Counter Brand Protection

Counter Brand Protection Discover how the operators are planning to reduce your earnings through brand protection and how to counter attack.

Paul Reilly - Affiliate/SEO
Founder of Media Skunk Works
14 Years SEO experience
Previously Head of Search at an NMA top 10 Search Agency
Specialist in large scale international iGaming SEO
Affiliate specialising in iGaming International markets

Nick Garner - Operator/SEO
Head of Search Unibet (5,000,000 registered customers)
13 Years SEO experience
Previously search Manager Betfair
Specialist in large scale international iGaming SEO
Interests in Social Media and 'Social proof' Marketing

"Houston - We have a problem"

Here is why....
Brand site = 50 - 60% CTR | Others = 40 - 50% CTR

Affiliates ranking for 'unibet'
It's a big problem.
50% 24% 13% 5% 2.2% 1% 0.5% 0.3% 4% It's our most important phrase and its being attacked by affiliates!

Affiliates ranking for 'bet365' And it's not just us. google.co.uk 'Bet365' Local: UK

Affiliates ranking for 'betsson' And it's not just us. google.se 'Betsson' Local: Sweden

Affiliates ranking for 'betclic' And it's not just us. google.fr 'betclic' Local: France

Affiliates ranking for 'bwin' And it's not just us. google.co.uk 'bwin' Local: UK

Here is the issue....

Back of napkin calculations
Brand x 1,000,000 queries
500,000 go elsewhere
20% are new visitors = 100,000 visitors
Conversion to funded on brand = 1%
New accounts = 1,000
The other 500,000
20% are new visitors = 100,000 visitors
Conversion to funded on brand = 0.5%
New accounts to affiliates = 500!

Fail = Operators

Win = Affiliates!

We will fight back!

So how do we fix it?
Put a business case together
Work out our spend on affiliate
Cost of SEO
Cost of sites / content
over
Reduced spend on affiliates
Reduced spend on bonuses
Increased conversion via our properties
= give me budget please!

Small catch...
SEO-ers don't usually get paid on brand conversions.
This campaign assumes more conversion on brand, therefore its hard to break out the normal brand conversion from the incremental gain....
But...you can track if they are your properties.

What will win for operators?
Social proof = greater conversions!

Reviews
Like this, but on our own properites

Editorial
This is good, but maybe
not this (see arrow)

Forums
Ideally with tracking!

Editorial
It's nice when people say good things about us !

Affiliates ranking for 'unibet'
google.co.uk
'unibet'

We do our SEO
And it's fairly easy!
Brand links are easier than i.e. 'casino'
Online PR
Revisit sites already linking - ask for more ;-)
And all the typical SEO for an industry sector like ours!

Take that affiliates!

Option 1 - Affiliates Response
Parasitic

Option 1 - Problem
Parasitic SEO positions 3rd party sites easily
Just tag, add friends, add a couple of back links
Done!
Problem
Getting conversion is difficult at best

Collaborative

Option 2 - Collaborative
As is the human body, so is the cosmic body As is the human mind, so is the cosmic mind. As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm. As is the atom, so is the universe.
- The Upanishads.

Universe

Collaboration is in our design

Quiz: Where is this?

Answer: Tahrir Square, Cairo

London Riots - Clean Up

London Riots - Ladbrokes Looting

Introducing....
#BAClink

Format....
#BAClink {products...} {territories...}

Example....

Create a twitter list or follow...
@paulreilly/BAClink

Create a twitter list or follow...
Reciprocate follows = DM

Collaborate
Reciprocate Links

Collaborate
Rank Higher

Collaborate
Any Questions

Brand Opportunity for Affiliates
Opportunity to rank for brand's name in natural search
Easy high converting traffic
Leverage the operators brand equity
Earn lifetime commissions

Brand Protection from operators
Our most important phrases are Brand
Affiliates do rank all over 1st page

Winner: Operator?
We will win because:
Big budgets
SEO team already in place
Users already want to know about 'Brand X'
We can get the best content
Google really does like brands more ;-)

Winner: Affiliate?
We will win because:
We're agile
We can collabourate
Users really want choice and value
Google cannot distinguish between brands and affiliates

http://www.nickgarner.co.uk	737
http://garner.so	6
http://www.linkedin.com	3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	2
http://ranksit.com	1
http://searchworks.eu	1

Counter Brand Protection

by Nick Garner on Sep 10, 2011

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