Costa Bingo Affiliates
Bingo can be great fun – but it’s also great business as well. Despite massive growth in the last decade, online bingo is still an industry that has potential for expansion in terms of both players and operators. In figures published through Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, online bingo was set to grow to a $1 billion dollar industry in 2010, with over 100 million players worldwide.
If you have already had experience of playing online bingo, you would have noticed a huge choice of online bingo sites out there, with more being added each and every month. As a bingo portal, we are notified of anything from 2-6 new additions to the industry on a monthly basis.
- Despite only launching in June last year, super affiliate Richard Skelhorn's Costa Bingo rode the free bingo wave to become one of the two busiest sites in the UK. He talks to eGaming Review about the shift to operator and why he believes the free bingo model will prove sustainable.
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Games are getting bigger as well, with big operators offering £100k jackpots for free; Britain’s biggest online bingo jackpot was no less than £500,000. Factor in the huge surge in online bingo slots and it’s easy to see there is plenty of cash floating around.
But this growth would not be possible without a rise in player numbers – which means that although the numbers are getting bigger in terms of winnings, the likelihood of winning is getting smaller. And what about the players who haven’t got the funds to stump up game after game? Well, that’s where bingo affiliate programs can make a real difference.
888 Purchase Costa Bingo. In the latest round of gambling purchases, 888 Holdings added – along with others – Costa Bingo to their extensive online gambling portfolio. The transaction between 888 Holdings and Jackpotjoy covers the sale of Costa Bingo, Sing Bingo, City Bingo and Fancy Bingo for a fee of £18 million. Toronto-based Intertain Group is set to acquire Costa Bingo owner Mandalay Media in a £60m deal that will see the Intercasino owners take control of a number of UK-focused bingo sites. The acquisition, which is made up of an initial cash payment of £45m with a further £15m to be paid dependent on performance, is.
The Basics
Primarily, it’s important to look the basics behind bingo affiliate programs. The following guide has plenty of hints and tips to use your bingo knowledge to create an extra income – so let’s start with the real nuts and bolts of bingo affiliates.
What is a bingo affiliate?
A bingo affiliate is a site or person that has entered into an agreement (through signing up to a ‘affiliate program’) in order to bring new players through the doors of the bingo site. In return you as the bingo affiliate are rewarded in a number of different ways, which we will cover in this article.
Affiliates are people with sites that have agreed to use their site to promote a particular operator or bingo company, such as Foxy Bingo. So, when you decide to become a bingo affiliate, an agreement is set up where both parties can take a share in the revenue made from new players.
Take your standard refer-a-friend scheme – you get someone to sign up to a site and you’ll get a little thank you present in return. The same principle applies with online bingo affiliate programs. You sign up, start promoting the site(s) and in return, you’ll receive a share of the profits when you get people visiting and interested in that site.
It’s a two way street
The idea is a simple one – but this is a two way street. The operator gets increased awareness of their site without having to put in much effort. Affiliate marketing is also a very accountable form of marketing, where an operator theoretically only has to pay when they can see the results.
And compared to something like TV ad’s, affiliates can be much more integral to the continued success of an online bingo site, particularly in an area like online bingo, where community creation and engagement is so crucial to a site’s sustained success.
Sure enough, some big brands have opened up sites that promote their websites, effectively becoming affiliates for themselves, offering their own additional games to give roomies even more added value. Take this example of Bingo Brolly – an affiliate come loyalty site set up by Cashcade, the marketing company behind some of the UK’s biggest bingo sites, including Foxy Bingo, Cheeky Bingo and Think Bingo.
Bingo Brolly acts as a hub site for selected Cashcade brands, promoting their games without running them directly.
Some affiliates have even gone on to make their own online bingo sites – with big bingo affiliates like Which Bingo starting up their own bingo games, and sites like Costa Bingo spring boarding from a bingo portal. Proof indeed, that being a bingo affiliate can become really big business.
But it’s not all just about the online bingo site.
Like we said, it’s a two way street, and affiliate programs will provide their affiliates with special links so you can measure how many new signups you created and track how many First Time Depositors (FTD’s) you encourage.
They will also provide content and much more to help you get the message out and about, be it through your site, newsletter or blog. The resources provided will allow you to create interesting content to help promote the sites, without requiring you to do too much legwork. You won’t be running the site, you just have to spread the word. If done correctly, this can earn both parties involved some serious financial rewards.
So, now you know a little more about the world of affiliates, lets take a look at how you get started.
Getting Started
Firstly, you need a platform to promote from. So that means setting up a website or a blog – any sort of online space you’ll be able to use to add content about the sites you are interested in.
Once that’s in place, your next challenge is to scout around and find the best affiliate programs out there. There are two obvious ways around this in our view:
a) Find the sites you love to play at and sign up to their affiliate schemes.
b) Find the sites that offer the best deals and revenue and sign up to their affiliate schemes.
TIP: On the homepage of all bingo sites there is usually a link called ‘affiliates’; this will lead you to the signup agreement form
a) Find the sites you love to play at
Option a) is important because you’ll need to talk a little about your bingo sties of choice – and it makes sense to talk about sites that you like.
You know that phrase “if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”?! This definitely applies in the world of affiliates. The idea is that you want to get players interested in a site, click through and sign up – so it naturally follows that you should use whatever experience you have in playing online bingo to add to that interest.
People respond to recommendations from other people – and what better recommendation than one you actually believe in!
b) Find the sites that offer the best deals
But at the same time, you need to consider what is in it for you, which is where option b) comes in.
After all, you’ll find that to make your site successful, you’ll need to put a bit of time and effort in. And there is no point wasting a lot of time and energy to pick up a disappointing payoff at the end. You can make a decent income from being an online bingo affiliate, particularly if you invest some time in your site and find the right affiliate programs that will reward you the right amount for all your hard work.
Research, research, research!
Our advice?! Take advantage of the three r’s – and in this case, that means research, research, research! Look around at online bingo sites, find their affiliate links and read up on what they have to offer you before signing up.
TIP: What we’d suggest doing is a combination of the two options, and have your cake and eat it. If you do your research, you’ll be able to find that most online bingo affiliate programs manage to combine a great site alongside a great sharing scheme.
Signing up
Once you scout around and decide on some sites and programs that you want to be part of, it’s time to sign up, verify and get on board!
Signing up isn’t too hard, with most affiliate schemes asking for a valid URL and a few details to be filled out on a simple form. You may have to wait a few days for your site to be verified by the bingo affiliate manager who manages all the affiliates and their sites. You will then need to set up payment instructions, but don’t worry, the process is quick and simple.
Take a look at the shot below of a simple affiliate sign up form for Foxy Bingo:
TIP: Sign up for newsletters available on each individual signup form. This makes keeping on top of all the latest games, prizes and winners much easier to include on your website.
Revenue Share vs. Cost Per Player options
Not all affiliate programs offer up different revenue options – but in some cases, you can choose how you generate money. This is decided through either how much the players you delivered spent, or a fixed cost per player you send. We have noticed more bingo affiliate programs are now simplifying things to help more affiliates get on board without feeling confused.
Generally, you are able to pick a method that best suits your need. As stated above, these options are:
a) Cost Per Player – a lump sums for every new player
b) Revenue Share – a % of player deposits
We’ll take a quick look at what that means for you below:
Cost Per Player – Lump Sum
When you sign up to an affiliate program, you’ll be provided with affiliate links and banners. Use these on your site to get players to click through to the bingo site in question, and voila, you’ll get a one off cash sum as a thank you. It’s the model that is most similar to the refer-a-friend scheme we talked about earlier.
Costa Bingo Affiliates Rules
The good points are that it’s easy enough to implement, and you get some instant results for your hard work. On the downside, you may find that there are only so many new sign ups you can generate – which doesn’t always give this option the most longevity.
Revenue Share – % of player deposits
The second general option is to receive a percentage of player deposits on an on-going basis. What this means is if a player signs up to a bingo site via your bingo review site and then goes on to make a deposit, you’ll receive money back for every deposit they make.
For example; if the player deposits £10, £3.50 of this could be yours. If you drive 10 players who all deposit £10 you have earned £35!
On the upside, you’ll be able to generate a more steady income. However, it’s a little trickier to convince a player to keep depositing at a bingo site – particularly when there are so many new bingo sites around offering some tempting sign up schemes.
Top tip: Sometimes, a program will offer both options, in which case, you’ve hit the jackpot and got the best of both worlds. Alternatively, to save putting all your bingo balls in one basket, you might want to consider picking and mixing across a selection of sites to maximise your options.
There’s really no right or wrong way to go about it – so just consider what will suit you better and that way, you can make an informed decision.
Promoting your site
So, here comes the real challenge – getting your opinions out and about. Like we mentioned briefly before, affiliate programs are great because they give you a lot of the content you’ll need for promotion.
Things to look out for include (but not limited to):
a) Affiliate Link URLs
b) Banners and ads
Costa Bingo
c) Promotional copy
We’ll take you through these quickly:
Affiliate Link URLs
Costa Bingo Affiliates App
These will be your own special URLs that will identify you when a user clicks on them through to your bingo site of choice. It’s the way your referrals are tracked – so if someone clicks through to a site and signs up via your URL, you will be paid for it.
Top Tip: Be sure to use these URLs when referring people, otherwise your efforts will go unnoticed – and therefore, unrewarded.
Banners and ads
Bingo sites and affiliate programs will work hard to provide some interesting looking banner ads for you to put on your site. Again, it’s another way of tracking your players, with each banner containing a link that can be measured by number of clicks – so make sure you use them appropriately.
Top Tip: try not to clutter your site with too many ads as it will ultimately annoy your readers. Remember, you normally dislike seeing a webpage chock full with ads, so make sure you offer the same environment for visitors to your site.
Promotional Copy:
If you already play online bingo, you’ll know there is a huge array of new promotions added every single day to various sites. Be sure to read newsletters and check the resources area of your affiliate program homepage, as there will be up to date information regarding new and upcoming games. It’s the perfect way to gain a little inspiration to write interesting and relevant articles, and most of the hard work is done for you anyway.
Don’t forget to make it your own!
Make sure you are offering your own opinions on stuff happening in the bingo world. This includes your own reviews of the online bingo sites you are promoting, sharing your experiences and offering up to date information that is not just a carbon copy of what is already available. You want to be able to offer players a reason for clicking from your site to another, so make sure you use whatever experience you have playing bingo to your advantage. Whether it’s funny, up to date or relevant content (or a combination of all three) – make sure you make it your own.
Top tip: be sure to think about your favourite blogs and why you love them, and adapt those principles to your own site. Maybe it’s when someone replies in the comments section, or maybe it’s through giveaways – don’t be afraid to be creative when coming up with ideas!
Need a little help?
What with its longstanding social roots, caring is definitely sharing in the online bingo world. If you’re interested in becoming a bingo affiliate and would like to find out a little more, we’re happy to help. Contact us and we can help you source out the right programs to suit your needs.
Costa Bingo Affiliates Online
And don’t forget, let us know what you think about our guide – we’d love to know!