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Need an Affiliateplex Step-by-Step (10)

07-02-2011 09:25 PM #1 ubershawn (Member)
Need an Affiliateplex Step-by-Step

I am horrible when it comes to the technical side of AM.

But I realize I need to start running with a cloaker on Facebook. While the one for STM members is being developed, I am planning on using the Affiliateplex cloaker.

I checked out the website and read through the instructions many times, but I still have no idea how to install and run it.

For example, if I upload the folder to a random URL that I own - which URL do I use when setting up Facebook campaigns, so that the reviewer will be sent to the fake page?


Would anyone be willing to do a step-by-step guide for setting this up for an idiot like me?

It would be greatly appreciated

07-02-2011 10:22 PM #2 driv (Member)

Haha I hear you man. I struggled with this at first too. It's actually really simple (even for us non-coders) once you understand where to replace variables in the php script and how to format the end URL that you submit to facebook. I'm workin on a step-by-step that i'll post here unless someone beats me to it

07-02-2011 10:40 PM #3 ubershawn (Member)

Thanks a lot man! I can't wait to read it

07-03-2011 01:29 AM #4 driv (Member)

Ok here's a walk-through of the process:

Let's say the domain you've upped the script to is 'ubershawnFBCloakSite.com' and let's assume you've upped it to the root of that domain.

First step is to edit your fbcloaking-config.php file...

Here's the default:

Code:
$offers = array(
 'offer-id1' => "http://trk.com/dl.php?t202id=123&t202kw=" . $_GET['ad'],
 'offer-id2' => "http://trk.com/dl.php?t202id=456&t202kw=" . $_GET['ad'],
 'offer-id3' => "http://anotheroffer.com/",
 
);
 
$cloaked = array(
    'offer-id1' => 'http://apps.facebook.com/visabusiness/',
    'offer-id2' => 'http://www.disney.com/',
    'offer-id3' => 'http://affiliateplex.com/',
);
What we want to do here is to add your real 'offers' links (links that regular FB users will see when they click your ad) & your 'cloaked' links (the links you want the FB ad approval team to see).
To add our first link, we just need a tracking link from p202 (i haven't used cpvlab yet so i dunno how their tracking links are setup, but i imagine it's pretty similar.)
Let's say we're trying to cloak a Free iPad Mobile offer here.
So in this example we will add this as a replacement to the first line of the $offers array:
"http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/dl.php?t202id=666&t202kw="
(where the above link is your actual tracking link to the iPad offer OR your LP)

And let's say we want the FB reviewers to think our ad is pointed to www.itunes.com (this is a crappy example, but you get the basic idea about how FB cloaking works w/ this script)

So now our fbcloaking-config.php file will look like this: (i've deleted the other examples in the default script to make this easier to understand)
Code:
$offers = array(
 'offer-id1' => "http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/dl.php?t202id=666&t202kw=" . $_GET['ad'],
 
);
 
$cloaked = array(
    'offer-id1' => 'http://www.itunes.com',
);
So now our 'Cloaked' URL that we input into the FB ad creation screen (or FB ad uploader!) would be http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/redirect.php?oid=offer-id1

Now i'd like to add that the redirect.php is the default name in the archive that you download from affiliateplex.com... You can rename this file to whatever you like to avoid leaving an obvious footprint... for example let's say you change it from 'redirect.php' to 'go.php'... You'd simply adjust the above url to http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/go.php?oid=offer-id1

Further, the ?oid=xxxx part MUST be added to the end of your URL and it MUST match whatever offer is defined as xxxx in your fbcloaking-config.php file. For example say you decide to name your offer as 'iPad' in yer fbcloaking-config file. So yer fbcloaking-config.php is like this:
Code:
$offers = array(
 'iPad' => "http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/dl.php?t202id=666&t202kw=" . $_GET['ad'],
 
);
 
$cloaked = array(
    'iPad' => 'http://www.itunes.com',
);
then the URL you give to FB would be http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/go.php?oid=iPad

Just make sure that the value you use to replace 'offer-id1' in the offers array corresponds to the same value (with a different cloaked url, obviously) in the 'cloaked' array.

Pro Tip: Name your Cloaking variables with the name of the site you're cloaking to. Example:
In this instance, we could change the name of the 'oid=' variable (think of oid as 'Offer ID') to itunes.com so our redirect looks less "suspicious" to savvy FB interns (if there is such a thing )
so:
Code:
$offers = array(
 'itunes.com => "http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/dl.php?t202id=666&t202kw=" . $_GET['ad'],
 
);
 
$cloaked = array(
    'itunes.com' => 'http://www.itunes.com',
);
and the url would be http://ubershawnFBCloakSite.com/go.php?oid=itunes.com
(which looks legit to reviewers who see your URL & click your link)

Final note: Remember to update your fbcloaking.txt DAILY or setup a cron job to do that for you (cron job scheduling is something i don't know how to do myself so unfortunately i can't help with that)

07-03-2011 02:57 AM #5 ubershawn (Member)

This is awesome man, exactly what I needed! I wish there was a "HUGE Thanks" button

07-04-2011 03:59 AM #6 xpatwork (Member)

Is this script legit?

07-05-2011 02:18 AM #7 driv (Member)

it hasn't failed me yet. Main thing to remember is to update the fbcloaking.txt file EVERY DAY. (there's a thread on these forums somewhere with the code to set up a cron job to do this automatically). Hopefully the cloaker that bbrock32 is workin on will make this whole thread obsolete

07-05-2011 03:01 AM #8 ubershawn (Member)

Haha I'm sure it will man. But until it's ready - the guide you wrote is perfect

07-11-2011 09:06 PM #9 theguvna ()

lol nevermind

08-01-2011 12:05 PM #10 vuedoolor (Member)

Hey Driv can you see if you can help me with affiliateplex and prosper 202 at:

http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...-with-Tracking

The way you explain these techie stuff just makes it simple to understand. Appreciate any help I can get

Thanks

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