With our latest Affiliate Q&A, we spoke to Jamie Rosen, Co-Founder at BetUp Media. BetUp Media operate top affiliates like FruitySlots.com and HideousSlots.com, delivering high-end SEO content to their users. With this interview, we chat about SEO for video content, the slot and casino verticals, along with the UK market.
Income Access (IA): Thanks for speaking with us Jamie! Can you tell us a bit about your background in the iGaming industry and current role with BetUp Media?
Jamie Rosen (JR): Thanks for having me! I’ve been in the iGaming industry for over 15 years now. My journey began as an Affiliate Manager in the bingo sector when online bingo first launched in the UK. After gaining valuable experience, I transitioned to becoming a bingo affiliate, which allowed me to deepen my understanding of the affiliate marketing landscape. Following that, I served as the Head of Marketing at 888sport.com, where I developed and executed comprehensive marketing strategies that significantly contributed to the brand's growth. Currently, I am the Co-Founder at BetUp Media, where I oversee the marketing of our two primary websites, FruitySlots.com and HideousSlots.com. At BetUp Media, our focus is on delivering super engaging content for our social media channels & websites.
IA: Video is becoming a more relevant part of affiliate marketing in the iGaming world. How would you suggest affiliates look to use video to improve SEO?
JR: Video content has proven to be a highly engaging medium in the world of iGaming and engagement with our audience has proven vital to our SEO efforts. Video enhances user experience and trust, and engagement signals are extremely important. We adhere to SEO best practices by creating high-quality and relevant content, which provides value to our audience and readers.
Some aspects of video SEO are often overlooked by affiliates. Like written content, videos require optimization, and content must be relevant and encourage engagement. You want your content to reach potential new subscribers as well as the ones you already have if you want to grow. Affiliates should also utilize multiple popular platforms in order to maximize reach. This means sharing video content across all of the popular social media platforms, or streaming on more than one platform at once.
IA: Streaming is a massive part of the overall iGaming industry in 2024. How does your team look to take advantage of this?
JR: We’ve fostered a large and dedicated audience in our years as streamers and can bridge the gap between consumer and product. Many slot developers maintain a rapid release schedule to maximize their presence in the ‘new slots’ section of the casino before their game is rotated out. We can effectively showcase new and old releases to create visibility and engagement. Many of our viewers base their choice of game on what they’ve seen on stream, and our ability to create that engagement is particularly powerful if we have content that shows its capabilities.
IA: Slots and casino are popular verticals in the iGaming world. Where do you see these verticals going in the future?
JR: Slots and casino games are very dynamic. In our years in the industry, we’ve witnessed significant shifts in player preferences. Modern features can receive both praise and criticism and while some ideas fail to gain traction, others become wildly popular.
Years ago, some thought that virtual reality was the future of iGaming, but so far it’s proven to be very far from the truth. Some of the most popular games today have retained the essence of the games from yesterday, so we think there are lessons to be learned in trying to balance traditional games with modern features.
The future depends on the audience's appetite for innovation, as well as regulatory changes and advancements in technology. The market also plays a role as players from different countries can prefer very different games. In the future, we think we’ll see a growing emphasis on mobile play, with a substantial increase in the popularity of online variants of popular live games, particularly in countries like America.
IA: Your team at BetUp Media operate in the UK and Ireland. What are the challenges for this market and how do you look to overcome them?
JR: The UK market is particularly challenging because of how the regulatory landscape constantly evolves. To stay compliant requires close monitoring, and sometimes we have to adapt to market changes to do so. Since HideousSlots.com has started a rankings surge since the latest Google update, it gives us options also to try different things between the sites and take learning's from each.
We have to be flexible with any marketing or content strategies that we employ, and be ready to change promptly in response to any new requirements. Part of our responsibility as a channel and website with substantial readers and viewers is to foster responsibility in our audience. To do so, we advocate only for regulated brands and raise awareness for responsible gambling tools.
To learn more and get in touch with their team, visit FruitySlots.com.
Thanks to Jamie for sitting down with us to chat. Be sure to get in touch with his team to discuss any partnerships!
