What Gaming Sites Can Teach You

If you’ve ever wanted to monetize the traffic on your web site or blog, I’m sure you’ve had quite a few questions.

Depending on the niche you are in it can be quite the task. Here are some quick questions you can ask yourself before trying to monetize your own traffic.

  • Why are people coming to your site?
  • What information are they looking for?
  • Are they already in a buying mode?
  • Will advertising interrupt their site experience?

If you don’t know the answer to some of these questions, then you need to spend some time to better understand your site and your traffic.

The online gaming niche is one of the most competitive markets there is and they are spending a ton of money to get people to their sites. Even though it’s competitive… it’s also one of the most exciting! Remember when John wrote about one of his readers placing $2,500 on one black jack hand! The thrills of gambling and betting will always be exciting, no matter who your target audience is and where they are in the world.

It doesn’t matter if you are currently in the only gaming space or strictly focused on blogging… then basic rules are the same and it’s all about engaging your audience to take action once they get to your site.

In this post we are going to take a look at five different slots sites and landing pages to see how they are engaging with their site visitors once people hit the site. Not all of the sites have the same monetization in place, but they do want all of their users to take immediate action and sign up to gaming related offer on their site.

Slots

Slots.co.uk

The main goal of slots.co.uk is to be a gaming based rating site that allows users to sign up to different online casinos and receive bonuses at the time of sign up. The rating site would then earn a commission on each referred sale. Right at the top of the site they have a brandable logo and a top bonuses list, which is what the majority of their users are looking for.

The takeaway: Overall it’s a good site design as they limit the fluff and only provide valuable content for the site visitor while also monetizing nearly every section of the site.

Slots4

SlotsandGames.com

While this site has a very nice design and look to it, once you get to the site and actually use it, it’s kind of annoying as it spawns a lot of new windows and requires additional sign up and loads games in flash windows. It’s not a huge concern, but when you are trying to engage with your audience in such a competitive niche, every second counts.

Another area for improvement is the navigation on the site. Instead of listing “rewards”, “promotions” etc in the menu tabs where it’s hidden, the benefits should be written out clearly on the main page and right in the face of new visitors to their site.

The takeaway: Great site design, but the overall monetization and user interactivity is lacking.

Slots3

LatestCasinoBonuses.com

When you look at the screenshot above and compare it to the previous two designs, you will probably find this one quite boring. Unless you know that this site has exactly what you are looking for, I would imagine it has quite the bounce rate. There is simply too much text and options for the person to take, instead of taking action and joining games on the site and signing up to their referrals.

The takeaway: Limit your distractions and focus on providing your site visitors with the content they are looking for… but don’t bore them in process.

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Slots.org

To finish up the list, Slots.org has a great domain name and a brandable logo for the site. The navigation on the site is cleat and they have the top ranked casinos listed right on the site. Overall this is an excellent landing page for a site that is going to get hit with a lot of traffic that are searching for “slots”.

The takeaway: Create a web site or landing page that is easy to navigate, yet also focuses on the main monetizing of your site (which is the top ranked casinos in this example).

How Can You Apply These Tips to Your Blogging Site?

As mentioned earlier, you don’t need to be in the gaming or casino space to be able to learn from their landing pages and site designs.

Just as many of you have blogs that are focused on wordpress and blogging tips, many of you are also trying to promote premium wordpress plugins, web hosting and other services.

Are you providing your blog visitors with the best navigation and sending them to your blog posts that have monetization in place… or are strictly just for content?

Knowing exactly how users react when they are on your site is one of the best ways to go from “just another blog” to the ultimate sales machine.