Acquire customers online and want your business to remain profitable? You need to protect your brand ranking now.

If you don’t, its almost certain you will lose critical search traffic, by keywords relating to your brand, to affiliates. But, how can you effectively protect your brand, especially if you work in a market absolutely saturated with affiliates, like iGaming?

On September 10, two of the industry’s most experienced entrepreneurs – founder of bespoke solutions provider Internet Vikings, Rickard Vikström, and founder of leading iGaming events organiser SiGMA Group, Eman Pulis – will discuss the challenges today’s operators face in securing online visibility, and the future of the iGaming affiliation industry.

The free webinar will be unmissable for those working in fields like iGaming and e-commerce, etc., which attract huge numbers of affiliates, along with anyone wanting to improve their Google ranking and increase traffic.

You’ll learn how to:

• secure brand visibility on Google
• retain search traffic by brand keywords
• get higher ROI from ATL investment
• mitigate undesired traffic

The free webinar will take place on September 10 from 15:00 to 16:00 CET and will be open to all. More details about the event can be found here.

FREE REGISTRATION

This webinar is the third in a series of free educational webinars from Internet Vikings. You can view the previous two webinars, covering hosting optimization and efficient domain managements, on Internet Vikings’ YouTube channel 

About the speakers:

The speakers featured in the webinar are Rickard Vikström, founder and CCO of Internet Vikings, Wincher and Holm Security, and Eman Pulis, founder of SiGMA Group.

Rickard Vikström is the founder and CCO of Internet Vikings, Wincher and Holm Security.

Early in his professional IT career, Rickard identified that internet marketers needed specialist tools to help them with SEO issues. His ideas were later embodied in the Managed Brand Protection Service offered by Internet Vikings – a unique product that helps operators improve their Google rankings and grow traffic.

Currently, Rickard lives in Stockholm with his wife and daughter. Being located in the Swedish capital, one of the world’s leading T and iGaming hubs, allows Rickard to efficiently manage operations of his numerous projects, while keeping up with the latest developments across the sectors. 

Eman Pulis is the founder and CEO of SiGMA Group, a gaming and tech events company with conferences across Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe. In addition to a wealth of experience in event management, Eman holds a degree in Education with first-class honours, along with master’s degrees in both Diplomacy and Creativity & Innovation. Eman also sits on a number of boards as a senior advisor.

Eman currently resides in Manila with his wife and daughter, a central location which allows him to coordinate operations across continents, while overseeing the 2021 launch of SiGMA Manila and SiGMA Americas.

Find out how New York startup Blockparty is changing the art and collectibles world through a unique combination of blockchain technology, NFTs, and traditional art world expertise.

Simona talks with Blockparty CEO, Vladislav Ginzburg, about the platform’s recent launch, which saw digital art from Madsteez, Ryan Keeley, and Harif Guzman sell-out, and what we can expect in the future.

Check out Blockparty at https://blockparty.co/

Right now, people just like you and I, are risking everything to fight against a brutal totalitarian dictatorship right here in Europe. 

Of course, I’m talking about events in Belarus. 

Europe’s last dictatorship

The Republic of Belarus is home to almost 9.5 million people, and borders the EU nations of Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia to the west, Ukraine to the south, and Russia to the east. For decades it has been under the leadership of dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who ensured it remained a close ally of Russia and its people lived in fear of the authorities. 

But, the Belarusian people have had enough. After an obviously rigged election earlier this month, in which Lukashenko claimed an ‘overwhelming victory’, and opposition leaders were forced to flee the country, hundreds of thousands of normal people took to the streets of Minsk and other cities to demand their dictator steps down. 

They have remained there since, and the crowds have only grown. Among them are many from the gaming and tech communities and industries – people we here at AYO.NEWS know and value as clients and friends.

In addition to the many mainstream media reports of a brutal crackdown by authorities, we have received first-hand accounts, from contacts in Belarus, of people being arbitrarily arrested and tortured in infamous jails like Okrestina in Minsk, and other facilities in Gomel. 

People just like you and I

One of the biggest strengths of the industries we cover here at AYO.NEWS is their international nature. Many of you reading this will be sitting in offices alongside people from all over the world, and will regularly be working with people scattered all over the planet. So, right now, it is important to remember that there are people just like us who are risking their lives on the streets of Belarus to fight for positive change – and there are people just like us who are being detained and tortured simply for demanding the freedoms we take for granted.

With the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis distracting the west, it is clear the Belarusian uprising is not getting the press coverage it deserves, and we urge all of you to stand with our Belarusian friends to make sure Lukashenko and his cronies don’t get away with what they are doing.

The Belarusian people need to know the world is watching, and that they have not been forgotten. Please share this story and do what you can to highlight and expose what is happening in a European country in the year 2020.

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

With Bitcoin (BTC) breaking the $12K barrier yesterday, and the world’s problems mounting by the hour, what can we expect from the “mothership” of cryptocurrencies?

2020 has been quite a year so far, to say the least, and its now clear the COVID-19 lockdown-induced global economic crisis is combining with social unrest in the US, growing geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea, Middle East, and Eastern Europe, and a host of environmental calamities, to form something of a perfect storm. 

Indeed, many are predicting that the current mix of crises will create an unstoppable “death spiral” for the traditional economy, as the effects of one crisis compound the effects of another, and so on.

The social economic death spiral of the traditional system

For example, in major western cities, the lockdowns prompted anyone who could to work from home. Now that lockdowns have been lifted, at least partially, people simply aren’t willing to return to expensive, time consuming, and polluting commuting, and companies have learnt they can trust their staff to be more productive remotely. 

While this initially seems like great news for workers, it is triggering a collapse in the service, retail, transport, and commercial property sectors. This is then triggering mass unemployment, which will mean higher public spending, lower consumer spending, and very likely, mass homelessness, crime and unrest. 

The same kind of compounding or death cycle can be observed across a myriad of industries and sectors right now. 

Of course, what makes this different to any previous economic crisis in recorded history, is the fact that it is happening everywhere in the world at the same time, and there are so many global crises overlapping. Unsurprisingly, in this maelstrom, the future isn’t looking good for traditional investment vehicles! 

Digital assets offer hope for a better system

But, among all the chaos, digital assets like cryptocurrencies are presenting an increasingly attractive alternative, and we’re seeing major cryptos like Bitcoin start to show signs of a significant upwards move. 

As President of AVA Labs, John Wu, recently observed

“The boom of decentralized finance is making a tangible impact on the demand and use of crypto assets. As returns from traditional investment vehicles reach record lows, crypto-savvy investors are finding yield in DeFi protocols and willing to trade-off the systemic risks they see in traditional finance for the product risks of this maturing ecosystem.

“It’s also apparent that there is overwhelming demand for hard assets. Gold has topped record highs, and the digital gold narrative around Bitcoin appears to be growing outside the world of crypto as investors weigh historic fiscal policy actions from monetary authorities. 

“With the backdrop of prolonged economic uncertainty wrought by COVID-19, many investors are taking the initiative to seek out alternative assets that are less correlated to the traditional markets, including the crypto markets.”

And, that is an important point. The COVID-19 crisis itself is obviously far from over, with some experts saying it could even continue for years. As we’ve previously pointed out, at the start of the crisis many expected Bitcoin to instantly become a “safe haven” asset, like gold. However, those people were disappointed, when for months it remained closely correlated with traditional markets. 

But, this hesitation can be explained by the fact that it is now clear that the majority of business leaders, traders, investors, and even policy makers, didn’t expect the pandemic to be as serious or prolonged as it has turned out to be. And, there still no end in sight… 

Maybe now that the gravity of the situation is inescapable to even the most blinkered, digital assets like Bitcoin will finally find their place as “safe haven” assets?

CEO of crypto trading and research platform DXone, Luciano Nonnis, noted: 

“Bitcoin is the mothership of all cryptocurrencies and an irreplaceable investment alternative for people looking for stable deflationary assets. 

“People keep waking up and thinking about why a printed dollar, which can be printed endlessly, can still be worth something. The important thing is to understand that there is a difference between money and currency: currencies are inflationary, money should not be. 

“The ever-decreasing interest in fiat currencies in general, as well as the anxiety regarding our financial system and rising inflation are increasing buyer interest in markets that offer stable commodities, including Bitcoin.”

Just last week, major US-based crypto exchange Kraken published a volatility report that predicted BTC could rally between 50% and 200% within months, and Virginia-based business intelligence software company MicroStrategy bet big on BTC with a $250 million purchase. 

And, of course, lets not forget, Frankie MacDonald also said “BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCOOOOOOOOOOIN!”

All original content featured on this site is © Pentagon Digital Limited, 2020

What does the future hold for online slot games, and how do you market them to millennials? Plus, with Ukraine in the process of establishing a regulated online gaming market, what opportunities does the country offer?

Simona talks with Yanina Kaplya, Head of Marketing at Evoplay Entertainment, for an expert view from inside Ukraine.

You can find out more about Evoplay Entertainment at https://evoplay.games/

Simona catches up with Quentin Martin, CEO of esports betting operator Luckbox.

Esports betting exploded during the COVID-19 lockdowns, and specialist esports betting operator Luckbox found itself in the right place at the right time, growing faster than anyone predicted.

With the company set to list on the TSX Venture Exchange, Simona caught up with CEO Quentin Martin, to find out how the has company responded, what it has planned for the future, and what its like to do business on the Isle of Man.

You can find out more about Luckbox at https://luckbox.com/