FEATURE
back, this was a great time to join the party,
as there was less competition and Google
was a whole lot easier to dance with.
Why did you launch a bingo skin?
TW: Baskets and eggs! Having spent five
years as an affiliate I had become keen
to diversify. I don’t think owning a white
label is an essential step for every affiliate,
however at the time it seemed sensible for
my business and I’m still content I made
the move.
Why did you pick the software supplier
that you did?
TW: I knew I wanted to create a brand
with some USPs, particularly by way of
exclusive offerings for my players. I had
seen this work previously, so the flexibility
offered by Jumpman to offer exclusive
promotions, particularly stand-alone rooms,
within their quickly improving software,
was a strong attraction.
Pre-signing, I studied a few contracts
from various suppliers and noted some
fairly ‘uncomfortable’ clauses - the devil
can definitely be in the detail! (more on that
later). However, I generally felt at ease with
the Jumpman contract and the positive
attitude of their team. In addition to the
above, it was Jumpman who first suggested
I start a skin.
Whats are the pros and cons of owning
a skin?
TW: The pros are that as a skin owner you
will have a great, albeit not total, level of
control over the running of your brand.
If used effectively and where permitted
by supplier, this control can allow you to
stand out from the crowd and offer your
players that special something. In addition,
you’ll also have access to reporting that
you simply don’t get as an affiliate. This
assists you in spending your marketing
budget effectively, particularly where PPC
is concerned, thanks to conversion tracking
and other tools issued by ‘Big G’.
As for the cons, set-up costs can be
high and you need to keep a close eye
on your marketing spend. Be selective
when choosing affiliates to work with;
know their traffic source as all traffic is
not equal. I learnt this lesson through
a couple of runaway CPA campaigns,
that are still heavily negative. Take home
point - periods of financial loss are
entirely possible.
Other challenges rise from costs that
will be payable from your portion of the
revenue share including, for example,
affiliates. It’s difficult to offer an appealing
deal to affiliates whilst leaving something
‘in it’ for yourself.
How have you marketed your skin?
TW: I’ve used a variety of different
methods including affiliates, PPC, SEO
work for my business and amounted to
unnecessary risk as opposed to incentive to
succeed. And finally, know your marketing
strategy before you launch and never rely
exclusively on any one particular traffic
source. Good luck!
In conclusion
Online bingo is a busy, very competitive,
saturated market, but despite this, there
are still opportunities out there. Hopefully
this article will help if you are considering
starting an online bingo skin from scratch,
inform you about what to expect, whether
it’s worth your while, how you can market
it to make it successful and whether or not
you are then going to make money.
“Pay particular care to understanding all the deductibles
from net cash, especially those which are not shared with
the supplier; costs such as chargeback commissions can
stack up”
Tom Waites, Rocket Bingo
and making use of my own opt-in mailing
lists from years gone by. Going forward I
am focussing heavily on further scaling my
PPC campaigns as I see this as a relatively
stable traffic source compared to organic,
especially at a time when Google is piling
an ever-increasing amount of adverts on
top of the organic results - I doubt this
trend will change.
What tips would you give to someone
planning to launch a skin ?
TW: Take your time finding the right
supplier for your business. Be early
in asking for a copy of the ‘standard’
contract - examine it forensically and
negotiate strongly! Pay particular care to
understanding all the deductibles from
net cash, especially those which are not
shared with the supplier; costs such as
chargeback commissions can stack up. If
the contract requires you to guarantee net
cash after launch or a minimum marketing
spend, consider carefully if it will work for
your business. Such requirements didn’t
Should you require any
further help or advice on
starting your own bingo
skin or any aspect of
online bingo please email
[email protected].
PHIL FRASER owns WhichBingo Ltd.
which runs the multi award-winning
comparison and review website
WhichBingo (www.whichbingo.co.uk),
the online bingo industry’s premier
awards, the WhichBingo awards, and
FreeBingo UK (www.freebingo.co.uk)
the UK’s largest, and first, free-toplay bingo game. Phil also chairs
the industry’s annual ‘Online Bingo
Summit’. You can find Phil on Twitter at
@Mr_Online_Bingo
iGB Affiliate Issue 59 OUT/NOV 2016
31