Content marketing, off-site SEO and link earning page 4
2. Content marketing, off-site seo and link earning
Content marketing has two critical functions in the betting and gaming sector.
Firstly, it’ s the fuel that keeps customers coming back to your site – a reason to make a repeat visit, engage more and choose your brand over another that may be offering the same odds and incentives.
Secondly, content marketing is the lynchpin of quality off-site SEO, justifying and earning links not only in the betting niche, but further afield from very high quality mainstream news websites – if your content is good enough.
According to Andrey Lipattsev, Search Quality Senior Strategist at Google, high quality content and link building are the two most important signals used by Google to rank your website for search, again reflecting the importance of an integrated strategy utilising the pillars we outline here.
Though it is widely understood that content marketing is important for these reasons, that also means a lot of sub-par, me-too betting content gets released.
On the plus side, the flood of poor content means that genuinely newsworthy, shareable and indeed linkable content can stand out clearly – and with 200 million people using adblocking software, it’ s a valuable alternative way to get in front of customers.
The state of gaming and betting content marketing
Content marketing in gaming is a bit of a mixed bag. So many companies still focus on winning customers through offers, rather than creating a relationship with them.
It’ s true that customers are smart and on the lookout for value, but there are other ways to attract them – especially customers who are actually new to gaming.
However, according to the Content Marketing Institute, only 76 % of marketers said they’ ll produce more content in 2016 while only 42 % of marketers said their content marketing is effective – with only 32 % of marketers reporting a documented content strategy.
Neglecting this pillar of player acquisition is unconscionable given the appetite players have for engaging topics around sport, its personalities and( more generally) the fun of winning and getting one over on bookies, casinos and gaming companies.
The best betting and gaming content marketing efforts – be they in the form of interactive websites, infographics, games, win stories or something entirely different have one thing in common – a reason for existing.
“ The most important thing for driving player acquisition is simply playing to your brand’ s strengths.”
James Prosser – MyRacing
Blueclaw’ s work with NetBet to create the Multicultural Championship( www. netbet. com / multicultural-championship), the Premier League of Nations( premierleagueofnations. com / en), as well as the Premier League Match Day Calculator for Free Super Tips( www. freesupertips. co. uk / matchday-calculator) all rely on extensive research to intrigue fans in the nature of the modern game – and engage people who may be new to betting through the mainstream media coverage they generate.
The four pillars of player acquisition in igaming
Blueclaw report 2017
iGB Blueclaw Player Acquisition Report 2017 _ v2. indd 4 03 / 02 / 2017 17:50