It’s been a while since my last update. So what’s new with Punter2Pro in 2020?
Article Contents
‘Industry Experts’ Blog
I’ve been contributing to the Trademate Sports ‘Industry Experts’ blog which regularly asks key questions on topics surrounding professional sports betting. Third party betting bloggers, such as myself, provide honest answers.
Here’s where you can find the answers I’ve given so far:
- How Can You Determine If Betting Results Are Luck Or Skill?
- Which Staking Size Strategy Do You Consider To Be The Best, and Why?
- How Difficult Is It To Beat The Betting Markets?
- What’s The Best Method For Making Money From Sports Betting?
It’s worth noting that I’m not paid to contribute to the Trademate blog, nor am I asked to give biased answers. I do genuinely support their product because, unlike 99% of other sports betting services, it makes money for its subscribers.
Writing for their blog is also great self-promotion, and helps me to think of new content/angles to include on Punter2Pro.
Podcast Appearance
I also featured on Trademate’s podcast, where I spoke about various aspects of sports betting including: tipsters, betting experiments, cold trading, the link between arbitrage and value betting, getting money out of the bookies, and the morality of sports betting.
From what I’ve heard, the recording was well received and went out to a growing number of listeners on various channels. However, I noticed one comment on YouTube that criticised my views on Betfair trading:
If he is reading this, you’re site is great but I think some of your articles are affected by your own bias from betfair trading. It’s absolutely possible to make money on there via various methods and I’ve seen several of your posts that indicated this is virtually impossible long term. I understand it didn’t work out for you but you can find lots of people who make money or even a living from just betfair.
Perhaps I am slightly biased. But in my defence, I did point out during the podcast that “just because I haven’t succeeded [at Betfair trading] doesn’t mean someone else won’t”. Nonetheless, I should explain my stance for the benefit of other readers.
How Tough Is Betfair Trading?
When it comes to Betfair trading, there’s a huge potential upside — but a lot of competition and smart money on the markets. I believe that there are only a small number of consistent winners (over a large data set, and a lengthy period of time).
It’s not just me that believes this. In fact, the very author of the books ‘Betfair Trading Techniques’ and ‘Programming For Betfair’, James Butler, stated the following on his blog:
If my books or my website articles have the negative effect of turning people off sports trading then I regard that as much of a success as anyone who makes a profit. It is better to walk away having broken even and realising how hard the game is rather than losing money through third-parties who do not have their interest at heart.
James Butler doesn’t have the popularity of many other sports betting bloggers, but the quality of his books are testament to his knowledge of trading, and understanding of the mathematics needed to succeed at sports betting. As a Computer Science graduate, I’ve always taken his views on-board, as they align with both my own experiences and line of thinking.
I recommend reading his final post to get a picture of how he sees the industry: It’s Been Great to Meet You!
Not all Betfair-related content emphasises the difficulties in becoming a successful pro trader. So I try to put that message across on my blog.
Fresh Content
Aside from the January Tipster performance updates, I published an article on the Best Tipsters For US Sports.
More recently I’ve also written a couple of posts that flesh out some of the answers I gave to the Trademate blog:
New Websites & Brands
As part of a bigger plan to expand my horizons beyond the sports betting industry, I’ve been spending a lot of my time developing other websites and brands.
You may have noticed links on Punter2Pro to “NicheCarve“. That’s my online business & marketing blog, aimed at offering guidance to entrepreneurs and startups.
I started NicheCarve after reaching the conclusion that a portion of Punter2Pro readers were neither interested in sports or sports betting. Indeed some visitors are simply interested in making money online by any means. So instead of isolating the majority of Punter2Pro readers by talking about online business, I decided to create an entirely new site with a different theme.
To be honest, NicheCarve hasn’t been the major hit I’d hoped for (yet!). But I believe in the site, and I’m satisfied with the quality of its articles. I’ve devoted a lot of my time during lockdown to publishing new content, expanding various themes (such as using the Amazon FBA program), and working towards improving the website’s SEO. It’s an ongoing project that I think will excel once I’ve given it a more personal touch.
Another blog I’ve written is “Top Goalkeeping“, a site devoted to helping aspiring keepers — the unsung heroes of football.
The content on Top Goalkeeping is so specifically aimed at football goalies that it’s barely relevant to the majority of Punter2Pro readers. Hence the need for an entirely new website.
I launched the site in early 2019, and I’m thrilled with the progress so far. It consistently receives daily traffic of around 150-200 users, and has quickly established itself as one of the most comprehensive goalkeeper blogs written in the English language.
While I’m barely ever between the sticks myself these days, I haven’t forgotten anything I was taught during my 10 year spell as an amateur keeper. The things I learnt as a teenager are still just as relevant to the sport today, and so my content resonates with current players. Confirmation of this came when two of my ‘psychological’ articles on Top Goalkeeping went viral on social media, attracting attention from keepers all over the world — including academy players and ex-professionals.
Here are the articles:
There was clearly a demand for goalkeeper content. I assume there are limited number of experienced keepers, with in-depth knowledge of the sport, as well as the marketing skills and writing ability to create a site of this standard. Or perhaps the idea was just overlooked entirely.
Other Projects:
- Rectrix: my goalkeeper glove brand. This has been majorly disrupted due to the lack of football being played.
- PalioETT: my table tennis bat brand. Sales shot up during lockdown, as people took up new indoor hobbies.
- FlyGA: my aviation brand. Sales have remained surprisingly steady through the pandemic period, so I’ve focused on developing new items in anticipation that flight schools will start re-opening business as usual.
Punter2Pro Earnings
While my overall income across all businesses improved during the lockdown, there’s no doubt that Punter2Pro heavily suffered as a result of there being no sport (and therefore no sports betting).
I now appreciate just how much this site is driven by people’s enjoyment of sport — not just an interest in making money online. At one stage my traffic halved from its regular performance level, which was roughly in line with how much earnings were hit.
However, I’ve seen a steady improvement in earnings since the restart of the Premier League, and I’m now making approximately 75% of the average monthly takings from the six months leading up to the lockdown.
But rather intriguingly, even prior to the lockdown, Punter2Pro traffic was down around 30% from the previous year. Yet the site was earning more. This indicates that conversions have improved, and visitors are of “higher quality” than before. I’m earning more from less readers, essentially.
While my content is clearly reaching the right people, I still want to know why the traffic has tailed off. I’m currently investigating my site’s SEO, as I suspect it may have been targeted in one form or another. It happens.
A Sports Betting Product by Punter2Pro
There’s a sports betting product I’m going to release at some point within the next six months (hopefully sooner). The concept been in the back of my mind for at least two years, and I know the blog would be a superb platform to promote it.
I’m currently designing the user interface, and seeking a developer to help me produce it. I’m excited for what it could bring to the market — provided it’s well executed.
For now I’ll remain secretive until I’m a little further along with the project. But stay posted for future updates!
I’d just like to say a big thank you to everyone that continues to read my blog. I hope that I’ve helped steer you in the right direction, or at least taught you something new.
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