This morning I was a bit surprised to find that another company is offering a PPC conversion tracking solution for affiliates. Remember, that the big problem is knowing which keywords convert for affiliates since the conversion pixel resides on the merchant’s page, not the affiliate’s.

Tracking202 is a San Francisco based company that’s offering their PPC affiliate tracking solution for free. The solution offers many features similar to HLOLA which I described in an earlier post. Why is Tracking202 free? They claim they’ll offer complimentary paid services in the future. If I were them I would certainly be charging. Funny how the Web 2.0 craze has brainwashed companies into giving away really good stuff for free.
Like HLOLA, I have not tried this service, but it’s a very good idea.

Both Tracking202 and HLOLA are hosted solutions, so yes they can study your keyword list and conversion data if they really cared. I know some folks are paranoid that this information will get into the wrong hands. The keywords are only useful to someone in a similar business and more folks probably know your data than you realize anyway. Your agency knows, your former employee now working at the competitor knows, and of course Google knows everything. I’m not suggesting one be reckless, just not to worry so much.

Apparently people can’t stop worrying. I lifted this from Tracking202’s FAQs:

You say you do not look at our information, but how can we trust you?

Unforunately there is no way that we can 100% prove to you that we do not look at anyone’s data. If there was a way to prove it to you that we do not look at your data, we would happily do it, but unforunately we have no way of doing this. If you have an idea of how to achieve this, please let us know, we would be happy to comply.

They sound like decent guys. Don’t worry

The nice folks over at HLOLA have graciously decided to extend a special introductory offer to members of JamieShiller.com. They’re offering the first month of service for $19 instead of $59. Yes, I know you want a free trial, but they don’t offer one, so at least I’m saving you $40. The HLOLA promo pricing will be listed on the pricing page at HLOLA.com. Let me be very clear about two things. I am not an affiliate for this product and I have never tried it. However, I very much like the solution HLOLA claims to offer. Follow the link below to pay only $19 for the first of HLOLA service.
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HLOLA - $19 For First Month

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I was dabbling as an affiliate in some programs powered by Commission Junction a few years ago. One problem I encountered was how to track which of my keywords would convert into sales. The problem for affiliates is that they don’t control the merchant’s conversion page, so they usually can’t track which keywords convert unless the merchant allows them to place a pixel. Unless you’re a big affiliate, and even if you are, most merchants will not want to place an affiliate’s pixel on their conversion page. It can be a pain for merchants to install a pixel and they might be prevented by a bunch of internal corporate rules anyway. If you can get a pixel, by all means, do it. The good news is that there is an alternative.

Two years ago I wrote my own PHP script which performed A/B landing page testing and keyword conversion tracking for affiliates. I’ve long thought that I should offer the code as a product to others with the same dilemma.

So how does the script work? A number of affiliate program providers allow affiliates to pass in variables into their reporting systems. For Commission Junction the parameter is called an SID. I used the SID to pass an identifier in the the URL which tracked the landing page a user converted and they keyword which led to the conversion. It looked like the following when passed in the URL:

SID=lp1_blue-widget

Here the SID column of the Commission Junction reporting would say lp1_blue-widget. In the example above, the user would have converted on landing page 1 with the keyword phrase blue widget. Commission Junction only gives you one field to play with. That’s why I separated the landing page and keyword with an underscore. This system works fine if you’re not doing too many conversions. However, it will take a bit of Excel crunching if you’re fortunate enough to have many conversions.

Enter, HLOLA. This company is taking the tracking method I’ve explained to the next level. They’re not doing any landing page testing like my script did, but in terms of keyword conversion tracking for affiliates, the system is way more advanced. Currently HLOLA can track conversions from Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, and MSN AdCenter that are captured in Commission Junction, Clickbank, Share A Sale, Link Share, Azoogle Ads, CPA Empire and NCS Reporting. The secret to HLOLA is that you need to upload your reports into their system which then parses the info to offer rich analytics information and build pretty graphs.

I have not tried HLOLA myself, but I do appreciate their approach to keyword tracking for affiliates and I’m glad it’s finally being offered.

Update: HLOLA is providing is offering a discount on the first month of service for readers of JamieShiller.com. For details visit see PPC Conversion Tracking For Affiliates - HLOLA Exclusive Promo.