I thought I would write today about a comment that was sent to me regarding my comments on the state of the poker affiliate industry.
“OK then smart arse, if you are so clever what should new affiliates be targeting if in your opinion poker is such a bad starting option?”
Let me say I’m not that clever! I do though take the time to have a good look at what is going on around me. Firstly I’m going to stand by what I said about the state of the poker affiliate industry although I will give you a tip how to make things easier for yourself if you are determined to tackle poker.
For some reason many poker affiliates seem to stick to their own demographic like glue. Just do a little research about emerging poker markets in Europe, check out a few of the big affiliates that are targeting Euro markets to see what key phrases they are using. Check the key phrases with the Google Adwords External Tool (yes I know it over estimates but it will give you an idea), then check how much easier it is to rank for the Euro poker key phrases. There are many offering superb translation services for as little as a few cents per word. Tackling these will give you a much better chance of success as they are much softer than the English speaking market.
Sports betting is a massive niche with many profitable sub niches still very soft. You can now bet on more things than ever before. You can even bet on the outcome of reality shows all around the world. How about a site targeted to just betting on reality shows? These shows run throughout the year so this could be a very profitable niche. Your site could include gossip and news of the latest episodes plus of course how to put your money on your favourite. Your research and ideas for content could be simply generated by watching the shows! Tonight is the final of Britain’s Got Talent with an expected £1,000,000 to be wagered on the event. Has anybody actually created a site to target this sub niche?
If reality shows are not your thing then how about looking for a micro niche in sports? How about just covering something like darts or motor racing? Include a diary of events plus news and tips. Just look at and online sports book and look for any sport that runs for a good few months each year. Avoid the likes of NLF or soccer. Look for the micro niches that few are tackling that you can build authority sites for. I can think of many sub niches where there are no or few decent sites.
Remember if you sign up a poker player and he deposits $100 and plays 9 x $10 +$1 sngs and blows the lot you are going to earn around $3. With a sports book sign up who wages and loses $100 you are going to earn $30.