I am not sure of the context of your question and whether you are an affiliate or operator. But hope this helps.
@Pokerknave 203678 wrote:
…for website owners but great way of free advertising for the gambling website – discuss?
Investing in affiliates is important and NEVER a waste of time. This holds true for companies of all sizes.
Affiliates in the online world replicate the land based distribution model. And most successful businesses have thrived on affiliate marketing. For the gaming industry the affiliates generate roughly about 30-40% of the acquisition of new players. For the big operators it normally caps at 30% and the rest is contributed by online media buys, ppc, offline and type in traffic. For smaller companies, startups and new entrants this can be as high as 80-90% of the new acquisitions.
Affiliate marketing is a boon for small start ups as this is pure ROI acquisition. Without affiliates, many smaller companies will be in trouble as they have to then buy the traffic which is expensive and with no guarantee that it would convert and even if it does there is no guarantee that the player value would be good enough to justify the acquisition cost. On top of this they would have to pay upfront.
Affiliates always have the choice not to promote the programs who don’t pay you for life of the players. Therefore this shouldn’t be a hindrance. But it is in your interest to keep sending more players to a program (if you make good money) as it adds to the existing portfolio and elongates the time frame for which you will receive your residual commissions.
Bottomline – Affiliates are business partners who make money if the operator makes money. Both need to have a level of cooperation and coordination to succeed.