Future-proof your affiliate business before it's too late

It feels like the world moves faster than it used to.

What once took years or decades now takes weeks or months. Companies rise and fall. Industries collapse and new ones are born. I’m not afraid to admit it can be a little scary. For igaming affiliates, the world can be turned on its head overnight.

We all saw what happened following the roll-out of Google’s March 2024 core update. Previously successful affiliate businesses were wiped out or suffered near-deadly blows. To many, it felt arbitrary. They’d been playing by the rules, and now the rules had changed. A black swan event had ended years of hard work.

In the weeks and months following the March update, I’ve spent some time reflecting on how we, as affiliates, can better prepare ourselves for the unknown.

Reflection

When you are focused on growth, there’s not always a lot of time to sit back and think about the bigger questions. But it’s a mistake to not find some.

I’d like to share three such questions I’ve had on my mind lately, and I believe they get to the very heart of what it means to build an affiliate business that can succeed in an uncertain future.

I don’t necessarily think that you need fully formed answers to these questions, but I’d absolutely insist they should be informing how you run your business. You need to ask each one of them every time you make an important decision.

This isn’t about trying to predict what’s coming next. I’m not even sure that’s possible. Instead, it’s about building in a way that means you are ready for whatever this wild industry throws at you.

Are you delivering real value to your audience?

This can be a tough question to ask yourself. Instinctively, we all like to think we’re moving the needle and offering something genuinely worthwhile.

The reality is that, in the affiliate business, there have always been ways to profit without adding a great deal of value. Topping a lucrative keyword search is often enough, regardless of what you deliver to those who click through.

But in light of March, and Google’s wider commitment to prioritising quality content, we don't see a long-term future in this kind of thinking.

Let me give you one example. We acquired PokerListings a few months ago. It’s obviously a legendary asset, but its popularity was on the decline.

The old ways were becoming less and less relevant to the modern world. We talked to a lot of poker players, and they simply weren’t interested in template reviews, lists and site comparisons.

They weren’t engaging with the content with any depth, even if some were still clicking where they were told to click.

We wanted to think beyond the usual review portal template, with a greater focus on entertaining video, in-depth content and community building.

We’re only a few months into the revamp, but video is excelling, we’ve successfully launched into new geographies, and the PokerListings audience is once again excited to see what we’ve got to offer.

Of course, that reflects in the quality of traffic we can send to our partners. It's a win-win-win scenario for everyone involved.

Are you using technology to improve your product?

The affiliate industry has talked a big game on tech for as long as I can remember. I’d argue, perhaps controversially, that the reality has all too often been underwhelming.

That’s not a criticism. It’s really tough to innovate in meaningful ways. Going all in on new tech can be a dangerous distraction from your core mission. As a result, we often see technology used to plug gaps rather than move forward with purpose.

AI is a nice case study. For a few years now, lots of affiliates have used it to churn out low-quality, generic content in great volumes. Some paid a heavy price for this back in March.

For me, this is missing the point. AI is so exciting because it lets us serve groups of users with a far more personalised approach. It should be supporting your writers to create even better content, not replacing them altogether.

New technology isn’t just about finding shortcuts and making our lives easier. Yes, it can do that, but I firmly believe the affiliates that succeed in the future will be using it in far more creative ways.

What does brand mean to you and your audience?

I don’t hear many affiliates talk about retention. ‘That’s the operator’s job,’ is the usual response when I bring it up.

Operators worked out a long time ago that acquiring a new user is tough. When you do, you need a plan to keep them around.

Affiliates should be thinking in the same way. But that’s not easy and requires a completely new way of thinking about the role of an affiliate. We can’t just be an on-ramp or off-ramp for traffic. We need to build brands that not only resonate but engage and add value.

At Already Media, we’re a couple of years down the road on this, but I’d be lying if I said we have it completely figured out.

We are, however, finding success by combining creative brands with great content and the opportunity for audiences to interact and form communities around our assets.

For me, this is a glimpse into the future of igaming affiliation and we’re ready for whatever comes next.