In our second BAC Q&A installment we catch up with speaker E.C. Voica from Evosoft Media ahead of his session on SEO & CRO: Top Pitfalls and Solutions for Gaming Websites. Read on to get some tips on which are the key SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation) pitfalls to consider for your gaming website and get solutions which will save you both time and budget:

As the Co-Founder of Evosoft Media, an international SEO and e-marketing agency, how long have you been involved in the iGaming industry? And are you able to say who your gaming clients are?

Our projects in the marketing side of the Gaming Sector can basically be broken down into three generic categories:

1. R&D: analysis, strategy formulation, product development (KPI or Factor Sets for determing competition or valuating link profiles)
2. Domaining and Development of our own platforms. For example in December we will launch www.pariuri.eu in Romania (in translation www.bets.eu), an interactive game prediction & voting platform driven by a community platform and an intuitive API.
3. External SEO. In this area we provide consultance, in both SEO & CRO. Rarely we also provide implementation, when working with more established partners. Mostly we work with NDA agreements, and non-competition clauses.

How do you define Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO)? And what are the most common pitfalls you come across?

As a lead generation tool, a website is all about balance, therefore the harmony between Yin and Yang plays a crucial role. The same principle can be applied to SEO and CRO. SEO and CRO are complementary opposites within a greater whole. Sometimes SEO can also be perceived as a prerequisite for CRO, but both can be fine-tuned in all the stages, and in most cases, they influence each other (e.g. the minimalistic design paradox). Firstly, in order to convert visitors into leads, you need to have visitors. A higher understanding of the typical behavior of your users can influence changes meant to increase the efficiency of the chain. However in some cases, despite SEO efforts and a high number of visitors landing on the main page, the turnover generated by the website is extremely low due to poor conversion rates caused by serious issues - such as page loading time, compatibility, flash embeds, wrong conversion channels and visitors directed inappropriately through action funnels. Often, studying the typical behavior of visitors can lead to collecting valuable information which can be used to simplify lead generation by creating clear path for converting.

If you were to give advice on how to maximize CRO, what three things would be top of your list for people to consider?

1. Study Study Study. Before actually implementing changes, testing is always required. Never forget that your changes, are at the best as good as the data collected.
2. Build confidence, security and appeal.
3. Statistics never lie. Keep an eye on your bounce rate, average visit length, and measure/document all your actions.

Regarding your session at the Budapest Affiliate Conference -"SEO & CRO: Top Pitfalls and Solutions for Gaming Websites" - This session will also include a Live Surgery, what will delegates learn from this and how do they take part.

Each delegate can submit a website, which will be analyzed and discussed. We will not only suggest SEO and CRO changes, but we will also explain why the changes have to be done, based on our experience  and on behavioral triggers. We will explain a multitude of things, such as how to enrich a link profile, we will present changes to the source code of the page to streamline the loading and ensure complete  crawlability, but also how to consolidate the image of your website using the right design. Furthermore, 3 websites will be randomly chosen, and they will receive a full SEO audit, which will be mailed  in 7 working days after the event.

E.C will be presenting on Day 1 - Friday 8th October
13:30-14:15 in Room 2, Affiliate Marketing for Beginners
SEO & CRO: Top Pitfalls and Solutions for Gaming Websites