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Every affiliate should know conversion tracking is paramount to the overall success of their campaign(s). Without tangible measurement of campaign performance with reference to relevant KPIs, every type of online advertiser (not just affiliates) would be shooting in the dark and hoping to hit their targets.

What visitors do after they interact with your ads allows you to see which keywords, ads, and campaigns overall are the top performers (as well as those who are underperforming), understand your ROI to make more informed decisions about your budget spending, and to further optimize your campaigns.

When it comes to conversion tracking with SelfAdvertiser, we make tracking performance and per-traffic-source optimization possible through the use of dynamic URL tags. During the ad serving process, they will be replaced with the actual information from the visitor’s engagement. Our self-service platform supports numerous tracking tokens (or parameters, whichever word you like best), not just for conversions. We’ll explain how it works.

Postback URL

Postback URL, also known as Conversion Pixel or simply Pixel, allows users to track the success of their campaign by reporting back the exact engagement action that the user has completed on their landing page after clicking on their ad. Apart from telling you the exact number of times this action has been completed, a conversion pixel will also provide you a dollar value to attach to that particular action in order to gain a better sense of revenue reporting. Its placement will allow you to see just how many conversions are taking place on each landing page. Here’s how the Postback URL looks:

http://clkpback3.com/adServe/ssapixel?subid={click-id}&price={optional-value)

SelfAdvertiser supports server-to-server pixel, so to get your Postback URL working, you need to add the conversion token to your offer’s URL (the @@CLICK-ID@@ token). The process is fairly straightforward. In the Conversion Tracking section, click on the “Track conversions” button. Next, you have to assign the Default Conversion Value.

So, all that’s left for you to do is to copy and implement it to the designated conversion page of your choice. It looks like this:

As a part of ongoing improvements to our platform, we have added the ability to test the implementation of your pixel. Pressing the “Test Pixel” button allows you to see if your setup is correct by creating a conversion from the targeted geo. The result will be displayed in the Edit Campaign section roughly one hour after the test is performed.

Additional Tips And Advice

The entire process is based on a pixel tracking system which momentarily makes a note of predefined actions, thus helping you gauge if your campaign is reaching its goals. With a self-service platform such as SelfAdvertiser that sells traffic on a CPM basis, this is all the more vital to your cause. However, you should also be aware of some important information that can make or break your conversion tracking effort.

Namely, when a conversion happens, you need to send a request to the Postback URL, entering the ‘subid’ parameter to the click-id that you received. Each click-id can only have one conversion as this is our way of protecting you against ad fraud through multiple clicks from the same IP address. Additionally, we recommend that you add dynamic pricing (in USD as this is the default currency) to your postback so you can get a better sense of the money value conversions are bringing to you. However, have in mind that if you do so, the Default Conversion Value will be overridden. Finally, it doesn’t hurt to repeat it – if you are tracking conversions, don’t forget to implement the @@CLICK-ID@@ token in your destination URL.

What You Get With SelfAdvertiser

It’s important to realize one thing from the start: tracking conversions and analyzing resulting data itself won’t raise your ROI overnight. It’s a long and deliberate process that can provide one vital bit of knowledge fast: a way to make smarter decisions about your affiliate campaigns. You will be able to identify which keywords drive the conversions and get a sense of where to put the focus on your future campaigns. Use the data to measure your overall effectiveness and your return on investment will grow over time.

In that sense, you need a quality traffic source as the rock-solid foundation for your affiliate scheme. Not every traffic is equal as your conversions can plummet if the traffic you receive doesn’t match your target audience. Even worse, you can have a steady conversion rate that doesn’t reflect the real picture because your conversions don’t align with your goals. Hence, your main issue becomes the source of your conversions and not how you get them. Your best traffic is the one that constantly delivers high-quality conversions, plain and simple.

In that regard, SelfAdvertiser has over 20,000 direct publishers (and counting) in its wide publishing network, covering top verticals like games, e-commerce, travel, and more. We have a huge reach of 2 billion ad impressions on a daily basis. There are many targeting options to target audiences either locally or globally or both, while you can set the budget any way you want. Users have readily available customer support to provide advice or solve problems, as well as an option for personalized assistance through a dedicated account manager, should such need arise.

Closing Comments

If you’re using conversion tracking properly while frequently optimizing your campaigns based on given data, there shouldn’t be any unanswered questions regarding your ROI. It’s the part of the bigger picture that leads to your success. You’re in danger of missing out on lots of valuable information and opportunities if you don’t take the time to set up and track conversion actions. Luckily, now that you know the hows and whys (and where), that shouldn’t be a problem. Good luck.