Best Tips for Designing Your Poker Website for Success

The online poker industry has been growing rapidly for the past few years. With that growth, there have been a number of new startups popping up with hopes of success. But not all of them make it. In fact, many fail within the first 3 months due to poor planning and lack of knowledge about what makes a business successful.

If you are trying to start an online poker website from scratch, be sure to keep these 10 simple tips in mind:

1. Be certain that everyone is welcome at your tables: One way that other sites have failed is by making their site too elite or only catering to one type of player. Make sure you offer good games for all types of players and don't forget about those who like to play small stakes.

2. Don't just buy a template: When choosing hosting for your website, don't just choose the cheapest or one that has a familiar name. You want to be certain that you will get fast load speeds and that it offers all of the features that you need for your site. Keep in mind some cheap sites may offer cheap tools and inferior service.

3. Make sure you have enough traffic: Poker is becoming more popular so there is no reason why anyone should pay to advertise their site. If you plan on using Google Adwords, do not expect much success because they allow too many new websites to use them free each month which cuts into your profits dramatically. With other resources like YouTube Ads, Ads and Yahoo! Search Marketing, you will need a much larger budget to see any notable increase in traffic.

Another way to drive traffic is by using affiliate programs. create a poker site & you can increase your income without having to spend money on advertising yourself.

4. Don't neglect the mobile version of your site: One of the biggest complaints that people have today with websites is that they are not mobile friendly or take too long to load on their mobile devices. It may be important for you to look into responsive website design if most of your new visitors are coming from mobile devices.

5. Take use of social media: Social media has become one of the best ways for people to find information about new products and services online. They also love sharing comments on anything new that they discover. This will make it easier for people to find your site because once one person gives you a good review, many people will come looking to see what the fuss is about.

6. Don't forget trust signals: One of the biggest reasons why average players leave your website is because they feel uncomfortable putting their money into an unknown company. Be sure to put up Trust Signals like security badges and certifications from industry leaders which will give them the peace of mind that they need in order to play at your tables.

7. Customer service is very important: Always start your business by making customer service a priority number 1. You can achieve this by offering 24/7 phone support, live chat and always responding within 48 hours. Remember that people may see your site as a scam so be sure to clear up any doubts by offering excellent customer service at all times.

8. Make it easy for players to contact you: When designing your website, be sure to include contact information such as an email address or phone number which is easy to find on every page of the website. This will allow players to ask questions, make suggestions and even complain if their issue is not resolved in a timely manner. You can also create an online form which allows them to leave feedback about the website without disclosing their personal information.

9. Find out what other sites are using: One way of speeding up the process of setting up your poker room is by copying another successful site's layout or familiarizing yourself with their unique features.

10. Don't forget about the language your site speaks: A common mistake many sites make is not to translate their website into different languages. Most of your potential players will be people who don't speak English as a first language so make sure you send them a message by providing an option for them to view your site in other languages like French, Spanish and German. If you decide to go the extra mile and include more than one language, keep in mind that having too many choices can overwhelm someone and cause them to leave before they find what they're looking for.

11. You should consider offering other games: Many online poker rooms only offer Texas Hold'em but if you want to stay competitive, you should consider adding a few other games. You can even turn one of these into a specialty game where people have to pay extra to play it which will add an extra income stream for you.

12. Don't be afraid to charge players: One of the biggest complaints that most potential players have is that they feel like they are not getting their money's worth from your website when there are no fees or promotions in place. If you want to make more money, start by charging small entry fees and poker tournaments with decent prize pools so people know they will get something back in return for their investment. Since this is a new website, it may take some time before you see a profit but once you start making money, it's easier than ever to offer even more prizes in return for entry fees.

13. Start either free or fee based: It's not recommended to start by charging both sets of players because it can be very confusing which is why most sites use one model over the other. However, if you are only able to get enough people to sign up for your site with a free option then that's okay too. You can always switch between models once you have decided upon the best direction for your company.

14. Players want many deposit options: One thing potential players want is multiple payment options especially since they don't know much about you yet. They may have already heard of Bitcoin but less popular methods like Skrill, Payeer and Neteller are also worth considering so you can provide them with all of the payment solutions they need for your site.

15. Stay away from hidden fees: Another thing potential players look for is hidden costs because nobody likes spending money without knowing that there are no other expenses involved. The best poker sites will always display their prices up front so you cannot be charged to play, even if it's just a small fee, before receiving an invoice to their email address. This ensures the person has time to cancel the transaction if they don't want it or have not yet banked enough funds into their account to do so. Those are 16 tips which will help you design your website successfully to be able to join the highly competitive online poker industry. If you follow them carefully, you should have no trouble getting more players to join your website.

Conclusion

Now that you have read through our tips, it's time to put them into practice and create a website that is sure to be successful. Keep in mind that it may take some time before your site becomes popular so don't get discouraged if you're not seeing the results you want right away. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither will your poker room empire be so just make sure you are constantly working on improving your site and adding new features for players to enjoy.