10/23/09
New Project – Free Bingo Cards
I’ve been thinking about starting a new affiliate project for a while now – not really with the aim of making a huge amount of cash out of it (though I can always live in hope), but more because I haven’t built anything new for a while and feel it’s about time to do so – like many others I enjoy the buzz of seeing those earnings come through from a new site for the first time which is reason enough.
So I’ve dug out a domain I purchased a while ago – FreeBingoCards.org.uk. I’ve found in the past that .org.uk domains have ranked quite well; especially on MSN but it’s obviously a hugely competitive space.
The first stage when I start a new site is generally to brainstorm a few ideas on how I want the site to work, so here goes:
- Data capture will be an important part of the site, including the opt-in process so that I can market to these email addresses with offers in the future.
- After a user has signed up I’ll put together an auto-mail path – so I’ll get creative from a number of bingo sites and send a different email each week. Gathering the email creative may take a while!
- Need to make a decision on if I use a CMS like Drupal for the site, or just build it in flat HTML… still undecided on this.
- After I’ve put the main template together, I’ll start by reviewing the top 10 bingo merchants based on their Hitwise or Alexa rankings.
The next step is going to be to put together a calendar with some deadlines of when I want each stage of the site finished – I often find that this helps with making sure that I stay on track with the timelines and can plan it around the kids parties and the TV schedule!
I’ll look to do at least one post a week on the blog with an update on this project until it’s live and then keep the updates going once I’ve started the link building and traffic generation.
Suggestions and feedback are always welcome!
Tags: Affiliates, Bingo, Free, new, Projects
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Its all about project planning.
Map it all out, give everything a deadline and stick to them as best you can.
Project Management is soooooo easy and yet everyone runs scared from it, its basically just a gloryfied task list. If you can get hold of MS Project or a free alternative it will help you keep track and stay on target of each stage of the project.
Get it all down on paper first and the rest will follow.
Ste
p.s. We have to do beers soon man, its been forever.
Do you fancy some sort of challenge? It might give me a kick up the backside to get my own bingo project sorted out!
Hmmm, I think you’ll kick my arse Stephen, but I’m up for the challenge all the same…
Shall we name some terms?
Agree about getting each task mapped out and given a deadline. I always do this when starting a new site – on paper – and also to divide out my time on adding content to existing sites.
Good luck with the new site!
The sooner you get cracking the better, there are lots of people trying to get into this market now.
Start thinking about SEO/PPC , that’s the source for getting the email database built up and again, the space is hugely competetive now so there’s no time like the present, don’t think too much about tasks, just getting something live then mould it gradually.
Hello mate,
Nice to see your finally getting on the bingo gravy train. Interesting read about GetResponse, may have to look into that for myself, used to use constantcontact a while ago and then binned them. Just use feedburner at the mo, but need a proper email marketing solution.
Anyhoo, happy new year buddy. Will shout you in a week or two as up in london for gambling con. You going ?
Cheers
Hambo