It is important to look neat and make sure you are still tracking the conversions from either your landing pages or mini sites. So I just came up with a simple way to do it. There is probably a better way to do this, but this works for me and it gets the job done.

Anyways the long Propser202 link can suck, especially if you are creating content sites and are linking keywords in your content site. The link can look sloppy and deter the end user from clicking. Since I do have small niche sites, I did a simple script that shrinks the Prosper202 or Tracking202 link. It is a simple script that just takes a variable from a link and replaces it in the actual 202 redirect.

First, you are either going to need a new domain or if you have a mini site, just create a sub directory. This small scripts works either way. For example: http://acaiberriesaregood.com/suggests/ – you can have your own sub directory.

The next step is to create an index.php file and create the variable capture which takes certain variables and pastes it in the code below. The code I created are ID and KW. You obviously can have your own, just change the variables in the code below.

Create your index.php:

1. Open Notepad
2. Copy the code below
3. Paste in notepad
4. save file as index.php
5. upload index.php to the MAIN directory of the subdomain

This is the code:

<meta http-equiv=”refresh” content=”0;url=http://202TRACKERDOMAIN.com/tracking202/redirect/dl.php?t202id=<?php echo “$_GET[id]“; ?>&t202kw=<?php echo “$_GET[kw]“; ?>”>

So the actual link will be:

http://acaiberriesaregood.com/suggests/?id=12345&kw=

The ID variable is dependent on your actual P202 link. When you setup your link or offers within Prosper202 or Tracking202 you want to just get the t202id variable. The keyword variable is what you state and you do not have to use that variable if you do not want to. The important factor is taking the original tracking ID and placing it in the new URL.

Example:

http://202TRACKERDOMAIN.com/tracking202/redirect/dl.php?t202id=

You get your ID from the t202 id from your original tracking link and place it after your new link. That is it. It is a simple way to shorten your Tracking202 link and also cloak the redirect. Plus it looks more professional if you have it on a site than having your long URL with your tracker domain.

You can definitely change the ID and KW but make sure you adjust the variables in the index.php. This way everything is passing through correctly. You can do this with your own mini url domain or like I showed you a sub directory of an existing domain for your mini sites.

Hope this helps!

Related posts:

1. How to Track Your eMail Optins with Prosper202
2. A Simple Way to Create a Re Direct Link
3. Text Link Ads Adjust Affiliate Links: Give Me My Affiliate Link!

Well why all this change? Wes and his Tracking202 team has done a great job at creating such a platform, that I bet a good amount of affiliates has or is using Tracking202/Prosper202.  So I had a chance to grab Wes and talk about the merge and the branding behind tracking202 with Bloosky.

We go in-depth about a couple things but also kept it pretty general. Watch the video below…

Click here to view the embedded video.

So congrats to Wes Mahler and his Tracking202 team, they definitely came a long way in 2 years since the development of his tracking platform. Congrats again brother!

Related posts:

1. Interview: Tracking How You Prosper, 202 Style
2. Bloosky + Meetup202 Organizer Collaboration
3. Tracking Ian Fernando: Video Interview

With all of us being in one room I got to meet with most of the meetup202 organizers. This is huge because we get to understand what the other organizers do. It is interesting to see some common similarities and complaints. We all discussed upgrades and how to better grow our local community.

We had 2 days of meetings and discussions. First day when I landed, I went to their office and collab with the 2 founders of Bloosky, Matt and Ryan. It was a good almost 2 hour meeting about how I run my meetup and what I recently did in the past and what I have done now to try to improve it.

We also discussed my personal overall flaw with my meetup and they suggested on what things to improve on. It was a great time for me taking in their advice and expertise. After the individual meeting the day was ours.

Bloosky took us to K1 Racing and we went go kart racing, damn that was intense! I crashed heavy into the wall… gosh. After that we went out to dinner which was a bit more personal on a network level and I got to meet with some of the managers and other users that work at Bloosky. The dinner was def good at a great place as well, Javiers.

The next day was even more intense. We had a hardcore meeting for 5 hours. It was a HUGE collaboration with Wes, Tracking202, all the organizers, Bloosky marketing development, evp of operations, founders, etc. They wanted to know at an overall level what they want to see and what others are doing and how to improve it.

It was also a big Q/A about the Bloosky/Tracking202 acquisition. It def was a very open meeting filled with fun comments and very good information.

One of the things that was brought up a lot and repetitively is the aspect of ‘trollers’ to the meetups and not improving themselves but just coming along for the information. Matt and Ryan suggested a filter system to try and create a funnel to separate these from others that want to learn more but can’t because of these ‘trollers’.

Now one thing that came to my mind was time consumption. Ryan and Matt answered with a really good response and something I tried to do myself but it has failed because again, ‘trollers’ participate but do not take action. So that aspect is in the works. The 5 hour meeting was really intense and really informative. While most of the organizers are just there providing an open style forum type of meeting, some do content with speakers and collaboration time. Which I think I should start to do but with a bigger crowd.

No doubt the Bloosky/Tracking202 partnership was a really good move, there is a lot going to be coming in the year 2010 in our affiliate industry. Some really big changes that I really want to see, while some are questionable which I talked to Wes, Ryan, Matt, and Jex about.

Overall congrats to Wes about to his big milestone!

BTW here is a video of all the things that wasn’t talked about in the post…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Meetup202 NY: Latitude Bar
2. IANteract Meetup202 – Success!
3. Copeac Sponsored NYC Meetup202

Click here to view the embedded video.

First when you have a product you just want to add it as a network. So you can name it whatever you want. MyProducts, Digital Products, or even the name of the product you are selling. You do not have to add a ‘network’ persay. It is just another way to categorized your products from other networks.

Once that has been done there are some quick tips to add in your products and even make sure T202 adds the unique subid to your URL. Below is how to update your product so it can capture the subid tracking202 provides. As you can see below all you have to do is:

1. Chose your ‘network’
2. Campaign Name can be the Product name you are selling
3. Affiliate URL is just the domain with an extension of /? <- IMPORTANT
4. Payout is the price of the product, 37, 97, or what ever price you are charging
5. No need for cloaking, its your product

Adding /? to the end of your domain is important because it lets your sales page load and not provide a 404 error. You can add /?subid= if you want as well, the full URL should look like this: http://www.yourproducthere.com/?

This way T202 can append the unique subid and it can be traceable via T202 or the self hosted Prosper202. This is important because if you remove the ? your sites loads with an error, having that ? prevents that.

Next, is the best part about the updated T202 service. The postback URL or image pixel, which most affilaite networks use. Now we get to use a pixel as well. The pixel allows us to track and watch every conversion that is happening with every product purchase. When a person gets to the download section or whatever the final destination page is after payment, the image pixel shoul dbe place on that LAST page.

Once it is on that page it loads and fires back to Tracking202 and updates your stats, easy. Below is a screen shot of how to grab your unique image pixel to place on your final destination page. Simply just:

1. Chose your ‘affiliate network‘
2. Campaign, which is your product
3. Generate Tracking Link
4. Copy Image Pixel and place on final destination page
5. Done

This is by far the best way to track your own products. Well this is the best way to track for paid search, when promoting my own products. You can use this method to track your conversions of product creations and how you promote it. It makes life far easier and more simple.

Related posts:

1. I Hate Networks that Use Direct Track
2. Fast Income with Digital Products
3. Interview: Tracking How You Prosper, 202 Style

A lot of ppc affiliate marketers usually track a lot of their information from other networks and compile it all into one. Other hire freelancers to create a nice little program to capture data the way they want it. What about the noobs out there that want to get into affiliate marketing especially PPC?

Enter Tracking202. Tracking202 is a system that actually tracks your conversions, traffic, type of browser, keyword conversion, etc. There are so many aspects of Tracking202 that you did not even know if those specific data existed. The Tracking202 team consists of multiple members and they are determined to bring the super affiliate from within a noob. That is where problems begins. A lot of noobs and even experts did not like the platform of Tracking202 because it held the data on Tracking 202 back end.

Many were even skeptical to even test it out on a basic campaign. The problem is that I see, Tracking202 is a free system for anyone to join. How can a powerful system not charge a monthly fee for such use? This rose skepticism among the affiliate industry. I even got many emails and questions about Tracking202 and how ‘honest’ the members were. I have hanged out and met with multiple members and even discuss many aspects of Tracking202 with Wes and Steven.

With all the skepticism arising a lot wanted a self hosted system and program. Prosper202 was developed to stop the rumors and let everyone get a chance to track their PPC information and conversions. Prosper202 is just a scaled down version of Tracking202. Now the surprise part is this too is also free! How is this company making money? Why are they making this powerful system free for all users?

I know a lot of people especially affiliate marketers do not like sharing a lot of information and tricks they know. We believe affiliate marketing is a learned trait base on experience, you find your secret canon. A lot even spends thousands of dollars on such a tracking system, yet the 202 Team (I should call them Team202) is giving their tools free, a powerful tool at that. They are not earning a single dime off their system, not even by referrals – they just have a donate button.

To solve this issue I managed to get Steven Truong on the phone to discuss this issue. I wanted to know who is getting paid, what is their benefit, and why they are releasing a powerful system to everyone to be more of a bigger competition to other affiliate marketers.

Affiliate marketing is still young and there is very little competition, besides the big companies. With Prosper202 recently being released, competition may grow – but lets find out. Below you will find the phone interview with Tracking202 members.

Listen to our discussion.
Wes was unavailable for this call, had other business to take care of, like fly his private jet around town. =P

Related posts:

1. Tracking Ian Fernando: Video Interview
2. PPC Marketers: Tracking 202 is in Session
3. Interview: Fat Man Unleashes his Passion

But at Affiliate Summit West, Wes has asked me to do if I may participate in an interview. I did so and I think I did pretty well. I might have acted a little goofy in the beginning but hey it is my personality. Wes alone has proved to have great knowledge in affiliate marketing and especially in PPC.

You can also check out other great interviews via Wes Mahler’s blog or Tracking202 video section, now on with the interview!

Hope the interview was entertaining, one thing I do want to point out is the question about blogging and affiliate marketing. I pointed out how a blog can not be beneficial to a person when creating direct landing pages and competition with high branded blogs such as Amazon. A blog has already credibility since it is a blog, but promoting a product may prove to be a little hard just because you need to build self brand and you have competitors out there with more branded blogs.

A lot has been successful with promoting other products via blogs, John Chow and Yaro Starok has done great jobs helping and promoting service/products on their blogs. They do not need the use of landing pages or micro sites because they already have built a reputation on their blog. For example a small blog promoting via their blog, by writing a review may not do so well versus a dot com landing page, just because the credibility of the blog and the credibility of a dot com. An end user may not feel comfortable with an end user’s blog because ‘who is this person/author’. A dot com on the other hand can be assumed trustworthy, my experience anyways.

Blogging about a product can be very good once your brand is well known, in the other hand getting someone to grab your review and pay attention and actually trust you will be much harder. I hope I explained it good enough and in the video as well.

Related posts:

1. PPC Marketers: Tracking 202 is in Session
2. Interview: I Ask the Blogger Jim Kukral
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