Greetings CDM Fantasy Sports Affiliate,

It hardly seems possible but the 2007 sports season has begun, and along with it, the sports which begin each spring. Baseball spring training games have already started and we’re less than a month away from Opening Day. It’s truly hard to believe that in the matter of just a few more weeks, both the NHL and NBA will begin their playoff seasons. As is the case every year around this time, it’s time to update your Affiliate links to maximize your earning potential. Each day you delay could cost you customer sales. Be sure to freshen up your links so that your customers can join the latest fantasy games that are now open for signups.

QUARTERLY TIP
I recently read an independent study that was conducted by LinkShare which showed in recent years, there has been a spiraling decrease in the effect of affiliate banner ads. This caught my attention and made me read the results much more closely.

What I learned was very interesting and also very much targeted to our affiliate relationship. The study explained that the standard 468x60 banner has decreased in effectiveness since 2004 from an average click-through of slightly over 2% to 1.12% in 2006. That’s a 50% decrease in effectiveness in a two-year period. However, the good news is the increased effectiveness of text links which now produce an almost 2% click-through. This rate increases even more, to over 3%, if the text link is included in articles on your website.

So while we don’t suggest that you remove banners from your website completely, we do highly recommend that you increase the use of text links on your pages and try doing short write-ups or articles with those text links embedded within them. It’s worth a try, RIGHT?  

GAMES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE TO PROMOTE
At the bottom of this newsletter, you'll find a summary of the eight featured games that we recommend promoting now. They represent three different sports and include six fantasy baseball games, one fantasy auto racing game and one fantasy golf games.

The first fantasy baseball game is the Diamond Challenge, the granddaddy of all national Rotisserie baseball games. The second baseball offering is Fantasy Baseball 2007. This game is just right for the player who knows his stuff, but prefers a point-style game to the more challenging Rotisserie-style. For the more casual baseball fan, we offer a low-cost version of this game, the Fanball.com Fantasy Baseball Cap Challenge (formerly named Budget Baseball). It uses the same scoring style as well as the same player salaries as Fantasy Baseball 2007, but costs much less to play. The Fanball.com Fantasy Baseball Cap Challenge is a great game for first-time players or those on a limited budget. For fantasy players who prefer drafting a team and competing in a league against others, Draft and Play Fantasy Baseball is the obvious choice. This game now features five levels of play, one of which is sure to meet your customer’s requirements. For the intense fantasy baseball player, there is Internet Challenge Fantasy Baseball. This game allows roster changes twice each week and doubles the fun!

We also offer a High Roller Fantasy Baseball game with a $1000 entry fee and the largest CDM baseball prize payout. This is a game for the fantasy player who knows he's good and is ready to put his money where his mouth is to prove it! If you think this game may appeal to your customer base, please feel free to promote it.

The auto racing fantasy sports market continues to grow, and this year, CDM introduced a new game: Draft and Play Fantasy NASCAR. In this game, participants compete in an 8-team league and draft a roster of 6 drivers. Leagues continue to form all season long for the upcoming weekend’s race so, as an affiliate, you can promote this game from now until November!

For golf fans, the Majors Challenge is a great way to follow the BIG 4 tournaments beginning with The Masters, followed by the U.S. Open, British Open, and PGA Championship -- and it costs only $10 to play!

Banners and artwork for all of these games are available now via the CDM Affiliates website.

GAMES AVAILABLE TO PROMOTE SOON
At the end of this newsletter, there is a summary of the two upcoming games that will be available shortly: CDM Fantasy Playoff Hockey, and the Playoff Basketball Challenge. In addition, signups for our numerous football games will begin in June so watch for that as well. More information on these offerings will be included in our next newsletter.

By clicking on each game’s logo in the summary table, you can easily go to its website to access the complete rules, pricing, and prizes.

As a reminder, to promote a game and receive credit for the entries you generate, you must first put the banners and artwork on your website and link them to our games with your affiliate code.  To do this, visit the CDM Affiliates website and use the Graphics and Artwork and Linking Instructions pages.  Please feel free to contact us if you are having any problems with this.

We here at CDM Fantasy Sports hope you have found this newsletter helpful.  We look forward to a long and satisfying relationship with you.  Should you have any questions or should there be any information which you would like covered in future newsletters, please contact Stephen M. Parker at sparker@cdmsports.com.