The Preneur A Place for Affiliate Marketers and Entrepreneurs

What is Tracking202?
Tracking202.com is a free online service for affiliate marketers that allows you to track your Pay-Per-Click campaigns. Tracking202 is a real-time Pay-Per-Click affiliate marketing tracking tool that you can use to optimize your Pay-Per-Click campaigns. You can use the information Tracking202 provides you with to see which of your keywords are converting into sales or leads, which text ads (ad copies) or landing pages convert the best and are making you money, and which referrers are performing the best.

There are usually common questions that arise from new users of the Tracking202 program. A more popular question would be whether or not Tracking202 staff members can see your keywords. Tracking202 provides an answer in their FAQ which states:

Yes, we potentially could because in order for T202 to work, we have to store your visitors’ data. However, we have an extremely strict keyword policy; we do not allow anyone in our company to look at people’s data at their leisure. We believe if you entrust us with your data, it is our job to keep it safe.

Feel free to check out the FAQ for other answers you may be seeking. Tracking202 is currently in the public beta stage as of February 2, 2008.

My Experience with Tracking202
I was fortunate enough to watch Tracking202 develop from literally nothing into a great program and tool for affiliate marketers within the last few months. Wes Mahler is the creator, affiliate marketer, and entrepreneur that introduced me to affiliate marketing. He is the mastermind behind this program and he created it not for the sole benefit for himself but to help other affiliate marketers like ourselves.

I will put it on my life that this tracking program is definitely worth a look. Don’t let the free title stray you away from trying out this high quality service. A lot of other tracking programs charge monthly fees up into the hundred dollar range and many of them do not have the features Tracking202 offers. Wes has allowed the users of Tracking202 make suggestions (you still can if you sign up), many of which have been implemented into Tracking202 already.

I have been using Tracking202 for just a little over 5 months now to track my campaigns and have not had a single problem. The only problems I have had are mistakes made by myself and Wes and Steven were always there to help me out every time. I think that it is great to be able to see the clicks generated from my campaigns in real-time. It only takes a few seconds to pull my subIDs from different affiliate networks and update my Tracking202 account.

Tracking202 Special Features

• Real Time Spy View of Your Visitors
• Ability to Grab Your EPC for Individual Keywords
• Ability to Grab Your EPC for Individual Text Ads (Ad Copies)
• Ability to Grab Your EPC for Individual Pay-Per-Click Accounts
• Semi-Automated Cost Tracking
• Support for Cloaking Keywords from Advertisers
• Support for Direct Linking
• Support for Landing Pages
• Much More…

Tracking202 Screenshots

Getting Started with Tracking202
It may be a little confusing for first time users, especially if you have not tracked campaigns before (like myself a few months ago). If you are one of those people Tracking202 has a videos section that shows you how to set up a campaign and implement Tracking202’s tracking URLs from start to finish. You can also feel free to ask questions in the comments below, contact me through the contact form, or contact Tracking202 staff members who are on live support.

Tracking202 Official Website: www.Tracking202.com

Flickr Photo By: mlindqvist

Which Network to Choose
There are many affiliate networks for marketers to choose from. One might ask, which network should I choose? To be honest, there is no definite answer. However, try to stick to choosing from networks that have created a good reputation and image for themselves (usually the more popular networks not always though). You can read and find a lot of information about affiliate networks provided on blogs and websites. A popular website I like to use to find out more information about the different networks is called Publisher Spot. You can find information and reviews for just about every affiliate network out there. They are well written articles and provide everything you need to know about each network.

Campaigns and Payouts
Each affiliate network varies on the payout amount for their campaigns, whether it be a lead or sale. Some networks have much lower payouts than their competitors, however that can be easily fixed by contacting your affiliate manager and asking for a raise to whichever campaign you are promoting. You should ask your affiliate manager for a raise in the payout for your campaign before you promote it as well as after you generate a few leads or sales for that campaign. Do not be afraid to ask for a raise in the payout. Affiliate managers will usually match the higher payout rate that another network is offering for the same exact campaign. Most of the time it will not even be a problem as most affiliate networks are competing with each other to keep affiliates at their network as well as keep them happy.

My Personal Experience
I was introduced to CPAEmpire by a fellow affiliate marketer and decided to begin my affiliate marketing career with them. I have since then ventured out and promote campaigns through MaxBounty, NeverBlueAds, and COPEAC. You can find more information about them by checking out my “Networks” link in the header. The reviews are short, but I will edit them with more detail in the future. CPAEmpire’s payouts are slightly less than other networks, but as I mentioned before asking for a raise should not be a problem. On the brighter side MaxBounty tends to have higher payouts than other networks.

Obviously, affiliate marketers and entrepreneurs alike will have different opinions about each network. There are pros and cons for every network and with some the pros outweigh the cons and vise versa. The best way to figure out which network you will like the most is by applying to be an affiliate, to whichever networks you are interested in, and testing them out for yourself.

Flickr Photo By: lumowerkx