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Clarification on using a Custom Domain vs Voluum Domain tracking url (5)

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Could someone please give me a bit of clarity on Custom Domain vs the default Voluum Tracking url


http://charlesngo.com/voluum-domain-setup/

I've read the above link but just want to make sure I get it....


If I understand correctly instead of using the Voluum tracking url that Voluum provides, I can create a custom domain that instead becomes my tracking url for all my campaigns.

So all my campaigns will be subdomain.domain.com for example instead of trackvoluum.com or http://otuyh.trackvoluum.com where otuyh is my unique sub domain provided by volume

Is that correct?

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Yes, that is totally correct!

You can use your own subdomain and 'point it' to your Voluum account by setting up a CNAME in your domains DNS manager.

Advantage of using your own subdomain over Voluums is that many traffic sources have banned the Voluum (sub)domains. Typically because those domains are shared and most likely have been used for blackhat campaigns. That being said, one with little technical skills can still see Voluum is 'behind' your custom configured domain.

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Thanks for the reply...

Can you also help with this?

I've got my custom domain and its directed to Voluum using the CNAME so that's setup and good to go....

But I can't figure out the next step.....

I have a lander and I want to use my custom domain url in the lander for tracking...so when someone comes to the lander and then goes to an offer, it's tracked in Voluum....

What I'm stuck on is how do I get Voluum to know which lp/offer the custom domain is coming from... or is that built into voluum when the custom domain is clicked?

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For example if I have 3 landing pages going to say an offer on Mundo

If I am using the Voluum provided tracking link.... is this how I would set it up?

Traffic Source A --> LP1 --> Volume Tracking link in LP as "123.volumtracker.com/click" --> Offer x
Traffic-Source A --> LP2 --> Volume Tracking link in LP as "123.volumtracker.com/click" --> Offer x
Traffic Source A --> LP3 --> Volume Tracking link in LP as "123.volumtracker.com/click" --> Offer x

Now I want to use my own custom domain....

so does it become: ????

Traffic Source A --> LP1 --> Custom domain link in LP as "abc.customdomain.com/click" --> Offer x
Traffic-Source A --> LP2 --> Custom domain link in LP as "abc.customdomain.com/click" --> Offer x
Traffic Source A --> LP3 --> Custom domain link in LP as "abc.customdomain.com/click" --> Offer x

so do I use abc.customdomain.com/click
or abc.customdomain.com/

the /click is what is throwing me off.....

because in Voluum settings panel... domain tab... at bottom, custom domain is selected for cloaking domain and it's just abc.customdomain.com/

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The traffic flow should be as follows, whether you use the default Voluum domain or a custom domain:

Traffic Source ---> Tracker ---> Landing Page ---> Tracker ---> Offer Page

What does change between the default domain and custom domain setups is how traffic is relayed to your tracker when a visitor clicks on the ad or the landing page (or when there is a postback to the tracker). If you're using the default URL with a subdomain on trackvoluum.com, the router will do a DNS lookup to find the IP address and send you there. If you're using a custom domain (or subdomain), the system will do a DNS lookup, find the CNAME record showing that the domain is an alias for a subdomain on trackvoluum.com, get the IP address of the trackvoluum.com subdomain and send you there.

When the visitor reaches the tracker, Voluum will record the relevant details and forward the visitor to the proper destination (i.e., landing page or offer page).

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