Podcast playbook for a slots affiliate site for Marco Braun

I’ve been doing affiliate coaching via Gaffg.com since about 2011. I started off with affiliate coaching panels at iGB Affiliate conferences where I magically met and connected with Duncan Garvie. I coached him with ThePOGG working on some of the SEO and design and it was one of the more successful sites I’ve been able to coach.

Now I’m angling my focus in helping a rising star in Marco Braun. I am putting him on the spot a little bit but with permission of course.  I had Marco Braun on the podcast this week to talk about affiliate coaching and see how I could possibly help him differentiate his site in a competitive affiliate landscape. Listen to the episode here.

A quick shoutout to sponsors of this newsletter:

• StatsDrone.com you know to track your affiliate stats

• FTDx.io to earn revenue from non GEO optimized traffic

• Sports betting affiliate programs list by StatsDrone

I think Marco saw one of my YouTube videos likely talking about casino affiliate tips. It was likely one of the videos I cringe when I see it as it was in my early days of starting to make YouTube videos.

Bruised ego aside, I’m putting together a quick playbook on a podcast strategy for a slots affiliate site for Marco.

My podcasting experience

I’m the host of the Affiliate BI podcast and I started my first podcast in January 2023.

My goals for the podcast simply were to make some noise in the affiliate marketing community and I think I’ve achieved that. We were the only sponsor of the podcast but if the money was needed, I could have tapped into sponsor money right away.

I’ve made over 100 podcast episodes and the only advice I have for anybody thinking about doing it is … just f****** do it. Like now!

You’ll gain immense value from doing it and my only regrets were to not have started this 10 years ago. The next best day to start is today.

Affiliate podcast objectives

What I’m suggesting for Marco’s website is to create a podcast focused on slots that can have an easier chance at being #1 in a directory. Trying to be #1 in Google for a competitive keyword is nearly off limits.

However when it comes to slots content on channels like Spotify and Apple podcasts, I can’t think of a single person that is using this medium as an affiliate for a slots site.

His ICP (ideal customer profile) can be a wide range of people:

• iGaming industry

• Slot game makers

• Operators & affiliates

• Players

Now let's go into the details of putting on a podcast.

The objectives here are simple:

1. Create quality content, consistently

2. Grow and rank a channel

3. Monetize it

Podcast vs website

Is a website better than a podcast?

His site is mytopslot.com which I think needs a very strong USP. To become a trusted global source for slots could take a long time. It requires building an immense database of slots when this already exists.

A podcast however would be instant attention.

I think a podcast is the format that can deliver more value but it just requires quality content, consistently.

A podcast is a channel that in 2025, I think will still be underserved whereas there are too many websites today.

The podcast space is growing rapidly but most podcasts don't get past 10 episodes so that is the trick is to just never stop.

Podcasts I think are better because people buy from people, and a podcast is a tool to demonstrate trust.

A podcast is personal branding on fire

You can build your personal brand on channels like LinkedIn, but not everyone can do it in the podcast format.

I mean check out The Gambling Files Podcast by Fintan Costello and Jon Bruford which is a podcast where Jon talks about Fintan's beautiful hair and high level gambling industry discussions.

Whatever they are selling, I'm buying!

If you’re reading this and need another reason to consider starting a podcast, then a podcast has the potential to set your career on fire for the rest of your life.

If you pull it off correctly, you’ll never need to ever look for a job again and you can use the media attention to launch your own business.

Monetize it

Let me go in reverse order and talk about how I think someone like Marco could try to get some sponsor money now rather than having to wait a longer time for potential affiliate revenue to come in.

Using sponsorships for your podcast

Getting initial sponsors to put up money for anything is challenging, but easier to do than trying to generate affiliate marketing revenue from almost no traffic.

Trying to do this with a new channel for a slots portal is still challenging but I don’t think it is impossible.

Leveraging scarcity for revenue

None of us need to read the book $100M Offers by Alex Hormozi to know that scarcity sells everything. Well read Alex's books anyways because it will reinforce these important concepts in sales.

If you go to any top ranking casino affiliate site, you’re going to see …. The top list!

Yes, a top list featuring top 3, top 5, top 7, top 10 or top whatever.

All the casinos wants to be the best casino featured, or the only one featured but nobody wants to be last. Everybody wants to be in position number one but that implies it will go to the highest bidder.

Now if there is no room left on the list, that only makes the potential buyer want it even more.

If you apply this concept to a podcast, I think there are a few ways of leveraging this.

You could be the only sponsor of the podcast, or you can also put that same top list concept within the podcast.

Sponsors want to be seen and heard and if you can at some point deliver some traffic and value, then you’ve made a good value prop for your sponsors. Your sponsors will also want links and ideally some means to attribute that your content is delivering value that they can measure.

What are some of the ways in which you can reward your sponsors?

Cue the inventory management

• Newsletters

• Website sponsors

• Audio sponsors (pre-roll, mid-roll or post-roll)

• Podcast cover

• Links

• Video

• Social media

You can feature a sponsor in so many ways.

If you’re dealing with one main sponsor, then in theory your logistics becomes a bit easier to manage.

If you create a top 5 or top 10 list concept, you might be able to charge smaller amounts but maybe use the mechanism of scarcity to get what you want.

Grow and rank your channel

What I’m about to write sounds simple and easy, but maybe it isn’t.

The most important work in a podcast is just showing up. Sure there are strategies about what you should name your podcast, picking the niche and the titles of every episode.

One of the things I see wrong in podcast strategies is picking a wide niche when you could have been an ultra specialist in something.

Pick a specialty and go niche. Slots might be generic for a website but when I can't find many consistent podcasters in the slots space, you got a chance to be the only one and the best.

Since I still don’t see a lot of podcasts in the slots space, this would be a perfect one to get started.

I actually think some podcast names like The Online Slots Podcast would rank for that keyword. Other names I can think of and I would of course check to see if anybody us using would be Slots Talk or something branded but could have at least one of your targeted keywords inside.

Creating quality content, consistently.

I forget where I heard this but it likely was on a podcast and isn’t an original concept.

I think I heard this expression likely on someone else’s podcast. That is about being consistent with quality content.

What I like about podcasts is that if you start doing them once a week, you’ll find a way to ensure you got the next episode ready to go.

Making great content can take some time and you’ll have to work on every aspect of your podcast.

Just remember, Pat Flynn (hey Pat, if you're reading this, wanna be on my Affiliate BI podcast?) at one point had his very first podcast on July 19, 2010. It was likely his most amateurish work but he has success today by being consistent and simply getting better over time.

I'm just grateful that a guy like Pat got started. His early podcasts I found were encouraging to convince me to think about it.

Long form vs short form content

The Affiliate BI podcasts I do are long form content that can be as short as 20 minutes and as long as 60 minutes.

I don’t always like shorter form podcast but depends on what I’m doing. A long drive makes me want a longer podcast but a shorter one is different. I do believe the younger generation is developing a shorter attention span so I think shorter podcasts will become a bit more normal.

I would treat the long form podcast like the books authors would write but even that is a rare format for content products.

Short form podcast, an alternative strategy

One short form podcast that I enjoy listening to is the AI Chat podcast by Jaeden Schafer.

His podcasts seem to be consistently 10 minutes and because they are shorter, they are going live daily.

At the time of writing, he has 4.5 rating with 271 number of reviews. I’m just sitting at 5 ratings with 5.0 rating but truthfully I’d like some more followers and ratings too.

One reason why I’d advocate for a short form podcast isn’t because I think people are having shorter attention spans but it can be a fun format.

Trying to record up to an hour long episode takes some time and even more editing time.

A short form podcast I could likely do this super quick without any real effort.

Short form can also be like a solocast and you can choose whether you want or need guests.

Podcasts are linkable assets

If you don’t have enough reasons to start a podcast channel, just remember this.

Podcasts are unique linkable assets that will have an easier time getting links than a regular website.

So why am I doubling down on Marco to create a slots podcast?

1. Marco greatly improves his own personal brand

2. A podcast has the ability to generate sponsor revenue

3. Podcasts can be cut into multiple content pieces and shared in more channels

4. This podcast will be a better linkable asset

5. A podcast can have a better chance of ranking in multiple search engines and directories

6. A podcast is a better platform where sponsors want to be featured

7. Affiliate marketing takes time to grow, a podcast is a faster ramp

Simply use the law of scarcity to get started.

You don’t need to charge a lot to get off the ground but any money is good money here. Even if you did one sponsor at $500/month or 10 sponsors at $50 to $100/month. The fact that you have a chance to get some unique content produced and money off the ground, means you’re in a better position than writing standard content.

Would 10 slot game providers pay $100/month to be featured? They probably would and they'd def give you free swag to go with it.

A media kit would still help even if there are no numbers to back things up.

The sooner you get started, the sooner you can start demonstrating traffic.

Knowing how difficult Google is today, unique content is where it is at and that includes audio and/or video.

I’d say don’t make another WordPress slots site, build a channel that people will remember where you have an easiest time being number one.

If you don't want to do all that hard work in putting a podcast together, just create some awards. I hear they are very lucrative.

Thanks again to our sponsors of this newsletter:

• StatsDrone.com you know to track your affiliate stats

• FTDx.io to earn revenue from non GEO optimized traffic

• Sports betting affiliate programs list by StatsDrone

PS remember to follow the Affiliate BI podcast and if you want to double down on helping me out, leave a rating and review wherever you listen to your podcasts.

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/affiliate-bi/id1700893670

https://open.spotify.com/show/0nTNXugQTY4Ww8JiSULeiu?si=04c555537b824327