now as a casino affiliate, what would you do differently? Would you take a different approach to this business or would you follow in your own footsteps?

What would I do differently? I would make a lot of changes, actually When I first got into the business, it was with a ton of skepticism. As such, I made a lot of mistakes. I barely updated my site at all and only with luck did I begin getting players.

1. Start with blogs - Blogs help small / new sites reach the search engines much more quickly without worrying over all the inbound links.

2. Learn SEO - I would study more about SEO from the start instead of learning later.

3. NOT promote Hype Casino - This was a casino that was truly marked for greatness, but ownership led to extreme failure.

4. Diversification - From the beginning, I would promote multiple casinos. For awhile I was at the mercy of 1 program. Now my earnings are more stable coming from 10-15 different sources.

5. Database Standardization - I would create a standard database which would hold all my information so that I can use php to make my sites dynamic (from the start).


Those are a few of my tips for newbies. How do your experiences help others learn from past mistakes?

 

[SEOPants]

In 1997 - I asked my mum if I could use her credit card to buy domains.
I wanted to buy porn and casino domains.
All up about 20 of them - she said no I couldnt use it - I even gave her the cash for it.
I should've persisted.

In 2001,2002, and 2003 I should have re registered my casino domains instead of knowing they were going to expire, and not really care about it because I was stressed out.

I shouldve completed the projects I started - once I solve a problem, and know how to complete it, the implementation starts to bore me.

 

[WagerX]

Here's what I would have done differently:

(1) I would have started earlier.
(2) I would have concentrated on more and better content. I didn't do enough quality or quantity. I didn't write for the readers, I wrote for the SE's.
(3) I should have purchased more casino domains for geo targeting in the uk.

That's about it.

 

[dominique]

1. Start with blogs - Blogs help small / new sites reach the search engines much more quickly without worrying over all the inbound links.

2. Learn SEO - I would study more about SEO from the start instead of learning later.

3. NOT promote Hype Casino - This was a casino that was truly marked for greatness, but ownership led to extreme failure.

4. Diversification - From the beginning, I would promote multiple casinos. For awhile I was at the mercy of 1 program. Now my earnings are more stable coming from 10-15 different sources.

5. Database Standardization - I would create a standard database which would hold all my information so that I can use php to make my sites dynamic (from the start).

When I started there were no blogs, practically no seo, no hype casino, no dynamic sites, and I have always promoted various casinos.

Given the times were the way they were, I really wouldn't do anything different.

What would I do if I started today? Yep, blogs, dynamic sites and I would try like heck to come up with totally original sites.

 

[Herd]

Nice thread!

Like Dominique, when I started there was no blogging, there were dynamic sites but I never saw the potential in it - I taught myself php, database design 8-9 years ago, and how to make dynamic sites 4-5 years ago - i never used them all together till about 2 yrs ago.

 

[dendrite]

I think I would have sent my self on an evening school class to learn html and web design

It would have saved many many long nights trying to figure out solutions to what, in fact, were very easy problems to solve

 

[sipka]

I should have looked for another niche after my poker site semi-failure, so 2 years wouldn't have gone by doing other things and not earning more money from affiliating

 

[Vertigo]

Hello all.

This looks as good a place to make my first post as any I guess.

Unlike most of you, I AM just starting out. I have no current web sites or domains, so this thread is of much interest to me and I'll soak up as much info from you experienced chaps as possible.

My background is in network / systems administration with light web design and maintenance for a couple local NFP's. (Mostly a hobby for me.)

I'm familiar enough with HTML / XHTML to be dangerous. The sites I work with are templates that I've customized. I use Dreamweaver and I updated content right within the code (which I would prefer NOT to do for this project.) I understand DNS from a corporate and hosting perspective when it comes to dns ttl's, hosting transfers, setting different DNS for MX, HTTP, FTP, and other services bla, bla, bla.

I've installed and maintained (via fantastico and the like,) PHPBB and SMF forums, Gallery, and other open source applications. We use Mambo at work, but I don't directly administer or maintain it, and haven't really played with a bones up CMS software....yet.

I don't know the first thing about how to code PHP, but I know its power. (and I have a couple excellent app dev. resources at work I can bounce things off.) I'm not really interested in getting hard core into programming.

I'm leaning in the direction of CMS like Joomla or Mambo. I guess my idea would be to maintain one CMS with multiple layers and domains being directed, directly to sub sites of the higher level CMS (if that's possible...this is where I start to lose knowledge.) I'd like to "set it up once," and then put it into update / maintenance mode. Possibly a redo or second implementation after I get more familiar with the business and learn more from you chaps and knowledge that only experience and time can bring.

So, if you were me...is this recommended or what should I be doing?

(I raise my hand and say...you can use me as your great experiment on the perfect startup Affiliate business...lol.)

Thanks All!

V

 

[cowboy]

Nice thread!

1) Started earlier
2) Started much earlier
3) Started before that!

 

[Guard Dog]

Hey Vertigo -

Good to see you here Welcome to AGD.

Mambo / Joomla is a good CMS system. I would suggest using Joomla with addins for SEO and blogging. The SEO add-in is something I forgot to put in on my first Mambo system (before I converted it to Joomla) and it was quite the mistake.

Using the add-in will help search engines spider your site and give them the type of URL structure they need (example: http://www.mysite.com/online-casino-reviews/golden-palace.html INSTEAD OF http://www.mysite.com/index.php?cid=44).

Go to extensions.joomla.org to find whatever extensions you might want. I would suggest:

1. SEO Extension - sh404SEF - Joomla! Extensions Directory

2. Blog Component (This may not be the best one) - My Blog - Joomla! Extensions Directory


Good luck and create yourself a post when you need further help, there are a lot of great people here willing to 'show you the way'.

 

[Guard Dog]

Nice thread!

1) Started earlier
2) Started much earlier
3) Started before that!

:emoticon-0140-rofl: hahaha - I couldn't agree more I wish I would have been SERIOUS about it from the beginning. I think I could have made a whopping amount of $$$.

 

[SEOPants]

Unlike most of you, I AM just starting out. I have no current web sites or domains, so this thread is of much interest to me and I'll soak up as much info from you experienced chaps as possible.

I'm familiar enough with HTML / XHTML to be dangerous. The sites I work with are templates that I've customized. I use Dreamweaver and I updated content right within the code (which I would prefer NOT to do for this project.) I understand DNS from a corporate and hosting perspective when it comes to dns ttl's, hosting transfers, setting different DNS for MX, HTTP, FTP, and other services bla, bla, bla.

Hey Vertigo,

We're happy to help. I dig that you're dangerous with HTML - hey thats all some of the 10K a month affiliates know! And some even less!

If you want a hand on starting up - let me know. I'd love to help - but only if you are serious and are willing to persist for lets say 12 months? A long time - but a short time online.

PM me if you want.

 

[Guard Dog]

PM me if you want.

Vertigo - since you may be new to vBulletin forums (not sure), PM means Private Message. Click on 'SEOPants' name next to his avatar and list will drop down. Then you can click on 'send a private message'.

 

[Engineer]

What would I have done differently... hmm.

1. I think I would have started out in casinos instead of poker. My first-ever site was a poker site, and I never really made much money from it. I actually don't know how to play poker, and I have no interest in the game... That's probably a big clue as to why the site wasn't a success. That, and it was my first-ever site.
   
   I think you have to have some level of knowledge and interest in a topic before you go building a site about it. Casinos and casino games were a better fit for me. Once I realized this (a few months after I launched my poker site), things became easier for me.
   
   
2. Like most of you, I also wish I had started earlier. It wasn't until 2004 that I really noticed the affiliate concept. (Guess I was too busy being an engineer up until then. )
   
   
3. FTP. I spent a good 2 years of my career as a webmaster not knowing how to use FTP. I should have learned how to use this sooner, because it's a HUGE time-saver. Before I used FTP, I would manually upload each file via an upload screen provided by my host. You know -- browse for the files, then click an "upload" button and wait. Up to 6 files at a time. Woo hooo!
   
   
4. I should have used a cPanel reseller account from the beginning. My first host (Carpathia / Prohosters) charged extra for each additional site I wanted to host. I now know that I was being ripped off. With a reseller account, you can host unlimited sites for the same flat rate. The reseller account also has a lot of other features that I have found useful.
   
   
5. StatsRemote. I should have started using this as soon as I started making enough money to afford it. I used to spend a good hour each day checking stats. Now, instead of spending 30 hours a month checking stats, I'm spending that additional 30 hours working on my sites. (Well, in theory.) ;D

 

[Vertigo]

Hey Vertigo,

PM me if you want.

I shot you a PM, not sure if you got it.

I've been feverishly learning Joomla as much as I can. Wow..thats a whole different way of building a web site. Still trying to figure it out, but I've got a play site set up on the backend of one of my other websites.

I'll take all the help I can get right now.

Thanks!

 

[Guard Dog]

I shot you a PM, not sure if you got it.

I've been feverishly learning Joomla as much as I can. Wow..thats a whole different way of building a web site. Still trying to figure it out, but I've got a play site set up on the backend of one of my other websites.

I'll take all the help I can get right now.

Thanks!

Well, it sounds like you got the skills to learn it. That is good.

When I worked with Joomla, the most difficult part about it was learning how to properly write a plug-in. Many times the plugins that you find won't do what you want. I needed to store my own information in a database, so I had to write a specific plugin to do that.

Example: I have a site (progressive-watch.com). That site grabs all the progressive jackpots from casinos every 15 minutes. Stores them in a database, and ranks them.

In Joomla: I had to write a plugin to grab the jackpots out of the database, organize them (simple SQL statement), and then create the HTML table that showed the results.

I moved away from Joomla on that site at about 2007, though. Kinda wished I would have stayed with Joomla, though, because I lost a lot of rankings that I don't think I have ever recovered