For those who do gaming sites...

Back when I started my first gaming website, I remember constantly submitting my content to places like shacknews, blue's news, etc. These got my site a LOT of traffic and good backlinks.

However, I forgot the URL to this website where you fill out a form and it submits the articles to a bunch of these gaming news websites at once.

If anyone here knows the link, please share it! Thanks a lot.

 

Sorry, I don't know the answer to your question, but I have one of my own. I'm planning on launching a video game related website too so I'm interested in the profitability of the niche. What are the cpm and cpc rates for adsense or such on a gaming site? What are the best methods of making money on a game site besides adsense? How many visitors per month did you have by the time your site started earning decent money?

Sorry for all the questions, considering you have your own but I'm doing a lot of research before launching the site and it's hard to find any game site specific information on dp.

Btw, if you don't mind can you pm me a link to your site?

 

Are you planning to run a general video game website (more than one game and/or console) or a fansite about one game?

Back when I had a successful general video game website (5 years ago), there was no AdSense so I relied on things like affiliate programs. I think I was getting around 1000 uniques per day at this point when I made decent profit.

Right now, I'm just creating websites for a single game (click on the first link in my sig for an example) since these are less saturated and can get a more loyal fanbase.

I can't get really give you any more info unless I know more about your site. I can give you tips on getting traffic to gaming sites if you want.

 

I run http://enterbf3.com only been running since early '08. However I would like that link you are talking about too .

 

Thanks for the reply!

I'm planning on launching a general game site covering all systems. However because I will managing the website alone and for bandwidth purposes as well I will be doing only previews and reviews on highly anticipated titles as well as providing up to date news and some other features. I do have a plan as to how I will differentiate my site vs. giant established sites such as Kotaku or Gamespot and I also am a very active and to a degree known forum poster on several major video game forums so I think I will be able to grab a large enough slice of the pie to make a decent income -though of course the road is long, but I'm not jumping into blind I'm making thorough plans and conducting a lot of research before launching the site. I'm planning on making a living off being a webmaster and I chose a gaming site as a start because its a subject I know a LOT about.

Anyway, I'm planning on doing most of my advertising off of forums I post on because I know that will drive decent traffic to my site in the first few weeks via good content but I don't have any other ideas for promoting the site to a larger audience. I checked shacknews, but I didn't see any user submitted content. Where is it? How did you get your game site "out there"?

I checked out the site you have now, looks good and its a great idea getting into a non over saturated niche. I assume the ad's on your site via adsense are pretty much the same as one would get running a general gaming site. Do you get paid per impression or click? And how good does adsense pay cpm?

I'm just trying to figure out alternatives to marketing the site via forums so I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket so I can feel more secure about it taking off since I'm putting my own change into it. But I'm also spending a lot of time brainstorming on how to differentiate myself and make my site worth visiting over say kotaku. It's a risk launching in such a saturated niche for sure, that's why I want to draw up a really thorough plan before doing it as to how I will approach this.

Thanks so much for reading and replying, I'm really new at this webmaster thing so I can take all the advice I can get!

 

Hi there - I started a site on video games not long ago - full template and dynamic code built in house - the lot. However when it came to content i soon realised to keep up with the big boys and write original stuff is literally impossible with a one man band. Since i've gone onto other things. PM me if you want to talk more.

 

You're really going in the right direction. Planning is the key to building a successful site. It's pretty much the key to being successful in anything. I'm glad you're spending a lot of time focusing on how to differentiate yourself because general gaming is definitely a super saturated topic. I remember spending months just planning my gaming site, jotting all my notes on paper, and rereading and revising it everyday. I kept trying to add new features that would make my site distinct, but not too many features to make a user feel lost. Another thing to remember is that the later you make mistakes, the costlier they get.

In regards to marketing, I wouldn't worry too much about relying solely on forum signatures to start out. It's pretty much the only thing I'm doing right now. With sigs on just 2 gaming forums, I've begun to generate a decent amount of visitors per day (100-300) and my forums are beginning to have a loyal fanbase. That is what I'm mainly focusing on: building a strong and functional community. These are the people who will check your site every day.

Another thing I'm working on is to just fix up my code so that it's more SEO friendly. I just did basic things like putting keywords into the <title>. I guess it's working since I'm starting to get some traffic from Google and Yahoo.

Once you start writing your content, sites like Shack News and Blue's News will get you massive traffic. These may die off quickly (basically massive traffic spikes) but it will create strong backlinks which will bump up your site in search engines. Also if you really quality content, users may even stick around for a long time. Content is definitely king. Just try to find the 'submit news' link on those sites (i.e. at Shack News, the link is right on the footer).

As you noticed, I'm currently using AdSense on my site. It pays for both page impressions and click throughs. My rates are pretty low right now, maybe $0.20 per 5 clicks and not much for impressions. I guess it has to do with how saturated this market is, and the fact that my site isn't getting a lot of traffic. It is starting to generate a few dollars a day though, which I think is good progress. For a general website like yours, I highly suggest you sign up for affiliate programs like Amazon as well. On your game page, you can display a link that allows users to buy the game. This really works wonders from past experience - they read your article, they like what they see, and they buy the game!

To sum up, I would focus on these 3 things: differentiation, content, and building a strong community.

P.S. I'm really interested in how your site goes so keep me updated!

 

I also have gaming site, i can offer you some deal.

Like you write good article on my site and inside that article you can use picture with link to your website together with links to your gaming site.

my site is www.greatplaygames.com and its right now around 800 unique visitors per day.

 

Thanks for the info I was thinking about starting a cs source clan.

 

I publish permanent articles on www.zoopgames.com for a one of fee.

As in saying creating a site can you compete with the big boys if we are talking about other free online arcade and flash games sites I would say yes.

I am doing ok, if you have good serps rankings for specific keywords, you will always do well.

 

I also have a gaming website, and would like the link. I hope someone remembers it. Thanks.

 

I have a gaming site that I am just now releasing, whether it's got original content, it's big, or it's just like every other gaming site you come across I'm not sure. I'm always more critical of what I have than that of others. It's up and operational, and drastic improvements are on the way to make it more monetized as well as make it more game designer friendly.
If you would like to take a look at it and give me any constructive help I'd appreciate it at thegamerslink.com. I think I have a decent domain name for it?
I don't see how I could market with articles though? I mean what, make articles about the grand opening of a gaming site? Perhaps make articles for new games released if I get publishers to start giving me their games?
But definitely any ways of ethically marketing is always a desired source of information.

 

Thanks! I'll be sure to keep you updated.
BTW, I just made another thread with a question on video game websites, I'll also paste the question here incase you have any idea.

Most established video game websites have connections with game publishers that send the reviewers a copy of their newest games for the purpose of review before it launches to the general public.

As I'm only launching my site I don't expect to have those sort of links yet, but I'm interested in how these gaming sites establish these connections with the publishers to recieve a copy of their games before general release.

If you have a popular video game website do you contact the game publishers yourself to establish some sort of relationship and request early copies of their games for review or how does this work?

Anyway, linking that to your suggestion of signing up for affiliate programs like Amazon's, I think it would be a good strategy if I had an Amazon link of particular games with each review I write -It would be a relevant advertisement targeting the audiance that is reading my review on that same game and it would probably generate more purchases and click throughs than if I just advertised a random game on my website on random pages. Of course it would be greatly helpful in that case if I could establish such early connections with publishers to recieve and review their games prior to mass release. What do you think?

BTW, does adsense pay for both impressions and click throughs? I got the impression from people on DP that adsense paid only for click throughs, though maybe it only seemed that way because the amount one makes through impressions is very small. Also do you get paid per impression only if the impression is a unique impression or do you get paid per page view which would multiply your cpm?

Yeah, you're right that the most crucial factors of whether I have any success or not is based on how original I can be and how much I can differentiate my site from the BIG'S while still being a good choice for general video game related questions. I don't want to rush it as I'd cost a lot more to make concessions later on once I have my website up and running already than jumping in with everything planned out. Of course I'm also trying to find ways in which to decrease my workload while simultaniously increasing content (guest posts, etc) which would allow me to focus on other more unstable parts of my site or marketing.

BTW, if there's any new Battlefields game coming out in the future I'll be sure to link to your website in my review!

 

If you are talking about people who create flash games, once you are established people will contact you everyday with new flash games they have created and they give you the oppurtunity to sponser their game, e.g. put your logo on the intro.

I get about 3 requests by email to publish peoples games everyday. I think all of the game publishers share arcade webmasters email addresses.

 

Establishing good relationships with game companies is definitely something you should look into. A great site to find PR contacts for pretty much all companies is http://www.gamespress.com/. Not only does this site have e-mails for pretty much all gaming companies but also decent assets for your website (screens, press releases, etc.) Obtaining assets is definitely a lot more difficult for newer websites so that website is a great resource for sites just starting out.

Although it's difficult to receive assets like free games at the early stages, I'd still try to contact PR by writing up a nice formal letter, personalizing it a bit, and sending it out to as many companies as possible. I've heard that calling up a company will have better results than e-mail which makes sense since they know you're more serious about it. You never know, some companies have great PR people and might be supportive of your new site.

Don't quote me on this but I think you're right about the impressions. It probably does pay (I can't think of any other reason why Google reports it) but very little so most people make money from clickthroughs.

Good luck on your site, and thanks for the support!

 

Wow, That website is a GREAT resource, thank you so much for sharing it with me, it will definitely be of huge help for managing my site!

BTW, I'm pretty much at the end of the planning stage now so I'm looking for a good web designer to realize the website for me as I have no web design skills. I've been contacting quite a few of them and reviewing them, but again, I don't want to make a hasty decision I might later regret. Can you recommend any good freelancers or design studio's for me?

Anyway, I'll bookmark this thread and PM you once I have everything up and running! You've been of huge help, so once again, thank you!

 

I can't really recommend you anyone since I'm a webdesigner and designed all my sites.

 

BTW, have you found that site that submits game articles to several game websites all at once? I've done some searching but couldn't find it through google.

 

Not yet, but I'll post here when I do.

 

good info here and a LOT of reading. waiting for the links however.