At some point I was about to launch an arcade game website of my own - once I have learnt how popular they are. Then I have realized that I know nothing about this stuff and will be not able to compete with knowledgeable site owners.

Recently I have run into a detailed and at the same time simple guide – How to run an arcade game website. In my opinion, V12Kid Wickedfire forum member and the author of this guide has covered all essential questions for arcade game website newbie’s: where to start, where and how to promote your website and how to get traffic for cheap, what works and what does not work. It is really a good start if you have any ideas to launch a website in that niche.

Being the gaming geek I am I figured why not try out a flash arcade. Reason being was some other guy claimed he was making $6k a month between 3 arcades and I was dumbfounded a flash arcade could make that much so I figured why not. After researching them I found the following vendors who sold various scripts to do the same thing but each was its own flavor.

I encourage you to visit each vendors forums if they have them and email them to see how quick support actually is.

PHParcadescript

GameSiteScript

OnArcade

FlashGameScript

ShockScript

ibproArcade

V3Arcade

the last 2 require a licensed copy of VBulletin to work and are usually add-ons to an existing forum but I have seen some arcades that use VB just to run the arcade.

Once you know what script you want to use you have to install it and get the games loaded. Each vendor has different types of offers as far as games so look at forums such as SP and DP for sellers who sell game packs that are specific to each brand. usually they are cheaper than the OEM vendors.

Ok, got the script loaded with your game packs? Now you can add your favorite PPC or ad network into the layout. I choose YPN for my arcades and just recently started experimenting with Zango so try whatever you feel comfortable with.

Ok cool, got games loaded, ads running… so you are going to make millions now!! well.. maybe not

You now noticed that your layout is the default that every other clown has on your block! One of the tricks to arcades is separating yourself from the pack. Sure there are thousands of arcades and the newer brands are cheaper so any guy that can create a sql db is starting one but you have the advantage. You had a custom skin created for your arcade!!!! Yours looks different and maybe even has come custom mods or custom games no one else has!! Get it now?

So you are here now:

- Script purchased & installed w/games
- script changed with a custom layout & mods
- custom games added or created for your site (if you can afford it)
- ads placed strategically through out site

Many people can argue that you need to get traffic first but I feel arcade traffic is broken up into several categories.

Ok so you have this incredible arcade setup. Now what?! TRAFFIC BITCHES!!!

First ill explain the type of traffic you might get.

There are 3 types of arcade traffic imo

1. users who visit and like the games and actually join so the credits don’t mean anything to them because they are members
2. users who visit and bookmark but dont join. The play and keep playing until they either get bored and don’t come back or actually sign up. This is what you need to focus on, give them enough credit to play for a while until they decide to stay or leave. All subjective
3. users who visit, play 3 games and leave never to return.

Now the issue with Credits only matters if your script even has that option for users as some of the lesser ones do not, so if you don’t then don’t even worry about it!

Traffic for me and for can come form the following sources:

1. At first your going to have to count on link/banner exchanges
2. ppc networks i.e. google, yahoo etc
3. Top Sites

and of course with proper seo you can get organic traffic eventually but not initially.

Top Sites work well only if you send them traffic so its a catch 22. ppc on 2nd and 3rd tier networks works extremely well if you pick the right ones.

I currently use or have used the following:

1. Fadclick.com
2. StumbleUpon

both provide me with quality traffic that’s targeted to my genre.

Traffic from purchased links on buy sites in the same genre work as well. I am a repeat buyer from a few sites that send good results to me each month for a fair price. The hope is to get referrals so it always helps to buy a few links a month.

The trick is to keep experimenting with advertisers, anchor text and viral attempts until something clicks. I have found myspace to be a good source of traffic for me so I spend some time with the bulletin services because the age group is right up my alley. Another technique for advanced webmasters is to throw up a Network page where you feature all your sites that you run. The nice thing about that is you can direct generic traffic to that 1 page and let people pick what they might like from your stable to visit. I don’t have a fancy one up but I through it up and sent it a crap load of bulletin traffic, believe it or not I got about 12k uniques in 2 days from this. 70% of which ended up clicking on my arcade link and the rest spread out over my other sites so it became a win-win situation. I don’t see this working if your selling insurance or credit cards but for the right age group its killer. Ill go over network sites in another topic later this week

so what have I just tried to explain?

1. Vary your anchor text until you find something that works
2. Throw the link/banner on your network homepage if you have enough to justify a network page
3. myspace! Yes it works, not for everything but def for arcades.

After some time you will start to get repeat visitors. This is in the hope that you made yourself different and advertised like a banshee. My current ratio is 88% repeats, 1.5% SE and the rest from advertising so its decent. As traffic flows the SE’s will like you more so adjust your site to reflect the changes and keywords that are being picked up and in turn being sent as visitors to you.

I look at the keywords SE’s used to find me daily and adjust my NEWS or anything relevant on the site to help highlight those keywords to feed the SE’s

Popular keywords are:

Free Online Games
Free Flash Games
Flash Games
Addicting Games
miniclip
free xxx games

I focus on a few and make sure that these keywords are featured:

1. In my Welcome message in the header area
2. In the description of my Top 10 popular games. Since these games are played the most, they are pulled by the se’s the most…well you get it
3. in my secondary areas such as registration pages, comment pages
4. on my most popular exit page. If someone is going to visit and leave within 30 seconds of the visit you might as well get credit for the hit and help feed the se your keywords

So having used these techniques and my primary goal TO BE DIFFERENT THAN ALL THE OTHER ARCADES OUT THERE! I’m sure many argue that they are all the same believe it or not to the average surfer out there it does make a difference. Most don’t know or care to understand how your script is better as long they can access their fav games and not have any delay in doing so. Looks are important, functionality, load speed all matter! So look different, act different and deliver fast to keep them coming back!

This leads me to my last point. Make sure you host the arcade on a decent platform. I would not even think about shared hosting if you plan on keeping it for a while. I have 1751 games so space and bandwidth get chewed up very quickly. The sites are php and sql based so when you get busy it will become resource intensive. I started one VPS and within 2 months had to move to a dedicated server. The nice thing is I can now move all my sites to 1 server and not worry too much about bandwidth etc.

Summary: I do not doubt that if you are in arcade game business you have really enjoyed this post and found some useful tips.

[tags]arcade games, arcade game websites, gaming websiets, online communities, forums, web forums, traffic, link bait, social bookmarking, web 2.0, domain names, archive.org, adsense, adwords, ppc, text-link-ads, links buying, myspace, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, blogs, content generation, ebay, google, make money online, work from home, home based job, duplicate content, links, earn your living online[/tags]

A few past days I was researching websites and online communities hungry for the algorithm how to make a forum successful on the Internet.

As a result, I have made a sort of program - list of steps that are likely to increase my chances to succeed with my forum ventures.

I will publish the entire list. As I use phpBB for forum software some steps are applicable to this software, but I am sure that they can be transferred to any other forum software.

The most important step is CONCEPT. How are you planning to be different from your competitors, what content or services to offer, how to make your users your forum addicts. All additional steps are supplemental if you have a great concept (wish I had at the moment) - they will be a kinf of natural continuation of your key ideas.

0. How to build a forum from scratch:

plan it – main topic,

the concept (users, compretitors, your goals, give us a reason to come and participate),

build the project (code, design, mods, content, backups!),

launch

promote

properly run it

1. Setup:

- select a skin;
- use mod_rewrite;
- page “title” meta tag = post title;
- assign forum boards (start small);
- run through the entire admin panel & make the adjustments (posts allowed to registered users, etc);
- add AdSense & CPM & integrate;
- feed recent posts to the website pages;
- don’t display or remove the memberlist.php;
- check the forum user end (registration, settings, talk, PM, sig, etc);
- monthly back-ups;
- enable Visual Confirmation from Configuration in Admin Panel;
- disallow HTML, smilies & graphic sig files;
- edit overall_footer to delete the version #;
- set of rules

Hacks - depending on your forum topic; in my case I need: attachmnets, user started threads, similar threads, community newsletter, user reputation, refer a friend, chat room. Need a list of available hacks? Check it here

Must-be sections (start with a few, increase with time if required)

Administration & updates, news and announcements

‘Specialized’ categories

Off topic

Hidden administrative area

Key elements:

Setting Up and Launching a Bulletin Board Community

Choosing and Managing Your Team

Managing Community Issues

Servers - Hosting - Software Choices

Site Security

Increasing Traffic - Attracting Members

Revenue Sources - Advertising Methods

Forum Organization and Layout

Community Review

Professional forum reviewers check (TAZ algo) – have a look at your forum as a stranger:

First Impressions
Look: Guest’s Outlook, Logos and Banners, Quantity of Forums, Advertisements, Color scheme, Themes and Styles; Rules, FAQ, and Privacy Policy; Forum Staff/Contact Points, Points of Registration; Page and Image Sizes; Favicon, Buttons, and Other Graphics
Feel: Sense of Community; Postcount and Quality; Participation Overview; Quantity and Activity of Staff; Contests, Games, and Diversions
Overall Impressions

Summary of Recommended Changes

2. Promotion & Monetization:

- use adsense heatmap for forums;
- ad rotating script;
- run weekly or monthly contests for prizes (1^st to make 100 posts, refer most new members, more samples are posted below);
- revenue sharing with hack;
- hire forum posters (ex. postonmyforum.com);
- PPC;
- add your community to forum directories. Nice list is here
- seeding;
- immediate response (mods 24/ 7);
- reward your superusers (make them mods, member of the month, etc);
- link development; follow news;
- exchange posts with other admins (direct contacts, say 5 threads & 15 replies);
- mention your forum in the signature on other forums;
- post questions, not news feeds;
- plan to post, say, 5 new threads daily (each of office staff)

Contests are considered to be one of the most efficient ways to promote your forums. Samples of contest ideas: offer 2 months free advertising on your site for the first 10 registered users, the first 3 registered members with the highest post account once your community reaches 100 members will get 6 months text link advertisement, the first 25 registered members to reach a post count of 30 will receive 1 month free banner advertisement on all forum pages. Spend 300 bucks to have 600 site-branded beer bottle openers made. Run a contest called “Mega Posts” and the first 5 people to reach 500 posts wins a t-shirt. Referral contest work well (check vBulletin hack). If any of your site has “premium” or “pay” content, an idea would be for the leading referrer overall to maintain free membership, and for each month, the member with the most active and legit referrals for a month could get a determined amount of time of free membership to the premium areas. Give away DVD’s of reality shows infrequently. The members like them. Give them an Amazon gift certificate for the amount of the DVD, so they can buy whatever they want. Ask your sponsors if they were interested in giving away anything.

3. Forum Management:

Forum content: news, articles, interviews, images, surveys, games, quizzes, downloads, tutotrials, polls, debates, reviews

Moderators forum: to bond a mini-community

Community awards, member of the month, active news and announcement section, staff structure, t-shirts

Constant e-mail communication: your post featured, offer accepted, newsletter, etc

Community newsletter – learn here (Seth Godin says those who build e-mail and feed lists will succeed in the long run)

Feature top members, forum posters, photographers, reviewers.

Reply to all suggestion and feedback.

Participation: no one-post threads

Why people contribute their content? Money (contests, prizes, giveaways), recognition (graphics, top poster list, points system), advancement (ranking system, staff), self-worth

Have a forum? Make it a community: target your audience and understand it; pick your staff carefully (must be members, knowledgeable about the topic, mature); be unique (topic, design, features); give users a way to idenity (added to CP and avatars host photos, their blogs, subdomain, feel home on your site); get users addicted; reward good members (with graphics); get out of the forum (meet in real life); special e-mail invitations, a forum newlsletter.

Member stereotypes: clueless newbie; 1337 chat speaker; post happy spammer; snakster (=always unhappy); role player (a few id’s, bad intentions); etelist regular; line skirter

How to build good staff: keep in mind the forum goal; have a list of expectations; be familiar with your members; trial period; staff must work well together

Forum moderation training kits:

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12527

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum103/81.htm

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6783

http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum103/213.htm

Moderator’s manual:

http://www.theadminzone.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=105&d=1088338022

Summary: This is a program that hopefully will give me a clue how to run successful web forums. As I have mentioned in some previous posts at this time I consider forums and social websites as two most significant alternate ways (to traditional search engines) to get traffic to your websites.

It is hard for me to imagine that there are many websites that rely on natural traffic only and do not get into trouble now and then when there are some Google changes. I primarily talk about new websites. I am quite new to this game – just over one year. All my projects have poor rankings in the search engines. The one that is doing fine and gets a relatively good amount of traffic from Google operates in some low competitive niche with low earnings.

So I have a clear target to make my projects profitable while they can hardly compete for search engine rankings with the websites that were started 5-7 years back. I see the solution in this way - as I can’t get enough traffic from search engines I should get it from other sources (yes, I consider a project successful and profitable if it gets enough visitors. For me, traffic = revenue).

[tags]online communities, forums, web forums, traffic, link bait, social bookmarking, web 2.0, domain names, archive.org, adsense, adwords, ppc, text-link-ads, links buying, myspace, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, blogs, content generation, ebay, google, make money online, work from home, home based job, duplicate content, links, earn your living online[/tags]

I have already discussed the value of social networking websites for getting links to your online projects. I also mentioned other benefits you get using this type of websites while promoting your own:

a. Traffic (it does not turn into cash at a normal rate, but you can monetize it with CPM banners)
b. Branding (your website has a good chance to get noticed)
c. One way links (natural - most valuable links that will result in a better search engine visibility of your website)

My recent experiments prove that one should spend more time to explore these social websites and opportunities they provide for online entrepreneurs. I have realized that I can get traffic, good traffic from other sources besides search engines where it is next to impossible to rank high for popular keywords if your website is new (under 2 years).

What is a social website? It is a public website where its members save their bookmarks that are (as a rule) accessible to other members. Members use keywords to tag their submissions. Other members use tags to search for the information they are interested in.

In fact, it is a new approach of organizing information that is completely different from traditional search engines (Google, Yahoo!, etc). The good news is that the social websites gain their popularity and are likely to shortly compete with Google and other SE in traffic. It makes us less dependent on Google updates and fads.

Three key elements of social websites:

- members
- tags
- URL’s

You should focus on these three elements while seeking ways to succeed with this new source of traffic.

There are new social websites that come online practically on a monthly basis. They are not equal and one can’t keep track of every new service. And I think there is no reason for that. I use the below social websites that are most popular at the present time:

- www.onlywire.com – in fact it is a service that allows you to submit your new entries in seconds to an entire number of social websites (Backflip, Blinklist, Blogmemes, del.icio.us, Feedmelinks, Furl, Linkroll, Looklater, ma.gnolia, Maple, Markaboo, Rawsugar, Shadows, Simpy, Wink). To start with, you need to open an account with every service. Later on you will be able to make submissions to all services via one interface – www.onlywire.com

- www.digg.com

- www.stumbleupon.com

- www.netscape.com

- www.shoutwire.com

- www.reddit.com

- www.coolsiteoftheday.com

There are popular sites that are specialized in particular industries (for instance, www.slashdot.org or www.fark.com). I do nt mention www.myspace.com as I have not so far explored the service to the level I would like it. I have an account and friends, but no successful promotions.

Summary: It takes me in total 10-15 minutes to add my new articles or posts to every service. The result is not always the same and as expected, but I know that I will get a few hundred visitors each day thanks to these websites solely. Plus some possible links, plus branding aspect. It is definitely worth my 10-15 minutes.

These are my first steps with social bookmarking websites and I think that my best posts are still to come. It is not a secret that you can expect 30,000-50,000 visitors per day if you really make it big with these websites. In that case you should be prepared to properly handle that volume of traffic; otherwise the website will go down.

[tags]social websites, traffic, link bait, social bookmarking, web 2.0, domain names, archive.org, adsense, adwords, ppc, text-link-ads, links buying, links selling, myspace, seo, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, blogs, content generation, ebay, google, make money online, work from home, home based job, wikipedia, del.icio.us, technorati, bloglines, duplicate content, links, earn your living online[/tags]