Arcade Development/Starter Guide

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sixty6

sixty6

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www.sixty6hosting.com
This guide is to help users start up their own arcade by choosing an arcade script, marketing it, creating landing pages and more.

My arcade is Sixty6 Arcade if any of you want to know.

Getting the Domain Name
Always a crucial part of the game, getting a domain name. Below we offer a couple of aspects you will need to look at before choosing a domain name.
  • If you are trying for the SEO option, needless to say you should go with a domain name which has the keywords for the term you're targetting.
  • If you want something which will get users talking, try and make it short and something easy to say by word of mouth so you can get some traffic like that!
  • If you are adding it to your network (like I did) and it's probably a domain name which is hard to remember or pronounce, don't lose hope. My arcade is not that easy to remember and if someone said eBaumsWorld back before it got big, I wouldn't have remembered it either! But even then eBaum got pretty big and a ton of people know it now!
You can register a domain name for $8.95/year at Sixty6 Domains (I know it's a reseller, but it is exactly like GoDaddy and it offers a dollar less) or if you are not a Yahoo! Domains customer, you can head on over there and get your first domain name for $1.99/year

Setup your Hosting
Needless to say any starting site needs a site with quality uptime in the beginning so they don't lose any crucial visitors which can help spread the word about your arcade.

Here are a couple of good hosting companies using cPanel:
  1. V7 Inc (Definitely worth your buck)
  2. HostGator
  3. 1and1 (I have heard a couple of bad reviews for them)
  4. DreamHost (If you are going to run GameScript, do not use DreamHost)
  5. Sixty6 Hosting Promo (No Bad Reviews so far!)
Choosing Your Arcade Script
Now comes your second most important step, choosing your arcade script! I have spent a few years working with Sixty6 Arcade and different scripts and here is my review on the top scripts I have heard of so far (my favorite is the highest, but they are all good and unique):
  1. GameScript (GS)
    This script seems like the most powerful script at the moment. They have an easy to understand template so you can create one or hire a designer to do one easily.

    They also offer a "file grabbing" option (which doesn't work with DreamHost) which lets you grab thumbnails and games from other arcades.

    Their Admin CP is pretty powerful too with tons of options.

    Now a couple of things you should know is when users link to your www URL of a game, it will show an error saying they don't have any tokens. I had that error on Sixty6 Arcade (after 10,000 or 20,000 pages were indexed). However, this error does not appear when you use the non-www version of the URL.

    For example:
    http://www.sixty6arcade.com/play-11659-Zinedine_Zidane_Head_Butt.html
    would have given an error, but this would not:
    http://sixty6arcade.com/play-11659-Zinedine_Zidane_Head_Butt.html

    You can easily fix this by putting up a 301 (Search Engine Friendly) Redirect from the www version to the non-www version (usually it's the other way around). Just copy and paste the following code into your .htaccess in public_html (if you don't have one, create one):
    Options -Indexes
    Options +FollowSymlinks
    RewriteEngine on
    rewritecond %{http_host} ^www.yourarcade.com [nc]
    rewriterule ^(.*)$ http://yourarcade.com/$1 [r=301,nc]
    Click to expand...

    The GameScript Support Forums are here.

    NOTE: You should probably know that GameScript is going to come out with a version 4.0 and when they do the prices will go up like rockets!
  2. FlashGameScript (FGS)
    They are a new player in the Arcade Script field, but they have quickly risen up in the rankings!

    In fact, their prices went up in only a few months since the script came out due to the high demand and the release of the version 1.5.

    This is perfect for users who aren't experienced coders because they offer the simplest Admin CP I have ever seen.

    They let you handle game sponsors (a new feature coming up in most arcade scripts which lets people buy a link on a game) in the Admin CP.

    You can manage advertisements embedded into the template but are not displayed until you add the code in your Admin CP (letting you display with whichever network you want!)

    They also offer three amazing templates and a demo here.

    I have setup FlashGameScript on one of my websites, Paradox Clips.

    Their support forums are here.

    NOTE: If you use THIS LINK, you will get 30% off your purchase of any package from FlashGameScript!
  3. GetMyOwnArcade (GMOA)
    The owner, bonzer, can be found on many forums always updating you with the latest information on GMOA Developments and looking at their demo, they seem like a pretty nice script.

    From what I have heard, this script is better than phpArcadeScript and is updating frequently with tons of updates and they offers A LOT of games with their script (thumbnails included).

    I don't have their script yet, I need to find time to do this, but you can view the demo links on their homepage.

    If you want to ask any pre-sales questions, you can ask them in the forums here.
Arcade Promotion
Usually when arcades are first created, they go out and join tons of banner exchanges. Here are a couple (top ones are my favorites):
  1. Arcade Banners
  2. More Gamers
  3. Arcade Sponsor
  4. Arcade Traffic Exchange
  5. Games Banner Network
  6. Arcade Webmasters Banner Exchange
  7. GamerFlow
  8. Gamer Traffic
  9. GamerFlow
  10. Gamers Banner
  11. More PlayerZ
  12. Komodo Banner
However, you should not place too many banner exchanges, you would definitely lose visitors (I just stuck them at the bottom of the footer).

Here is a list of arcade related topsites you can join as well:
  1. http://top.arcade.nu/
  2. http://arcadestopsites.com/
  3. http://www.freearcadesites.com/
  4. http://top50.onrpg.com/
  5. http://www.sitefight.com/
  6. http://www.gametopsites.com/
  7. http://www.top100pcgamesites.com/
  8. http://www.topgamesites.net/general
  9. http://www.arcadecell.com/
You can place the buttons in your footer and still get traffic from the topsites.

You can also place Social Bookmarking Tabs by using Add To Bookmarks (if you are using GS, we have created a complete tutorial here).

You can also use Google Translation Tabs to bring in foreign traffic (for arcades this would be the best choice).

There is also the offline advertising which you should try. For arcades, I would recommend T-Shirts with your logo on it (try and put in a catchy slogan as well)! I have used CafePress and they seem great because you can setup your own store like Sixty6 Arcade Shirts. You can choose to have a profit from your T-Shirts, which I wouldn't suggest if you're starting out because you WANT the users to advertise your arcade!

--My Text is too long, continued in next post--
 


You can also signup an account with MySpace and try and create a group to reel in some loyal visitors and get the members there to place games from your site and linking back! (If you're really lazy and don't want to work a lot, use FriendBot.

A few PPC Campaigns never hurt and here are a couple of sites which I like:
  1. AdBrite
  2. AdEngage
  3. TextLinkAds - Buy $125 links and use the code: STARTER KIT to get $100 off!
  4. Google AdSense (This is a Yahoo! Promo which gives you $50 of credit when you sign up, it was meant for Yahoo! Hosting, but not anymore :D Also, you can sign up with the same CC, just don't get carried away with it!)
You can also build up a little traffic and some linkage by submitting your arcade to all the directories at this link:
http://web-directories.ws/General/Free/

It will likely get you a PR4 or so.

Try and offer syndication links which you can setup by reading this.

If you use GS, submit the following sitemap to as many free RSS Directories there is:
http://yourarcade.com/xml.php?action=latest

The trick is that it just updates itself to show the games with the least plays, definitely a smart trick because people think you're constantly updating :)

Here is a list of feed directories you can submit to:
http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

You can also setup a proxy under the same domain name or company name (mine is Sixty6 Proxy) using PHP Proxy Script (free) to appeal to kids who have MySpace banned at their schools.

In addition to that, you can buy a MySpace Generator Script and link to the arcade (I use a simple free one at Sixty6 Generator) which can be found on a few forums!

To bring in some linkage to rank on Search Engines, you can try out the following top Co-Op Websites:
  1. DigitalPoint Co-Op
  2. Link-Vault
  3. Receive Links (If you make post here you get 500 links free with an incentive to earn more)
Arcade Revenue
AdSense is a horrible choice if you want to make money. Here are some good advertisers which can definitely earn you some money:
  1. ValueClickMedia - A good CPM network which is popular in arcades
  2. RightMedia (YieldManager) - Similar to ValueClickMedia but supposedly higher payouts
  3. TextLinkAds - Just install Alexa Toolbar and make your arcade your homepage so you can get a decent Alexa Ranking (also try and wait til you have PR3). They take 50% of the revenue and you can earn around $10 per ad (30 days)
  4. AdBrite/AdEngage
That's it! If you need any more information, you can visit Arcade Webmasters or ask any questions you want at the forums.

This guide was created for WickedFire by hand on spot, if you want to use it, please link to this thread!

If you found this guide to be useful, please say so!
 
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Does any cheap-ish host (under 40/month) allow you to get multiple IP's so you can get up multiple sites/multiple arcade sites? I'm already on a VPS myself so I'm fine, but this is for a friend who wants to get into the website biz with somey money to spare so hes looking for multiple IP's to interlink sites. Or is it not needed?

Did you write this whole guide up from only owning one arcade site? I don't need any other urls or anything, just wondering. And is your arcade site successful right now?

Sorry for asking questions, but your guide was awesome :)
 
Saadh said:
Does any cheap-ish host (under 40/month) allow you to get multiple IP's so you can get up multiple sites/multiple arcade sites? I'm already on a VPS myself so I'm fine, but this is for a friend who wants to get into the website biz with somey money to spare so hes looking for multiple IP's to interlink sites. Or is it not needed?

Did you write this whole guide up from only owning one arcade site? I don't need any other urls or anything, just wondering. And is your arcade site successful right now?

Sorry for asking questions, but your guide was awesome :)
Click to expand...
I included in the top that my arcade is Sixty6 Arcade. I earn around $1.00/day using the cheap methods and if I run a campaign I get around $2.50/day using ValueClickMedia.

I earn a few more cents using AdBrite, AdEngage and Chitika, all of which are amazing PPC (AdEngage isn't that great though :D)

Paradox Clips is a website I just started and didn't have the time to promote it because I have been working on a couple of other projects, but I'll do the promotion in a week or so (I made a promise to myself) after Google indexes my games.

The reason there is a traffic drop is because it's basically summer and kids are enjoying the summer. When school starts, that's when you get the most gameplays!

I also plan to start doing some offline marketing for Sixty6 Arcade and push it to a fair $5.00 in a couple of months.

Sixty6 Arcade gets 1,000 GamePlays a month, pretty decent and gets around 2,500 gameplays a month or so after school starts!
 
Cool and how did you determine the best arcade scripts? I have two GSS scripts from a long time ago (When they were only $20 or so).
 
z00pedup said:
Well then your sorted.. the top three scripts he mentioned does the trick its up to you to market and pump it full of games..
Click to expand...
oh, I should have included that you should start out with like 500 games and add a few 500 after 2 months (if you can slowly build your arcade, that's better)...

Most members just put in 4,000 games and expect users to choose from them, but I started out with around 200 - 1000

Then I just added a movie pack to my site, I couldn't do it hand by hand...
 
sixty6 said:
oh, I should have included that you should start out with like 500 games and add a few 500 after 2 months (if you can slowly build your arcade, that's better)...
Click to expand...
yeah good advice

fook, I havent had time to do much work on my Arcade.. I need to add more games.

I have a dvd full :pimp:
 
z00pedup said:
yeah good advice

fook, I havent had time to do much work on my Arcade.. I need to add more games.

I have a dvd full :pimp:
Click to expand...
a WHOLE DVD? Dang, does it come with auto-installer? If not it'll cost a lot for someone to do it manually!
 
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