Influx of “gambling affiliates” into “mainsteam” affiliate marketing
The recent clamp down on online gambling sites in the US with strict legislation has these sites and savvy affiliate marketers (who have raked in some serious moolah marketing these sites) scurrying for cover. All of a sudden, their businesses have been jolted and the implications could be pretty serious.
An article on ClickZ predicts that the implications can infact be quite serious for “mainstream” affiliate marketers, as those specialized in promoting gambling sites look at alternatives. A similar sentiment was expressed elsewhere as well; something which I find a bit irritating, because the message that comes across from these articles is that these “gambling affiliates” (I don’t quite like the stereotyping either) will simply roll over the other affiliates with their knowledge and expertise.
True, affiliate marketers in the gambling or the adult content (read porn) space have a reputation for being at the cutting edge of online marketing– they seem to know how to “game” the systems to attract customers and generate revenues. But to be honest, I don’t think mainstream affiliate marketers today really lag behind– they know their domains, the techonology and the application of marketing strategies and technologies as well as anybody else. This is not to say that we cannot learn anything from these domains– there’s certainly a lot we could, but to think that these folks will have a cakewalk when they enter the mainstream niches is grossly underestimating the expertise of mainstream affiliates who have carved a niche for themselves.
P.S: With regulations in place in the US, I wonder what kind of changes are in store for the online gambling industry in the UK, or Europe for that matter. Would it be long before we can expect to see greater controls on this industry in our part of the world as well?
