Author: Sebastian Scheplitz
A well-written online casino review not only gives an operator high exposure but also informs players of an online casino’s features. That’s why online casino reviews should be central to an online casino marketing strategy.
And yes, if you’re wondering, this also applies to sportsbook reviews and sports betting marketing strategies.
Hosted on affiliate sites, online casino reviews range from the could-have-been-a-gambling-Shakespeare to did-you-pay-attention-when-they-were-teaching-the-alphabet kind. So, how do you bullseye the former and stay well clear of the latter?
Well, if you’re in doubt you’re in the right place. This really, really is the ultimate guide on how to write online casino reviews.
But first here is a quick introduction to this topic:
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Structure Is Key
An online casino review is only as good as the brief that precedes it. A content brief is what dictates exactly what needs to be covered in a review, including the structure, and is sent to the content writing agency of choice to direct them towards what the client – usually an iGaming affiliate or operator – wants.
Briefs can range from an absolute nightmare long-as-your-arm list of requirements (we’ve seen 20 pages long content briefs for 300-word casino and sportsbook reviews) to a few points and resources that might be useful.
Here are a few areas to most definitely include in your online casino review. And remember – it’s all about structure.
1. A Short Introduction
The history of the site, where it’s based, its reputation within the industry, and any other USPs that mark it out from its competitors are all good fodder for an online casino review.
It’s also worth including a linked table of contents so that players can skip straight to the information they need.
2. Design, Navigation, and Site User Experience
The aesthetics and usability of the site are usually included in the first half of the review as this will influence the overall playing experience.
Whether you’re an expert on these three interrelated elements or not, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the basics as these are by many accounts the most important aspects of an online casino.
3. Legislative Information
Which licenses the operator holds from Alderney, UKGC, MGA to Curaçao to Cyprus and including these seals is one of the best content marketing tips for online casinos and sportsbooks.
Players need to know that their gaming is facilitated in a safe environment and these seals provide assurance of the casino’s legitimacy.
Here, it’s worth cross-referencing any legislative seals with the gambling authority website, just on the off chance that the operator is pulling a fast one.
Luckily this is a rare occurrence and you can usually spot an untrustworthy website miles away, ensuring you’re providing your readers with the information they can rely on.
4. Game Collection
These can range from the ridiculously big to the slightly diminutive. Also, be aware that accessing the site from different locations (out-of-country) will influence what games are available for you to play.
Due to location-specific legislation, some games are available in certain locations and not in others.
Most casinos these days offer live casino, keno, bingo, poker, slots, and table games.
5. Promotions and Bonuses
Welcome bonuses, how regular promotions are, average wagering requirements, cash out, and time limits are all pieces of information that your online casino review should include.
Which payment options are viable should also be included as eWallets Neteller and Skrill are exempt from promotions due to potential fraud.
6. Banking
An important feature – this should detail not only which banking methods the casinos accept but also withdrawal times.
As many casinos have differing withdrawal times, it’s worth pinpointing exactly how long withdrawals take, for each payment method.
7. Customer service
Whether this is serviced by chatbots, live chat (with a humanoid) is available, email options and a local number helps, so readers don’t have to deal with an excruciatingly expensive phone bill at the end of the month.
The quality of the customer service should also be included, but always remember to query more than just one customer service representative as everyone has a bad day from time to time.
8. Optimization for Mobile
With around 37% of players choosing to play on smartphones, how an online casino renders on these devices, including tablets, is incredibly important to include in your casino review. If possible, try the site across as many devices as possible, including the advantages and disadvantages of each.
While having a well-organized structure is the foundation when you write online casino reviews, don’t forget that someone is actually reading this, or at least skimming for gist. Try for originality and add a touch of flair to your review to keep your audience interested.
You can also follow this link if you want to have an even deeper dive into how to write a good content brief for the iGaming industry.
Everything Is Awesome
An online casino review’s main purpose is to give exposure to an operator’s brand and hopefully inspire click-through from a reader. So, you really need to know how to write great online casino reviews that convert regular players customers, and high-rollers alike.
Hosted primarily on affiliate sites, the third-party website earns revenue from every customer that signs up from their site(s). Using a unique URL unique to the site which directed it, the affiliate earns a percentage of a new signup’s loss figure.
Affiliate sites clearly want readers to click through a review hosted on their site, sign up with a partner casino, and earn the sign-up revenue.
This brings us to the ‘everything is awesome’ (EIA) slot review. Now, if the review were negative, potential players would no doubt be dissuaded to sign up. So, the trend in the industry is to write an ‘everything is awesome’ review.
Less of an online casino marketing plan and more one of many iGaming affiliate marketing strategies; an ‘everything is awesome review’ is as you’d expect – a review extolling the virtues of an online casino and not even hinting at any negative aspects of the site.
While EIA reviews could be seen as misleading – even dishonest – they have been one of the “best” content marketing tips for online casinos and sportsbooks so far. We say “best” because we see them as one of the worst tactics. iGaming players want honest reviews and if an online casino is bad, we believe potential players need to know this.
Some honest reviews do exist, but you’re most likely to be met with the EIA kind. What’s the problem with the EIA approach? Well, readers aren’t easily fooled and will see that this kind of copy has been used to encourage a sign-up.
The best way to combat this is to mention a few points the casino could work on; be it design, game collection payment methods, customer service, or whatever. The most important thing is to counter this with something positive. Here’s an example:
“The payment methods at Crazy Casino are limited. They don’t accept eWallet payments but they do take cryptocurrencies, proving this particular operator to be one of both modernity and progression.”
Always back up your negative points with a few positive elements, and you’ll find discover that writing an online casino review is not only an integral part of your affiliate online casino marketing plan, they’re also really fun to write.
We Need to Talk About SEO
SEO (search engine optimization) is the technique used by websites to be discovered on search engines, usually Google. Keywords are the foundation of SEO and are terms that the user would likely search for.
The question of how to write great online casino reviews doesn’t begin and end with sparkling prose. You need to implement an SEO strategy for your sports betting affiliate website or as a part of your online casino affiliate marketing efforts.
But SEO is a vast topic and we can’t go into the finer points of this most powerful of content strategies for online casino affiliates, right here.
Luckily, if you want to brush up on your SEO, we have a few articles on on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and International SEO which will provide you with the basics of SEO that can be applied to not only online casino reviews but also as a part of one of the content strategies for online casino affiliates.
Content Tips & Tricks
There are a few golden rules of web content that should be followed if you want your audience to read the entirety of your review. These points exist mainly because of SEO, but also style.
Here are a few tips to ensure your content is kewl:
- Use Google docs. Microsoft offline products are dead
- Keep paragraphs (known as paras in the trade) to a maximum of four to five lines
- Ensure your sentences are short and punchy
- Use the correct ‘H’ tags. Ctrl + Alt + [number] is the shortcut for altering text forms in Google docs
- Include pop culture references where possible
- Hit ‘pause’ on Spotify. Lyrical music and writing are not a desirable mix
- Vary your word usage. It’s good to be good at choosing good words
- Read. Many online casino reviewers have never picked up a book in their life and it shows
Google and the Death of Language
Google is influencing the way web content is written. Some might call this a devolution of language, or, more dramatically, the death of language.
As previously mentioned, keywords are an integral part of SEO but is the antithesis of naturalistic writing. Occasionally writers are briefed to incorporate US English into a UK/Canadian/Australian language-based article, or vice versa.
Not only does this mix of English language dialects scream “I don’t know what dialect I’m writing in,” but it also reflects poorly on both the brief and the writer’s skills. And SEO breaks.
That’s why you need to research and be clear on your target audience. Let’s just imagine you want to target UK punters with a text about “soccer”…this text and keyword will not convert. And now extrapolate this finding to all other language variants, dialects, and keywords.
Add a Comma
If you’ve written extensively, you’ll recognize the above subheading as one of Grammarly’s – spell check extraordinaire – favorite suggestions.
Whatever your view of Grammarly and its penchant for the Oxford comma and liberal adding of articles (a, an, the), it’s sensible to use it.
Why? Remember that Grammarly is used by most content managers and they want their received article to have been fully proofread and spell-checked.
The receiver of the final article will run your content through Grammarly, so it’s best to accept (nearly) all suggestions so it looks sparkling clean to the editor or content manager that receives your article.
‘Conclusion’
This brings us to our last point… don’t call your conclusion ‘conclusion’. There are plenty of other ways to wrap up your summary. These include: ‘What’s Next?’; ‘Takeaways’; ’The Ultimate Guide to Writing an Online Casino Review Resolved’; and ‘Final Thoughts’. Try to be original.
Through this brief yet truly ultimate guide to writing online casino reviews including content marketing tips for online casinos and sportsbooks, we’ve provided you with actionable insights into one of the many content strategies for online casino affiliates.
Depending on the overall content approach taken by your affiliate site, this will dictate whether you go for an EIA review or an honest review. Try to nail your content strategy so that you choose one or the other but not a mix of both.
The great news is that most reviews are of the did-you-pay-attention-when-they-were-teaching-the-alphabet ilk and therefore not too difficult to write a clearer, more concise, informative casino review that doesn’t kiss up to the operator in question.
Whether you’re an experienced writer or just about to put fingers to the keyboard and write your first casino review, follow this guide and you’re well on your way to creating an online casino review that not only has everything a potential player needs to know but also makes your content sparkle.
Are you an affiliate looking for a casino review? Translation Royale has this covered.
Header Image Source: Photo by Kvnga on Unsplash
How did you like Sebastian Scheplitz’s blog post “The Ultimate Guide to Writing an Awesome Online Casino Review”? Let us know in the comments if you have anything to add, have another content idea for iGaming blog posts, or just want to say “hello.” 🙂
Thanks so much, Sebastian, for sharing this great post.
This is the post I’ve been looking for for a long time.
What a wonderful article! It’s helpful to read your post right now. I appreciate you sharing this educational one.
That was illuminating, thank you! Love your point about the structure. I’m currently struggling over a casino review, my first ever, btw. I’m glad I start with the right thing. And so true that google docs and Grammarly are vital – actually, when writing texts for another agency, seo-friendly lot, I was introduced to many copywriting tools, but those two mentioned are the basics. It’s a shame google docs doesn’t have the same level of keyword service as other tools, for instance.
Thank you, that was very informative. I like what you said regarding the structure. I’m now having trouble with my first-ever casino review. I’m delighted I made the appropriate first move.