Online poker has become one of the most popular income streams for gambling affiliates. With the popularity of online poker continuing and new poker web sites coming online everyday it makes for a very healthy gambling industry to promote as an affiliate.

The key to success with promoting online poker as an affiliate is to first do your homework. Not all poker programs are the same so you need to ensure that the one you choose to promote has everything you need to give you the very best chance of success. To accomplish this you should complete certain steps during your research that will tick certain boxes. There is not one online poker affiliate program that is going to tick all the boxes of requirements though the more positives you find in a program should mean it is a good program to join.

The first location for research is to check on the brands that the affiliate program promotes. Visit each poker room in turn and start ticking the boxes. Some of the things to look out for are the conversion and retention hooks that will attract the poker player when they first visit. For conversion we are looking at the bonuses for new players. Non-download bonuses are rare and the most common bonus is a matching 100% bonus. This means that the poker room will match the deposit up to a specific amount which is normally $600. For example if a player deposits $100 then the poker room will match this so they will now have $200 in the account to play with.

Have a look for the retention options the poker room has in place. What is going to make a player come back time and time again to play? This maybe the daily tournaments or a reward program. Each poker network will have their own tournaments and they must be available around the clock with bigger tournaments on specific days of the week. Many of the bigger affiliates programs will also promote the World Series of Poker which is a big attraction for more experienced players. Reward or loyalty programs are incentives for players who are awarded points the more times they play. These points can be cashed in or exchanged for prizes. These are examples of how a poker room can bring a player back time and time again by offering tempting bonuses and rewards.

Players will often have a look at the quality of the software the poker room uses. If the poker room has won awards then this is a really good selling point. These days players want to be entertained on state-of-the-art software that provide thrilling graphics and sound giving the player a real feeling of poker room excitement. Some other positives for the brand would be the options for multi-lingual languages, choice of currencies, security and deposit options.

Information about past winners and testimonials will go a long way to give any new player that feel good factor. Poker schools are offered by some poker rooms and this is a great way to educate the less experienced players. All poker players want to improve their game and not all players are of the same level so providing some solid advice and techniques will always increase conversions. At the end of the day it is all about creating the right atmosphere for your players. This is how you can first turn and ordinary web site visitor into an active player and make them feel special so that they come back and play on a regular basis. Players also like to interact with other players so any live chat rooms and forums will make the poker room a more sociable meeting place.

If the brands the poker affiliate program promotes pass the player conversion and retention test then we can have a closer look at the program itself. What type of commissions are on offer for the affiliate? Normally the poker affiliate program will offer a CPA (cost per acquisition) and revenue share commission. The CPA option is a once only payment and does not depend on the players you refer winning or losing. The amount you receive is normally tiered and increases the more active players you refer. This commission would normally start at $50 and rises to $300 depending the amount of players referred and the amount deposited by the player.

Revenue share is a percentage of the rake that is taken by the poker room on every game. The higher the player deposits in games the higher the rake and the commission payable to the affiliate. As you will be receiving commissions for the lifetime of the player the commission can seriously increase over time. Revenue share commissions are also tiered the same as CPA and they normally start at 25% rising to 40% or even 50% in some cases depending on the amount of active players referred.

There is also the additional webmaster commission available and this is normally a flat 5% from the income resulting from other webmasters you have referred.

The next part of research would take a look at the type of marketing materials on offer. You need more than just banners such as landing pages, html mailers, pop-ups and a range of offline marketing options. Promotional materials introduced to market new tournaments or monthly bonuses is a good sign that the program is assisting the affiliates promote anything new at the poker room.

Check that the poker affiliate stats are updated in real time and that the stats are available 24/7. Ideally you will be able to create trackers so you can use them for individual promotions. This will enable you to track the marketing results more accurately and make changes accordingly.

Find out who your affiliate manager is and if they are available to contact quickly should you need any assistance. This person is the key figure behind the scenes and the one you can contact should you need specific banners creating or some marketing advice on campaigns that you may want to start. The affiliate manager is a paid employee of the poker affiliate program and their job is to assist you with the promotion of the brands.

There are additional points to look for as part of your poker affiliate program research but the ones listed here are the most important. The more boxes the affiliate program ticks the better and will give you the best chance of success. The main thing is to enjoy your poker affiliation and hope that the poker affiliate program and you the affiliate can make a very successful team.

by Mark Fynn
Mark Fynn has been a successful gambling affiliate for the last 7-years and provides gambling affiliate video tutorials, information and resources to all affiliates in the gambling industry. Poker Affiliate Programs