Totally lost on technical aspects of campaign setup (39)
I apologize for the stupid question. I've been studying the strategies for how to run an affiliate campaign and am ready to launch my first follow along today if possible. I've bought Adplexity,
OK - let's take it one step at a time! We'll get there.
Let's start with setting up the CDN - this thread should help:
http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...-Cost-Way-Ever!
For
We'll go from there.
Amy
You are always so helpful thank you so much for the quick response Vortex!
I've been approved for a couple offers on Expertmobi and am using PopAds. I've also read the thread on setting up my CDN. I followed it up to the point where I upload my lander, which I haven't done yet because I want to read your guide on how to fix up a ripped lander first. Should I just upload any ripped lander so I can make sure I have everything else figured out then go back and fix it?
Haha don't mention it! Happy to help!
If you need landers to test the CDN, you can use one of mine:
http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...stakes-Landers
I've never run with Expertmobi. Could you please log in, find the part where you can paste your postback url, and take a screenshot of the tokens that are listed there? That's all I'd need to help you set up
Amy
Okay here's where I am currently in my network. What are the setup parameters and SubID's? I've also finished the rest of the thread and setup my CDN
Wow that as fast!
Thanks for the screenshot! But what I need are the tokens for the postback url. Could you please ask your AM for those?
Amy
Haha yes I'm very eager to launch it's making me lose sleep at night. Are these the tokens? My AM is a little hard to get ahold of so I'm nervous to bug her with noob questions
Originally Posted by brandonsharpe
Here's what you do in
-Go to Affiliate Networks > New affiliate network. Enter the name "Expertmobi" and hit Save.
-Go to Traffic Sources > New traffic source > Traffic source templates. Select PopAds, click "Load Templates" and Save.
-Go to Flows > Offers > New offer. Give it a name (pasting the offer id and offer name here will do). Select the correct Country and Affiliate network at the bottom. For URL, paste your aff link, and append this to the link:
&subid1={trafficsource.id}&subid2={clickid}&subid3 ={campaign.id}
Hit Save. Repeat for each offer.
-Go to Flows > Landers > New lander. Give your lander a name, paste the lander url, and specify the country. You'll likely want to leave the number of offers at 1, unless you're wanting to have several links on your lander each leading to a different offer. Repeat for each lander.
-If you haven't already: Click on the little gear icon in the upper right-hand corner in
-Back in Voluum, go to the little gear icon again > Setup > copy the "postback url", paste it into ExpertMobi's postback field. Then, replace "cid=REPLACE&payout=OPTIONAL" with "cid={{subid2}}&payout={{goal_value}}" and Save.
-Lastly, click on Campaigns > New campaigns. Give your campaign a name, specify the traffic source (PopAds) and country. Choose "Path" as Destination. Specify lander(s) and offer(s). Hit Save and a Campaign url will appear at the top. Copy this campaign url into PopAds as the Destination url. And of course you'll need to specify all the other parameters in popads when setting up the camp there.
That should be it! Let me know if you have further questions.
Amy
Haven't got ahold of my AM at Expertmobi. But my AM at Mobvista said I need to setup my postback url for my channel before I can run any offers and to send her my postback url. Which also confused me because I don't really know what a channel is. So I sent her the postback url link that appears when you add a new affiliate network in
edit: Just noticed your post. Okay I'm gonna make some coffee and dissect everything you said for a bit. Thank you!
Click on the little gear icon in the upper right-hand corner in
Amy
Yikes! I thought you had gotten the CDN working already. Unfortunately, that's the part I can't help you with. It took me quite a bit of trial-and-error when I had to set up CDN a couple of years back, and I've completely forgotten how to do it - didn't really fully understand the process even back then.
I'll try to get someone to help you, but the people I have in mind are in Europe, so it probably won't be until at least a few hours later when they wake up. But I'll do my best to get someone to help you ASAP.
In the meantime, keep trying! I've had to go through several guides on the net (and as I've mentioned, lots of trial and error) to get it right. Also keep in mind that some changes will require waiting a bit for propagation to finish. Perhaps take another look first thing in the morning.
Amy
That would be great! I thought I had it too, I spoke too soon and was just waiting for it to deploy assuming it would work. You having trouble with it in the past makes me feel much less frustrated seeing where you're at now. I guess every affiliate has to go through this deer in the headlights steep learning curve. I have everything ready, I've written a step by step blueprint of everything I'm gonna do, gotten 6 offers to split test, and ripped some landers which still need fixing. Then I have your step by step on how to integrate each piece of the puzzle to finish it all off. Once I've gotten the CDN running and understand how to host multiple landers on it I'm pretty sure I'm ready to go. In the meantime I'll repost this in caurmens thread hopefully he will have a chance to reply
Hey Brandon,
I know more people have had trouble setting this up, because any small mistake makes it unusable.
I just woke up, and I have an annoying cold so maybe I've missed something else but at the moment, what seems to be off for you is the DNS settings. My suggestion is actually to use Route 53 in this setup. The reason for this is that you need a faster DNS anyway. A normal one takes like 50ms or more to respond from requests all over the world, while Route 53 responds in 1ms. That will speed up performance for mobile significantly.
I've written a tutorial for setting up S3 + CloudFront + Route 53 on my blog. You can just skip to step 14 and setup Route 53: http://adefy.com/2016/04/25/setting-...front-route53/
Hopefully that works. If not, we will do some digging into the other steps.
Manu.
My buddy carlos walks through everything here https://youtu.be/b4j-mJg3DPM
Digital ocean setup,
Originally Posted by manu_adefy
is that saying it costs $50/mo to use the Route53 DNS records?
Hi Brandon,
Don't think you have to start over, just see if all the steps are performed perhaps. The first S3 and CloudFront steps should resemble those in the STM guide since it's very similar to the guide provided by Amazon, but taking out some irrelevant details for our purposes.
As for using Route 53 DNS records, it's not that expensive. It's a few cents per so called Hosted Zone, so you pay <$20/month including a lot of domains.
Just don't register domains through Amazon. Register through Namecheap for example, then create a Hosted Zone on Route53, then go to Namecheap, set the DNS records as Custom for your domain, and copy the 4 entries from Amazon. Then add an A records Alias for your CloudFront distribution 
If you did everything else right, it should work this way.
Let us know about your progress, maybe there's something we've missed.
I have followed "manu_adefy" tutorial and it worked for me just make sure to follow the steps.
Hey Manu_adefy - Awesome tutorial, thanks so much for the effort. For part 5 you said:
5. Add the name of the index and 404 document. It can be a blank file for both.
AWS has 2 blank fields for this part; Index Document and Error Document. You say this field can be a 'blank file'. I'm not sure what you mean.
Are you saying to leave these fields blank, or to actually add the word 'Blank' or to put a URL to a blank doc in this field ie "http://examplesite.com/blank.html"
sorry if this is a stupid question. Just not that obvious to me!
Hey Alex,
The name of the file should be index.html but what I mean is that it can be an empty file. No code or text in it whatsoever.
You can also try and leave those fields empty, I generally prefer to add the file, just in case I need it at some point.
Cheers.
Hey Manu_adefy-
Thanks again for your last reply. So I went through and followed your tutorial step-by-step. I'm pretty sure I got (most) of it right, because
when I went to the AWS url as you suggested about half way through your tutorial (ie http://mysite.com.s3-website-us-east...s.com/rewards/)
I was able to see my landing page just fine, so at least all of the initial setup worked.
I'm running into an issue now actually seeing my lander from my domain.
I think at first, I didn't allow it to propogate for 15 mins, so I was getting this error message when trying to visit my lander:
This XML file does not appear to have any style information associated with it. The document tree is shown below.
<Error>
<Code>AccessDenied</Code>
<Message>Access Denied</Message>
<RequestId>1F176DB9AE180053</RequestId>
<HostId>
uJc4xOHE6hmgVFNO6gF5HXYjxtQ0h8LKhxlm4EjMuPbBGUGGPQ sSqbLAkiHSM6B+IanbCAlWkUk=
</HostId>
</Error>
So then, I figured it might be a propogation issue, so I waited the full 15 mins, and I'm still not seeing my lander,
but I'm getting a DIFFERENT error message when trying to visit my lander:
AccessDeniedAccess Denied1F176DB9AE180053uJc4xOHE6hmgVFNO6gF5HXYjxtQ0 h8LKhxlm4EjMuPbBGUGGPQsSqbLAkiHSM6B+IanbCAlWkUk=
From what I know about AWS, this message will sometimes appear when you don't have the correct permissions set for a bucket or something.
You don't really specify anything in your tutorial about setting permissions for the bucket, but I went in and set permissions
for EVERYONE to allow them to: LIST, UPLOAD/DELETE, VIEW and EDIT permissions.
I know you probably aren't supposed to do that, for instance with a video or page, you just set permissions for everyone to be able to 'VIEW'
but I'm not seeing that option available for whatever reason,
Anyway, even allowing EVERYONE to have ALL permissions, I'm still getting that same error. Do you have any idea what could be going on?
Is this a permissions error, or similar?
THANK YOU
Alex
PS - Just checked again, and once again there is STILL an error, but the error message has changed again. This time i'ts saying:
NoSuchKeyThe specified key does not exist.rewards9EC6BC2272BA508BK2P7XyVQOT3vS3HcU4hpB V9fziHlU41lpMhXkBgx1MQZI9/5hQtCfkgkwH1/yiWqJxg2fMVPSng=
PPS - There are no Permissions available to be set from the lander (folder) itself inside my bucket. I guess you can only set permissions at the Bucket level, or perhaps file level. Anyway, my lander was uploaded to AWS as a FOLDER, and there aren't really any options/permissions I'm seeing to be able to change for the folder at all, except when you look at 'properties' it just has a 'detail' dropdown with radio buttons asking you to choose a storage class, and server side encryption. None of these options are selected, and it's been left as it was at default.
PPPS - Tried ONE last thing for now... I went inside my Lander Folder, and Set Permissions on index.html for EVERYONE to be able to view/download.... That still didn't help as I'm getting same error message...
Just to make sure I understand the situation...
When you visit through the S3 domain it still works?
And when you try to visit through the custom domain it doesn't?
Are you using CloudFront too?
Hey Manu -
Yes. You are correct. Im using Cloudfront. If it helps, here is my AWS URL:
http://emergeinspire.com.s3-website-...s.com/rewards/
Works just fine.
And here is my Actual URL, with the Cloudfront and everything else in the tutorial:
http://emergeinspire.com/rewards
As you can see, it's still throwing some weird error... like permissions aren't correct or something....
Telling me No SUCH KEY... have no idea what its trying to tell me with that error...
PS - If you aren't sure what is going on, or havnent seen something similar, or can't tell without looking at my setup, maybe I will need to hire someone off of eLance to take a look. Not a huge fan of that idea, but this is obviously the most critical element of my entire setup, and without it working correctly, I can't move forward.
If possible, I can also pay you to take a look at my setup... not really even sure if its appropriate for this forum to ask, but I know how busy you guys are, and any help you can offer is TRULY appreciated.
Thanks!
Alex
Since you can see it from the S3 domain, it seems much less likely to be a permissions thing and more of a connecting the other dots.
Can you show me the CloudFront distribution settings with the CNAME'd domains and also your Route53 hosted zone for this doman?
Hey Manu,
Thanks again for your help. I am going to upload all the images in this thread relating to Cloudfront Distribution and Route 53. I think this is everything,
But if there is an image that I'm missing that you need to see, just let me know and I will screenshot it.
Hopefully though, something you see in one of these images makes it obvious what is wrong with my setup...
Also, if it's not obvious, I added all the Nameservers (4) from the 'NS' section and added them to my domain on Namecheap.
OK, 2 things:
1. Does the CloudFront domain work to access your domain?
2. Make the change that the Origin in CloudFront inlcudes the region, it's a different link format, like so: yourdomain.com.s3-website.eu-central-1.amazonaws.com
One checks if the broken part is between CloudFront and your domain or something else.
2nd one is just checking if that's a weird AWS "bug" - I always have it in the format I mentioned, never in the general one you have in your screenshots.
Hey Manu-
1. Does the CloudFront Domain work to access your domain?
I'm assuming you are talking about this one:
Domain Name: d2hvj3s8u3dkoh.cloudfront.net
NO, that domain takes me to a page with a bunch of gibberish on it, you can see when you copy paste that url.
2. No, that wasn't just an AWS bug. That 'general' format was how it actually was on my setup. I took a screenshot of
BEFORE and AFTER, just so you can see exactly what it was before, and what I've updated it to. As a matter of fact, the ORIGIN DOMAIN NAME was the only field filled in before, like I showed in my previous screenshot.
I've made the change (even though I'm not sure if it matters or not) and updated both the ORIGIN DOMAIN NAME & ORIGIN PATH with the URL format you mentioned, which is this url here:
http://emergeinspire.com.s3-website-...amazonaws.com/
Here are my screenshots of before and after changes. FWIW, the changes I've made haven't seemed
to make any difference at all as far as being able to access my lander through my domain...
EDIT: I actually ended up removing the Origin Path URL, as I don't think adding it was the correct thing to do, so now, JUST the 'ORIGIN DOMAIN NAME'
field is filled out.
Manu:
Here is something interesting. Now trying to access my lander through my domain.com/lander url, it's
throwing off this error:
An Error Occurred While Attempting to Retrieve a Custom Error Document
- Code: NoSuchKey
- Message: The specified key does not exist.
- Key: index.html
It seems to be telling me it can't find the KEY and that the KEY is index.html...
I'm wondering if that is because (for the second time) I screwed up/did't follow correctly your instructions
surrounding my original inquiry which is here:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Manu_adefy - Awesome tutorial, thanks so much for the effort. For part 5 you said:
5. Add the name of the index and 404 document. It can be a blank file for both.
AWS has 2 blank fields for this part; Index Document and Error Document. You say this field can be a 'blank file'. I'm not sure what you mean.
Are you saying to leave these fields blank, or to actually add the word 'Blank' or to put a URL to a blank doc in this field ie "http://examplesite.com/blank.html"
sorry if this is a stupid question. Just not that obvious to me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You gave me an answer, which I thought I understood as to add in text : index.html to this section, under the STATIC WEB HOSTING
tab right inside my bucket!
I've taken a screenshot to show you exactly what I'm talking about, as you can see I've added text: index.html to
both of these fields... Perhaps this is incorrect, and we have a simple BUCKET issue rather than a Cloudfront or Route 53 Issue?
Works for me now
http://prntscr.com/eh9f0e
Pretty sure it was the Origin issue.
Ah, also you should have an index.html file in the bucket. That's the missing key, the file itself.
Manu:
Here is something interesting. Now trying to access my lander through my domain.com/lander url, it's
throwing off this error:
An Error Occurred While Attempting to Retrieve a Custom Error Document
- Code: NoSuchKey
- Message: The specified key does not exist.
- Key: index.html
It seems to be telling me it can't find the KEY and that the KEY is index.html...
I'm wondering if that is because (for the second time) I screwed up/did't follow correctly your instructions
surrounding my original inquiry which is here:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hey Manu_adefy - Awesome tutorial, thanks so much for the effort. For part 5 you said:
5. Add the name of the index and 404 document. It can be a blank file for both.
AWS has 2 blank fields for this part; Index Document and Error Document. You say this field can be a 'blank file'. I'm not sure what you mean.
Are you saying to leave these fields blank, or to actually add the word 'Blank' or to put a URL to a blank doc in this field ie "http://examplesite.com/blank.html"
sorry if this is a stupid question. Just not that obvious to me!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You gave me an answer, which I thought I understood as to add in text : index.html to this section, under the STATIC WEB HOSTING
tab right inside my bucket!
I've taken a screenshot to show you exactly what I'm talking about, as you can see I've added text: index.html to
both of these fields... Perhaps this is incorrect, and we have a simple BUCKET issue rather than a Cloudfront or Route 53 Issue?
EDIT: There is indeed an 'index.html' file inside my /rewards folder, so I'm guessing that it's correct to have the 'index document'
and 'error document' fields set as 'index.html'?
Manu,
Are you STILL able to see my lander? Wondering because I have tinkered and removed the ORIGIN PATH as I mentioned in my last post,
and now that field is blank...
ALSO, you say that I need an index.html inside my BUCKET.... I don't have it directly inside my BUCKET path, the index.html
file is inside my /rewards folder which is inside the bucket... is this OK, or do I have to change something?
Alex
You should have an index.html file in the root of the bucket, not in the folder. Then it should work. It will show that file when you access the domain, without the forward slash ' / '
Manu:
I'm seeing my lander now! I think like you said, it was the origin with Couldfront having the incorrect destination URL. It had to have been.
I'm seeing my lander now... and hopefully it stays like that. Thanks a million my friend. You are the best.
Alex.
ps - Im seeing some weird thing on my root url: emergeinspire.com/ but I don't think that is a big deal at all, the important part
is that I can upload landers and people can actually access them. The fact visitors can see my bucket when they visit the root
URL probably has something to do with permissions I set, which I now removed permissions for 'Everyone' on that bucket...
Originally Posted by alexcn
index.html is a page with normal content but it has the special property that it's the page the browser tries to load when no other page is specified.
So mydomain.com goes to mydomain.com/index.html.
That's why mydomain.com for you throws an error (index.html is missing) but mydomain.com/rewards works.
You are welcome Alex. Glad it works for you now. Let me/us know if you have other issues 
Originally Posted by manu_adefy
to my bucket the way I have done with the /rewards folder is the correct way to add more and more landers, correct?
I don't need to continue adding more and more buckets and going through this process for each and every lander I upload, right?
One last quick thought for now Manu...
My page load speed BEFORE following your setup was 1.6 seconds... NOW it's .7 seconds... which falls within the metrics others on STM
say are important for pageload speed for running POP campaigns.
Your setup really speeds up page load times 
Well, if you want someone to see something when they go to mydomain.com you should have an index.html file there. I personally have a blank file. That means they get a blank screen, not such an error.
For landers, I add them in sub-folders like you. But I also don't name the main landing page index.html because I sometimes want to have a different file use the same image assets.
For example, say you want to have the exact same lander and just test a button colour difference. The button colour is changed in the html file through CSS.
So you then have red.html and blue.html as the 2 files, accessed by mydomain.com/rewards/red.html and mydomain.com/rewards/blue.html. The images would all be in mydomain.com/rewards/images.
That way, both red.html and blue.html can use the same images, I don't have to make mydomain.com/rewards_red/ and mydomain.com/rewards_blue folders, and then duplicate the images in each folder too.
Makes sense?
Great idea! And yeah, that makes perfect sense.
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