Home > Technical & Creative Skills > Tracking Campaigns

Decisive > Voluum > Affiliate Networks. Full Video Guide. (60)

11-26-2014 03:43 AM #1 zeno (Administrator)
Decisive > Voluum > Affiliate Networks. Full Video Guide.

This has been a bit overdue but here it is!

I've sat down and prepared a full 30 minute tutorial for you that covers some basics and fundamentals of tracking as well as using Decisive, Voluum and several affiliate networks.

What's covered:

Tracking Decisive campaigns with Voluum
Conversion tracking from Cake Marketing, HasOffers and Avazu to Voluum
How to observe HTTP headers and information passing in URLs (this is a very useful skill!)
Some basics on tokens/macros

Let there never again be another thread on how to set up Decisive with Voluum and some affiliate network, or my head may explode.

Note: watch the video @ Vimeo to get full screen.

Note 2: for Avazu I use the [conversion amount] token - it was the first I spotted, [conversion revenue] may be more appropriate.

If you have any questions that remain unanswered, post them here.

Video Link:

Code:

https://vimeo.com/112879354

Password: stmrocks

11-26-2014 07:29 AM #2 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

Awesome!

ZenoRocks!

11-26-2014 08:47 AM #3 theethirtyd (Member)

ZenoRocks!

You might find it useful to edit your browser bookmarks and remove the name of Unique Favicon. It'll look like this:

11-26-2014 08:55 AM #4 zeno (Administrator)

Nah I like the names.

I think one shouldn't need to have so many bookmarks in the toolbar that you need that... this is what folders are for.

Actually I intended to do the video with my bookmarks bar off but forgot.

11-26-2014 08:59 AM #5 fighterspirit (Member)

Zeno The Legend THANKS!

This is Real Gem!

11-26-2014 01:56 PM #6 milobanski (AMC Alumnus)

I like how you used app=grindr as your example... lol!

11-27-2014 06:02 PM #7 zeno (Administrator)

Originally Posted by milobanski

I like how you used app=grindr as your example... lol!

Seemed appropriate haha.

11-27-2014 06:34 PM #8 cmdeal (Veteran Member)

It would be really cool to have a section on STM with several video tutorials like this. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video ... especially on a topic like this ... is worth a gazillion.

11-27-2014 07:32 PM #9 reidmoto (Member)

Thank you for making this video for us @zeno! Just getting started with mobile and this is a huge help. I agree with cmdeal that a section on videos would be awesome. I learn much faster with video than by reading posts.

11-27-2014 08:14 PM #10 Mr Green (Administrator)

Dat smooth down south accent.

12-10-2014 10:35 PM #11 jacklord (AMC Alumnus)

that was awesome, cheers for that

I watched it the first time through completely
watched it a second time following along with a decisive / f5 / mobile CPI offer - couldn't get the URL to load anything during testing and was freaking out
watched it a third time through trying to figure out wtf was going on and heard your comment that mobile offers won't load as it's the app install page and breathed a sigh of relief

01-07-2015 01:33 AM #12 mcsteve (Member)

This was an awesome tutorial, thank you! I'm wondering if it is possible to delete the clicks and conversions from the affiliate network and Voluum after testing is completed so that once my campaigns start I have accurate data? I'm using F5 Media.

01-07-2015 03:52 AM #13 fahfah (AMC Alumnus)

Thanks Zeno, STM Rocks Zeno Rocks!

01-07-2015 07:18 PM #14 zeno (Administrator)

Nope, definitely not possible with affiliate networks and Voluum doesn't yet offer a campaign reset feature.

The test clicks are negligible in the general scope of things but if you do have so few clicks that they are annoying, just duplicate the campaign after you've tested everything and use it's link at traffic sources instead.

01-14-2015 04:34 AM #15 bobncsu (AMC Alumnus)

i thought when using cake, the s1 can only pass non-unique subids. since most of these variables are dynamically generated, shouldn't the first subid be s2=random variable here ? (usually, i'm putting s2={{subid}} out of habit from using prosper)...is this incorrect?

01-14-2015 06:22 AM #16 zeno (Administrator)

Yep that's absolutely right, hence why I use s5 in the tutorial.

S1 is a no-no for unique click IDs with the Cake platform.

01-22-2015 02:48 AM #17 infinitehorizons (Member)

That was fantastic thanks a million Zeno. I've read a ton of the onboarding information and hadn't placed you with such an accent. The rest will sound very different as I read it now

02-22-2015 11:48 AM #18 jordan21d (Member)

Hey Zeno. Amazing video!! Just set up a campaign following this vid and noticed that my conversions are being tracked in Voluum and F5 but don't show up in Decisive. Is there something I've possible done wrong along the process? I've double checked and I'm sure I've followed it correctly. Just wondering if you had any idea why this would happen.

Cheers

02-22-2015 01:16 PM #19 Chunk (Member)

haha did you use my guide as well ?

03-09-2015 08:04 PM #20 InnerWinner (Member)

I have following questions:
1. I am using Decisive as traffic source. IN the Campaign URL should I pass the variables as it is or I can hardcode the values of variables for example: http://otuyh.trackvoluum.com/5003920...31-33&sex=Male

2. If I am using 'CPM" Cost model at my traffic source, what option will I choose in the Cost Model section while setting up my campaign- the available options are 1. do not track, 2. CPC 3. CPA 4. Auto
3. How can I track the clicks to individual banners in Voluum.

03-09-2015 08:25 PM #21 vsystem (Member)

You can not change the cost on Voluum to reflect the cost of your campaign in your traffic source. You can set the CPA on Voluum but as i said when the cpa changes in your traffic source you can not change it again in Voluum. Voluum has promised to solve this problem soon.

03-10-2015 01:09 AM #22 ericchuawc (Member)

Thanks for the video tutorial.

Does it make any difference for Voluum to auto-append click id (on affiliate network setup) compare to manually add yourself (which I think you append to the last id ie. s5=)?

Any help? Thanks.

03-11-2015 01:56 PM #23 leonardodarwin (Member)

I tried the step, but when i tried to run the link, it said i was redirected and cancelled D:

03-16-2015 03:47 PM #24 zeno (Administrator)

Originally Posted by khushbedi

Use tokens. Don't hard code unless its entirely specific to the campaign e.g. angle=angle1

Originally Posted by ericchuawc

Manually do it. It's important to be explicit otherwise you're more likely to do it incorrectly later and compromise your tracking.

Originally Posted by leonardodarwin

I tried the step, but when i tried to run the link, it said i was redirected and cancelled D:

Not sure what you mean here?

03-17-2015 12:19 AM #25 leonardodarwin (Member)

Not sure what you mean here?

It was my offer link that was not working, Noob mistake, I didn't try the offer link to see if it works or not.
Trying to figure out how to set up inmobi atm

Thank you thou

03-25-2015 06:43 AM #26 moonking (Member)

Wow... this was so freaking helpful!!! Trying to figure this out on my own was making me think about killing myself, then luckily I found this tutorial. Thanks a million man

04-23-2015 12:48 AM #27 webdev (Member)

First of all, thanks for doing all this!
Few questions I have though,
1) I don't get anything under subid 5 when I check my reports
2) And because of that, I can not trigger a conversion. Can you think of any reason why?
3) Also when I check my stats Voluum, the 'visits' is how many people arrived on the landing page, and 'click' is how many people clicked the CTA?
4) And how does Voluum track cost

04-23-2015 09:14 AM #28 Ruby Tunes ()

Originally Posted by webdev

1) I don't get anything under subid 5 when I check my reports
2) And because of that, I can not trigger a conversion. Can you think of any reason why?

Do you mean your reports on your network?
What network are you using/what platform do they use? Is your subid defined correctly in your affiliate link according to the platform? E.g. F5 (cake) would have &s5={clickid} at the end of your aff link when you add your offer.

Originally Posted by webdev

3) Also when I check my stats Voluum, the 'visits' is how many people arrived on the landing page, and 'click' is how many people clicked the CTA?

Yes, visits is how many people have been sent to your LP, clicks is how many people have clicked through to the offer.

Originally Posted by webdev

4) And how does Voluum track cost

This depends on the traffic source you’re using. For example Zeropark automatically tracks costs.
Other sources have a “cost” token which sends through the cost of every click to the tracker - in which case you would tick “auto” track costs in the campaign set up.
You can also choose to manually track costs - there is an option for CPC or CPA cost tracking when setting up campaign. Voluum explains these: "CPC allows you to enter your cost per click. CPA allows you to enter your cost per conversion.” You then enter a value for each click or cost per conversion.
Obviously these methods aren’t great when you’re bidding CPM - I just select “Do not track costs” and I refer to my costs on the traffic source instead.

04-23-2015 12:35 PM #29 memori (AMC Alumnus)

Hi Guys, a little bit of confusion here,
at first thanks to zeno for great tutorial

I've been through all the video and set my campaign
I've already got email from Decisive that my campaign is approve and will click "play",
but I see my Voluum have already get click and going up.
I have no idea which part is wrong, then I see at my affiliate network dashboard and seeing that I got several offer that have activated
so I assume this problem is from my aff net side.
but when I try another aff network, its happend the same thing, my Decisive still paused but the already got click
and its still going on whenever I hit F5
Anyone have ever meet this happend? or any idea whats happening?
thanks guys..

04-23-2015 09:42 PM #30 webdev (Member)

Originally Posted by Ruby Tunes

I am using convert2media and Decisive. and yes in my reports on my network. Where do you mean is my subid defined correctly? in Voluum? Yes it is.
The only thing is, its a uk offer, and I am in Canada. When ever I click the preview, it takes me to a different offer. Likely cuz my ip is not from uk. I am not sure if that makes any difference. I don't know how to go around that.

04-24-2015 10:52 AM #31 Ruby Tunes ()

Originally Posted by webdev

Gonna need more information to figure out your problem as right now I can only guess. Start a new thread under this section of the forum with more info including your links in each part of the process (but make sure to censor most of the link for privacy) and we will help you!

As for the offer preview, yes it’s because the offer knows you’re from a different geo and redirects you. You need to use something like a Hidemyass VPN to get around that (makes you appear as if you’re in another country).

04-27-2015 06:28 PM #32 kingrichards (Member)

I'm running Mundomedia,,,,everything seem to work fine EXCEPT Clicks ,,,on Decisive it is showing a bunch of clicks but on Voluum it's ZERO perhaps i'm not putting the right Token? Help? Zeno?

04-28-2015 06:16 PM #33 Ruby Tunes ()

Originally Posted by kingrichards

I'm running Mundomedia,,,,everything seem to work fine EXCEPT Clicks ,,,on Decisive it is showing a bunch of clicks but on Voluum it's ZERO perhaps i'm not putting the right Token? Help? Zeno?

We will need more info from you in order to help. The best idea is to start a new thread detailing your links for each part of the process and making sure to censor the important parts and we will be able to help

04-28-2015 07:24 PM #34 kingrichards (Member)

Originally Posted by Ruby Tunes

I figured it out ..I was,using direct link and that's why is not showing click

Been watching Zeno 's video that was a major help! !

05-01-2015 11:34 AM #35 gomisha (Member)

Fantastic guide, Zeno! Just wondering if there needs to be one last step to complete the offer and test if that registers a conversion in Voluum. That's the part that I'm stuck on, even though everything seems to be working when I test the postback links and the Voluum campaign link. I asked about this in my follow along as well as in the tracking campaigns forum.

06-10-2015 02:44 AM #36 dylanredgrave (AMC Alumnus)

Hey Zeno,

do you have any clue how i can track clickbank conversions? what tokens i need to use

regards

dylan

06-14-2015 04:32 PM #37 zeno (Administrator)

Originally Posted by dylanredgrave

Hey Zeno,

do you have any clue how i can track clickbank conversions? what tokens i need to use

regards

dylan

See the following:

http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...ions-to-Voluum

http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...ion-Service%29

07-11-2015 05:09 PM #38 menoyocapital (Member)

Really thank you a lot. It was really issue video tutorial.

Thanks!

07-28-2015 11:00 PM #39 kowisoft (Member)

I only can say thank you, thank you, thank you... Zeno...

btw, your interview with Go2Mobi is my next thing to listen to when commuting to work tomorrow. Pretty sure, that it's quite inspirational.

I have a question, which is quite newbie, but nevertheless :-) ...

I still upload my banners in my traffic source of course but one of the most interesting things for me is to see which banners work and which don't. Do I have to pass through a specific variable from Go2Mobi to Voluum to see that / track it in Voluum?

Thanks in advance!

07-29-2015 01:58 AM #40 qureyoon (AMC Alumnus)

Originally Posted by kowisoft

....
I still upload my banners in my traffic source of course but one of the most interesting things for me is to see which banners work and which don't. Do I have to pass through a specific variable from Go2Mobi to Voluum to see that / track it in Voluum?...

Go2Mobi is one of the default template when you add new traffic source in Voluum.

You can find the full list of tokens when you create campaign in Go2Mobi:

07-29-2015 05:55 AM #41 kowisoft (Member)

ok, so then I need to forward the creative id {crid} to Voluum, right?

08-13-2015 03:32 AM #42 datle888 (Member)

I have the same issue. I set up tracking and traffic with decisive, Voluum and Oasis ads for a mobile offer that's in Ukraine. 1)Even with mobilephoneemulator.com and VPN, I couldn't see the offer page. 2) I tried tracking my clicks on Oasis Ads, and I don't see the click ID either. (on sub Id5)

I am a little concerned here as Voluum support is taking forever to get back to me on this issue. Help Zeno? anyone?

Thanks

08-22-2015 04:33 PM #43 augzie (Member)

Thanks for the vid zeno!

I saw that you added variables in the offer setup.

1. That will mean that is passes the variables back to the affiliate network but we only need and unique subid and payout in most cases for offer set up right? because that is what I have been doing for offer set up.

2. What's the reason why you would add the additional variables to the offer setup?

08-23-2015 04:10 PM #44 zeno (Administrator)

1 & 2: To pass more information to the network.

Think of it this way: a) you send traffic. 70% of it is crap. Advertiser kicks you off. Cry and move on.

b) You send traffic. You label traffic in buckets and the network can see 20 different traffic sources (e.g. ad1angle1, ad2angle1, ad1angle2, etc.). Advertiser notes 14/20 are crap but 6/20 are good for them and they ask you to keep sending traffic. You don't get kicked. You continue to make money and importantly have data on back-end lead quality versus angle/ad.

b wins every time.

08-24-2015 09:39 PM #45 marcogallone (Member)

Zeno, this is amazing- thank you!

After a long time staring at seemingly meaningless clickIDs this video has been a real 'penny drop' moment!

08-25-2015 09:23 AM #46 zeno (Administrator)

Originally Posted by marcogallone

Zeno, this is amazing- thank you!

After a long time staring at seemingly meaningless clickIDs this video has been a real 'penny drop' moment!

Hopefully with more pennies dropping into your pockets in the future :P

02-16-2016 10:07 PM #47 jabaco (Member)

Zeno! you rocks! this is the best tracking tutorial I´ve seen in my life!

Thanks a lot!! I´m ready to track like a pro

02-23-2016 08:35 AM #48 chanlow (Member)

You mentioned at about the 1:20 mark we should read the caurmen's tutorial on the basics of tracking. I searched and couldn't find the link can you post it

02-23-2016 09:20 AM #49 pratchett (Member)

You mentioned at about the 1:20 mark we should read the caurmen's tutorial on the basics of tracking. I searched and couldn't find the link can you post it

Hi there, I think it is this one: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...-Read-This-Now

02-23-2016 05:13 PM #50 chanlow (Member)

Originally Posted by pratchett

Yes, I'm assuming it is this think...appreciate it pratchett

02-24-2016 07:38 AM #51 Chunk (Member)

Don't use Decisive, it is crap.

05-13-2016 04:47 PM #52 mhdeaton (Member)

Whats better Voluum or Thrive Tracker?

05-16-2016 03:03 PM #53 AlexAdsbridge (Member)

Removed.

05-17-2016 04:37 PM #54 zeno (Administrator)

Originally Posted by mhdeaton

Whats better Voluum or Thrive tracker?

This is an endless debate and a question that has been asked a lot. Just search for threads with tracker in the title, you will find plenty of threads. This isn't an ideal place to ask this...

Originally Posted by alexom

Removed.

This is a tutorial, not a place to pitch a product. Keep spamming to a minimum. People don't benefit from Adsbridge features being thrown at them every time they ask about a tracker.

09-09-2016 10:03 AM #55 zenith (Member)

Hi zeno, what if you direct link from facebook? how do you track it or is there a possible method to do it? thank you!

09-09-2016 11:26 AM #56 matuloo (Legendary Moderator)

Originally Posted by zenith

Hi zeno, what if you direct link from facebook? how do you track it or is there a possible method to do it? thank you!

Check this thread : http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...o-landing-page

We have talked about using a directlink from FB, whether it makes sense or not and what are the possibilities to track it.

09-26-2016 12:06 AM #57 salamander (Member)

Thanks Zeno, excellent video tutorial. I hadn't considered that the tracker itself would be the destination link for the traffic source (as opposed to being and entirely outside entity). Great for beginners like myself to get a grasp of the setup.

11-30-2016 11:47 AM #58 dani77 (Member)

Hi zeno, thank you for the useful tutorial. I was in trouble with Voluum before I see your video.

11-30-2020 02:28 PM #59 88jacob (Member)

Just wondering if this video is still applicable in 2020.

11-30-2020 03:25 PM #60 vortex (Senior Moderator)

Originally Posted by 88jacob

Just wondering if this video is still applicable in 2020.

The ad network isn't around anymore - was shut down in 2015.

Please check out one of our more up-to-date guides.

Amy

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