The TopRanked.io Weekly Digest: What’s Hot in Affiliate Marketing [Week 13]

Quick Disclosure: We’re about to tell you how BetUS is a great sportsbook to promote. And we really mean it. Just know that if you click on a BetUS affiliate program link (RevMasters), we may earn a small commission. Your choice.

Alright, I get it. Maybe NASCAR’s not your thing.

But no matter how much you might hate it, you can’t ignore that there are plenty of NASCAR fans out there to get revved up about it (excuse the pun).

And while you’re wayyyyy too late to the party to capitalize on this year’s season (hint, it’s already started), doesn’t mean you can’t think about it for next year.

Here’s what you need to know.

TopRanked Affiliate Program of the Week — BetUS

If we have one thing in common with NASCAR fans here at TopRanked, it’s that our minds are simple. So the moment we wrote revved up, you just know we were already thinking about RevMasters — the affiliate program behind BetUS.

And while the easy answer isn’t always the best answer, in some cases, it is.

This is one of those cases.

Promote BetUS to Make the Most of Nascar (And Every Other Sport)

NASCAR’s big in ‘merica. So if you’re gonna promote a sportsbook to NASCAR fans, you’d better make sure it takes US bettors.

And, in case it wasn’t obvious from the name, that’s where BetUS comes in.

Quite simply, BetUS is the easiest, no-compromises sportsbook for promoting to US bettors. 

As for what we mean when we say there are no compromises with BetUS, here’s what we mean:

• BetUS accepts bettors from everywhere — no need to worry about state-specific sports books.
• BetUS pays competitive commissions to its affiliates via the RevMaster affiliate program.

What more could you want?

Details? Right. Here they are.

BetUS Commissions

As for what you’ll earn with BetUS, that’s simple. The more bettors you refer to BetUS (and the more they spend), the more you’ll make. And while that’s a “how long is a piece of string” type answer, it’s accurate.

Your earnings with BetUS really are as long as a piece of string — potentially infinite.

But on a more serious note, the commission rates at BetUS are, by default, paid on a rev share basis. As for the rates, BetUS pays the following:

Net revenue	Commission
$0 – $9,999	20%
$10,000 – $14,999	25%
$15,000 – $24,999	30%
$25,000+	35%

BetUS also offers CPA to select affiliates. So, if this interests you, you’d better reach out to a BetUS affiliate manager and make your case.

Oh, and before we forget… BetUS offers a 50% commission for your first month, regardless of net revenue.

BetUS — More than Just NASCAR

Of course, BetUS isn’t limited to just NASCAR. In fact, BetUS isn’t even limited to the USA, even if its name might suggest that was the case.

In fact, it’s quicker to list where BetUS won’t accept bettors —  Netherlands (Antilles), Costa Rica, Panama, Curacao, Germany, Philippines, UK, and France.

BetUS also have a comprehensive sportsbook covering every sport you could hope for (along with plenty of news and analysis to keep the punters informed and happy).

And, last but not least, BetUS also have eSports, Keno/lottery, casino games (including live dealers), and plenty of signup bonuses to tempt people with.

They’ve also got some pretty decent affiliate support in place — the affiliate managers, dashboard, promo materials, and all the other things you could expect are top notch.

Everything Else You Need to Know about BetUS

For more details, head on over to TopRanked to see our in-depth BetUS affiliate program review.

Or, if you wanna cut straight to the chase, head here to signup as an affiliate for BetUS.

Affiliate News Takeaways

Sportsbetting in The USA

It seems that barely a week goes by without something big and exciting happening in the US sports betting market. Sure, we don’t cover half as much as we should here, but that’s mostly because a lot of the news is something that you can grok from the headlines.

For example, take this headline from SBC Americas this week — “Arizona Sports Betting Handle Enjoys Increase as $591.2M Wagered in January.”

What more needs to be said? Everywhere we look, bills are progressing, and handle is increasing.

Yes, there are some exceptions. Florida, for one, has seemingly been stuck since its brief flirtation with legal sports betting in December 2021 after it was struck down by a federal judge. 

And then there’s good ol’ sunny California, where the NIMBYs and long-haired hippies voted against it.

But, in most places, things are looking sunny.

To illustrate, this week, Kentucky just became the first state to legalize sports betting in 2023, with HB551 passing the senate last night.

And, did we mention that headline about Arizona’s sports betting handle?

We did?

Well, tell me this — have you seen how many headlines fit this exact formula? Seriously, every week there’s another “this state increased its handle by x percent” headline. And if you doubt me, check out this seach page on SBC Americas.

Takeaway

So, this one’s kind of obvious, right? Sports betting in the USA is still in massive growth. And what do we do when a market’s in massive growth?

That’s right. We make the most of it.

And while we won’t tell you how you should go about getting your blog/newsletter/whatever out there, we will tell you that you should definitely consider BetUS to monetize it.

Here’s Why You Should Be a Little Bit Scared (And What to Do about It)

In the past, we’ve been relatively optimistic about AI here. So, when Sam Altman says he’s “a little bit scared” of AI, it was easy to write off his comments. After all, what better way to hype your product?

Sensationalist clickbait?

Check.

A humblebrag about how your technology is so powerful even you don’t know how to control it?

Check.

But this week, things have been getting a little more serious. So maybe it’s time to entertain the dark side for a little. (And in case you didn’t read the title of this newsletter, this is Week 13… so what better week to do it, right?)

Let’s Entertain the Dark Side of AI, Shall We

To kick things off, there was open letter calling for a pause on “giant AI experiments” that dropped this week.

Why the letter?

You know the drill by now — AI’s a black box that we don’t understand; AI will flood information channels with propaganda and untruth… etc.

But what’s more interesting for us is that we’re also starting to see some of the big names in publishing worry about AI. An article in the New York Times published yesterday captured some of their concerns.

What’s Got Publishers Feeling a Little Bit Scared?

At first, it seems odd that big publishers are scared of AI. After all, AI brings with it the promised land of infinite AI content. Presumably, big publishers should be chomping at the bit to use their massive SEO authority to crush every little publisher who’s currently eeking out an existence by filling in the longtail void.

So what’s not to get excited about?

At first, we might think the answer is simple. It’s because these are all publishers who care about “quality over quantity.” But while it’s an article in the New York Times citing publishers like Vice and Condé Nast — all household names that theoretically have a reputation to uphold — that answer is too easy.

Where things start to get interesting is when we see some of the other names joining the “AI is a threat” debate. To give one example from the NYT article, there’s also BDG — the empire behind a bunch of “lifestyle” sites that are ripe for the sort of SEO spam AI can easily spit out.

As a case in point, one of BDG’s brands, Elite Daily, currently features a “27 Sleep Products That’ll Elevate Your Bedtime Routine” article on its front page. And that article is, quite literally, just 27 paragraphs — one per featured product. And each one of those 27 paragraphs on 27 products is full of the sort of contrived dross AI is perfect for: “It makes me so much more relaxed and zen when my bedroom smells good.”

So why not just churn out these sorts of articles by the thousands and flood the SERPs?

Well, some publishers are — BuzzFeed is the latest to join that race and got its start this month. But, theoretically, this sort of strategy could be more of a case of “make hay while the sun shines.”

To demonstrate, BDG CEO, Bryan Goldberg, said the effect of AI chatbots will be the “Wikipedia-ization” of information — what he describes as “bringing together Wikipedia-style answers to an infinite number of questions.”

Apparently, “that’s just going to nuke many corners of the open web.”

And, arguably, he’s right.

GPT-4 is already leaps and bounds ahead of GPT-3.5, so who knows what GPT-5’s got in store for us. Then throw in the addition of ChatGPT plugins, which will basically give ChatGPT access to everything, and suddenly, the future isn’t looking so bright for massive swathes of the publishing community.

Big Publishers Hold Out Hope, But What About the Little Guy?

Where things start to look a little better for publishers is when we bring in the issue of trust. Roger Lynch, CEO of Condé Nast, is optimistic. He seems to think that, as the Dead Internet Theory turns from theory into reality, people will increasingly turn towards “trusted sources.”

Then, of course, we’ve also got others capitalizing on the zeitgeist of the AI era to rehash the old “search engines should pay news publishers” trope. News Corp CEO Robert Thomson, for one, has publicly stated that tech companies should pay to use the content feeding the chatbots.

And while, this time, he may well see his wish come true, which tech company is going to start paying the average affiliate site for its content? After all, can they trust that you’re not just churning it out with your own chatbot?

Takeaway

So where does this leave the little guy, especially if things play out as painted above?

As a recap, all the above plays out like this:

• High authority sites jump on the AI bandwagon and flood every corner of the SERPs, pushing smaller publishers out.
• AI chatbots continue improving and begin replacing many corners of the web.
• People trust the web even less than they already do and retreat deep into a bubble of “trustworthy” publishers and sources.

If any of that’s halfway true, it would seem we’re soon going to be entering a time where building your own audience is going to become far more effective than holding out hope for whatever SEO dregs get left in the wake once “trustworthy” publishers and AI chatbots swallow everything else.

Now, how you go about this is going to be one of those “it depends” questions. One approach BDG took when it saw the writing on the wall two years ago was to start building an audience around things like live events. But if you’re running a smartphone review site, for example, I’m not sure how relevant live events are to you.

But there are, of course, more universal approaches, like email newsletters and premium content — something else BDG has been investing more heavily in.

But that still doesn’t solve the “where to find an audience when SEO is dead” question.

One answer to that comes next.

Can You Prove You’re Human?

A growing theme these days seems to be the idea of “proof of humanity.”

For starters, Sam Altman’s WorldCoin project got a reboot earlier this month. The basic gist is that if you get your eyeball scanned, you get added to Altman’s “verified humans” database built on shiny crypto-blockchain-web3-type tech.

Now this week, Musk has also announced that “Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.” And given the announced date comes five days ahead of his favorite unofficial national holiday (that would be 4-20), we’re inclined to believe he’s serious.

Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations.

The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle.

Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2023

Musk’s reasons for this change are simple. “This is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over. It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason.”

Takeaway

People have been pretty harsh on Musk and Altman. In Altman’s case, many call his scheme dystopian. In Musk’s case, people say he’s just delusional if he thinks people actually want to pay for Twitter.

But, if trust in what’s on the internet is about to erode even further, maybe they’re both onto something. Especially if big publishers are going to be the only source of “verifiable” information.

Ultimately, where this is probably headed is that, over time, Twitter Blue will be seen less as “paying for Twitter” and more as “paying to prove you’re human.” And maybe, just maybe, this will start becoming a highly-valuable commodity.

This then raises the question — if proof of humanity is the commodity of the future, considering it in whatever strategies you pursue next might just be worth the mental effort.

Especially if it means people are more likely to subscribe to your email newsletter.

Closing Thought

With all that dwelling on the dark side of AI, maybe it’s time to get out and enjoy the great outdoors. And what better way to do that than to start by playing a little sport?

Why’s that?

Because if you’re anything like the average go-getter putting in more hours than doctors say you should, then you’re probably not getting enough sleep.

So what’s the link between sport (well, exercise in general) and sleep?

Simple. Getting 150 minutes of moderate or intense exercise per week can offset the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

True story — the New York Times covered it, so it must be true, right?

The best part is that sport has a bunch of other benefits beyond getting fit. Here’s what our AI overlord said when asked about its benefits on mental health and wellness.

So, if you’re not squeezing in your 30 minutes a day, five days a week, maybe it’s time you did.

And who knows, maybe it’ll have some other side benefits. Maybe you’ll find your calling and, just like everyone else who finds theirs, you’ll want to make a living off of it.

Fortunately, if this happens to you, sports are easy to make money off of. All you gotta do is sign up with RevMasters and promote BetUS.

What more could you want?

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(Featured image by SevenStorm JUHASZIMRUS via Pexels)

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