This act has united all the “big boys” of the online industry against the US government and i think they have their points.

Check out what this means for the internet according to americancensorship.org

p.s. google is fighting greatly against this bill …no wonder

One thing that i really hate is to see flash banners dominating a web page. It seems sometimes companies are working only on the basis of getting as much as money possible from the advertisers rather than satisfying there customers.

In a time where even adobe admitted defeat in there “war” with apple some websites keep filling there pages with as much as 17 flash banners covering in that way most of the content. Unfortunately it makes me sad to see how greek sites like sport-fm.gr and many more are following the same technic just for some extra cash, forgetting with that way that they are earning money but in the long term they will loose customers.

I will not mention how bad that is in terms of SEO …after all i dont think they really care about that…  However, webmasters that decide to increase the number of flash banners should always think the result that this will have on there visitors. Do you really want to go to a site like that www.dailystar.co.uk or that www.telegraph.co.uk

Have it in mind!

Sometimes it can be really hard to explain to most of the people what exactly it is as very few people know this art.

Well this is a video with highlights of my teacher Roger Gracie and you can check more in the relevant wikipedia page over here.

If you really look to get active in your life then i higly recommend it to you. 

One of the sponsors that fifa will come to think in the future is a new category… the betting sponsor.

The times are changing and everyone is “fighting” to get connected with big sporting events and the World Cup is one of them. The big betting companies have all made a big effort to connect themselves with the wc with “ambush” marketing techniques like more or less Nike , using most of the times journalists/tipsters in an effort to get the attention of the bettors.

If you said to someone 7 years ago the word “seo” they would look at you unmoved. Now all betting companies created microsites specifically for the world cup targeting to all the customers that are looking for the world cup news through any search engine.

The strategy is simple…target the customers wherever they are.. youtube/social media/search engines. So, who do you choose from them, and more important, why?

Well, basically I believe its time to move on and embrace the future. The betting industry is one of the strongest world wide where growth doesn’t stop. Many people will say that FIFA and UEFA as well as the local football associations wouldn’t want to be connected with betting companies as this will increase the voices from fans for fixed games and changes in the results.

What its time to realise is that already most of the betting companies have MoM (memorandum of understanding) with FIFA and UEFA so they are already co-operating in many fields. Also the fact that many countries do not have opened up there gambling industry is something that is changing also. France, Italy has opened up the industry and Greece will be soon.

The advantages that betting companies can give are huge and its time to start taking advantage of this industry as it is well connected with fans and sports for a long time now. In case that something like that happened who do you think would have most of the chances to take such sponsorship? Well, bwin is as a favourite in all those sponsorships. They have already there brand in the biggest teams like Real Madrid and Milan , also there headquarters are closer to FIFA’s headquarters than any others… On the other hand…how about Betfair? They are new, and ever evolving, and they already have a strong cooperation with FIFA in “checking” games.

We are not far away from the time that we will see a betting company put there name next to the world cup and we shouldn’t take it as an insult or anything. The betting industry is growing and maturing enough to be officially recognised in those sporting events. Its just a matter of time now..

The France National Assembly recently has voted in favour of a bill to legalise online gambling, preparing to open up the market to the gaming companies around the world. Ideally I believe that is the best move to make but who will believe me. After all I am working for a gaming company.

However, trying to think the advantages and the disadvantages in this story, the gaming industry is one of the few that keeps making profits in times of recession expanding all over the world and providing business opportunities to millions of people. Why governments don’t try to take advantage of it?

The examples of Gibraltar and Malta are characteristic of how a community can gain from the booming of the gaming industry and provide with work placements to the people.

France has finally opened up and companies like Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfair are all gearing up to take the best spot in the market. Despite that I think there are bigger markets in the minds of the CEO’s that they are dreaming. Obviously in America everyone is waiting opening up United States but in Europe, Greece , Spain and Turkey will be next in line. Slowly I feel that those markets will be forced to open in order to create more opportunities and cash flow towards the government.

There will be always those people that will shout that gambling will destroy families, society’s and people …they always do…but the truth is legalizing it and putting gaming companies under a law is much better than what exists right now….which is nothing.

I always believed that Gambling is the way to save Greece from economic destruction. Maybe I am wrong but listen to this… Right now my country is on the verge of bankruptcy asking for money. Well, I am not politician and not in to economics but what if…they legalized gambling and let companies to come into Greece and open up Betting shops or work online. In order to get a license they should pass from some tests of course to see that they are respected companies but the most important is that they should have offices in Greece. A small office of 30-100 people,  most probably the marketing department for the country and maybe customer service. Of course they would be taxed for there profits , money that the Greek government would take and until now, is loosing.

I bet that the fact they are earning a lot of money until now from the greek betting company opap but also because of other political reasons that is not possible now but eventually it will happen as to most other countries. Well, again my view on this matter is not credible as I said as I already work in the gaming industry but is it so wrong?  I don’t think so…but then again I am not the Greek Prime minister…thank god J

Different opinions were heard and it’s good to know what different people thing regarding online marketing.

I think what was more interesting from our side was to see how most of the teams were promoting the company using the different “ambassadors” they have.  One of the most interesting things was the promotions that the Irish team is doing with Google and the poker promotions from the countries of Eastern Europe.  Unfortunately the different Gambling Legislation that exists in the European Union means that different tactics are used which are not applicable always in other places.

What caused much more interest from my presentation was the expanding banner that we have promoting the Live Video product. I really believe that having an expanding banner is a beautiful way to enable your customers to become more active on a banner that –usually- they never take notice.

The banner says “live video football on your pc”  and then by clicking to each icon you can see the live games that are available on the live video product. This specific one brought some really good results achieving higher click through rates than any other.

However, the amount that it took me to get it “live” made it really difficult to even think promoting it in different placements and sites.  Unfortunately we had various problems with the ad server so by now its only live in one dimension providing nevertheless with acquisitions all the time.

What this proves to me is that banners that are interactive and look more like a “game” for the reader and not an ad, have more chances to get clicks and conversions. The catch is not to “fool” the customer making him think that it’s a part of the site and not an ad because when he realises that then you will probably lose him…

Live Video Banner

Times do change though and we have some new online expandable banners coming that hopefully give us a little bit boost. –not that we need it..:) -