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Ad Performance Tracking - Part 1To that end, the whole reason for Instant Audience, this document, and performance tracking is to help you grow your business. Here, you'll see how to look a step beyond the simple bottom line net revenue and look at EPR. We'll get into EPR in a second, but first, let's look at how to get there. The All-Important Tracking LinkThe ONLY way to make sure you get credit for the sales you generate is to always, always use the tracking link provided by the affiliate platform.Each time you pull a link, immediately pop it into a new browser and test it. Personally, when I'm pulling ads and links, I do that in one browser, let's say Chrome. Then, I'm using Firefox to test the link to make sure it works. This makes sure I'm seeing the link as a fresh visitor to the advertiser's site will see it. Remember: after you put the ad into your magazine, you MUST test it IN THE MAGCAST TEST APP.
We had an incident with TrapCall where their link worked perfectly when you were viewing on desktop, but their server showed a completely blank page when viewed in our magazine. That's a show-stopper.
Always test twice: once just to make sure the offer works at all; once to make sure it works on a mobile device.
Popped a note to their affiliate contact; a couple of hours later their CEO replied, effusively apologized, and thanked us for the heads-up. (He also let us know it was fixed.) What to Track In-MagHere are the most important metrics to monitor for CPA ad running in-mag:
You'll only see impressions if you use THEIR ad server to serve the ads. That's fine-and-dandy on a website; however, in a magazine they could very well be in Airplane Mode, in which case the reader's device won't be able to connect to the ad server, thus, anywhere you're relying on an ad server there will be a gaping hole in your magazine.
Yes, there's technically a way to get the best of both worlds and have a placeholder image there and to put the image and link atop the placeholder. Until you have thousands of readers, it's a waste of time.
Get the revenue coming in first, worry about meticulous tracking later. What to Track on WebsitesWhen you're inserting the ads into regular websites or onto Instant Audience article landing pages, you want to use the network's ad AND link.This will give you insight into how many times the ads are being shown, which will then give you the all-important RPM (Revenue per 1,000 Impressions). In the broadest of broad terms, you want to shoot for at least an RPM of about $10. If you're under that, chances are one of three things is happening:
Sub-ID TrackingEach network offers some sort of sub-id tracking. You can skip this step entirely and come back to it later when things are flowing, but let's discuss it now.In fact, in the examples we've covered 'til now, we haven't touched on sub-id tracking so we could move quickly and avoid getting bogged down in detail, but sub-id tracking is worth considering at some point. By using sub-id tracking you'll be able to see what Instant Audience broadcasts, websites, magazine issues and so on you're generating revenue from. In turn, this lets you see what content and ads are resonating and which ones are falling flat. There are detailed instructions in each platform as to how to do it; here we're just going over the concept of what a CJ link looks like with and without a sid. If you opt to use sub-id tracking, PLEASE test your tracking links after you've put your sub-ids in place.
Here's what the naming convention means. (It's REALLY simple.)
And here's an example of what it looks like when you have multiple revenue streams and places where your ads are running: Master Values
The Big Picture of Tracking LinksThis is by no means the definitive guide to sub-id tracking. It's almost limitless in how much detail it can provide. You can use this system, add to it, or invent one of you own.Just remember: it's more important to skip minutia for now and focus on getting the big pieces in place and working. In other words: it's better to have money coming in the door consistently than it is to know the exact source especially when you're getting started. Focus on the big picture for now and revisit this when things are humming so you can refine and fine-tune. |
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