Everleaf

[DukeOfDeath]

So this almost counts as a newbie question, but it's about the "new script" so I'm asking it here.

Why does the Everleaf website have no mention of Online Poker 66? It has 27 other "partners" but no mention of us. Also when you google search OnlinePoker66 only the actual websites and sketchy other sites pop up. When googling any rational search OP66 never comes back as a result. When using different searches to find places for US players to play several sites come up over and over but never this one.

Also, on a certain other (probably most popular) poker forum a search of Everleaf brings up all sorts of posts that go on all day about other Everleaf sites that I won't mention for fear of infringing on the advertisement clause in the TOS. However, none of them mention us, and in fact a search of "OnlinePoker66" only brings up 4 threads with the title of our former "dog" of a server (and with it the whole fiasco of super players and what not).

I guess it depends on if we like having our small little place or if we want more traffic, friends, fish, what not. I wouldn't want to be huge, but I also like variety/game selection/decent traffic/ etc.

I just feel like our PR is low or non existent in all the venues people would be looking for us. I know I found this site through google searching where I could play poker for free to learn with no download. OP66 was the first hit, and I never looked back. Now when I search that though, our site is the VERY last on the BOTTOM of page THREE. No one is going to go that far down.

So how DO new people find this place? I know a lot of you were recommended (hell I recommend people here all the time, but I never see them lol), but did anyone find this place through any sort of advertisement or search engine?

Anyway, this is in no way a criticism, and again if we want a small community then it's a thumbs up I guess. But if we do want more people to offset those that leave (or to fill games where we can actually play a weekly Omaha or not have to hire sitters for Wombats) then maybe something should be rethought.

My 2 cents (as always)

[foodz]

Hi DoD,

(Declaration of interest: ) For my work, I deal with websites all the time, Page Rank (PR) or organic search listings is something I am constantly asked about. To explain how this is calculated would take a book (and ever changing on at that). For that reason, I'll try to avoid throwing my 2 cents in, as the answer would be far too long :P

To answer some of your other questions:

I joined in Nov 2009, and This site was second or third in a list of sites at Google for "free poker" or similar. Like you I wanted something simple to start on. I went straight for the download, as I have a machine specifically for "junk software", so I was prepared to try a few before I settled. I played for about a month before I passed 20K chips (never re-loaded a new 1000!) and then worked my way up from there.

If someone were to ask me "professionally" for a brief "how can this site be improved, my first word would be Graphics. If you look at this site, and then at the competition, there is no contest. This site looked old in 2009, and does not exude the right feeling at the front.

Being a player here for a while now, the second thing I would say is the "un-limited free chip rebuy". I guess this is not an issue for us now, but new-comers have to battle through hours of "Bingo" before they (by chance get enough chips to) get a game of Poker. Another site I have played at only allowed one re-buy per 5 minutes, which slowed down the idiots, who never have more than 10K chip, and are driving away the people who do find us... (Edit: there are 133688 people registered on the forum, why did they leave?)

I would like to see some new faces too, but I fear this maybe a long way off.

My 11 cents (so I had better stop...)

foodz

[telboy]

nice thread and nice answer from foodz.
we have had simler questions asked before,and some replys addresed ie,op tourneys advertised on log in,and forum link.these are pure op66.if you check lobby at present there are 1700 tables playing with over 4000 players,op66 is just one of over 100 skins playing these tables.
next if if you check new members joining we still get new players every day its just holding on to them.

[DukeOfDeath]

Thanks for the responses. First of all, foodz don't be worried about giving more than 11 cents. I do it all the time . I like your suggestions by the way. They would do well in the suggestions thread. Only thing is other than our Mods and the knowledge of a BlackLava behind the curtain I don't know full details of PR, advertising, graphics design etc. So it's really hard to know what's feasible and what's not.

Second, I know we talked about this in outlaws, terrence, but though the traffic is more than we think and it seems to be more of an issue of keeping, I think a lot can still be said for increasing volume. It's like advertising. 99% of people aren't going to buy something when they see an ad. You can make the ad more appealing and try to make it 2% instead of 1%, or you can just make the ad more accessible. 1% of 1 million is a lot more that 1% of of 500.

Not saying we couldn't do more to keep players, but if people are looking for a quick poker fix after seeing it on TV or when they are drunk/bored, how good the site is won't keep them here any more so. But if a certain % are sticking around increasing the total flow would increase the numbers sticking around.

[stevo_58]

As Tel said very good thread Duke and response from Foodz. Also as Tel said I think one problem is holding onto the new players. OP clearly does have a low profile when searching for sites, which obviously doesn't help attract people. I stumbled on OP one day when I searched for free online poker sites and OP was 3rd in the list. Joined not even knowing how to play poker, read the rules and went from there. What I never expected to find was the community, which is what got me hooked. It would be great to have more traffic and a busier site but it seems that after all the ups and downs the site has gone through it's found it's natural level, for now at least. So there you go Duke, all those words and I still haven't answered you question lol.....I don't know the answer mate.

[foodz]

Thanks all for your kind words, and Thanks to DoD for starting this.

When I get a minute (I am working 7/7 at the mo), I'll post something in the suggestions thread. I don't know if it will help, but it could be worth a shot...

Duke, while I agree it would be better to have a million hits, rather than a thousand, I still feel that barely anyone will actually stay more than an hour if they cannot "get a game of poker".

To get from a thousand to a million, you need a x1000 improvement.

Now, if we could present the new-comer with a game of poker, rather than bingo, we would increase the "stayers" from 1 in 100 to maybe 25 in 100. This would be a 25 fold increase, with very little work.

As an update, there have been 7 new-comers in the 16 hours since I posted above. How many of these will stay?

Maybe I should post in suggestions for someone in OP66 to signup and see how many chips they have after 4 hours... I'd bet they could not surpass 50K, with all the Bingo at the lowest levels.

When I joined, a member (who I wish I could remember) sat and played at one of the lowest levels with me, for an hour or so. It was obvious they could have played at a much higher level. Maybe we should be scouting the new members to help them get away from the bingo... (Not suggesting chip dumping, just a good game)

[DukeOfDeath]

Originally Posted by foodz

Thanks all for your kind words, and Thanks to DoD for starting this.

When I get a minute (I am working 7/7 at the mo), I'll post something in the suggestions thread. I don't know if it will help, but it could be worth a shot...

Duke, while I agree it would be better to have a million hits, rather than a thousand, I still feel that barely anyone will actually stay more than an hour if they cannot "get a game of poker".

To get from a thousand to a million, you need a x1000 improvement.

Now, if we could present the new-comer with a game of poker, rather than bingo, we would increase the "stayers" from 1 in 100 to maybe 25 in 100. This would be a 25 fold increase, with very little work.

As an update, there have been 7 new-comers in the 16 hours since I posted above. How many of these will stay?

Maybe I should post in suggestions for someone in OP66 to signup and see how many chips they have after 4 hours... I'd bet they could not surpass 50K, with all the Bingo at the lowest levels.

When I joined, a member (who I wish I could remember) sat and played at one of the lowest levels with me, for an hour or so. It was obvious they could have played at a much higher level. Maybe we should be scouting the new members to help them get away from the bingo... (Not suggesting chip dumping, just a good game)

I think your suggestions both here and earlier are good because they address specific problems and give tangible solutions. However sometime it's hard to see what is an issue with our particular skin and what is an Everleaf "skeleton" issue. I think a time limit on refills would be amazing. At least make the time limit about the length of an average sit n gos to encourage players to build their bankroll their instead of jamming it at the bingo tables.

Also the chat box. It took me 2.5 years here to really stumble upon the forum. So when you see a new player you can't really encourage them to stick around unless they come to forum or you're lucky enough to find them at a table and ever see them again to follow up. I know Lava tried his hardest to get people to play Outlaws, but they get cancelled so many times because there's not a chat room to request players and people don't always chack forum.

But the main thing is the unlimited refills. 99.9% of the bingoers are tomatoes. Some of the tomatoes are OP66ers who are just too fresh to have an avatar, but a lot are players on other skins of Everleaf. This means it's nothing that can be changed by the big wigs at OP66. That's like a city council member changing a national law.

Maybe I'm wrong though. I'd love to be, and I'd love to see some change.

P.S. rakeback.... really gets swept under the rug here

[kingjulian1]

Some of this is true, but I also play on Everleaf(got curious one day,lol). The low level thing is a bit of a problem. I've had to start over more times than I can count on both sites. Eventually I did find that patience is key. If I could get a decent bankroll built up I'd immediately move to a table with slightly higher stakes or even start a new one. There are a lot of good people on Everleaf but not the quality of friendships I have created here in the 3+ years I've been here. All in all its just funny money. No matter how I play here my real game is completely different and I have the tax records to prove it(just not the money).

[DukeOfDeath]

Originally Posted by kingjulian1

Some of this is true, but I also play on Everleaf(got curious one day,lol). The low level thing is a bit of a problem. I've had to start over more times than I can count on both sites. Eventually I did find that patience is key. If I could get a decent bankroll built up I'd immediately move to a table with slightly higher stakes or even start a new one. There are a lot of good people on Everleaf but not the quality of friendships I have created here in the 3+ years I've been here. All in all its just funny money. No matter how I play here my real game is completely different and I have the tax records to prove it(just not the money).

wait you play both here and on another everleaf skin? is that possible?

[jimggoldwing]

I am aware that there are users who play on multiple Everleaf skins... a different ID on each... Yes, possible... and when the person is on the other skin, of course, you can't chat with that person.

[DukeOfDeath]

Originally Posted by jimggoldwing

I am aware that there are users who play on multiple Everleaf skins... a different ID on each... Yes, possible... and when the person is on the other skin, of course, you can't chat with that person.

I'm assuming you can't be signed on to both at once though. That's definitely cheating. But what's to keep someone from playing a tournament and busting and signing off and on to another skin and late registering. That's like getting to play a freezeout like it's a rebuy.

[jimggoldwing]

I would hope that the powers-to-be have a way of regulating, but in fact, I don't have a ton of confidence... in no way am I casting an aspersion on any single individual... my indictment is against the site...

[bidlow]

Sometimes it almost seems to be unpopular to be smart on here.This place brings out all the cleaver nice people who care about the well being of others. Sometimes people don't realize if another person is hurting or sad. There will always be bullies. They may call you names a nerd, a freak, a geek or a clown. Being nice to all people is also a sign of maturity, class and intelligence. Keep it up and people will notice.I can read and enjoy everything you guys chat about as you guys are smart and have very interesting things to say , sorry if im off the track, just had to put my 11 cents in and get 2 cents back.ps Im a bad poker player sorry,so waiting 5 min's to get more chips would kill me...