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 un-encoded (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 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 have payment options which will be specified by the billing cascade. Once the join page is completely processed, the surfer is converted to a member.
The first part of the NATS Walk through will cover the Affiliates, the Skins and Templates Admin, the Billers Admin, the Programs Admin, the Sites Admin, the Payments, and Admin Overview areas.
Affiliates Area
In order to successfully track surfers to affiliates, you need add affiliates. Once an affiliate has signed-up, he can logon to his area of your NATS install. By default, the affiliate area is divided into five (5) sections: Home, Stats, Tools, My Account, and Support. When an affiliate first logs on, his Home page will be displayed.
Home Page
On the Home page, the affiliate will be able to access general information. Working from top to bottom, then left to right, the affiliate will first be greeted with a welcome message. Below the welcome message and if there are any new messages, a link to "new messages" will be displayed, which navigates the affiliate to the messages tab in the My Account section. Below the "New Messages" link, the affiliate can view all unread "Notifications". Below the Notifications bar, the affiliate has access to "Quick Links". These are the most commonly used links to other tabs in other sections of the Affiliate area. By default, the affiliate can "Quick Link" to Detailed Stats, Link Codes, Create Campaign, Hosted Galleries, My Payments, and Referrals. Next to the "Quick Links" area, the affiliate can view a graph displaying the current period's stats. (Joins are surfers that converted to members. Rebills are members that have re-billed. Join Submits are surfers that completed the Join process, but did not convert to members. Join Hits are surfers that have accessed the Join page. And, Raw Hits are surfers that have accessed a Site's Tour page.) Next to the graph, the affiliate can see a countdown clock to the end of the current period and below that he can view the recently added Ad Tools that can be used to drive traffic to your Site(s). The affiliate has the ability to filter the Ad Tools by type and time period added. Below the "Quick Links", graph, and recently added Ad Tools, the affiliate can view a summary of the current days stats. These stats display much of the same information as the graph, but in a numeric representation rather than graphical. It also displays the currency amount of income and refunds. Next to that information, the affiliate can view hourly join stats. Below the daily stats snapshot, the affiliate can view a daily breakdown of the current period. Next to the daily breakdown of the current period, the affiliate can view some of his account details, the Account Snapshot. And, below the Account Snapshot, the affiliate can view the most recent "Notifications".
Stats
On the Stats page, the affiliate will have complete access to his statistics. Again working from top to bottom and left to right, the welcome message from the Home page is replaced with the Daily Snapshot of earnings. Below the Daily Snapshot, the link to "New Messages" is displayed. Below that link, the "Notifications" bar is displayed. Below the "Notifications" bar, a detailed graph of period stats is displayed and below that a numeric detail of the graphical daily stats is displayed. Next to the detailed graph, the user can access stats on any day by choosing the day from the calendar. Below the calendar, the affiliate can view summary of today's stats. And, below the Today's Summary, stat summaries are broken-down by Demographics, Sites, Programs, Campaigns, and Ad Tools. By clicking the headings of these sections, the affiliate can view detailed stats. On all Stats pages, the affiliate can filter the results displayed by time period, Sites, Programs, and Campaigns. Additionally, the affiliate can change the view, essentially the same action as clicking the headings on the Summary stats from the main Stats page. However, the summary headings are only a subset of the available views. Some of the views allow the affiliate to compare results. For example; on the Sites view, the affiliate can compare the results of multiple sites. Currently, the affiliate can only compare up to four (4) items at a time.
Tools
On the Tools page, the affiliate will have complete access to Ad Tools that you make available to him.
My Account
On the My Account page, the affiliate will have complete access to his account information.
Support
On the Support page, the affiliate will be able to communicate with you about his account.
