May 2008
CAP Spring Break was Hot!
Having just returned from the most excellent CAP Spring Break in Cyprus I feel fully revitalised having topped up my tan and rested my eyes but not my liver, ready to beef up our gaming efforts.
We have had a couple of projects on the sideline that will be bounced up the development queue in the coming weeks. it’s been frustrating to keep them on the sideline whilst we finish off other projects, namely our new improved release of affiliates4u.com which is near completion.
There were around 300 or so attendees to the CAP spring break which included the first dedicated Poker Conference which took place prior to the conference and a three day version of the Affiliate Series of Poker (ASOP)
It was great to meet up with some of our gaming partners including Jasper from Jackpotjoy, Pierrick from Virgin Games, Yoni, Jamie and Neil from Webroute services, Sarafina from Income Access not forgetting fellow affiliates such as ASOP winning Marcus Tandler and Everest Bob who seemed to be clutching the worlds coolest ghetto blaster at the beach party.
And parties were certainly high on the agenda, we had parties on the beach with belly dancers and a cool Arabian theme courtesy of Webroute services, a rather swanky pool party hosted by 888.com, and possibly my favourite the relaxed setting at the PKR.com party on the Thursday afternoon.
Our gaming vertical forum on affiliates4u was a hot topic amongst some of the affiliate managers in attendance, many have already started to post and a number will commence in the coming weeks.
Gaming is an interesting vertical; it’s not without its challenges in a cloudy market where legislation causes continued headaches and uncertainty. However competition is hotting up within the affiliate space as more brand and companies enter the space with substantial funding.
The next CAP organised event will be Barcelona in September, it’s a few weeks before our affiliate conference so I’m not sure if we’ll be going but I would recommend it to anyone involved or thinking about getting involved in the online gaming space.
Update from CAP Spring Break, Cyprus
Greetings from sunny Cyprus, it must be near 30 degrees out here at the moment! I’m out here on business catching up with our friends at CAP (Casino Affiliate Programs) and its sister site PAP (Poker Affiliate Programs) - I would upload some photos but the internet connection is mind boggling slow.
After arriving yesterday afternoon its been a really productive networking event so far, catching up with old friends and making new contacts too. CAP Spring break is light on sessions and stands but heavy on networking and parties.
The Gaming industry is a really exciting one to be involved with, and it’s spurred us on to get cracking again on our new poker site which is nearly 90% complete in the back-end. This will be a project for Chris to manage in the near future.
Last night we passed by the 888.com party by the pool and tonight we have an Arabian themed beach party sponsored by web route which I can see being set up from my room - it looks awesome, I had a chat with the guys from webroute last night they seem like they have big plans.
One of the highlights for me so far is seeing the ASOP (Affiliate Series of Poker) live in action with a 10k bracelet and a seat at the WSOP up for grabs. Sadly I was away when qualification took place online but I’ll have to get some practice in for the next tournament taking place in Barcelona in September. Our newly converted Bristol City fan Marcus Tandler who ironically already has a seat at WSOP went through to the final in dramatic style.
As we are talking about Marcus, CAP has been a great avenue to find people who are up for speaking at our own affiliate conference, a4uexpo in October and I’m really happy to welcome a few people onboard the roster.
Brand Arbitrage is Back
After looking at my rather battered blackberry, I just did a search for ‘vodafone‘ to find www.offers-compared.com sitting in the paid number two position.
After the recent change by Google on the Brandname Guidelines I’m hoping this arbitrage page is a short term problem that will be ironed out in the coming weeks as its certainly against what Google are trying to achieve in terms of user experience.
Arbitrage, a method of mass advertising on Google works by paying a small CPC with Google Adwords and earning a higher rate revenue share from an alternative search engine or CPA source. In this case the search engine ASK. Naturally you have to factor in the click through rate of your landing page into the equation, but by looking at the volume of branded terms utilising such arbitrage pages just now, its appears to be a worthwhile short term opportunity. Just make sure you don’t use your main Adwords account or it will most likely get penalised!
