Oddcast Affiliate Program. User s Guide. 6/28/2007 Release 1.1. Oddcast, Inc. 1

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1 Oddcast Affiliate Program User s Guide 6/28/2007 Release 1.1 Oddcast, Inc. 1

2 Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Companies, names and data used in examples herein are fictitious unless otherwise noted. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Oddcast, Inc. Copyright 2007 Oddcast, Inc. Oddcast, Inc. 2

3 Oddcast Affiliate Program Table of Contents Table of Contents... 3 How to use this manual... 4 Chapter 1 About the Oddcast Affiliate Program Sign up for an Affiliate account... 5 Chapter 2 Working with your Affiliate account Manage your Affiliate account Add your tracking information (optional) Chapter 3 Deploying Oddcast Banners Select an Affiliate banner an Affiliate banner link Customize a banner Create HTML code for a banner Chapter 4 View reports for an Affiliate account View an Affiliate report Chapter 5 Working with Affiliate Campaigns Add a new campaign Oddcast, Inc. 3

4 Oddcast Affiliate Program How to use this manual This manual shows you how to sign up as an Oddcast Affiliate, place banners from Oddcast on Web sites, and manage your Oddcast Affiliate account. You do not need any programming experience to customize and deploy Oddcast banners on a Web page. Conventions The following graphical alerts are used is this manual to draw your attention to a tip, note, or warning. Tip Note! Warning Oddcast, Inc. 4

5 Chapter 1 About the Oddcast Affiliate Program You can profit by referring customers to Oddcast products to your clients. By promoting Oddcast products on your Web site you receive 20% of any purchases your site refers to Oddcast. The Oddcast Affiliate Program rewards you with commissions when new users buy SitePal and other Oddcast products through promotions placed on your Web site. Oddcast offers several advertising banners that make it easy for you to place promotions on your site. You do not need to have a SitePal account to join the Affiliate Program. In your account you will find reports that track impressions, clicks, purchases, and earnings. An impression is when a visitor to your site views a page containing a banner ad. 1.1 Sign up for an Affiliate account 1. Go to the Affiliates page on the SitePal site The SitePal Affiliates Landing page loads. Figure 1 - SitePal Affiliates Landing Page Oddcast, Inc. 5

6 Chapter 1 About the Affiliate Program 2. Click the Sign Up Now button. The Affiliate registration page appears. Figure 2 - Affiliate registration 3. Follow the instructions to complete the User & Login Information section. 4. Follow the instructions to complete the Contact Information section. 5. Scroll down to the Payment Options section at the bottom of the page. Figure 3 - Affiliate Payment Options Oddcast, Inc. 6

7 Chapter 1 About the Affiliate Program 6. Select the method by which you want to receive your commissions from Oddcast. 7. If you have an Oddcast Promotion Code, enter the code. 8. Click Terms and Conditions to read the terms and conditions of the Oddcast Affiliate Program. 9. If you agree to these terms and conditions, select I agree to the Oddcast Affiliate Program Terms and Conditions check box. 10. Click Register. You will receive an confirming your enrollment in the program. To activate your affiliate account, you must click the link included in the . To be eligible to receive the affiliate commission, you must send your Taxpayer ID document to Oddcast. When you activate your account, you can fill out your Taxpayer ID on the Affiliate Program page on the Oddcast Web site. To obtain a copy now of the Taxpayer ID document, please download one of the following forms. US Residents (Form W9) Non-US Residents (Form W8) Fax the signed form to: or mail the form to us at - Oddcast Affiliate Program 134 West 37th Street 7th floor New York, NY USA Note that Oddcast cannot pay commissions to any user whose taxpayer ID form is not on file. Chapter 2 Working with your Affiliate account Once your Affiliate account is activated, you can log into the account using the address and password you supplied in the signup form. 1. Go to the Login page for the Oddcast Affiliate Program Web at Oddcast, Inc. 7

8 Chapter 4 View Affiliate Reports 2. Enter your address and password, and then click Login. The Affiliate Home page loads. Figure 4 - Affiliate Home page 2.1 Manage your Affiliate account To be eligible to receive the affiliate commission, you must submit your Taxpayer ID document. If you have not yet send your Taxpayer ID document to Oddcast, the next chapter provides the instructions for downloading and completing the Taxpayer ID. 1. On the main menu at the top of Affiliate Home page, click Account Info. You Affiliate Account Info page loads. You can edit any of your user information Oddcast, Inc. 8

9 Chapter 4 View Affiliate Reports 2. Click the Edit button. Your Affiliate Account Info page loads. If Oddcast has not received your Taxpayer ID information, your Taxpayer ID status is Missing. Download the appropriate form and send it to Oddcast. Figure 5 - Affiliate Account Info page 3. Add or edit information on your Account Info page, and then click Submit. Your Affiliate account information is saved. To change your account password: 1. Under User Information, select the Change Password check box. 2. In the Password text box, type your new password. 3. Click Submit. Oddcast, Inc. 9

10 Chapter 4 View Affiliate Reports 2.2 Add your tracking information (optional) The fields under Tracking Information (optional) on your Account Info page allow you to receive real time information into your own reporting system. If you enter URLs in these fields, our Affiliate system will call the specified http address whenever a qualified purchase or refund transaction occurs. It is not necessary to use these fields in order to receive credit for purchases. This option is provided for organizations which have their own reporting system and would like to integrate the information from the Oddcast Affiliate system. Figure 6 - Tracking Information You can use the following parameters in your URL: AMOUNT TRANID BANNERID For example: (amount of purchase) (transaction ID) (ID of banner in which the purchase is made) yban=(bannerid) Oddcast, Inc. 10

11 Chapter 3 Deploying Oddcast Banners Oddcast provides a wide variety of banners that you can place on your Web site. You can assign a campaign to banners so that you can analyze the results of the banner on a specific page per campaign. You deploy a banner by generating the HTML code for the banner, copying the code, and then pasting the code in a Web page. You can customize a banner before you generate the HTML code, or you can use the banner with the default settings and behavior. The following settings and behavior can be customized for a banner: Link behavior Audio behavior Background color Default text message for the character to speak Animation time limit 3.1 Select an Affiliate banner On the main menu at the top of Affiliate Home page, click Banners The Banners page lists all banners available for deployment. You can scroll through this list and preview the banners. Figure 7 - Banner page Oddcast, Inc. 11

12 Chapter 3 Deploying Oddcast Banners You can list a subset of available banners by using the following filters. Product Size Type Filter banners for a specific Oddcast product. Filter banners of specific dimensions. Filter banners of a specific file type. Most banners are the Flash (.swf) file type. Filter banners of a specific audio type. You can filter banners for the following type of audio: Audio Versatile On Load On Rollover On Click No Audio Banners in which you can set the audio type. Banners that play audio as soon as the banner loads. Banners that play when a user moves the mouse cursor over the banner. Banners that play when the user clicks within the banner. Banners that do not play audio an Affiliate banner link You can add a text affiliate link to an or website. This link is the address of the promotional page for SitePal on the Oddcast Web site. You receive the same purchase credit as a banner when using this link. To add a text affiliate link to an message: 1. In the Campaign drop-down menu, select a campaign. The ID of the campaign that you selected is added to the text link address (promotionid). You can use campaigns to help you track, analyze, and summarize the results and activities on your Affiliate account. Using campaigns is optional. Figure 8 - Affiliate text link 2. Select and copy the text link. 3. Paste the text link in an message. Oddcast, Inc. 12

13 Chapter 3 Deploying Oddcast Banners 3.3 Customize a banner 1. On the Banners page, click Get HTML Code for a banner that you want to use. The HTML Code window for the banner opens. Figure 9 - HTML Code window 2. Change the settings and behavior of the banner and type the text that you want the character in the banner to speak. The following describes how you can customize a banner s settings and behavior: Campaign Assign a campaign to banner so that you can analyze the results of the banner on a specific Web site or ad campaign. You can use campaigns to help you track, analyze, and summarize the results and activities of your Affiliate account. Using campaigns is optional. Oddcast, Inc. 13

14 Chapter 3 Deploying Oddcast Banners Link behavior Select the Open a new page when clicked check box to open the target Web page of the link in a new browser window. Select a behavior that determines when the audio for a banner plays. Audio behavior On Load On Rollover On Click No Audio Play the audio as soon as the banner loads. Play the audio when a user moves the mouse cursor over the banner. Play the audio when the user clicks within the banner. Do not play audio for the banner. Background color Text message Animation time limit JavaScript Select a background color for the banner or set a transparent background for the banner. You can also enter the hexadecimal value for a color in the box centered below the palette. Type the message or messages that you want the character in the banner to speak. Enter the time, in seconds, that you want the character in the banner animated. For unlimited animation set this to Zero. Select the Enable JavaScript check box to include JavaScript in the HTML code for your banner. Do not enable JavaScript if your target environment does not allow the use of JavaScript. For example, ebay does not support JavaScript. 3.4 Create HTML code for a banner When you have customized a banner to appear and behave how you want, create the HTML code for the banner. 1. At the bottom of the HTML Code window for a banner, click Create HTML Code. The generated code appears in the scrolling text box. Figure 10 Create HTML code 2. Copy the HTML code that appears in the text box. 3. Paste this code in a Web page where you want the banner to appear. Oddcast, Inc. 14

Chapter 4 View reports for an Affiliate account Use affiliate reports to track the performance of your banners and affiliate activities. You can generate the following types of reports: 1.

15 Chapter 4 View reports for an Affiliate account Use affiliate reports to track the performance of your banners and affiliate activities. You can generate the following types of reports: 1. Overview - cashflow 2. Overview - income 3. Transactions The overall summary of your affiliate activity status. The report includes the total number of banner impressions, clicks, purchases, and refunds. An impression is when a visitor to your site views a page containing a banner ad. This report shows the actual profit for a given month reflecting refunds made in subsequent months that relate to the month you are looking at. A record of the transactions for customers you referred to Oddcast. The report includes the name of the customer and the type of item purchased. 4. Payments A record of payments to your affiliate account. 5. Balance The current balance of your affiliate account. 4.1 View an Affiliate report 1. On the main menu at the top of Affiliate Home page, click Reports. The Reports page loads. Figure 11 - Reports page 2. From the Report drop-down menu, select a report type. 3. From the Period drop-down menus, select the reporting period and year. Oddcast, Inc. 15

16 Chapter 4 Viewing Affiliate Reports 4. If you want to view a report for a specific Oddcast product or service, from the Product Type drop-down menu, select the product. You can learn more about these Oddcast products and services on and the Oddcast home page at You can also call Oddcast Sales toll free at (877) If you want to view a report of activities for a specific banner, type the banner number in the Banner ID text box. 6. If you want to view a report for a specific campaign, from the Campaign drop-down menu, select the campaign. If you want to view a report for activities not associated with a campaign, select No Campaign. You can use campaigns to help you track, analyze, and summarize the results and activities on your Affiliate account. Using campaigns is optional. 7. Click the Apply button. Your report is generated and appears on the Reports page. Oddcast, Inc. 16

Chapter 5 Working with Affiliate Campaigns Using campaigns is optional. You use campaigns to categorize the results and activities for the Oddcast banners that you place on Web pages.

You can then generate reports for the results of all your Affiliate activities or focus on the results of specific campaigns. 5.1 Add a new campaign 1.

17 Chapter 5 Working with Affiliate Campaigns Using campaigns is optional. You use campaigns to categorize the results and activities for the Oddcast banners that you place on Web pages. By assigning a campaign to an Oddcast ad banner that you place on a Web page, you can analyze the results for each banner that you place. You can then generate reports for the results of all your Affiliate activities or focus on the results of specific campaigns. 5.1 Add a new campaign 1. On the main menu at the top of Affiliate Home page, click Campaigns. The Campaign page loads. Figure 12 - Campaigns page 2. Click Add New Campaign. The Explorer User Prompt dialog box appears. Figure 13 - Add new campaign 3. Type a name for the campaign and click OK. The new campaign is added to the list on the Campaigns page. Oddcast, Inc. 17

18 Chapter 5 Working with Campaigns 4. (Optional) Under the Comments column, type a description or comment for the campaign, and then click Update. To rename a campaign: Under the Campaign column, type a new name In the text box, and then click Update. Oddcast, Inc. 18

19 Affiliate Program Index account, 5 Account Info page, 8 account password, 9 activation, 7 add campaign, 17 Affiliate Home page, 8 affiliate link, 12 Affiliate Program, 5 Affiliate reports, 15 Affiliates Landing page, 5 animation time limit, 14 assign campaign, 13 audio behavior, 14 background color, 14 balance reports, 15 banner number, 16 banners, 11 campaign, 13 campaigns, 17 cashflow report, 15 color, 14 commission, 5 customize banner, 13 deploy banners, 11 banner link, 12 enable JavaScript, 14 enrollment, 7 filter banner list, 12 Form W8, 7 Form W9, 7 get HTML code, 14 home page, 8 impression, 5 income reports, 15 introduction to SitePal, 2 JavaScript, 14 landing page, 5 link behavior, 14 login page, 8 message to speak, 14 missing taxpayer ID, 9 overview, 5 parameters for tracking, 10 password, 9 payment options, 6 payments reports, 15 place banners, 11 product type, 16 registration page, 6 rename campaign, 18 report of campaign, 16 reports, 15 select banner, 11 sign up, 5 Taxpayer ID, 7 terms and conditions, 7 text-to-speech, 14 tracking information, 10 transactions reports, 15 URL tracking, 10 versatile banners, 12 view report, 15 W8 form, 7 W9 form, 7 Oddcast, Inc. 19

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