Yes
I currently don’t run any portals, all my traffic that goes to casinos/poker is based on someone clicking on a banner. The banner definitely makes the difference. But it’s not necessarily because it’s “better” design, or brand or deal.
The all time banner, was a Grand Banks banner i used in 2001-2002, an orange and green roulette wheel banner with a redheaded guy wearing a hat. something like 90% of all the conversions i received at the casino was via the banner. They had a few other roulette banners – they didn’t work. I tried other casinos’ roulette wheel banners, nothing converted. So, it’s hard to predict what will work.
Whether it’s banners or landing pages at your property, i say, just make a lot of themes, colors, etc available. Every site is different it’s great as webmaster to find stuff that matches up well.
Convential Wisdom?
When i first started in the business, i was running just my lottery site and no portals, like i’m doing again now. People told me 2 things:
1. Don’t offer free money, bonus hunters will kill you
2. Advertise bingo and keno because they’re a perfect match for lottery crowd.
Well the best coverting deal was $10 free at Zodiac, and eventually it was paying me nicely every month.
I couldn’t rent a room in Barcelona with the earnings i’ve made from Bingo or Keno in the last 7 years.
One of the benefits of an affiliate program is that you get a huge variety of affiliate efforts going on, support that effort with a variety of marketing material.