Good idea or waste of time SportsBetting related

[Stocks]

Hey guys

I got a sports betting site and on my sports picks page here I decided to add my own sports picks everyday as its something I'm pretty good at instead of advertising handicappers that sell picks through they're affiliate programs.

First do you think this will help much with having visitors comming back everyday which is what I'm hoping on of course and convert into a few exrta sportsbook signups and help when I eventually add a forum to the site.

Or am I leaving out a good revenue source not advertising for paid picks. I dont know if anybody here got a sports betting site and do advertise paid picks do you actually make much or anything from it.

Thanks

[DealerDan]

The thing is - everyone offers free tips on sites(including me!). It could be something that is more trouble than its worth for you. The time it takes you to analyze games etc and then update the page probably isn't worth the conversions you'd get considering the site. I think if doing tips it'd be best to create a whole separate site for that, and just do advertising for paid picks which can work out pretty well.

In regard to posting free tips, just creating a site and listing tips doesn't work out that well, mainly because a lot of gamblers have short-term views, so as soon as you get a losing tip or two they immediately leave. The route I'd go is start posting tips on a bunch of public forums(no link to your site or anything). Once you've proven(over a course of at least six months) that you're able to pick winners, you should be starting to create a loyal following, and can start a site then, directing them to it, getting newsletter subs etc etc, signups etc, and ideally if you're proven to be a winner, moving onto a subscription based service. It's a long, oversaturated road though, unless you can pick some niche sports(like I did with WNBA). Wouldn't surprise me in the least if the majority of handicappers who offer paid sub services use black hat seo.

Also if you're offering free tips, you really have to build a loyal following because trust is very big there. You can actually do paid tips and get more interest, because the average gambler thinks they can trust you more if you're charging for the tips.

BTW if you do it, you have to tell people where to bet. Posting the tip and line isn't enough, you gotta tell them the best place to bet, which is of course via your affiliate link

[Stocks]

Thanks for the info Dan.

About analyzing games I'm going to do that anyway if I post them or not as I'm betting these games myself anway.

And as for actually selling my picks in the future I've got no interest in that at all. I looked at it as just being able to offer something extra on my site.

But I do like the idea about adding a link to where to bet them at thats a good idea thanks.

[DealerDan]

Ah - well in that case, I'd look into having a different page every day where the tips are explained(even just linked off that one page) via your analysis, for more unique content. Also I'd do RSS Feed/Mailing list specifically for the tips too, as it's what a large amount of visitors will be interested in.

[PokerProp]

Stocks I lost energy doing this and stopped doing it, but the work I did ended up paying off. It was just much later that it did so.
I was on a hot streak and not only did I do full write ups on NFL and College football games I was around to discuss which way I'd lean, break downs, point out mistakes, call people morons, answer general knowledge questions etc.
I got a ton of back links from forums and the site was doing over 3K uniques on days leading up to football weekends. It would die down on tuesdays but was still a bunch of traffic.

I did a lot of PR like stunts to increase traffic such as challenging touts on forums and guaranteeing I could make people more money for free etc.

Also in my write ups I'd include what different touts were on and why they're making a bad bet.

Edit: BTW the players generated then are still making money for me today so it did end up being worth it. It took a while, but seeing the results now make me wish I hadn't lost interest so soon on the site.

I kept my records logged of win losses and got lots of repeat visits.

In the end, I got to know a bunch of visitors and they'd ask questions about particular sportsbooks etc. The site was sticky with high repeat visitors so when I'd post a promo or special offer etc people would jump on board. It helped that a lot of the visitors were interactive and knew I was always honest. I'd tell them problems, what was happening at different books, when to get out money etc.

Once that season ended a ton of sportsbooks got out of the US business and many of those that stayed went to hell. I think it could still work, but after a while I just got burned out with the site. I was confident I could turn it into a six figure earner but needed partners on it and kinda just let it go. I might revive it at some point.