Online marketing is tough and very few Indies do it well. Lesson 1 advised newbies to wait on their grand idea and start by cloning an existing game. One of the many reasons this is a good tactic is because it’s your first step in marketing.

By copying an existing indie or casual game, you will be assured that there is an audience willing to pay to enjoy the game mechanic. You’ll even know which portals and websites to submit your game to for publishing and distribution once it is completed, but more on that topic later. Cloning cuts out a lot of the preparation, market studies, and prototype work and gets you right to coding and marketing your game. These are the two things that a successful indie developer spends the majority of their time on. It’s assumed that an indie developer does a lot of coding, but a lot of beginners miss out on the marketing.

Marketing can begin before you’ve even settled on what game you’re producing. These next couple tips aren’t required per se, but they certainly will help you if you plan to sell your game on your own website. Obviously, if you want that to be an option, you have to have a website. It’s never too early to create a website and start generating some traffic. Starting a development blog can be a great marketing tool as well since you can start generating excitement for your title by announcing the game (when you finally decide on it), revealing screenshots, or even releasing alpha and beta builds. If you want to make some money while you code, you could even sign up as an affiliate with a larger game portal or with other indie developers and sell games on your site. Don’t expect big sales, but if you’re decent at marketing and get a steady traffic flow you can make something.

Another reason to start your website ASAP is because that the longer a site has been in existence, the better its page rank will be, the more incoming links it will have, and the more time you’ll have to optimize your pages with the search engines. Starting your website now will give you time to get feedback and ensure the site looks professional; People won’t buy anything from a sketchy or unprofessional website. Building a website, expecting people to find it and releasing a game on it is never a winning strategy. A website is not a brick and mortar store; people won’t drive by it and stop in. You have to market it and it’s never too early to start.

Once you have a website, market the hell out of it. But a link in your forum signature, submit it to the free online directories, post about it on facebook, myspace, twitter, etc. Start networking and connecting with potential customers. You can build a fanbase and community for your game before it is even released. Your website is a crucial marketing tool. Generating traffic for your site and excitement for your game will assure better sales.

Is creating a website and marketing it effectively crucial to making an indie game? No. But to be truly independent, a developer shouldn’t rely on a portal or publisher to peddle their game. Distributing your game thru other channels can be great, but you pay for it. You’ll collect 90%+ of a sale on your own website, with a fraction taken out from the payment processor. Most publisher deals will only give you around a 40% cut because you are using their marketing power, web traffic, expertise, and brand. Don’t let the publishers and portals make or break you.

HOMEWORK:
Build your Website – optimize it, start a blog, make it look professional, start selling games on it by affiliating with a portal or other indie game developers.

Market your Website – build a fanbase and community for your game. Create excitement before it’s even released.

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