This post is mostly for new gambling webmasters. So one of the first questions that a new gambling Webmaster faces is what publishing platform to use for his new site, is it WordPress or HTML. Like when you have a blank sheet of paper at the beginning of an exam, the question is how do you get started.
In particular let’s assume you have only a small budget or no budget at all. This is the beauty of Internet marketing where some of the best poker or casino affiliates have made millions from an initial budget of $100. But we are getting ahead of ourselves here!
We can say that there is only a short list of such platforms that affiliates can use: WordPress, HTML, PHP, Joomla or a custom CMS. So let’s get started by summarizing these products from simpler to more complex:
Using HTML/PHP
HMTL is the markup language for web pages, i.e. what Internet pages are made of. This is the most basic type of coding you can make and this is what browsers know to read. PHP is the next step. It is a scripting language very similar to HTML, and the major difference is that pure HTML itself generates static pages, whereas PHP enables you to create dynamic pages. This is like to say that the page itself can have variations depending on factors or inputs, a little bit like the value of a function varies depending on its parameters. We can put other scripting languages like JavaScript in the same bag, as they also enable dynamic page generation. A simple illustration of a dynamic page is a page that always shows today’s date by itself, whatever the day.
What about WordPress or Joomla
The three other platforms mentioned earlier are the next level products, where these advanced software can generate a complete blog or casino website with just a few clicks of the mouse (plus your content). WordPress is the dominant blogging platform used by the majority of Internet marketers, based on PHP and MySQL (for the database side). Joomla is also a similar PHP/MySQP product but it is a bit harder to use and it is less popular than WP in gambling circles. Finally a custom-made CMS means that you have hired a programmer to write your own platform CMS (content management system), like your own version of WordPress so to speak.
For the rest of this post we are going to mostly talk about WordPress or HTML. PHP can be seen as an extension of HML, where you still have to code manually. Joomla is less used than wordpress and to be honest custom CMS are only for the top affiliates with a large budget. So we finally reach the crux of this post: should you use HTML or WordPress? And there is no answer to that question as we can only give you some hints.
There was recently a gambling Webmaster who posted at pokeraffiliatelistings.com that he considered opening a restaurant and he wanted some advice about that. Someone said you have to know how to do everything, like cooking, waiting, decorating, etc if you want to succeed at it. And the same can be said of online marketing, where you should know something about coding, writing, designing, etc. Therefore you should know how to get your hands greasy to fix the engine, in other words you should understand HTML, preferably by having designed a few gambling websites in it.
Additional Aspects
In addition there are many advantages of understanding HTML. For instance it is easy to make changes to a WordPress theme when you know HTML or PHP. Also you can type Ctrl U on any web page (which brings the code) and this will make sense to you. This gives you a better understanding of the Web in general. Coding a site in HTML/PHP gives you full control of whatever you want to achieve. On the other hand anytime you use an existing WordPress theme, you will have to abide by the specific rules of this theme, which limit your flexibility. Also by using one of the popular WordPress themes your site may look like any other poker site, whilst if you make the design yourself you can opt for something more memorable.
Of course some webmasters will not agree with the above as many gambling affiliates do not know how to code in HTML and still make a lot of money. So you do not have to know coding inside out to be successful. It is a matter of personal taste, coding is probably for people who are a bit more tech savvy and who like the more technical aspects. But the rewards of understanding the structure of a website are certainly worth the effort if you have the inclination for it. Finally the cost of HTML is zero versus up to $1000 for a nicely designed WordPress site. So HTML coding will save you money at the beginning, that is a fact.
The following is a guest post from Paul at UngarPoker.com
