Existential Interlude
Bill Rini — always a thoughtful commentator on the poker world — has a brief post up today about poker blogging. (You might need to scroll down to see it — I think he has some formatting funny-business happening at the moment.) Actually Bill’s post is itself a reflection on another post (to which he refers) that editorializes about affiliate programs and how difficult it is — especially now — for poker blogs to generate much income from affiliate programs.
Bill suggests that one reason why poker blogs tend not to be all that successful when it comes to affiliate programs is that people who read poker blogs often already have accounts online. “Poker blogs draw exactly the wrong type of traffic,” says Bill. “Poker blogs tend to draw in existing players . . . w♥o already have accounts on the major online poker sites.” He then goes on to say some smart things about how poker bloggers, generally speaking, are not in it for the money, but for the love of the game (and of writing about it).
When I first started Hard-Boiled Poker, I did sign up for a few affiliate programs, but never really got anywhere with them. Then the UIGEA was made law I decided I didn’t need the hassle and so hastily cancelled ’em all. There is language in the UIGEA that specifically targets websites that link to prohibited sites. Part (c) of section 5365 (“Civil remedies”) says federal agents can force internet service providers to block access to online gambling sites, as well as access to sites that link to online gambling sites.
Don’t really think we’ve much to worry about there, though. The feds have yet to identify — or explain how they will identify — which are the so-called prohibited sites. If that ever happens, then (theoretically) it will be possible to identify sites linking to those sites, though even then the ISPs won’t be obligated to do anything. Not in the same way “financial transcation providers” (i.e., banks, credit card companies, third-party vendors) will be if and when the regulations are finalized.
Anyhow, Bill’s post got me thinking about a couple of different issues. One is that question “Why keep a poker blog?” — one that’s occurred to all of us who do, and probably to some who don’t. The other is Bill’s idea regarding readership. I think he’s right that most readers of poker blogs are players, and likely a very high percentage are online players. I’m wondering how else, though, we might characterize the audience for these blogs. Who are they? And why do they read?
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Comments
Thanks, Murf! Yes, I agree most readers are players (and most of those play online). Of course, “poker” was apparently the most-searched term the last couple of years on Lycos, so I suppose there might be a significant percentage of non-players out there searching for poker-related material.
Meanwhile, these spammy comments showing up on our posts might make one believe the primary audience to be them soulless, SEO-seeking programmed sites that link to you whenever you mention “credit cards” or “gambling” or “Britney Spears” whatever key word/phrase is hot. (I actually deleted two such comments that had earlier appeared on this post, marking them as spam.)
I agree that the primary audience is online poker players.
I think most people keep poker blogs because of a way to write about their experiences/theories/opinions of poker and have some people read it and hopefully give some feedback. It’s different than a forum in that you are have more control over the direction of a discussion.
Shamus, I think your blog is really awesome! One of the best I’ve seen.