If you don't run a big-name gaming content sites, odds are that your URL has been getting lost in the ocean of fan sites, zines, and gaming networks that crowd the directories. But the Unified Gamers Online consortium, which launched its beta this week, is hoping to change that. Believing in the power of unity, the UGO affiliate network is looking to draw traffic - and ad revenue - to gaming sites that might otherwise get lost in the shuffle.
"You've got sites that don't have the clout - sites with great content, great people, great design, but no recognition," explains Matthew Callaway, manager of the UGO Network. "The idea is to unify those people under one name."
The UGO Network was conceived by ProActive Media, the creators of the Multimedia Wire news service, Gamepen, and the Video Game Yellow Pages. The program is quite simple - the two-person UGO staff recruits quality independent gaming sites to join the network and brand themselves as a UGO affiliate. In return for using the UGO site as a gateway to their content, those sites receive revenue from the ads UGO brings in.
So far, UGO has more than a dozen gaming-related sites signed up, with numerous others in progress - what Callaway estimates to be a potential 1 million impressions a month. Rather than being general-interest gaming sites, such as Happy Puppy or GameCenter, UGO affiliates tend to have more specialized content, such as the Nintendo 64 fan site, which includes N64 news and cheats.
"These guys are passionate and committed. They know their stuff," Callaway enthuses. "The point is to tap that passion."
13-year-old Anish Dinghra, for example, joined his Exscape gaming site with UGO a few weeks ago. The site that he created last summer with his 14-year-old cousin has been getting 10,000 pageviews a month, but now that it's joined with the community of other sites, he thinks it will bring in real money. "If we all help each other out, it will be good for the gaming community. It's an effort to get all popular and stuff."
UGO won't be the first gaming affiliate network: Imagine Publishing launched a similar program this week, joining seven independent gaming sites with its own magazine content and online publications.
"It makes sense for advertisers - you get 16-plus unique audiences with one buy," says Callaway. By promoting sites that cover specific games or topics, yet linking them to a larger overall network, these affiliate networks hope to draw in advertisers looking for niche audiences.
Says Callaway "It's strength in numbers."
