The PartyPoker website is a reputable online facility to enjoy gambling games
such as poker. It offers users access to a wide variety of activities such as poker, bingo, roulette,
blackjack, and more. Games at the PartyPoker website can be downloaded or played online.
Unlike many of the gambling sites that are cluttered and sometimes plain overwhelming
the PartyPoker website offers a neat website design that portrays an image of professionalism.
The website loads incredibly fast and offers a quick overview of what is available
through abstracts and the main menu on top of the pages. The traditional black and dark green associated
with casinos form part of the website design. White is surprisingly used as a background and offers a
welcome break from the traditional online gambling sites. This also ensures easy reading.
One point of critique though is that the same theme is not present throughout. The
PartyPoker website forms part of the group of websites such as PartyCasino that makes up the PartyGaming
world and as such each of the sites has its own colour scheme and theme. The integrated look however,
will be enhanced through a central colour scheme.
The PartyPoker website complies with most of the rules of good website design with a
well organized and user friendly site map included. It also includes the following important features:
- About us page
- Contact us option
- Privacy statement
- Cookie policy
- Support
- Terms and conditions page
- Option to view the website in one of several languages
- Search facility
- Images contain alt tags
- Copyright notice
- Titles that display in blue title bar of the browser
- Displaying well in several browsers
- Sponsors clearly identifiable
- All links work and lead to useful content relevant to the audience
- Logo displayed throughout
Navigation is made easy through the use of a cascading style sheet menu which displays
the main categories of the PartyGaming site such as poker, bingo, casino, mobile, backgammon, and bets
on top throughout. The sub-menu is also displayed on top and at the familiar left side of the page which
is also good for search engine optimisation purposes. The reason is that search engines value links at the
top and left side. It also enhances user friendliness of the navigation since users read mostly from left
to right. The categories specific to the PartyPoker website are listed in the main banner and lead to pages
where the user:
- Can download party poker software and games.
- Tell a friend and thus earn cash rewards for doing so.
- Learn how to play.
- Get news on the latest offerings at the website.
- Get advice on responsible gambling steps.
- Can become an affiliate and earn large amounts.
- Watch tournaments and tutorials at the online TV channel or make use of the Podcasts option.
The website design also features a link on top to 24 hour support for the users of the
site. In terms of user friendliness it thus does an excellent job. Content offerings are equally amazing
and with several methods of getting players involved on the Internet marketing side, such as rewards for
referring friends and becoming affiliates, the site cashes in through the viral Internet marketing efforts.
Building trust is an important aspect of online gambling sites. The PartyPoker website
does this through secure transactions, comprehensive help, and assistance with playing, privacy statements,
and encryption to protect players against fraud. It also displays its compliance with license regulations
and provides comprehensive information about the Party Gaming Group. A personal account can be created which
allows a user the ability to personalize his or her experience, keep track of play and money while also
ensuring privacy.
There is however, no obvious help available about plugins, scripts and software required for using the website. A virtual assistant to guide new users through the website will also greatly enhance the user experience.
When it comes to the SEO aspect of Internet marketing the PartyPoker website (UK) has already made some inroads. The website analysis (May 28, 2008) shows that the specific domain has been online since 2002, which should give it some credibility with search engines and users alike. Although the co.uk domain has a mere 1 Google Page Rank that doesn’t reflect the true standing of the website as part of the larger Party Gaming Group. The .com version has a 7 on the Google Page Rank and the PartyGaming website boasts a current Page Rank of 6. Since both .com and .co.uk lead to the same site, it is evident that it is performing well at the search engines. It boasts a tremendous amount of incoming links which contribute to its excellent ranking. If you are bored or just love the excitement that online gambling offers, you will delight in all the gambling features of the PartyPoker website.