Affiliate Host and Post
Host and Post is a feature of NATS for Networks that allows affiliates to host their own landing pages or lead generation forms. Using this system allows affiliates to collect information about their leads or customers prior to completing the conversion at the network.
Activating Host and Post
Before this feature can be used, your affiliate account needs to be authorized by the network. The network owner will need the server ip(s) that you will be posting the conversion from. Please read the Admin Host and Post article to learn more about setting this up.
Generating a Click Hash
The Host and Post system in NATS for Networks is designed to work with your affiliate tracking link. The first step is to generate a linkcode, for the offer you wish to promote, through the affiliate interface.
Next you attach a url variable to the linkcode to allow NATS for Networks to track without performing a redirect.
http://demo.natsfornetworks.com/track/natsfornetworksdemo.9.4.6.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0?hostnpost=1
- Posting to track with hostnpost=1 will return a JSON encoded object with the following details:
- requested_details - the offerid/landing page combination requested
- current_details - the offerid/landing page combination returned from track. (this may differ from the requested_details because of a redirect in the network setup)
- message - used to relay any information about the hostnpost attempt
- click_hash - the unique identifier that needs to be posted to record the completed conversion at the network. If this is not sent in the reply, there was a problem and the conversion cannot be completed.
- The following messages indicate a denial from the network
- Host and Post not enabled for this affiliate account
- Expire redirect to <url>
- Offer configured to redirect
- Offer redirect due to cap restrictions
- Landing page url not found
- IP is blacklisted by the network
- IP is from a proxy and is blacklisted
- IP is from a proxy
- IP is blacklisted for country
- IP is already converted within allowed timeframe
- Offer is not available
- Offer is in an infinite redirect
- Affiliate is not allowed for landing page
- Message on an accepted post
- Host and post available
Completing the Conversion
Once you have a click_hash you are ready to complete the conversion. To do so send a post to the network with the click_hash you received. For example:
http://demo.natsfornetworks.com/signup/process_pixel.php?click_hash=<click_hash returned from track>
- The following variables can also be sent with the conversion to be recorded with the lead/customer record:
- username
- password
- ip
- firstname
- lastname
- address1
- address2
- zip
- city
- state
- country
- shipping_firstname
- shipping_lastname
- shipping_address1
- shipping_address2
- shipping_zip
- shipping_city
- shipping_state
- shipping_country
- phone
When posting to process_pixel there are a few possible responses
- In the event of a problem you will receive one of the following:
- *error* - Bad Host and Post IP (in the event that your posting ip is set not to allowed for the offer)
- *error* - Host and Post not allowed for affiliate (in the event that your affiliate account has not been approved for host and post)
- WARNING Transaction ID Previously Converted
- *error* - Transaction Exists
- *error* - Offer Expired
- *error* - Conversion cap reached
- *error* - No Transaction found to convert
- *error* - Insert Transaction Failed
- If the post is successful the response will be:
- *success*
