I’ve no idea how I made that mistake in my head, however in thinking that it was a “blog” it meant that the type of content I would write here would be well – bloggy stuff – and honestly I already have two outlets for that type of content.  First of all there is Poker Affiliate Bible – I’d come up with an idea of something to post on this section of DealerDan.com, then as I started writing I’d be able to turn it into an article that I could publish on Poker Affiliate Bible.  The second reason is that I have my own personal blog – so a lot of my “bloggy” style of posts would end up there.  I won’t link to it but if you’re really interested in reading about what XBox 360 games I’ve played this week, or what movies I’ve watched lately, it shouldn’t be too hard to find.

So my apologies for no updates here – now I’ve finally got it into my thick skull as to the purpose of this section, I’ll make sure to update it more frequently when things happen that are related to the Dealer Dan Gaming Network.

So, what has been happening?  Well this year I have launched just the one new website – Casino Answers! It’s basically a casino Q&A website, and is very content driven.  I recently hired a new content writer who has been doing a phenomenal job, and I’m very passionate about the website and have been writing a ton of content myself.  Honestly this is one of those websites where if it doesn’t take off I’ll have to sit back and question everything I know – because I’ll be amazed if it doesn’t become a success, especially considering the amount of work we are putting into it.

As of this time, I’m not even planning on purchasing or building any new websites for the rest of 2010.  I think that’s a mistake many affiliates make – they get to a stage with a website where they are “happy” with it, and turn their attention on something else, then lose focus on their original website.  I know I am guilty of that, as I can look at a few websites I’ve built over the years where we are doing  a half-assed job of it now.  These websites are still doing fine – but man, they could be doing a hell of a lot better.  Do I think that they are valuable resources for the visitor?  Well they’re good – but they could be INvaluable resources, which I feel is something every webmaster should strive towards.

So 2010 there will be no new websites added to the Dealer Dan Gaming Network.  Of course no-one believes that – I have about 6 sidebets going with affiliates, operators and employees that I will cave and launch a new website.  Some of them are even sending me amazing domain name auctions which is very hard to turn down.

I’ve also been working on a much more relaxed schedule since September.  There has been days where I’ve had the nose to the grindstone, but most days I’ve basically did whatever work I needed to in the morning, and that’s it.  One of the benefits of having actual employees is you’re able to do that and delegate the majority of the work.

That’s about it for me.  It’s been nice to go back to basics and focus on content writing.  It also reminds me how horrible so many content writers are, and it amazes me that these guys don’t try and better themselves.  When you write on the web, you should be focusing on two things: writing for the visitor, and writing for the search engine.  It amazes me the amount of people that fail at BOTH of these simple objectives.  I’m not just talking about your random “100% COPYSCAPE FREE” posts on PAL either – the other day I was checking out some of the big affiliate sites, and was amazed at how poor their content was.

I’m subscribed to a ton of poker room newsletters, and have player accounts at every room, so I get all the latest news to make updating reviews easier.  My daughter was playing with my Blackberry on Sunday, and accidently responded to one of the newsletters.  All she sent was a blank e-mail.

Well later that day, I get this HUGE e-mail from their customer service.  I checked – it is over 600 words long – and with the blank e-mail they decided to try and GUESS why I was e-mailing them.  Here are some snippets:

“Thank you for your e-mail to us.  Unfortunately, we are unable to determine what the problem was.”

“We have noticed that you have not logged in to your poker account in the last few months.  Were you e-mailing us because you forgot your password?  We have reset your password and you will recieve that in a separate e-mail.”

“Were you wanting to refer a friend to our poker room?  If so go to this URL and put in your e-mail address and their e-mail address, and you will receive a $50 cash bonus for referring your friend.”

“Were you enquiring about our signup bonus?  We currently offer a 100% to $200 bonus on your first deposit, as well as access to an exclusive freeroll.”

“Are you unable to view our newsletter in an HTML format?  Here is a link where you can view the newsletter online.”

Seriously – there was like a million fucking reasons listed.  Even funnier was the password reset – they reset it eleven times.  I received 11 e-mails at the exact same time with a brand new password.  And of course if I enter an incorrect password 3 times my account is locked, the odds aren’t shining in my favour in this one.

Thanks for the laugh, unnamed poker room.  I give you an A+ for effort.

Domain names these days don’t hold the same weight in search engines as they used to.  There are many SEO gurus that feel they don’t matter at all, as long as you do good search engine optimization for the phrases that you are targeting.  Honestly in tests I have conducted I find that the domain name still helps, but not anywhere near as much as it used to years ago.

The fact is that the domain name doesn’t make the site – it’s the other way round.  Sure a good, keyword matching domain would be nice and really lets the visitor know what the site is about from the get-go, but it’s not critical to success or anything.

Before poker rooms like Party Poker or Full Tilt Poker were born, what if I told you to register those domains?  Pretend Full Tilt Poker never existed.  Is FullTiltPoker.com a valuable domain then?  No, of course not – but it’s the product that makes their domain and website so valuable.  Think about some of the bigger affiliate sites.  10 years ago, would you pay more than $100 for a PokerListings.com or a PocketFives.com?

Of course not.  The domain names aren’t valuable – it’s the website that was put on that domain, the content etc that made the domain and brand name valuable.

Exact match keyword domains may be okay for mini sites, but when you create your next big site, think of it five years in the future.  Try and think of it as being a huge poker brand, something that will be the “go to” site for poker players for whatever content it is that you serve.  Would you rather have a PokerNations.com or a Poker-Social-Networking-Site.org?

A domain name isn’t everything.  If anything, it’s one of the least important factors when building a successful website.

Quick summary:

• – Purchased a domain that was available via them.
• – Get an e-mail the next day telling me I have to submit scan of passport for ID purposes.  Send that in immediately.
• – Am told that the domain name is actually already taken, and the money I paid has been put into EuroDNS account.
• – I tell them I didn’t get what I paid for, so want a refund.
• – Told can’t refund to credit card, has to be bank wire.
• – Charged fee of €11.50 for that.

So yeah – I get to pay €11.50 for a bunch of hassle.  What a deal!  Strong recommendation to avoid buying domains from EuroDNS.

A poker room can piss off tons of affiliates and have threads on the likes of PAL, PAP & GPWA saying how bad they are – yet people will continue to promote them and make them money.  However word of mouth is strongest from players, and many times I have seen a poker room lose a lot of traffic and money due to not catering to the players, or by doing something to piss the players off.

So why is it that the affiliate still has more power on the poker room than the players?  Since August 1st, I’ve had 8 players at 6 different poker rooms try and withdraw money, only for it not to arrive within 24 hours.  They will be told there are “technical errors” or “slight delays” – any vague bullshit stock answer you can think of.  The player will send them e-mails repeatedly, talk to live chat etc – and he just never gets anywhere.  Every time he is met with these vague answers, and is still without money.

Then what happens?  Well the player e-mails me.  Some of the withdrawal delays have been around 48 hours long – others have been over a week and still no money.  I immediately call the poker room and talk to my affiliate manager, and within 10 hours the player has got their money.

That has happened every single time.

Why?

Why do I need to step in?  I don’t mind doing it – hell, it looks good for me because my players know if they have problems they can just come to me, and it builds trust.

But why is it necessary?

Why are these delays?  And why are the poker room treating the player like shit?  And why is it only when I get involved, is something done?

It seems these days a lot of poker rooms take their players for granted.  They don’t realize how important it is for a player that when they withdraw, they gain access to their money promptly.  Hey – if a player deposits the poker room gets the money immediately – why can’t it be the other way round?  And if there ARE problems with withdrawals, then explain that to the user.  Hell, throw them a free entry or something for their troubles.

While I don’t believe that the customer is always right, I do believe that you should treat a customer to the best of your abilities.  Never insult their intelligence, and make sure their experience is always satisfactory.

Poker rooms need to get their priorities straight.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from an affiliate manager asking me to promote their poker room, as they felt it was a great fit for my portals.  Unfortunately I received this e-mail 3 different times, at 3 different addresses, related to 3 different portals.  Seriously is it that hard to do some goddamn homework?  Even worse, I ALREADY PROMOTE THIS POKER ROOM.

I’ll be nice and not mention the name of the poker room, instead referring to it as XXX Poker.  So I replied to the person:

I already promote XXX Poker on a couple of websites.  But when I receive this same e-mail to a couple of different e-mail addresses, it makes me want to promote a little less.

I was expecting any response I would get would be apologetic.  Instead I get another fucking sales pitch!

Hi Graeme,
Thank you for your swift reply
We didn’t see XXX Poker on TheUltimatePokerGuide and with the release of the flash version, we thought it would be a great fit in the “Mac Poker Online” section of your website
Graeme, have you ever benefited from the current affiliate promotion we are running with the 70%, 60% and 50% revenue share offer during 3 months? We could adjust your account to reflect this promotion even if you are not new to the program Also, we could create a customized bonus code to offer on your websites with a 150% bonus up to $600. Is this something you would be interested in?
Graeme, if you want, you can also send us a list of your various websites so we would avoid contacting you again in the future on the different e-mail addresses as I understand this is frustrating.
Many thanks for your time and I look forward to reading your feedback

Jesus H. Christ.

So I set out to find a program that would make life a lot easier.  I checked out some support ticket systems but they didn’t really meet my needs, and were overcomplicated.  I wanted something simple, where I could say “Here’s a list of my websites, here’s a list of stuff I have to do for each website, here’s the people who will be doing it”.  Nice and simple.  Then those users can log on each day and see what tasks are set to them, and write comments on each task and keep track of what is being done etc.

After trying out a few, I finally settled on Taskfreak.  Took two minutes to install, and the setup process is minimal at least.  Within seconds I was up and running with a great system that is easy to manage my ever expanding to do list.  Here’s a sample image of it:

This is from an administrators point of view.  I blurred out the Title of the tasks, and the user it was assigned to, but you get the general idea.  From a users point of view they only see the tasks they are assigned to, or projects they are assigned to.  It is very customizable.  You can see a demo and it’s all free BTW – check out the TaskFreak site.

Also if you end up using the application be sure to donate to them – donations are what keep these people putting out awesome free products.

I’m all booked for the Budapest Affiliate Conference in September – I’ll be there a few extra days too.  If anyone wants to meet up, have a few beers etc then get in touch with me.  I usually end up having a pretty tight schedule in regard to meetings and so on, so squeeze some time in fast!

I’ve started working with Wager Profits, specifically PayNoRake Poker.  I’d spoken to my good friend Shaun O’Neill about working with them when we met at the affiliate conference in London in January, but due to time constraints I never had the chance, and since then he’s left the company to go onto bigger and better things.  I’m working with Rachelle however and she is just awesome and a really nice person, great to work with.  If you’re not working with Wager Profits I’d recommend setting something up – they’e good people.  Click here.

I also have two new articles up at the Bible sites.  At Poker Affiliate Bible, I revisited the old topic CPA vs Revenue Share, as my original article was written pre-UIEGA.  Read it here:  CPA vs Revenue Share in 2009.  I also conducted an interview with my affiliate manager from Euro Partners, who is an awesome guy.  Link:  10 Questions With Chris Zelver (Euro Partners).

The site will primarily be used as a showcase for all the sites that are members of the Dealer Dan Gaming Network, as well as updates on new sites that I add, or changes I make within the network.  I’ll also drop some “bloggy” articles every now and again, commenting on various things that affect us affiliates that I find are too “general” for sites like Poker Affiliate Bible or Casino Affiliate Bible.

That just about covers everything – welcome! I’ve got a friends/resources section at the bottom of the homepage – if I forgot you my bad – contact me and I’ll get your affiliate blog or resource up!

I run a variety of websites targeting the major online gambling markets like online poker, online casinos, internet bingo and online sportsbooks.  I run big sites, mini-sites, review sites, rakeback sites and websites targetted towards other affiliates.  You can see my full portfolio of sites here.

You can read updates about the Dealer Dan Gaming Network and other related items in my news/blog section.  If you are looking to contact me, I am available via a variety of methods.  See the contact me page for more information.