Features Explained

AllAffiliatePro is packed with features and functionality. Explained here are some of the key features, and how to use them.

Unique, Raw, Blind and E-mail clicks

There are three main kinds of clicks. There are unique clicks, raw clicks and blind clicks (Blind clicks also have unique and raw). This is mainly relevant to those starting a Pay Per Click affiliate program.

Unique clicks

This is when a visitor has clicked an affiliate banner for the first time. The visitor has not already visited your site and so is called a unique visitor.

Raw clicks

This is when a visitor has clicked an affiliate banner to your site at any time. Whether they have never visited your site, visited your site 10 times, or even 100 times.

Blind clicks

This is when a visitor has been tricked into clicking an affilate link to your site. E.G. They have clicked a link saying "Next Page", and ended up at your site instead. Most Pay Per Click affiliate programs ban blind clicks, as they do not convert well to sale. Gateway systems can be used to prevent blind linking. Some programs however choose to pay a very low amount per blind click raw or unique. AllAffiliatePro has the capability built in to track blind clicks, if you choose to offer this to your affiliates.

E-mail clicks

This is when a click comes from a link in an e-mail message. If not linked correctly then these clicks are not tracked, this is explained in the LinkCodeGenerator usage guide. 

The Gateway system

AllAffiliatePro includes two advanced gateway system options. A gateway system applies to a Pay Per Click program, so if you are starting a Pay Per Sale affiliate program then you can skip this section. A gateway system is a way of protecting your affiliate program against fraud from repeated clicking, or blind linking. With the gateway system turned off then once a visitor clicks one of your affiliates banners then 1 click is credited to their statistics. With the gateway turned on then the affiliate is only credited a click when:-

  1. The visitor is first presented with an entrance page to your site, and the click is only credited, if the visitor passes this page.
  2. The visitor must pass to a set page in your site for the click to be credited.

These options can be set by selecting "Entrance Page" and "Cookie Tracking" respectively from the Gateway Style configuration variable. Both systems, with their benefits and drawbacks are listed below:-

System1

Entrance page template
When a visitor clicks on one of your links an entrance page is displayed, the click is not recorded until they pass the entrance page into the site. This works well for all kinds of Pay Per Click programs.

System2

Cookie system
When a visitor clicks on one of your link's they are taken to your site. One of your site pages contains a link to clickme.cgi which then records the click. This page can be several pages into your site. E.g. At the end of a free tour. Raw clicks will not work with this option. Due to this, you can select to have the cookie system for unique clicks and either entrance page or direct for raw clicks.

You can choose to use the gateway system with blind clicks only, normal clicks only, or both. Otherwise you can turn the gateway system off.

For system 1 the template entrance page file is gateway.html. As with the other html templates this file is parsed by the scripts and contains a ::symbol::. For more details see the section "Templates to Match your Site". If you have multiple sites then you need to set a gateway for each. For the first site edit gateway.html, for the second its gateway2.html, and so on. For each new gateway page make a copy of the first then edit.
For system 2 you must add the following image tag to the page you want the clicks to be recorded at.

<img height=1 width=1 src="http://www.cv-writers-affiliate.org.uk/cgi-bin/clickme.cgi?want=gatewaycookie" border=0>

Cookie and IP order tracking

AllAffiliatePro comes with IP and/or Cookie order tracking. Order tracking applys to a Pay Per Sale program, so if you are starting a Pay Per Click program then you can skip this section. You can choose to have either Cookie tracking, IP tracking or both. Both types have advantages and disadvantages, listed below:-

Cookie Tracking

The most popular form of tracking. A cookie can be used to track which affiliate referred the sale months or even years after the visitor originally clicked the link. So an affiliate could send you a visitor, and a tracking cookie would be put in the visitors browser. The visitor could then leave the site and return at a later date, make a purchase, and the sale would still be credited to the affiliates account. You are able to select exactly how long the tracking cookie will last for in the variable "Commission Period". The disadvantage with using cookies is that not all browsers support cookies, and some people have cookies disabled in their browser, so affiliate commissions are not tracked.

IP Tracking

With IP tracking the visitors IP is linked with the affiliate that referred them. This tracking system will work with all browsers. The problem is that many internet users do not have a fixed IP, so if they leave the site, then come back later having re-connected, the affiliate commission is not tracked even if it is within your set "Commission Period".

Selecting to use both systems you get the best of both worlds. Cookie tracking is favoured, but if no tracking cookie is found then the IP records are checked, and any affiliate commissions are credited.

Customer ID tracking

You can track the customer ID or email from each sale. This allows you to add an extra level of tracking accuracy. To use this feature enable it from the Advanced Configuration menu and pass customer=CUSTOMERID to clickme2.cgi or click2.cgi. Where CUSTOMERID is swapped for the customers ID or Email on each order.

Extra linking options

AllAffiliatePros advanced extra linking options mean you can now have your affiliate links counting towards your sites link popularity, and bump up that search engine ranking. This can be done with each site in your network having affiliates link to your server rather than your affiliate softwares server. You can also link to all pages of content in your site, no matter how deep.

Own domain linking

This is done by setting up the script index.cgi on each site you are promoting with AllAffiliatePro. ASP and PHP versions of the script are available upon request. You can rename this script to whatever you want, and place it anywhere on your server. Be sure to edit the script in a text editor (notepad), and setup the special configuration within, and apply the correct file permissions (chmod 755, execure permissions). You must then enter the scripts URL into the sites configuration in the LinkCodeGenerator.

Deep page linking

You can enter specific content pages on your site for affiliates to promote with your banners and text links. You can also allow for affiliates to enter a content page of their choice.

Multi Level Marketing

AllAffiliatePros multi tier system allows for the deepest and most advanced Multi Level Marketing affiliate program to be created. The limit on tiers is set to 12, but more can be added upon request.

Multi tier

Having more than one tier of commissions means that the affiliate program actively promotes itself. Encouraging affiliates to get more people promoting your site. The more tiers, the more the effect to a certain extent.

Recurring and Bonus commissions

AllAffiliatePro takes recurring affiliate commissions to the next level, allowing you to set different commission rates for different rebills. Bonus commissions can also be rewarded to affiliates who are high earners, encouraging affiliats to advertise your site more than others.

Recurring scale

Setting a recurring scale is very useful if you are in close competition with another company running an affiliate program. Allowing you to offer higher commissions on the primary sale, but keeping the same low commission on rebills. This can also be used in conjunction with special offers, and trial periods.

Bonus commissions

You can set targets for your affiliates to aim towards. If they hit these targets then they get a percentage bonus on their commissions. This can be very useful when attracting super affiliates.

Discount coupons and access codes

AllAffiliatePro takes offline affiliate tracking to new levels with discount coupons and access codes. You can track offline affiliate commissions accurately by providing affiliates with access code numbers or discount coupon numbers for your site. These numbers secretly contain the affiliates user id, and once entered into the access code or discount coupon form the affiliate is credited with any sales made.

discountcoupon.html

Use this page for when customers need to enter their access code or discount coupon. Once a valid code has been entered the visitor will be forwarded to your site. You can even forward customers to specific product pages. Numbers must be in the format "#COUPXXXX-0001" or "#CODEXXXX-0002" where 'XXXX' is the affiliates username (case sensitive). The hidden form fields 'site' and 'fd' allow you to select which site or page they are directed to.

Multi Currency

AllAffiliatePro can track orders from multiple sites, and now multiple currencies. Choose a set base currency, and have commission for other currency sales converted to the base commission. AllAffiliatePro can work in any currency and can convert from any currency. You can setup and configure the multi currency feature from the Configuration->Currencies page.

Default

The default currency is your base currency that orders from all other currencies are converted into.

Currency

You can enter any number of currencies with their exchange rate to the bse currency. You must update these rates each time you run a pay period.

Commission Delay

AllAffiliatePro can delay affiliate commissions if you offer a money back guarantee or promotional period. You can delay the commissions by any number of days, months or years. Sales notification emails will include the date the commission has been delayed until.

Template Wizard

The Template Wizard makes it easy to customize the look and feel of your affiliate program. If you are not a web designer we recommend that you stick to using the template wizard and not to edit templates directly. Once the template wizard is run if creates all the templates for you with your set options. If you then edit the templates directly and re-run the wizard you will LOSE all of your custom changes. If you are very good with HTML and understand RAW HTML fully, then you can edit the template wizards base files directly. These files are named tpl_* and are in the main affiliate cgi-bin folder, make SURE you have a BACKUP of these files before you adjust them. They include lots of additional markup the template wizard needs to run.

Please continue to the next section Integration