Tracking Confusion

by Andrew Servis

Posted: 11 years ago 6 replies

AD NETWORKS

I've got a wordpress site with a landing page with opt in. Trying to install tracking and seem to be going round in circles. Am using directCPV as traffic source. Basically I want to track the URLs and keywords that result in traffic to my page.

Firstly looked at DirectCPV that asks you to add tracking IDs to your URL. I couldn't find any info on how to correctly add the tracking codes to the end of the URL that points to my own landing page. Note: This is a LP I made myself on Wordpress with WPoptin plug in.

Then looked at prosper202 as it said this is easier to use and followed the instructions. It says load the files up to root of the domain but I can't as one of the files robots.txt will conflict with another file named the same for attracts SEO plugin. There was also a WP plug in for prosper202 but some are saying it is not working/is outdated and may cause issues in a current wordpress site. On site link it says compatible up to 2.92 but WP is now on 3.5:

WordPress › Prosper202 Tracking Plugin « WordPress Plugins

Spent about 2 days going round in circles and reading forum after forum and want to get this resolved pretty soon.

Any help would be very much appreciated. I also posted in the programming forum thinking maybe someone there would have been able to help me with my initial problem of appending the tracking codes from directCPV to my URL but it appears nobody knows.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

Thanks

Andrew

#confusion #tracking

Nics

11 years ago

Hi Andrew,

I will take a crack at your question. Hope I understood.

I don't know much about prosper202 though I hear that it's great. I started using CPVlab with PPV and love it. It's a bit pricey but worth it and tracking is key so in my view it's not something to skimp on.

I currently use Leadimpact and haven't tried directcpv yet but when you use a third party tracking tool like propser202, cpvlab, demon tracking etc... and setup your campaigns it spits out a campaign link that looks something like this http://yoururl.com/lp/squeeze1.php/go?trackid=6557 and you would then add "&keyword=%KEYWORD%" to the end of it so you end up with "yoururl.com/lp/squeeze1.php/go?trackid=6557&keyword=%KEYWORD%".

Then you put this into leadimpact, directcpv etc... and they will replace %KEYWORD% with the keyword used and the keyword will show up in your tracking program including how many impressions, conversions etc...

Double check that %KEYWORD% is the right token to use for directcpv. Sometimes different networks use different ones.

Also, when you're installing prosper202, I would recommend setting it up in it's own domain or subfolder. Don't use it on a domain that you already have a website on. Also, it's not recommended to use these scripts on shared hosting because of the volume of traffic that will be coming through. Set it up on a VPS.

Hope this helps. It can be frustrating in the beginning to get your head wrapped around this stuff but keep going.

Thanks
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MTVida

11 years ago

Hi Andrew

Honestly if your're going to be doing PPV, you should know that Wordpress pages are not recommended, for two main reasons.

First, you want your pages to load as quickly as possible. Wordpress pages have a lot of code and take too long to load. Simple HTML pages load much quicker. Otherwise your prospects are more likely to close the ad windows before your page even loads.

Second, Wordpress page designs really aren't formatted for PPV. When a user sees your page, you want them to do just one thing (either click a link to the offer or opt-in) Wordpress has a bunch of extra links that would distract your prospect and lead them away from what you want them to do. (The plugin you're using may actually get rid of these. I can't say as I've never used it...)

Like Nics said, you don't want Prospere202 installed in the same place as you website. But it's also important to note that subfolders/subdirectories won't work. Either set up a new domain for it, or create a new subdomain.

So really, if you're going to make landers for PPV, you'll either need to learn how to modify HTML templates or hire someone to create them for you.

[ 1 ] Thanks
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Andrew Servis

11 years ago

Hi Andrew

Originally Posted by MTVida

Honestly if your're going to be doing PPV, you should know that Wordpress pages are not recommended, for two main reasons.

First, you want your pages to load as quickly as possible. Wordpress pages have a lot of code and take too long to load. Simple HTML pages load much quicker. Otherwise your prospects are more likely to close the ad windows before your page even loads.

Second, Wordpress page designs really aren't formatted for PPV. When a user sees your page, you want them to do just one thing (either click a link to the offer or opt-in) Wordpress has a bunch of extra links that would distract your prospect and lead them away from what you want them to do. (The plugin you're using may actually get rid of these. I can't say as I've never used it...)

I understand that and I am trying to move away from using Wordpress as a LP medium.

Originally Posted by MTVida

Like Nics said, you don't want Prospere202 installed in the same place as you website. But it's also important to note that subfolders/subdirectories won't work. Either set up a new domain for it, or create a new subdomain.

So really, if you're going to make landers for PPV, you'll either need to learn how to modify HTML templates or hire someone to create them for you.

Is it easy to point to the other domain?

Thanks
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MTVida

11 years ago

Originally Posted by andys280176

Now here gets a bit tricky for me, just something I need to learn. So I have all the files for Prosper202 and I have Hostgator with 5 add on domains and a root domain. Not sure if I can set up VPS in that set up but assuming I can then I can create a directory such as

VPSmytracking

And point to this from my link - how I actually point to that is not clear to me yet though?

I think you're a bit confused here. VPS is a type of hosting, like shared hosing is. To get VSP, you will need to get a different hosting plan. And fair warning, it will be more expensive ($30-$50/month.) You can get away with a shared hosting setup if you are running very low volume traffic, but since you're doing PPV, I would recommend that you switch over as soon as it's feasible.

Originally Posted by andys280176

Is it easy to point to the other domain

Not quite sure what you mean here. Your domain 'points' to your server, nothing 'points' to your domain.

If you're asking about creating a subdomain, then yes, it's very easy. You just need to go into your hosting interface and find where it lets you create subdomains. C-panel has a "add subdomains" link right on the main page, next to "ad-on domains," (where you would ad any brand new domains). When you create a subdomain, a folder will be automatically created on your server. That folder is where you install the Prosper202 files. Everthing else will take care of it's self.

Thanks
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Andrew Servis

11 years ago

Originally Posted by MTVida

Interesting i'd never heard of this, same idea as a VPN but in a hosting form I suppose.

Originally Posted by MTVida

Not quite sure what you mean here. Your domain 'points' to your server, nothing 'points' to your domain.

I was thinking along the lines of if the tracking software is on say domain A and you have a landing page on domain B

Someone searches 'Make more Money on the internet' for instance (not very specific just an example) and you have that in your CPV campaign as a keyword for your landing page site on domain B.

Your site on Domain B I assume has the tracking ID + keyword variable or similar built in somewhere to trace the keyword of the traffic landing on the page.

The tracking has to know that this specific keyword was used and the hit on domain B site must need to send/link this to the tracking software or the tracking on Domain A must be "listening" for the hits and pick up the keywords. I thought this because of the reason that people were saying you need to pass your affiliate link and tracking id to the landing page provider so if you had your own LP you'd need to link up between the LP host domain and the tracking host.

Basically I am just thinking this out loud here it may be guff I don't know but not saying that the above is correct.

Originally Posted by MTVida

If you're asking about creating a subdomain, then yes, it's very easy. You just need to go into your hosting interface and find where it lets you create subdomains. C-panel has a "add subdomains" link right on the main page, next to "ad-on domains," (where you would ad any brand new domains). When you create a subdomain, a folder will be automatically created on your server. That folder is where you install the Prosper202 files. Everthing else will take care of it's self.

I have done quite a few of these so have the knowledge to do it, as like anything it took me a bit of self-learning and lip biting to get my way through understanding it.

So I have been using DirectCPV with a few CB affiliate links now, not my own stuff, and done a good bit of research on targeted keywords for specific products. I did get a fair amount of traffic but no conversions. Initially I was thinking perhaps my keywords were not specific enough but I really couldn't find anything anymore specific on Google keywords that narrowed down further to exact matches any more than I had already done.

Oh well not to worry back to the drawing board.

Andrew

Thanks

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Andrew Servis

11 years ago

Hi Andrew,

I will take a crack at your question. Hope I understood.

Originally Posted by Nics

I don't know much about prosper202 though I hear that it's great. I started using CPVlab with PPV and love it. It's a bit pricey but worth it and tracking is key so in my view it's not something to skimp on.

Hi Nics, first off thanks for the detailed reply. I did see CPVlab and yes I jumped back a bit when I seen the price. I'm probably not at the level yet where I can justify to myself to invest in that but I definitely agree about it's value as a proper tracking tool and will be looking at in the near future as I build my campaigns.

Originally Posted by Nics

I currently use Leadimpact and haven't tried directcpv yet but when you use a third party tracking tool like propser202, cpvlab, demon tracking etc... and setup your campaigns it spits out a campaign link that looks something like this http://yoururl.com/lp/squeeze1.php/go?trackid=6557 and you would then add "&keyword=%KEYWORD%" to the end of it so you end up with "yoururl.com/lp/squeeze1.php/go?trackid=6557&keyword=%KEYWORD%".

Then you put this into leadimpact, directcpv etc... and they will replace %KEYWORD% with the keyword used and the keyword will show up in your tracking program including how many impressions, conversions etc...

Double check that %KEYWORD% is the right token to use for directcpv. Sometimes different networks use different ones.

TBH it took me a while to realise what exactly I wanted to track and exactly what I was meant to put and where; the more work I done the more I realised how it actually worked between the CPV tool and the tracking tool. Initially I thought the CPV would provide me with reports, because they gave me tracking IDs to add for URL/Keywords, but I never saw any functionality to do reporting in CPV. They also said you need to contact your landing page provider to include it [the link+trackingID/Keyword variable] in their thank you page to track conversions, but a lot of people said that generally landing page providers wont do it.

At the moment I have 2 things on the go, a review WP blog for automated software and an affiliate link from Clickbank, both have a separate campaign in CPV.

I actually took a step back and asked myself what is it I actually want to track because I was getting a bit ahead of myself. I realised that I basically need to track:

AffiliateLanding Page (This is separate from my blog):

The incoming traffic (What keywords/URLs etc. were driving the traffic)
The outgoing results (Conversions/Upsells)

Blog/Site of my own:

The incoming traffic (What keywords/URLs etc. were driving the traffic)
The outgoing results (page loads from one to the other/exit routes/opt ins)

Apologies if the terminology I use is not up to date IM speak!

Originally Posted by Nics

Also, when you're installing prosper202, I would recommend setting it up in it's own domain or subfolder. Don't use it on a domain that you already have a website on. Also, it's not recommended to use these scripts on shared hosting because of the volume of traffic that will be coming through. Set it up on a VPS.

Now here gets a bit tricky for me, just something I need to learn. So I have all the files for Prosper202 and I have Hostgator with 5 add on domains and a root domain. Not sure if I can set up VPS in that set up but assuming I can then I can create a directory such as

VPS\mytracking

And point to this from my link - how I actually point to that is not clear to me yet though?

Originally Posted by Nics

Hope this helps. It can be frustrating in the beginning to get your head wrapped around this stuff but keep going.

Yeah it's funny I do have a good head start on the technical side, I am not a website developer, I work in Information Management so work with a lot of DBs/Reporting/Excel/SharePoint, and extract, transform load (ETL) stuff, so don't have as much hosting/PHP/HTML knowledge but in most cases I can get by.

Thanks

Andrew

Thanks

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