Three weeks ago I launched the beta version of my new online games arcade, SmileyGamer.com. While the site is still in beta, I already made some changes to the design and color scheme. I went to dark text on a light background, to make it easier on the eyes.

Since the launch, the site has received almost 16000 visitors, and more than 45000 pageviews. This is definitely more than I expected! According to Google Analytics, almost 60% are direct visitors, i.e. not referred by another site. Most of these are people who click on the links in my flash game Enigmatica, which I released not long after the site went live.

In the past few weeks I’ve been spreading the freeware version of Enigmatica to several online game websites. It is surprising to see how many people visit the site thanks to the game. So the free version of Enigmatica is not only giving me a small residual income with the included MochiAds advertisement, but also through the advertising on my website.

Making money with a games arcade is rather hard though, the revenue from Google Adsense ads is very very low. Most visitors visit the site to play games, not to click on ads! But fortunately I was accepted with ValueClickMedia last week! They are an ad network that also pays for pageviews of the ad, so I make money even if people don’t actually click on the ads.

The rest of the traffic was mostly obtained thanks to banner exchanges, like MoreGamers and ArcadeBanners, social bookmarking sites like Digg and StumbleUpon, and link exchanges with other arcades.

I still have several features planned for the website, before I can call it final. But even more important is to continue work on Smiley Memory, which will be my next Flash game! Already mentioned before, Smiley Memory will be the first game from the Smiley Puzzle Project. This game will feature the 3D smiley’s also used on the Smiley Gamer site. I expect it to become a lot more popular than Enigmatica, so it will be a great promotion for the site! It’s great to see the Smiley Puzzle Project, originally started more than a year ago, finally come to life!

As this blog is, among other things, about making money online, it’s about time I write something about Agloco! Rumour is all over the net that they’re going to launch their viewbar very soon now!

For those who have been living in a cave the last few months, Agloco gives you a way to make money just for surfing the web. All you have to do is install their viewbar. For the long story, I gladly refer to their website.

In my quest for online passive income, it’s rather obvious I signed up for their program. And since I can make more money by referring people, it should be rather obvious this post is full of referral links

Like most bloggers, I (ab)use my blog to get referrals. But unlike most bloggers, I’m not going to write endlessly about how Agloco works, and how it is good for you, and will make you rich, and do your homework too. No, my message is plain and simple: I want to make money with Agloco. And if you want the same, stop reading and sign up already!!

Not interested? Then go play a game!

The freeware version of my Flash game Enigmatica has been released on my new arcade SmileyGamer.com! If you are a webmaster, you can put this version for free on your own website or games arcade. Download the full package here.

Contrary to the version that is available for licensing, the freeware version contains advertising from MochiAds, an ad network for Flash games. It also contains logo’s from, and links to the Smiley Gamer website, and it’s integrated with the highscore system of that same site.

Check out the games for your site page at Smiley Gamer to see all our games that are available for free and for licensing.

Yesterday, I uploaded the game to Newgrounds, and it has already received some nice reviews over there!

StubHub! is our newest Text-Link-Ads sponsor (see the Concert Tickets link in the left sidebar under Sponsors). This description from the site says what it’s all about:

StubHub is the fan’s ticket marketplace

We enable customers to buy and sell tickets at fair market value to a vast selection of sporting, concert, theater and other live entertainment events, even those that are “sold out”.

This was a sponsored message. If you would like to become a sponsor, buy a link on this blog at Text Link Ads.

Last week I completed my very first Flash game, written in ActionScript 3! Almost a month ago I wrote about switching from Java to Flash for web game development.

As the first game to learn Flash, I chose Enigmatica, a game I made a long time ago for Nokia mobile phones. It’s a unique and challenging puzzle game, which I think is suited for an online version. Now that I have some experience with Photoshop, I could make the graphics better than those for the mobiles. I tried to make the graphical style different from the average flash games, which usually look very vectorized.

To monetize this game, I’m currently trying to sell licenses to online gaming websites. When I get accepted to MochiAds, an ad network for casual games, I’m also going to distribute an ad-supported version for free. So, if you have a website with online games and are interested in buying a license, please contact me!

Backgammon Pages is a site about the game of backgammon. It contains lots of information about the game, and also explains how you can enter online competitions and win money by playing.

From the site:

A few games are combining the game experience and the thrill of betting in the way online backgammon for money does. If you play poker or roulette, the affect of luck on the game is so big that you can’t feel like playing (unlike offline poker- a completely different story). Most other online money games don’t have a gambling tradition. Of course, you can play any game for money but it won’t feel right… the online backgammon for money is giving you the feeling of the real money games with the comfort of sitting wherever you want and whenever you feel like playing.

This was a sponsored message. If you would like to become a sponsor, buy a link on this blog at Text Link Ads.

Today I woke up, realizing it’s already March! It’s amazing how fast time flies when you’re having fun! It’s that time again to ponder a bit about my business and what happened during the last month. Checking my blog, I noticed I only published 3 articles last month…

On the other hand, this blog is getting more visitors again, thanks to the article To Flash Or Not To Flash, which was included in the second Carnival of Game Production on GameProducer.net! I’ll follow up on that article soon, when I have some screenshots of the first Flash game I’m currently developing.

It’s also still doing good with Text-Link-Ads, thanks to these sponsors: Mortgage Lenders, Cell Phone Covers, Iron Realms - Text MMORPG’s and Skill games.

Our Speeltijd.net site has had a little fallback again, with 6792 visitors last month (15% down). Of course february was a couple of days shorter than january As a consequence, Google Adsense income also dropped. But the good news is that I received my money from Google for the first time since I started using Adsense, little over a year ago. I had let the money pile up a bit, so it was already over $250!

I’ve been thinking about my business model last month, and decided to change it a bit. More precisely, I’m going to move from the shareware model to a combined model: webgames with advertising and a deluxe shareware version for the popular webgames. This is also the main reason I’m partly moving to Flash.

There’s a huge audience for free online games, and there are an increasing number of possibilities for developers to monetize on them, using advertising. Of course, it’s also a great method to make more people aware of the deluxe shareware version, although the conversion rate with this audience will be pretty low. I’ll write more about this as my plans develop!

Skill Room is an informational site about skill games. They host resources, a number of articles about skill games, descriptions of online skill gaming sites, and of course some games too.

From the site:

Skill Room is your space for online skill games information.
Ever wondered if you have what it takes to succeed at different games of skill? The answer is now right at your fingertips, as it’s easier than ever to play all sorts of games of skill online.

This was a sponsored message. If you would like to become a sponsor, buy a link on this blog at Text Link Ads.