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Starting with first step (53)

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Hi Everyone,

Two months back, I have joined STM. Read and learnt lot of stuff. Subscribed to ClickDealer, Exoclick, Voluum, Adplexity, Host/Domain. Now I am ready to start my Journey.

Stuck in Step 1:
Query 1. While applying for an offer in ClickDealer, I am not sure which option I need to select for "Media Type". Options are:
a. Banner/Display
b. Adware
c. Other options (which I don't think I should select)

Query 2. What should I write in the "Notes" section.

Query 3: For combination ClickDealer, Exoclick, Voluum and Adplexity, please suggest if I should follow any tutorial link on STM.


I am sorry I am unable to attach screenshots. It seems like my browser is not supporting to upload the screenshot.

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Hey Rajivwalia,
Great first steps! Now time to start some traffic!

For query 1/ step 1: what niche are you going to try? If you will be using Exoclick, are you going to do pops or Banner traffic? (Note, Exoclick is mostly Adult Traffic)
Query 2: In notes while applying to the offer? Just add a small discription of your flow: "I'll be running this offer using banners and going Through a landing page, will start with 100 unique clicks and scale from there"
Query 3: Check out Amy's (Vortex) Tutorial: https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...ntro-and-Index It has so much valuable information, and you can find almost all the answers to your questions there or in the comment section. Although this tutorial uses a different traffic source than exoclick, it's fairly similar setup.

Goodluck!

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Thank you so much for your valuable suggestions . I will definitely follow Amy's Tutorial.

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I have just applied for Offer approval. Currently its status is showing as Pending. Can anyone please suggest that how much time it takes to approve an offer in ClickDealer.

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It depends... They are usually quick, now it's weekend so it could be even on Monday. Why don't you ping your AM on Skype, it's always faster, shows you are proactive and you have to build the relationship with them anyway

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My offer is still in pending status.Trying to ping my AM but did not get any response yet. I think I need to wait till Monday

Since I have at least offer id now. Can any one please suggest answers to below queries:

a. Is there any way to know the URL of the offer, so that I can understand it well and plan accordingly.

b. What are the steps to search for the landing pages in adplexity those are using this offer. I just selected "By Advertiser" and searched with offer ID. Selected Click Dealer as network. Got few banners but not sure, what to do next.

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I wouldn´t put too much effort in it.
I never search for specific offers or landers for offers.
My approach is too keep it simple.
Is the offer a dating offer? - get a dating lander
Is the offer a sweep offer? -get a sweep lander
Is the offer an AV offer? - get an AV lander

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Thanks for the reply

1. I just wanted to understand if we should follow the approach as mentioned by you then why we are using spy tool (e.g. adplexity). Please don't take it otherwise, I just want to clear my basics and doubts before moving forward

2. My AM has suggested me one adult offer on Clickdealer. I have already applied to get it approved. It is still in pending status. Most probably it will get approved on Monday. Till the time please suggest me the approach. What should I do on Adplexity in this regard.

Please help, I am confused right now

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On Adplexity or other Spy tools you can get a pretty good overview about what´s working currently and what not.
There are only so many landers running, not every offer needs an own lander especially created for this offer.
As you can see in Adplexity most landers are pretty similar.
So just download few different landers that run good volume and clean them from bad code, scripts.
Then just change them slightly for your needs and offers.
Imagine you test 20, 30 or more offers a day, then you definitely don´t want to spend time checking each and every offer.
You just use your landers, change them little bit and put offers in rotation for testing.
There are only two types of offers, those that convert and those that doesn´t.
I never spend too much time with all that stuff.
Test, see results, if good keep the offer if bad ditch it and move on.
And if you have a winner you will know it.

About offers suggested by AMs, sure this is the first stop to ask for it and often it can be helpful, especially in the beginning.
But don´t only ask for offers, also tell them what traffic you will run because the same offer can convert extremely different depending on the traffic type.
Also remember, your AM can only give you stats about offers with enough traffic volume to get signicicant stats.
So it´s always nice to test something different, there are many golden nuggest out there just waiting to be discovered.

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Thanks twinaxe!

Latest update. My offer got approved.

Offer is for Singapore - Landers are already there so I will not create any lander. I with go with this offer. Now its time to follow Amy's tutorial to take next step

Clickdealer >> Voluum >> Exoclick

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I have to agree with twinaxe here .. do not overthink it and just get a lander that corresponds with the vertical/niche. In some cases, it makes sense to tailor the LP or the whole funnel, so it matches the offer ... similar fonts, colors, imagery ... but the overall effect won't be any big. It's more about whether the offer is "good" or not. And to find a good one, you will need to test several ones.

So Singapore it is ... what kind of offer is it? Probably some carrier billing PIN submit offer ... these offers have been hit quite hard lately, so will have to test MANY to find a good one. Or is it one of those male enhancement ones that I've seen popping up lately?

What's the payout on the offer and whats the conversion point?

Cheers,
Matej.

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Hi rajivwalia! Thanks for trying the 40-day tutorial!

I'm VERY glad you're using landers from the start! Direct-linking isn't working remotely as well as it used to.

Looking forward to your next update - will do my best to contribute. And you've already got a lot of valuable advice above (thanks to all)!



Amy

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Thanks Matuloo

I will follow these suggestions

Its an Adult dating offer. Conversion flow is cpl (soi/email submit).

Payout is $1.85

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Hi Amy, Thanks for the support

Sorry for my bad English. I mean to say, I will not be creating my lander page for this offer because when I explored the offer, lander was already there. I will update you more on this soon

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Wow, that's a solid payout for the GEO, I'm surprised. Go give it a try.

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Your English is fine!

Just to be clear: Your offer already comes with a pre-lander (or what we call landers)? Such as one that asks visitors survey questions?

If so, then yes, direct-linking would be worth testing.

I remember when I was still a teaching assistant for the 6WAMC, one of the other TAs was having great results by linking to such adult dating offers. He was able to test a LOT of such offers at a time because it wasn't necessary to spend time on preparing landers. And he was able to make multiple geos profitable in a short time.

I don't know how well that would work today, but I guess you'll find out! Just don't expect for ONE offer to be profitable - you should test at least a few and compare performance.



Amy

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This can still work, I've tested a bunch of offers like this just a week or so ago. In the end, I still reached better results with my own customized landers, but I was able to reach profit even with a directlink to the prelander provided by the advertiser.

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TERRIFIC thanks for confirming that! Mass-testing of such offers should be in order!



Amy

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Just added the Campaign in Exoclick. Status is Running....I will share the stats tomorrow. I pray to God and hope that I have not done any mistake during this process

Here are the end to end steps that I followed [Special Thanks to Amy and Matuloo ]

1. Voluum: Log into Voluum >> Click on Affiliate networks + New affiliate network
a. Type Clickdealer in Affiliate network name field
b. Click "Save".

2. Voluum: Go to Offers > New Offer and Copy the Postback URL

3. Clickdealer: Log into Clickdealer, Click on the offer
a. Paste above Postback URL into TRACKING PIXELS, S2S postback URL
b. Postback URL: http://offer.com/postback?cid=REPLAC...&txid=OPTIONAL
c. Replace cid=REPLACE with cid=#s2#, and replace payout=OPTIONAL with payout=#price#
d. Delete &txid=OPTIONAL
e. Now offer looks like http://offer.com/postback?cid=#s2#&payout=#price#
f. Click Save

4. Clickdealer: Grab offer link from the "Creatives" tab.

5. Voluum: Go to Voluum, the "New Offer" settings window.
a. Paste the offer link just copied, into the "URL" field.
b. Offer link look like http://offer.com/?a=696&c=977
c. Paste this after the link: {campaign.id}&s2={clickid}
d. Final link would look like: http://offer.com/?a=696&c=977{campaign.id}&s2={clickid}
e. Offer name: Write the offer name
f. Affiliate network: Clickdealer
g. Payout: Auto
h. Country: Singapore
i. Conversion cap disabled and click on Save button

6. Voluum: Go to Traffic sources + New traffic source
a. Traffic source templates child window open up
b. Select Exoclick
c. Click on Load template and save.

7. Voluum: Click on Campaigns + New campaign
a. Assign a campaign name
b. Traffic source: Exoclick
c. Country: Singapore
d. Campaign Destination: Select "Path" radio button
e. Select Direct linking checkbox
f. Select offer from the drop down and click on save button

8. Voluum: Copy the resulting Campaign URL.

9. Open Exoclick > Campaign + New Campaign
a. Campaign name
b. Select all in Adult
c. Deselect Entertainment & Lifestyle
d. Deselect Streaming & File Sharing
e. Ad Format: 300x250
f. Location: Singapore
g. Language: English, Tamil, Malay
h. Browsers: All
i. OS: Mobile
j. Mobile Carriers: WIFI only
k. Devices: Mobile
l. Pricing Model: CPM
m. Frequency Capping: 1/24
n. CPM: .150 (This value was minimum in the list)
o. Max Daily Budget: $20
p. Budget delivery Mode: Distribute throughout the day
q. Network Selection: RON
r. Partner Networks Enabled
s. Zone targeting: All
t. Campaign Type: Banners
u. Add variations and click on save campaign.


**************Campaign Added****************

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I was wondering that how is it possible that my work is done so easily. And here is the result from Exoclick campaign. Its rejected

Screenshot URL: https://imgur.com/a/IHWWk3N

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Few things, at first about the postback.
You don´t need to put it into each offer separately.
Login to Clickdealer, click on "Tools" on the left side, then "Global Postback" and put your postback in the field for "Global S2S postback URL ".
That way your postback URL is added automatically to all offers and you don´t need to add it manually.
You still can use different postback URLs for specific offers if needed but ususally the global postback is enough.

I don´t know why you want to put the campaign ID there

Formated like this the link won´t work

This part is the URL plus affiliate ID plus offer ID.
Everything after that is for tracking subids and stuff.
When you pust the {campaign.id} just after the c parameter like you did it will be attached to the parameter and will destroy it because the c parameter is a fixed value for that offer from Clickdealer.
When you add your own values to it it won´t work.
What you can do is to add &s3={campai.id} for example, I still don´t see a need for the campaign ID to be sent.
What I like to do is to send the trafficsource ID from my tracker in the s3 or s4 variable additional to the Sub ID.
Then the network can tell you to only stop bad/low wuality trafficsources instead of kicking you from the offer completely.

Use SmartCPM, will save you good money.

About the campaign rejection, I can imagine that it got rejected because of the wrong formated link.
When the link doesn´t work and the reviewers only see an error page or go to an Smartlink with inappropriate content so the campaign gets rejected.
Especially in the beginning check all your tracking links to make sure they are working.

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Thanks twinaxe! I have received below email from Exoclick. Please suggest what should be my next step now:

Hello Rajiv,

As a new client to ExoClick we undertake a number of verification checks to ensure the company and existing clients are not at risk.

We regret to inform you that we were unable to get through this process and your account has been closed. Don't worry, your funds will be returned to you within 1-2 working days!

Please note we do not enter into discussions about the checks we carry out, or what prevented you from working with us.

We do however wish you the best of luck in your future business plans.

Kind regards,

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Ah crap, they do this from time to time

You can try to contact them again, mention that you are on stm and that you are serious about AM. But truth to be told, it would be wise to save this for laters, once you have references to show them ... like spend on other networks.

Do not let this stop you, there are many more networks ... trafficjunky, trafficstars, trafficfactory, eroadvertsing, juicyads, plugrush ... all can work for dating.

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Thanks Matuloo.

As per your suggestion, I have sent exoclick's support team an email. I will wait for some time then move to other networks accordingly.

But I am shocked and I don't know what was wrong with my steps that I have taken in ClickDealer+Voluum+Exoclick. Is there any way to figure out what has been wrong with my campaign?

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The suggestion was not to write them right away.
The suggestion was to wait and contact them later when you have references from other networks.

Most probably the only way to figure out what went wrong is when Exo tells you the reason.
But I would think it had rather to do with something else and not the campaign itself.
Maybe you used a VCC or unverified PayPal.
Or maybe you just fit the frame for something what they consider as being suspicious.

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Yup, I actually said it would be a good idea to wait some more

Not sure if you did anything wrong, they simply have their policies and reject applications in some cases ... for example from certain GEOs where fraud levels are higher. Or maybe you used some LP/banner that is breaking their rules, which isnt the best sign for a new account. Hard to say, and they are usually not keen on giving out the reason.

One thing to solve this is to show up in person at some conference and talk to exo reps in person, this often helps as they see you are a real person with an interest to work with them. Exo, as any other business, is happy to work with all legit affiliates, they just have their measures to protect themselves against fraud and in some cases, the collateral damage affect also people who don't deserve it.

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Thanks Twinaxe, now I understand what went wrong. I have missed "&s1=" in below URL

Final link was: http://offer.com/?a=696&c=977{campaign.id}&s2={clickid}

Please note that I am using Amy's tutorial https://stmforum.com/forum/showthrea...pbystep-voluum. Now I can see in this post that Amy has suggested it correctly but I misinterpret it.

Now I have pulled up my socks again and today will try to go with Adcash traffic network.

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Account on Adcash traffic network created. Stuck with below query

Simple step to load template:
Voluum: Go to Traffic sources + New traffic source
a. Traffic source templates child window open up
b. Select Traffic Network
c. Click on Load template and save.


Query1: In above scenario, my traffic network i.e. Adcash is not in the list of TRUSTED TRAFFIC SOURCE TEMPLATES and OTHER TEMPLATES. Then I clicked on Create Custom link.


Then "New traffic source" child window open up. Here I am getting below options
a. Traffic source name
b. Traffic source postback URL
c. Pixel redirect URL
d. Impression tracking
e. ADVANCED PARAMETERS
f. and Save button

Please suggest, do I need to fill all above details in this case?

Query2: In above scenario,I clicked on Create Custom link and enter Traffic source name as Adcash and clicked on save button.

Then I created a campaign on Voluum. Now I am confused for the Final URL I get after campaign creation.

a. URL created just now something like this: http://offer-one.com/24969-4khb-4788-b561-78577b3

b. URL created 2-3 days back for my failed case was: http://offer-one.com/e98hg7e-066656c-41df-9b55-5c14887?campid={campaign_id}&varid={variation_id}& source={src_hostname}&siteid={site_id}&zoneid={zon e_id}&catid={category_id}&country={country}&format ={format}&cost={actual_cost}&tag={conversions_trac king}

Query: Which URL is correct?

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The both can be correct.
Example a is just the pure tracking link, example b is the tracking link together with dynamic tokens from the trafficsource.
But example b won´t work correct the way you posted it because there are whitespaces in the URL.
Also the macros you use in the URL will not work for Adcash.

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Thanks so much twinaxe for all your help!

The whitespaces are often a result of a glitch in vbulletin - this is hella annoying to say the least. But because there's no known way to fix it, we'll just need to pretend they aren't there.

Regarding the {campaign.id}: This is suggested so that the aff network will be able to see which campaigns have acceptable lead quality / retention rates etc., so that in cases where quality is not acceptable, there would be the possibility of stopping one campaign instead of stopping all campaigns (on all traffic sources). Alternatively, sending the traffic source id instead of or in addition to the campaign id will serve a similar purpose.



Please make sure you've set up Adcash in Voluum, AND that you've specified it as the traffic source in your Voluum campaign.

1)In Voluum > Traffic sources > +New traffic source

2)Create custom > Type "Adcash" as traffic source name > specify parameters. Below is what mine looks like:



Feel free to include more parameters - you can find a full list of them here:

https://adcash.elevio.help/en/articles/41

Most of these parameters are not really necessary, as Voluum already auto-detects them - stuff like browser, IP, ISP/carrier, time of day, device etc.

Lastly, of course, don't forget to hit "Save".

3)Edit your voluum campaign, and make sure you specify Adcash as the traffic source. This will make sure your Voluum Campaign URL will contain the correct tokens+parameters (of the traffic source you specified). Be sure to copy this new campaign url and paste it into your campaign at Adcash before resuming the campaign.


Hope that helps!



Amy

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1. Yes Matej, all are performing in a same way CTR between 1.5 to 6.

2. For Hosting I am using Amazon S3. I am not sure how to see the performance. Can you please guide if I can check it.

3. I have PM you the campaign URL

4. Just 1 doubt: I am not using "Multi-offer click URL" on my landing pages. I hope its correct.

5. Please find below the screenshot of Yesterday's stats for my landers. Yesterday, I ran only two landers. For lander 10, I did some changes (changed pics) and it is showing little positive results in terms of CTR:

Screenshots for Voluum and TJ: https://imgur.com/a/YVRtFqR

6. Currently I am running only 1 campaign and set its limit of $25 per day. Do I need to update this limit.

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Stats for 28th June:

https://imgur.com/a/yBElJps

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The link seems to be ok, and no, you don't need the multi offer click url. But the CTR is still very low in my opinion. LP CTR with mobile traffic is always smaller, but you simply HAVE to go over 10%, close to 15% preferably.

Try to look for more LPs to test...

BTW: what type of banners are you using actually, send me some to check. Maybe the problem is there.

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Thanks Matej

1. As per your suggestion, I will try more LPs this weekend.
2. I have PM you my banners and their CRT is 1.99.


Regards,
Rajiv

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1. Tried some changes in Landers and managed to get 5% CTR for lander L10.

2. However, I did 1 mistake. I freezed for highest bid for each placement and I lost more than 16 dollars without any conversion in 6-7 hours. Then I reset all placements to previous bids and managed to get little conversions.

Confusion:
I am unable to understand bidding system in TJ. Please find below the screenshot:
https://imgur.com/a/2WXVoj3

In this screenshot, if bid value is $0.205 then we get traffic of 36.66% and 13.60%. How is it possible that we get two different percentages for the same amount.

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The 2nd banner doesnt load for me from some reason, the first one is ok, bit misleading but nothing out of the ordinary.

CTR of 1.99% ??? Thats pretty much impossible with TJ... are you sure about it?

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In this case, the problem will be your total daily cap or the amount you have currently available on your account.

TJ prefers accounts that have HIGH caps but also have the $$$ on their account to cover the possible cost.

It also depends on how many spots you target in a single campaign, the more spots you target the higher the cap and account balance has to be.

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Hi Matej,

Sorry for the late reply. In last one week, I was quite busy with campaign optimization (Bidding, lander angles, banners updation etc). Though I did not get the success yet but my confidence level got increased . Thanks to you and your suggestions .....I will definitely get success soon and will make you proud

I am sorry. Second banners extension is jpg.

Please find below the screenshot for CTR for today's data. Sometime I get CTR more than 2.0.....
https://imgur.com/a/BVj6tOP

I worked on your suggestion and getting positive results


One more query:
Case1: Lets suppose a user clicks on banner where old lady is displaying on that banner. And user lands to landing page created for older users.

Case2: Another user clicks on the banner where young girl is displaying on second banner. And user lands to landing page created for young users only.

Do I need to create separate campaigns for above 2 cases? Is it possible if both the cases can be handled in one campaign only.

Stats for July 7, 2018 vs July 8, 2018:
https://imgur.com/a/gTc4vk8

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Insane CTRs for such banners, not sure how that's possible, but great job!

Excellent, glad it worked

In theory, it should work the best if you separate this. In reality, it's not always the case. I think that people kind of accept the fact that models/stock images are used on registration pages, so it doesn't always turn them away when the ages/types do not much entirely. But yes, I had good success with fine tuned funnels where everything matched ... I'm not doing this all the time though, as it takes way more effort to keep it this way and sometimes, the results are not that good.

Getting close to the green, keep it up! Consider testing offers from different networks too, it can help in many cases.

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Hi Matej,

I am getting little closer

https://imgur.com/a/6pNaMCX


One question please:
While uploading banners (in TF) which I have downloaded from adplexity, many times I am getting error message like "Already exist". However, when I do very little change in the banner then TF excepts the banner. But problem come when I update .gif file, its animation stops whenever I update it.

Is there any solution to this problem. Please suggest.

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Excellent ... under 10% negative, you are very close !!!

Yup, they have a basic screening in place, to reject ripped banners and you are right ... just a minor change helps to get it accepted.

When editing gif banners, you need to use the right software as gif is basically a series of static images that "play" in a loop. Editing one of the frames/layers is enough to get the banner accepted, but you still need to export/save it as a gift.

Not sure what tool you are using to edit images ... my designer is doing this in photoshop for example. But there are plenty of tools out there and there are also many tutorials on how to do this on youtube ... try to look for them and if you can't find anything ... let me know what you are using and I will try to search myself.

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Thanks Matej,

I was not using any tool till now because I did not get the chance to optimize the image. Few days back I moved to TF and here my problem started. First I tried MS Paint brush, it worked for me initially. But then I realized that gif files are no more animated after using MS paint. Then I wrote you a message above for help

Thanks for the suggestion. I have just searched a free tool https://ezgif.com. It is working fine and I am able to do little changes

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Hi Matej,

One more query. I know I am asking this little late

I asked my AM to to update this postback URL (https://imgur.com/a/SuwJTYc) globally and I got the confirmation that he has done that. Now question is:


a. Do I still need to enter this URL here (https://imgur.com/a/SuwJTYc). Can I remove it from here.
b. Where I can see the postback URL globally that is updated by my AM. Can I validate it?

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If you have the global postback set, you don't need to enter it anywhere else ... actually I think, cake only supports one postback to work.

I don't think there is an option to see the current global postback, you need to ask your AM to show you what it is.

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Hi Matej,

Again I have to come back to my original thread. Need your help. Yesterday I have started my first campaign with eroadvertising. Problem is No stats are displaying in Voluum. Although I am able to see the stats on eroadvertising.com. Please find below the screenshot for Voluum >> Traffic Source where you can see the parameters:

Screenshot: Voluum >> Traffic Source - https://imgur.com/a/ZCS7Lde


Campaign URL:
Copied from voluum and pasted on eroadvertising campaign:
http://domain.com/16b0715e-abcb-4a2d...6544c?country=[country]&did=[domainid]&campid=[campaignid]&spaceid=[spaceid]&adid=[adid]&cid=[tracking]

Not sure what silly mistake I have made

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Remove the CID token, that is reserved for the postback, maybe it's causing a conflict. You also don't need the country token, voluum will detect that correctly.

But I need more clarification ... voluum is not displaying visits, clicks, leads... or nothing at all?

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Hi Matej,

Thanks for your inputs . Please find below the updates:

As per your suggestion, I have removed CID and Country tokens.


After above changes, data is updating in Voluum now. Thanks for your expert comments

Now my next challenge is to understand the bidding system and how to do data analysis in eroadvertising. Please find below the screenshot.

a. What I have understood from below screenshot is that I am at number 1 position for every ad. However, till now spent 10 + dollars in these ads and got around 30 views in voluum. But not exactly understood each data displaying in below screenshot.

b. Can I check how much traffic is generated by each ad. Because I have seen the stats and stats are showing data at campaign level and not at ad level. I am confused here.

Ad Zone Overview:
https://imgur.com/a/Vh1Hb9X

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Yup, you're the highest bidder for the spots shown in the screenshot. But you don't need to bid that high, usually it's better to stay in 2-3 spot. Also, use the smart bidding option, not fixed CPM. 30 views is a bit to low for $10 ... are we talking about visits or LP clicks? What kinda CTRs are you getting in ero?

Yup, you can view stats in Voluum by ad, in case you configured the traffic source properly. Open the "variables" panel, to see the tokens and view stats by them. Check screen below :



Cheers,
Matej.

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a. Yes, I am talking about visits. LP clicks are just 4
b. In the adzones, when I searched, I have got more than 200 sites (300x250 banner). Not sure if I need to pick all of them or there is any criteria to select specific site.
c. Surely I will use smart bidding. Thanks for the suggestion

Yup, you can view stats in

ahhhhh get it, Thanks

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So what exactly is the problem? You can't get more volume?

What site/spot are you targeting on TJ? Spending more than $10 per day shouldnt be a problem at all on TJ.

What % of traffic are you getting according to their bidding tool?

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Hi Matej,

It seems you have replied to wrong message

Please see my last reply on this page

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Ah sorry, not sure how this happened

Ok, so you're banner CTRs are probably quite low too... could be bad banners or bad zones.

Ero is a smaller network, so you need to target many sites, to find the good ones. With this network, there are some with very low CTRs and you need to pause them quickly. And also test more banners.

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Hi Matej,

a. What is difference between smart bidding and Fixed CPM.
b. When I searched, I have got 200 results for 300x250 size banner and all are by default "Fixed CPM". Its very much time consuming to change from Fixed CPM to Smart Bidding . Is there any shortcut to do that?


Thanks, Rajiv

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