Quick Start

Use this guide to create a campaign, check that its clicks appear in your reports, and set up conversion postbacks. Each step links to the chapter with the full details.

To learn what visits, clicks, and conversions mean for your campaigns, read How Tracking Works.

What your account already has

Every new account comes with two free domains, ready to use:

Starter tracking domain

Your starter tracking domain has the form your-slug.codenamethanos.com. Campaign links and offer links run on this domain. Find it under Tracker → Tracker Settings. See Tracking Domain.

Starter page domain

Your starter page domain has the form your-slug.tryproferex.com. Landing pages you host in Proferex can be served on this domain. Find it under Landing Pages → Page Settings. See Page Domain.

Both domains are fine for testing. For live traffic, add a domain you own.

Step 1 - Add a traffic source

The traffic source is the ad network your visitors come from.

1. Go to Traffic Sources and click Create Traffic Source.

   

2. Click Templates and pick your ad network if it is listed.

   

3. Check the name and token mappings filled in by the template. If your network is not listed, enter a name and add its tokens by hand.

   

4. Scroll to the bottom of the form and click Create to save the traffic source.

   

See Traffic Sources.

Step 2 - Add an offer source (optional)

The offer source is the affiliate network your offers come from. Skip this step if you don't use an affiliate network.

1. Go to Offer Sources and click Create Network.

   

2. Enter the name of your affiliate network and click Create Network.

   

See Offer Sources.

Step 3 - Add an offer

The offer is where visitors end up.

1. Go to Offers and click Create Offer.

   

2. Enter a name and paste the offer URL from your affiliate network. Add the {clickid} token in the parameter your network uses for your own click ID, so the click ID comes back in the postback. If you added an offer source in Step 2, select it under Offer Source.

   

3. Click Create Offer to save the offer.

   

See Offers.

Step 4 - Add a lander (optional)

Skip this step to send visitors straight to the offer.

1. Go to Landers and click Create Lander.

   

2. Enter a name. Under Type, choose External Hosted if your landing page is hosted somewhere else.

   

3. Paste your landing page address into External URL. Then copy the Offer Link and use it as the call-to-action link on your landing page. It sends visitors on to the offer.

   

4. Click Create Lander to save the lander.

   

The call to action on your landing page looks like this:

<a href="https://your-slug.codenamethanos.com/outgoing">Get The Offer</a>

If your campaign link and this offer link use different domains, add tracker.js to your landing page. See Add tracker.js for why and how.

See Landers and Offer Redirect.

Step 5 - Create a combination

A combination decides where visitors go after they click. Each row is a path: a lander followed by an offer, or straight to the offer.

1. Go to Combinations and click Create Combination.

   

2. Enter a name. Paths on the Default tab are used for every visitor unless a rule matches.

   

3. In path 1, select the lander from Step 4 and the offer from Step 3.

   

   If you skipped Step 4, select Direct Offer (No Lander) as the lander. Visitors then go straight to the offer.

   

4. Use the buttons under the paths to change them:

   

   • Create New Path adds an empty row.
   • Add Existing Path copies a path from another combination.
   • Normalize rescales the weights so they add up to 100.
   • Equal Split gives every path the same weight.
   • Create New Lander and Create New Offer add one without leaving this page.

   With more than one path, Weight sets each path's share of the traffic.

5. (Optional) To send some visitors somewhere else, click + next to the tabs to add a rule. Set its conditions and give it its own paths.

   

   Conditions can match the visitor's location, device, network and more.

   

6. Check the Traffic Distribution and click Create Combination.

   

See Combinations.

Step 6 - Create a campaign

A campaign is the link you put in your ad. It ties the traffic source to the combination.

1. Go to Campaigns and click Create Campaign.

   

2. Enter a Campaign Name. The URL Slug is filled in for you and becomes part of the campaign link. Type your own or click the shuffle button for a new one.

   

3. In Combination, select the combination from Step 5. The Combination Preview shows where visitors will go.

   

4. In Traffic Source, select the traffic source from Step 1. Its tokens are added to the campaign link for you.

   

5. Click Create Campaign.

   

6. The campaign links appear at the top of the form. Choose the Tracking Domain the links should use, then copy either Campaign URL. Both track the same way.

   

Group, Country, and the settings under More are optional. See Campaigns.

Step 7 - Test the campaign link

1. Open the Campaign URL from Step 6 in a private browser window.

2. Check that you land on your lander or offer. A lander opens at its own address with a click ID added to the end.

   

3. Go to Campaigns. Within a minute, your campaign shows 1 under Visits. A visit is someone opening the campaign link.

   

   If the campaign is missing, check that the Date Range includes today.

4. If you added a lander, click its call to action and check that it opens the offer. Within a minute, Clicks shows 1. A click is someone going from your lander to the offer.

   

   Visitors on a Direct Offer path go straight to the offer, so they show as visits only.

Put the Campaign URL in your ad once the test works.

Step 8 - Set up the postback

Conversions only appear once your affiliate network tells Proferex about them.

1. Go to Tracker Settings. On the General Settings tab, find Global Postback URL.

   

2. Select your tracking domain and copy the Postback URL.

   

3. Paste the Postback URL into your affiliate network's postback settings. If your network uses its own macros, replace {clickid} and {payout} in the Postback URL with the network macros that return your click ID and the payout.

4. When a visitor converts, your network sends the postback. Within a minute, the campaign shows the conversion under Conversions and the payout under Revenue.

   

If a conversion is missing, open the Postback Log tab in Tracker Settings to check whether the postback arrived.

See Postbacks.

Next step

Before you send real traffic, add a tracking domain you own and make it your primary domain. See Tracking Domain.

Your starter domain sits under a domain shared with other Proferex accounts, so their traffic can affect how ad networks and browsers treat your links. Your own domain keeps your reputation separate and shows your brand.

Do it before your ads go live. Your campaign URLs and postback URL include the domain, so switching later means updating every ad and every postback setting.