The Grand National is on the 5th April and as ever I’ve left it far too late to get pages sorted out. In part that’s because I’ve been busy doing other things, but there’s also a degree of lethargy towards the event in affiliate marketing terms. A long time ago it was easy to pick up a few betting accounts, and come Grand National day affiliates could earn more by promoting bookmakers than from lumping a few quid on the winner.

Those days are gone, at least for this affiliate. In fact I find the bookmaker arena the toughest of the gambling sectors. In theory, with The Grand National it should be easy for all affiliates to pick up some extra commission! After all, it’s a global event, everyone likes a flutter and even the most non-gambling site can add a few banners, run a discussion on who to pick or perhaps even run a sweepstake?

However, it’s not always that straightforward.

Relevant creative is an issue that crops up at this time of year. The good news is that just for once most bookies have made sure they have Grand National banners in place. There are a few minor niggles though. There are no National banners for William Hill, a text link for Ladbrokes takes us to their Cheltenham £10 bet page, and how do you get from this landing page to the Coral sportsbook if you already have an account with them?

Another problem is that most matched deposit free bet offers go out the window, so any pre-National content you’ve written promoting offers and promotions will need to be changed. Bookmakers suggest that this costs them a lot of cash and it’s now a standard feature come National day. However, what’s the betting that the likes of The Sun and The Mirror will be running “free bet for every reader” promotions, which in turn will filter through the interweb before the off!

When picking a bookie to promote for The National it’s also worth noting the merchant’s terms. For example you might only get CPA if the punter makes a £20 bet. In some instances your user might deposit say £50 and make 10 £5 bets – but because they’ve not made a single £20 bet there’s no commission for you!

One final factor which can’t be ignored this year is the ‘bingo factor’. Gala Bingo players for example can use their accounts to bet on Coral. Ladbrokes and William Hill are a bit more obvious. So you could be promoting to “already have account” users – so that means you won’t be earning anything from them!

For the bookmakers and the big sportsbook affiliates it should be a good few days, however I’m not so sure The Grand National will be as grand as it once was for other affiliates.

Perhaps the only way to make money on the race this year is to have a punt – anyone got any tips?

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