Gifts for Signups Writer: Rich B

In some ways, offering gifts / kickbacks in return for people using your affiliate links is a brilliant plan.

In some ways, offering gifts / kickbacks in return for people using your affiliate links is a brilliant plan. You are guaranteed to get signups, and don't have to pay a thing for your traffic until they signup. You pass on slightly less than the site pays you, and pocket the difference. It's not a way to get rich quick, unless you're doing it on a big scale, but it is a good way to make a bit of money (and advance to higher tiers of the compensation program). On top of this, offering gifts in return for signups has become something of a grey area. The terms and conditions of some affiliate agreements outright ban it, and other affiliate managers are not always happy to discover what you are doing. Used wisely however, this can be a successful method of doing business.

Most gift for signup programs work with CPA partners. It is fairly simple for everyone involved. For example, Party Poker pay $75 for a signup. If you offer your visitors a couple of books, or a chip set, or even just $50 into their Party Poker account, for signing up through you, then you pocket $25. This plan only works if you are either willing to set up new trackers for every signup, or if there is some way of checking through the affiliate program statistics to make sure which people have signed up through you.

There are also rakeback providers (poker affiliates who signup people through an MGR program and pay the player most of the site's commission each month). However, many poker sites have started to crack down on this (under pressure from some of the more selfish large affiliates). Rakeback is a lot of work, since you need to track each player's MGR individually, but it is do-able.

Here's how I would run a gift for signup or rakeback program through Cash Mirrors (where the sites allow it).

1) Signup for all the CPA programs.

2) Hide all the non-CPA reviews.

3) Use the notes feature to explain what the kickback is.

4) Add a mailto: link to the review so players can contact you for their personalised trackers, or with their shipping details.

5) When your players are confirmed (it sometimes takes a little while, but you don't want to send gifts out willy nilly), send them their gift.

You can offer signup gifts for any site that offers CPA payment. However, one problem with this type of program is that it can result in low-quality signups (people who just play the minimum and then leave). Casinos and sportsbooks dislike this, poker sites do not. This is why there are a lot of affiliates offering this deal for poker, and very few for casinos / sportsbooks. However, if you limit yourself to the casinos and sportsbooks with the best player-retention (the big name, top-rated ones usually), or pick up a few whales, then your players will usually stick around.

One way of differentiating yourself from the pack would be to offer a gift for joining poker rooms that only offer MGR payments. You would be one of very few affiliates to be doing this. If you work out the playthrough requirements on the bonus, and your share of the MGR that produces (total rake - bonus = MGR) then you'll know what sort of price range you will be definately able to offer for the gift. Offering more than that is gambling that the site will retain the player in the future - worthwhile for any major league rooms that don't offer CPA, but it would be bit of gamble for smaller ones.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody yet offers a casino MGR-back plan (you could call it like "super-comps" or something). This could work very well (it would be variance reducing for the bonus whores, and even regular suckers might like it). But I'm not sure how the sites would appreciate it, or how much you'd make. It's just an idea.

I hope this article gives you some ideas.