Do-It-Yourself Guide for Advertisers

Do-It-Yourself Guide for Advertisers

Foreword Affinity's Advertiser DIY Guide is intended to provide Advertisers with helpful insights on how to best run their ad campaigns on the Affinity Ad Platform. This guide covers relevant points to be considered while Creating, Running & Optimizing ad campaigns on the Affinity Ad Platform. These include: Pointers to run a campaign Tips to bid at the Ad Group Level The apt use of keywords while running campaigns Points to remember while creating ads Methods of controlling your bids & budgets at the Source-level Tracking conversions on either your current reporting system or Affinity s reporting system Help on monitoring and optimizing campaigns

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Campaigns Ad Group Keywords Ads Sources Conversion Tracking Optimization IP Level Controls Automated Payments Daily Schedule 11 Import Campaigns

1 Campaigns Campaign Type Keyword RON Category Targeting Most targeted. Lesser Targeted. Lesser targeted than Keyword; but more targeted than RON. Visibility Ad(s) will only be visible for keywords relevant to your campaign. Ad(s) will be displayed for every keyword. Ensures higher visibility. Ad(s) will be displayed for all keywords included in the category selected. Self-Control Choose keywords for which you want the ad(s) displayed. Ad(s) will be displayed for every keyword. Lesser control since keywords cannot be added. Each category comes with its own default list of keywords. Negative Keywords (Irrelevant Keywords) Allows negative keywords to be added. Ensures precise targeting. Allows negative keywords to be added. Avoids massive search from keywords like Adult, Gambling, Pornography, etc. Does not allow negative keywords to be added. Points to Note: The Keyword Campaign is generally the most recommended, since it is the most targeted form of advertising on any network. It lets you choose the keywords for which you d want your ads to be displayed, and this allows you to control where and when the ads show up. You could choose to start a RON or Category campaign if the Keyword Campaign does not give you the desired results. RON or Category generally works very well for short lead form offers (around 1 page; with anything between 1-5 fields). 2 Ad Group When at the Ad Group Level, you can insert your Max CPC bid (the highest bid that you d be willing to pay for all of the keywords that fall under that particular Ad Group). The default Bid Type is set to Auction ; i.e. when you bid for a particular keyword, it will be auctioned in realtime on our network along with the bids of all our other Direct Advertisers & Third Party Network Partners. If you happen to be one of highest bidding advertisers, your ad(s) will show up at a bid price which is 1 cent higher than your competition. Example: If your Max CPC is $0.03 and the next advertiser below you is bidding at $0.01, then you will be charged $0.02 (and not $0.03) for each click on your ad(s). In the case of RON campaigns, the recommended base bid is $0.01 across all categories and regions.

3 Keywords 1) Generic Keywords: When running a Keyword campaign, it is best to avoid using generic keywords in Broad Match ; because they tend to generate a high volume of queries for your campaign. Example: While running a campaign for Car Insurance, refrain from using Insurance as a keyword in broad match ; whereas, you could use Insurance in the Exact/Phrase match. 2) Negative Keywords: When running RON campaigns, it is advisable to use Negative Keywords for categories like Adult, Gambling, Pornography, etc. or any such irrelevant keywords. Doing so could help avoid unnecessary clicks on your ad(s). 3) Bulk Upload: Use our Bulk Upload feature to add your best converting/highly profitable keywords from other networks into your Affinity account. The keywords can be uploaded in a CSV/Excel format. 4 Ads Since the ad(s) on the Affinity system will show up on an alternating basis, it is advisable to test multiple ad copies initially. You can then choose to run the most successful one(s) later (based on their CTRs and Conversion Rates). Start running your campaigns with ads that are considered Winning ads ; i.e. ads that may have/are working well for you on other networks that you re associated with. Pointers for Creating Your Ad(s): Try including keywords that are present in the Ad Group in the Ad copy Title and Description. Offer some sort of guarantee/warranty to try and bridge the gap between you and any potential customers. If you re advertising a product that is price-sensitive, try using cost-saving phrases to maximize surfer productivity. Refrain from over-use of exclamatory points. Keep the message plain and simple. Do not confuse the viewers. Do not SCREAM OUT by over-using uppercase alphabets. 5 Sources What are Sources? Sources can help comprehend the amount of incoming traffic your ad is receiving from our Publishers. Each Source is indicated by a unique 5 digit numerical code, which has been assigned to Publishers when they sign up with us. In other words, a Source is the location where your ads get displayed, and thus generate clicks. Affinity s system is equipped to let you control bids & budgets at the Source-level. 1) Bid Adjustment: It allows you to place a different bid for each of your Sources. Based on the performance of a particular Source, you can choose to increase or decrease your bids.

2) Budget: It lets you set a Daily Budget Cap for each of your Sources. You can use this feature to allocate higher spends on performing sources; thus minimizing wastage on non-performing sources. 3) Delivery: It lets you set the number of times your ad should be displayed for a specific keyword getting queried. This function will let you control spends and distribute clicks over a longer period. Example: If you change the delivery of an insurance campaign to 50% on a specific Source, your ad will get displayed only 5 out of 10 times when the word insurance gets queried for that Source. 6 Conversion Tracking This feature is a form of website traffic analytics that measures the effectiveness of a traffic source. The source could be a referrer, a search engine, a search phrase used etc. It could also be a characteristic of the visitor for instance the country, age, income etc. The desired action could be the completion of an online purchase, the sign-up of a newsletter etc. In affiliate performance marketing, conversions are the key metric for the success of an offer. The effectiveness is expressed as a percentage called the Conversion Rate 1) Accessing the feature: In order to use Conversion Tracking, you need to select a Tracking method and create a relevant tracker. You can achieve this by visiting the Tools > Conversion Tracking tab in your account. On this screen, you need to select the method of Tracking which you want to implement and fill the relevant details in the form below. Once you complete the form and submit it, it will give you the implementation details for the Tracker which you just implemented. 2) Tracking methods: Affinity provides you with all the tracking options you need to run a successful campaign. Within the Conversion Tracking page, you will find three options available to you:. a. Javascript based Tracking: In this method, all the URLs on the page are encoded with a Javascript, enabling you to track clicks on specific URLs within a page i.e. you get the ability to perform Tracking only on the URLs that you wish to track. b. Image pixel based tracking: Conversion Tracking using Image Pixels involves placing a cookie on a user's computer when he or she clicks on an advertisement. Then, if the user clicks on your advertisements and reaches one of your conversion pages, the pixel is displayed and the user's browser sends the cookie to the Affinity platform. When such a match is made, we record a successful conversion for you. c. Server to Server tracking: Server-based tracking methods don t use cookies for storing tracking information. Instead the tracking information is stored on the server and IDs associated with the records. When a conversion occurs, the server does a postback to register a conversion. Server Postbacks are commonly used for offers that requiring post conversion authentication in which the user isn t available when authentication is completed and thus client-based tracking can t be used. Server Postback with Transaction ID allows the advertiser to pass back only unique Transaction IDs to record conversions for offers. The Transaction ID must be passed into the Offer URL so that the advertiser can store this value in their system. When a conversion is generated on the offer, the advertiser s system will look up the transaction ID and then insert this value into the Server Postback URL when calling.

3) Modifying Trackers: You can modify previously created Trackers by visiting the Conversion Tracking page and directly changing the values for that particular record in the list. 4) Implementing Different Trackers: a. JS based Click Tracking: In order to create a tracker of this type, you need to visit the Conversion Tracking page located in the Tools section. Once you have successfully created a tracker, you will be shown two pieces of code. One code is a Javascript which needs to be placed before the closing body </body> tag on every page that you wish to track. Apart from this, you will also be given a piece of code which you need to integrate into all the anchor <a> tags (or links) which you need to track. b. Image pixel Tracking: Once you have successfully created a Tracker of this type, an image <img> pixel will be displayed on your screen. You will need to copy this line of code and paste it on the last page i.e. the page which marks the end of a particular process or conversion. E.g. If you want to track the number of users who sign up for a product, you will need to put the tracker on the page which the user comes to, after submitting the sign up form, also known as the Thank You page. c. Server to Server Tracking: Once you have successfully created a Tracker of this type, Postback URL will be displayed on your screen. You need to refer to the infographic below for further steps: Click Tracker URL http://www.sampleoffersite.com/&txnid={txnid} when the user clicks on an affiliate tracking link for the offer, the user is redirected to the offer URL. Offer Landing Page URL http://www.sampleoffersite.com/&txnid=123456789 upon user redirected, Affinity dynamically replaces {txnid} in the offer url with the transaction id value. Postback URL http://ck.ads.affinity.com/cnv?hx=726&txind=123456789 when the user completes a conversion, it is then up to the advertiser to pull the transaction ID from URL and post back the "Postback URL" to Affinity's Platform with the appropriate transaction id appended.

7 Optimization 5) Statistics: Add our dynamic parameters in the Target URL to get the necessary information/data in your reporting system. 6) Tracking conversions on your reporting system: Add our dynamic parameters in the Target URL to get the necessary information/data in your reporting system. a. Source-level: If you wish to track conversions at a Sub-ID/Source level, then you will need to add our dynamic parameter {tsid} in the Target URL. The {tsid} will be replaced by a 5-Digit Source Id (denoting the Publisher on our system) in your existing tracking system Example: http://www.abc.com/?subid={tsid}, where subid is the advertiser s parameter to track sources; where {tsid} will be replaced dynamically by Affinity s 5-digit Publisher code. b. Keyword level: If you wish to track converting/performing keywords, then you will need to add our dynamic parameter in the Target URL as follows:. I. Keyword Campaign: You need to add {mkw} to track the converting/performing keyword(s). II. RON Campaign: You need to add {skw} to track the converting/performing keyword(s). III. Category Campaign: You cannot track converting/performing keywords here, since the keywords are pre-populated within a category campaign. However, you could track the converting category by adding {cat} 7) Tracking conversions on our reporting system: In case you choose to track conversions on Affinity s reporting system, follow these steps: a. Send an email to conversiontracking[at]affinity[dot]com with the following information I. Account Name II. Campaign Name III. CPA Goal IV. Secure/Non-Secure Pixel requirement b. Once this is done, the appropriate pixel will be mailed to you on the registered email address for your account. c. You can then place this pixel within the Body Tag (<body>) of the Thank-You page to track conversions. 7 7 Optimization After setting-up your campaigns, selecting sources & enabling tracking, you should monitor and optimize campaigns on an on-going basis to maximize profits. Optimization can be carried out in 2 ways: 1) Source-level Optimization a. Put a Budget Cap for each traffic source initially, to test traffic volumes & performance. Suggested budget caps are between $5-10 (based on your advertising budget).

b. Increase budgets & bids for profitable sources. c. Increase bids for sources with low CTR s to win more clicks. d. Decrease bids for non-profitable sources. Test them for some time; and if they still yield insufficient results, then block those sources completely. 2) Keyword-level Optimization a. b. c. If you re running a RON campaign, add non-performing keywords as Negatives. Reduce bids for keywords, which have a low conversion rate. Change match type for broad match keywords with high CTRs and low conversion rate to Phrase or Exact match type. 8 IP Level Controls This feature allows you to control your campaigns better. It lets you choose exactly to whom and how many times your ads are served, at the IP Level. IP Level Controls includes IP Blacklisting, IP Level Click Limiting and Daily Click Limiting. 1) IP Blacklisting: This feature allows you to block the IP addresses to which you do not wish to serve your Ads. This feature allows you to ensure brand safety & enhance ROI. a) Visit the IP Blacklist page within the Tools section. Herein you will be presented with the option to enter an IP address or a group of IP addresses. Once you submit the relevant details, our systems stop serving your ads to the respective IP Address/es. b) You can un-block a previously blacklisted IP by locating the particular IP in the list on the IP Blacklist page and changing its block status to OFF. Once this is done, that particular IP address is unblocked from our platform and will begin to receive Ads from your campaigns. 2) IP Level Click Limiting: This feature allows you to limit the number of clicks you receive from a specific IP Address. This feature allows you to reach out to a larger base of unique users from within our network & gives your campaign extensive reach. a) Visit the IP Blacklist page within the Tools section. Herein, you will be presented with the option to set a Click Limit per IP. Simply enter the desired value and set the option to, 'on'. b) In order to reset the maximum clicks for a particular IP Address, you need to set those values to 0 (zero). Once done, all previously set limits are removed for your account. 3) Daily Click Limiting: This feature allows you to control the number of clicks you can receive in an entire day. This feature works over-and-above individual IP Blacklists or IP Level Click Limiting. Daily Click Limiting allows you to space-out your campaigns & effectively utilize your campaign budget. a) Visit the IP Blacklist page in the Tools section. Herein, you will be presented with the option to set a Click Limit per Day. Simply enter the desired value and set the option to 'on'. b) In order to reset the maximum clicks for the duration of a day, you need to set those values to 0 (zero). Once done, all previously set limits are removed for your account.

9 Automated Payments This feature allows you to automate regular transactions that you would otherwise perform in your account. By using this feature, you could schedule funds to get added to your account at a pre-scheduled recurring date for this addition. 1) Accessing the Feature: The Billing Tab on your system will allow you to set up the Automated Payment feature for your account. Please Note: This feature is only available to users who have used a Credit Card to make their payments; and the feature will be applicable on the said Credit Card only. 2) Cancellation: If you have canceled the Automated Payments option, your preferences will be saved for your convenience, so that you can easily re-enable the feature. In cases where the payment gets declined by the Bank, the instructions for Automated Payments from your Credit Card stand canceled. You will have to manually reenable the feature in order to have it process your payments automatically. 10 Daily Schedule This feature enables you to specify the time slots during which you would want your Campaign to be served. For instance, if you want your campaign to serve only during peak working hours on a given day; this feature allows you to set your Daily Schedule feature to match the 09:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs slot on that particular day. 1) Accessing the feature: You could choose to employ the Daily Schedule feature at two times in the process of running your Campaign a) While creating a new campaign, you could define a schedule for it. b) While editing settings of an existing campaign, choose to apply a Daily Schedule to it. 2) Time Zones: The Daily Schedule feature works based on Pacific Standard Time (GMT -8). So even though you may have applied the Daily Schedule feature to run your Campaign only in specific geographical regions, the time slot will still run as per PST. It is imperative that you take care to convert your time slots from the local time of the targeted geographical region to PST, so as to ensure that your campaign is getting delivered at the time slots convenient for you. 3) Disabling: When you disable the Daily Schedule feature, it deletes your preferences. If you wish to set the feature after disabling it once, you would have to specify your preferences once again.

11 Import Campaigns This feature allows you to import a Campaign or a group of Campaigns including all campaign related information such as Ad Groups, Ads etc. This makes it easier for you to migrate your Campaigns to the Affinity platform. 1) How to Import Campaigns: a) You can import Campaigns directly from Google Adwords b) Alternately you can use the sample file structure to create a detailed campaign information file which can be imported into our platform. Simply select the 'Affinity Format' from the list while uploading the file. c) It typically takes anywhere between 5-15 minutes to successfully import campaigns into the Affinity platform. d) Once the information has been successfully imported, we will send out an email to your registered 2) After Importing: email address informing you of the status. Even though you have uploaded the relevant campaign information into the Affinity Platform, you still have certain steps that need to be completed. This includes reviewing the imported information, correcting incorrect entries if any, mapping Traffic Source IDs and finally starting the campaign.