Ben NATS WalkThrough I
Introduction
NATS - Next generation Affiliate Tracking Software
NATS is used to track surfers, internet users, as they navigate through your site. The tracking is done via a NATS linkcode which is appended to the link for your tour's landing page. A NATS linkcode identifies, in this order, the affiliate, the program, the site, the tour, the campaign, the adtool, and two (2) optional values identified as subid1 and subid2. There are three (3) types of NATS linkcodes, all of which contain the same information; encoded (common), un-encoded (rare) and shortname (rare).
Most implementations of NATS linkcodes are encoded. The encoded linkcode uses the numeric ID for all values and generates a seemingly random assortment of characters to represent that information. The un-encoded linkcode comma seperates the required information using the affiliates username, instead of the affiliate ID, and the numeric IDs of the rest of the values. The un-encoded (shortname) linkcode comma seperates the required information using the affiliate username, program shortname, site shortname, tour shortname, and the numeric ID of the rest of the values.
A surfer clicks a link via an adtool with a specified NATS linkcode which directs the surfer through a tracking script. This script writes a cookie on the surfer's browser that identifies the affiliate that should be credited with any future action from said surfer. Once completed, the specified tour's landing page, the pre-join page, will be displayed to the surfer. The tour landing page will have a join button that directs the surfer to your tour's join page. On the join page, the surfer will, in most implementations, have payment options which will be specified by the billing cascade. Once the join page is successfully processed, the surfer is converted to a member.
The first part of the NATS Walk through will cover the following NATS areas:
