In this week’s article we will preview the NHL playoffs and how to best target Canadian traffic. The playoffs are quick approaching, pucks drop April 13th , times is running out to get your hockey material up. Canadians contribute $13.75 billion dollars a year in net gambling revenue at land based casinos and generate millions in revenue online.

Canadians love their hockey, a game that is said to have built the countries heritage. This April will be like any other year as all of Canada watches to see who will become this year’s Stanley Cup champions. During this time we see hockey betting provide a huge boost at the sportsbooks. Canadians like to gamble, the gambling industry in Canada is larger than the magazine, book, spectator sport, movie theatre and performing arts combined.

Across the border in the United States the NHL playoffs are overshadowed by the NBA playoffs, Americans have never had much on an interest in the NHL including affiliates. The NHL is a very less competitive niche and ranking can be done much easier in NHL playoffs than for the NBA but search numbers are less respectively.

The NHL is a Canadian dominated market but there are still plenty of fish to go for from America. So when choosing a brand to promote it is good to think in mind of Canadian Traffic. Living in the fine country of Canada, I have an inside scoop on what sportsbook convert well. Currently Bodog is trying to make their self dominant in the country; they have been putting millions into advertisement with ads on every sports radio and T.V station in Canada as well as advertisements at spectator sports and billboards. I believe offline advertisements only helps affiliates convert online building trust with their offline campaigns. SportsInteraction has always been a preferred sportsbook in Canada with their head office located on Canadian soil. Betonline, sportsbook.com and bet365 round up the top 5 sportsbooks in Canada, an additional tip is not to promote BetUS to Canadian as they are restricted to register, although BetUS is very active in NHL betting and have excellent promotional banners. BetUS would be one of the best sportsbooks to promote to U.S hockey bettors.

This year’s playoffs only consist of two Canadian teams; Vancouver and Montreal, all the matchups can be seen below;
Eastern conference

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers vs Buffalo Sabres
Boston Bruins vs Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference
Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks
San Jose Sharks vs Los Angeles Kings
Detroit Red Wings vs Phoenix Coyotes
Anaheim Ducks vs Nashville Predators

In this article we will talk horses as we work our way towards the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Every country has their own triple crown, which is considered the greatest accomplishment of a thoroughbred racehorse. We will focus on the U.S Triple Crown as it is the most bet on and has the largest audience. Targeting the Triple Crown events of other countries is by no means a waste of time. Every Triple Crown is a major event in their respective countries. Each of the following countries has their own triple crown;

United States
United Kingdom
Ireland
Australia
Germany
Canada
Japan
Hong Kong
Macau
Chile
Puerto Rico
Uruguay
Ecuador
Venezuela

With Billions of dollars wagered on these events annually, it’s one of summer’s gifts to the sports betting world. Thoroughbred horse racing has always been popular in the United States. The three races consist of the 137th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday May 7, the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes is set for Saturday, May 21 and the 143rd running of Belmont Stakes will be held at Belmont Park on Saturday, June 11. All of these races will be televised notionally on NBC and worldwide. When people think horse racing betting is the next thought in their head. Betting has always been a part of horse racing and the Triple Crown is the Super Bowl of horse racing. Online Sportsbooks have already published their promos for the Triple Crown. You can find Kentucky Derby banners already posted at many affiliate programs; there is no better time than now to start promoting for the first big race!

Triple Crown Keyword ideas

Winning all three races is a rare occurrence and has not happened in the U.S since 1978 and each year this topic creates a popular prop bet made by thousands. “Will a horse win all three Triple Crown races?” Payouts are quite large but from history results it is not an impossible feat. Prop bets are a highly searched topic with very little competition, adding some prop bet content to your sites could add a nice boost to your traffic and hopefully a return at the sportsbooks.

Other popular keywords include odds and picks, but as we have discussed before getting to the top page of a keyword like “Kentucky derby odds” can be very hard. Going after a high rank with a key phrase like “Kentucky derby horse odds” will be much easier. Finding those easy key phases that also come with large traffic followings is hard but we will have more in the articles to come in the weekly addition of Sports Affiliating Weekly.

In this week’s article we will rant on how everyone’s bracket has been destroyed by the house. With brackets aside it has been a profitable March Madness for the books and affiliates. With a Final four no one could have predicted and Cinderella stories in Butler and Virginia Commonwealth the Madness is coming to an end. In this article we will talk about multiple sports and how to monetize for the playoffs in the NBA and NHL.

First let’s start talking baseball with the first pitch in the 2011 season just days away. Baseball is a sad sign as it symbols a slowdown in sports betting, which could turn into an eternity if we have a NFL lockout. MLB is America’s past time but the money isn’t thrown around like it does for other major sports. With that said the MLB is not a total right off, landing players is a little harder but the ones that join are in it for a long haul. With such a long season a few signups can rack up a lot of placed bets. It will be an exciting season and we will have lots of baseball to talk about as the year progresses.

The Playoffs are just a few weeks away in the NBA and NHL, a quick turnaround from the March madness to update your sites. Geo targeting is always something I have implemented on new sites and it pays off during times like these. Canadians love their hockey and Americans only watch basketball a very simple equations that can increase revenue when monetized well. In the NHL the playoff race is nothing exciting with only a few teams fighting for the last playoff spots. In the NBA the stakes are higher with games counting for every team that can affect positions one through eight. We should see sportsbooks put out some playoff banners and promotional material out soon, until that time I will be working on content to throw up and give my sites a 360 in a matter of days once March Madness is done.

UFC Is always a niche that provides some perks in revenue for us affiliates and one of the biggest fights of the year is coming up April 30th with a main event featuring the fight between St Pierre vs. Shields in UFC 129. This will be the first fight held in Toronto Canada and will get a lot of media attention. Canada loves the UFC and has gone through legal battles just to have fights played on their soil. With George St Pierre being a home crowd favourite this event will have a Super Bowl atmosphere. The top converting keywords in mixed martial arts are situated around the term “odds”, but as always there are gem keywords to target that are less competitive and we will have a few quick tips in articles to come.

Next week we will discuss what’s happening at off shore and online sportsbooks and what’s coming up in the sports betting world.

One of the best sportsbooks to promote the UFC with is BetUS and Bodog who have a fantastic convering of the UFC as well as BetOnline sportsbook affiliate program.