Adminder User Guide


Adminder was designed to be extremely "user-friendly," yet at the same time it's powerful enough to manage all your ads and promotions, and flexible enough to work with any web site. You'll probably want to read through this entire User Guide at least once to take full advantage of it.

This User Guide provides an overview of the entire system, detailing everything that you need to know in order to take full advantage of the Adminder V3.3 webster advertising manager.

If you have additional questions after reading this page, comments, or suggestions on how we can make Adminder even more useful, do not hesitate to contact us. We want to continue developing Adminder and new features will be based almost exclusively on input from users like yourself.

Quick Tip: Placing your mouse over any link within the Adminder Control Panel will always display helpful information in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window.

Very Important! Please be sure to click Log Out at the top of any page to log out of your account when you're finished. This will provide an extra layer of protection against unauthorized access to your account. No users' account has ever been compromised, and we'd like to keep it that way.



  Admin Control Panel

Main Screen   This is the main Ad Code display screen
New Ad Code   Create a new Ad Code for use in your ads
  New! AdTracking Video Tutorial- How to Create an Ad Code
Groups Page  Ad Code Group maintenance - add, delete, etc.
Reports Page   Clicks, Actions and/or Sales by Date Range
 
Account Info   View or Modify your Account Settings
Alerts Page   Ad Code date and Invalid Request alerts
Export Data   Export your Adminder data as a CSV file
 
Website Integration

Tracking Visitors How to integrate Adminder into your ads
Link Tip Details on how to use your own URLs in ads
Tracking Actions How to track Actions generated by your ads
Tracking Sales How to track Sales generated by your ads
Universal Tracking How to track Actions and Sales for your affiliates
 
Miscellaneous

FAQs Frequently Asked Questions (and answers!)


Control Panel - Main Screen

This is the screen you'll see when you first log in to your Adminder Control Panel. Once you have set up a few Ad Codes in the system, this main screen provides an "at-a-glance" look at all of your ads - including all of the important stats for each. Select the Ad Group, Ad Status and Time Period settings for the data you're interested in, and Adminder will display the following for each ad:

  • Status - Indicates whether an ad is scheduled, running, or expired.
  • Ad Code - This is the unique Ad Code you have setup to track an ad.
  • Clicks (C) - Number of unique clicks (responses) the ad has generated.
  • Cost per Click (CPC) - Average amount that you have paid for 1 click.
  • Actions (A)- Number of actions that the ad has generated.
  • Cost per Action (CPA) - Average amount that you have paid for 1 action.
  • Clicks to Actions (CTA) - Percentage of Clicks resulting in an Action.
  • Sales (S) - Number of sales that the ad has generated.
  • Cost per Sale (CPS) - Average amount that you have paid for 1 sale.
  • Clicks to Sales (CTS) - Percentage of Clicks resulting in a Sale.
  • Return on Investment (ROI) - The return on your investment for the ad.
  • Reset-Delete - You can easily Reset or Delete any ad code (see below).

The first thing to notice is that you can sort the table by clicking on any of the column headings. (And once you have lots of Ad Codes in use you will really appreciate how useful this is!)

Clicking on individual Ad Codes, Clicks, Actions, or Sales figures within the table will lead you to the corresponding page where you can make changes and get more detailed information as follows:

  • Details - Clicking on an individual Ad Code will bring up a Details page, where you can view and/or edit any of the information you entered when you originally set up the Ad Code.
  • Clicks - This page lists all of the clicks (responses) that have been logged under the corresponding Ad Code, along with date and time, and the user's IP Address and referring URL if available. The time and date of the last click is listed prominently at the top of the page - displayed in green if the last click was within the past 24 hours and red if it was more than 24 hours ago.
  • Actions - This page lists all of the actions that have been logged under the corresponding Ad Code, along with the date and time, the user's IP Address, and an optional action description if you provided it (see Tracking Actions.)
  • Sales - This page lists all of the sales that have been logged under the corresponding Ad Code, along with the date and time, and the sale amount and optional Order ID if you provided it (see Tracking Sales.). You can easily edit, add or delete sales manually in the event that you receive a refund request, process an offline order, etc.

Here and throughout the rest of the Control Panel, the status of each ad is indicated as follows:

A Green dot indicates an ad is running now,
a Red dot indicates an ad has already expired,
and Yellow indicates a scheduled ad that isn't running yet.

At the bottom of the screen you'll see the total Clicks, Actions, and Sales for all Ad Codes currently displayed, and in the lower right-hand corner you can Reset or Delete one or more Ad Codes.

Simply check the box next to the Ad Code(s) you want to Reset or Delete and click the Reset or Delete button. The system will ask you to confirm that you really want to Reset or Delete the Ad Code(s), but be very careful with this as it is permanent and unable to be reversed.

Note: If you want to Reset or Delete ALL of the Ad Codes that are currently displayed on the screen, just click the lower most check box (to the right of the Delete button) - all of the individual check boxes next to each Ad Code will be automatically checked.


Control Panel - New Ad Code

Whenever you need to track a new advertisement -- whether it's a banner, a classified or e-zine ad, a radio or TV commercial, or just a plain text link -- you will want to create a new and unique Ad Code for it. This will allow Adminder to track the responses, actions, and sales generated, and calculate other valuable statistics for you based on these three basic pieces of data.

This is the Required Information you must enter to setup a new Ad Code:

  • Ad Code - Ad Codes are currently limited to 10 letters and/or numbers, and we suggest that you use short but meaningful Ad Codes. For your advertisement in the December 7th issue of the XYZ E-Zine, an Ad Code of "xyz1207" (1207 indicating the date) or something similar would probably be appropriate.
  • Purpose - Adminder automatically tracks clicks (responses) for each of your ads, but you need to tell it whether you also want to track actions, sales, or both in addition to clicks. For more information, see Tracking Actions and Tracking Sales.
  • Redirect To - When someone responds to one of your ads that Adminder is tracking, Adminder will log and record the response and then automatically send them to the URL of your choice. This is the URL of the web page that you want visitors redirected to.
  • Verify URL - If this box is checked, Adminder will check to make sure that the Redirect To URL you entered above is working properly when you setup the new ad code.
  • Description - A brief description of your new ad that is used within the Control Panel. Just enter something short such as "banner on xyz site", etc.
  • Ad Cost - This is the amount that you have paid for the ad. This is one of the most important pieces of information, so make sure this is correct. You must enter the price in the format shown, and you should enter 0.00 if the ad didn't cost you anything.

    If you are setting up a Pay-Per-Click ad, you should enter the amount that you are paying per click (0.50 for fifty cents per click, etc.) and also check the "PPC" box. This will allow Adminder to calculate a running ad cost - your cost per click multiplied by the number of clicks received - and generate accurate ROI figures.

    If you are setting up an ad that costs you a set monthly fee, you should enter the monthly amount and also check the "Monthly" box. This will allow Adminder to calculate a running ad cost and generate relatively accurate ROI figures as each month passes.

    Note: With a Monthly ad Adminder will simply increase your ad cost by the monthly amount every 30 days, starting with the day you create the Ad Code. Depending on which day of the month you are actually charged, your ROI figures will be a little off for the first few months. For best results, create the Ad Code on the day you are charged a monthly fee.

  • Start Date - This is the date that your new ad is scheduled to start running. It's not imperative that you get this right, but if Adminder knows when your new ad is scheduled to begin it can remind you in advance. The Start Date is often the day you are entering the new ad code, so the default is always the current date.
  • End Date - This is the date that your ad is scheduled to stop running. If Adminder knows when an ad is going to stop running it can remind you of this in advance, giving you time to evaluate the results and renew the ad before it expires if you want. If an ad is to run indefinitely or you have no idea how long it will run, just use the default End Date.

This is the Optional Information you can enter if you want:

  • Contact - Person to contact regarding your ad.
  • Site URL - The website you bought the ad from.
  • Email - Email address to contact regarding your ad.
  • Phone - Phone number to call regarding your ad.
  • Ad/Notes - Here you may enter your actual ad text or other notes.

It's a good idea to get in the habit of recording all of the Optional Information when you setup new ad codes. That way you will always have all of the important information regarding each ad handy. It makes things a lot easier when you need to contact someone regarding one of your ads.


Control Panel - Group Maintenance

If you plan on using Adminder to track lots of links, ads, etc. you may find it useful to split up all of your various Ad Codes into 2 or more "groups" - one group for each site you're promoting, one group for each type of ad, etc. Use this page to create new groups or delete existing groups.

There is no limit to the number of Ad Code Groups you can create, and the possibilities for using Groups are practically endless. Setup your Groups however you think is best for you. To change the Group setting of an existing Ad Code, just click the Ad Code on the Main screen.

Once you've split up your Ad Codes into Groups you can then customize the display of the Main screen. You can always view all of your Ad Codes at once, but the primary purpose of using Groups is to split up your Ad Codes for easy viewing and more efficient maintenance.

"default" Group: The "default" group always contains Ad Codes that haven't been assigned to a custom group you've created. If you delete a custom Group that has Ad Codes assigned to it, the applicable Ad Codes will simply revert to the "default" group (which can't be deleted).

"All" Group: This always contains, and will always display, ALL of your Ad Codes.


Control Panel - Ad Code Reports

Want to know how many Clicks, Actions, and/or Sales a particular Ad Code generated during a specific period of time? No problem! Just set your report preferences and Adminder will give you a real-time report that breaks down the information you're interested in for any range of dates.


Control Panel - Account Info

At the very bottom of every page of the Adminder Control Panel you will see a link to your Account Info page where you can view or modify your account settings. For the most part this should be pretty self-explanatory, aside from the Default URL which is explained below.

If you or someone else publishes an incorrect tracking URL (i.e. a tracking URL without a valid Ad Code) Adminder won't know where to redirect the user should they click on the link. If you do not enter a valid Default URL, they will simply be redirected to Adminder.com.

However, once you enter a valid Default URL Adminder will redirect users to it if they click on a tracking link without a valid Ad Code. This means you can also delete old Ad Codes from your Control Panel when you're through with them, and if someone happens to click on an old tracking URL they will still be directed to your site via your Default URL.


Control Panel - Account Alerts

The Alerts page details real-time Ad Code Date and Invalid Ad Code Request Alerts, which will help you to better manage your ad campaigns effectively and efficiently ... thus increasing your ROI.

Date Alerts bring to your attention ads that are scheduled to start or expire within the next 7 days. When Adminder reminds you that an ad is getting ready to expire, this is your cue to evaluate the profitability of the ad and decide if you want to renew it or not -- this way you can renew the ad before it expires and optimize the profitability of your winning campaigns.

Invalid Ad Code Request Alerts detail visitors who requested Ad Code URLs that don't exist in the system. This is not good, because visitors who request invalid Ad Code URLs are not able to be redirected properly. Oftentimes this is the result of incorrect links to your site, and by following referring URLs that show up here you can usually discover the source of the problem and correct it.


Control Panel - Export Data

Adminder can generate downloadable Comma Separated Value (CSV) files that you can import into your favorite spreadsheet or word processing program for further analysis or archival purposes.

Adminder offers you two types of data to download:  Summary and Detailed

Summary data simply provides you with a the total sum, averages or count of the statistics you choose, such as Number of Clicks, Cost Per Click and ROI Percentage, for each access code.

Detailed data provides you with the data logged for each record for each click, action and/or sale.  For example, if you exported all the Action records for a particular access code, you would see the IP Address, Timestamp and the Description for each Action recorded.

Regardless of which option you choose, simply click the Export link found at the bottom of your control panel to get started, indicate whether you want to export summary or detailed data, select the appropriate options, then click "Build CSV File."  A link will then appear allowing you to save the CSV file to your computer.


Website Integration - Tracking Visitors

Once you have setup your Ad Codes in the Control Panel, you are ready to begin promoting your site(s) using the "Gateway" URLs that are immediately available to you. Each Ad Code that you setup will be assigned it's own unique Gateway URL like the example below:

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?User&AdCode

Note: You must replace User with your Username, and AdCode with the Ad Code in question.

Thus, if your Adminder Username is "xyzco" and you have setup an Ad Code named "ad1", you would direct people to http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?xyzco&ad1 in your ad. If you would prefer to use your own domain in your tracking URLs, see the next section for more details.

When a person responds to one of your ads by clicking on one of your Gateway URLs, Adminder will log their visit and transparently redirect them to the Redirect URL you have assigned to that particular Ad Code. This all happens instantly and behind-the-scenes - your visitors will have absolutely no idea that you are using Adminder to track their visit and future activity.

Important! Be sure to use the correct URL as listed above, and insert your own unique Username and Ad Codes. If you don't do this right, nothing else will work properly!

There is also one optional value you can add to your Gateway URL that is used in conjunction with the Universal Tracking feature.  If you will be using the Universal Tracking Feature, then you will need to obtain the vendor's Universal Tracking Name from the vendor who has implemented the 1x1 tracking pixel on their "thank you" page.  Simply add this name to the end of your tracking URL.

For example, if your vendor tells you the Universal Tracking Name is acmesales, then simply add &acmesales to the end of each Gateway URL for which you wish to track actions or sales at the vendor's site, like this:

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?User&AdCode&UniversalTrackingName

Using the example above, your Gateway URL would be:

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?xyzco&ad1&acmesales

This will allow you to track any actions or sales made at the vendor's site who has placed the 1x1 tracking pixel on their "thank you" or confirmation page using the Universal Tracking Name acmesales.


Website Integration - Link Tip

If you will be sending out promotional emails and/or if you would rather use your own URLs in your ads, as opposed to the "generic" Adminder Gateway URLs, there is a very simple solution. For example, let's assume that you have setup 10 Ad Codes ("ad1", "ad2", "ad3", etc.) and want to use your own URLs in your ads. Here's how to do it:

  • Create a new directory on your website and call it "web", etc.
  • Within the "web" directory, create a new directory for each Ad Code.
  • Within each of these directories, place an index.html that contains only this HTML code:
<html><head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; url=http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?Username&AdCode">
</head></html>

Note: You can copy this HTML, just be sure to insert your own Username and Ad Codes!

So now, instead of using URLs like this in your ads ...

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?User&ad1
http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?User&ad2
http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?User&ad3
etc.

You can use your own URLs such as ...

http://www.yoursite.com/web/ad1
http://www.yoursite.com/web/ad2
http://www.yoursite.com/web/ad3
etc.

The HTML code above that you will place in each index.html file is a simple "meta refresh" which instantly redirects any visitors to the URL you specify in the meta refresh tag. Once you have created one of these index.html files it only takes a few seconds to make a copy of it, change the URL to correspond to a different Ad Code, and upload it to your site. Voila!

Tracking dozens or hundreds of links? The above solution works great, especially if you do not want your tracking URLs to contain "special" characters such as "?" or "&". Some search engines won't accept URLs containing these characters, or you may not like the way it looks.

But what if you have dozens or hundreds of tracking links and want to use your domain in all of them? Going through the above steps for each one would be quite a chore, but luckily you have another option. It accomplishes the same thing, and you only have to set it up once.

Right-click the link below to save our special script to your computer (If you're using IE select the option that says "Save Target As..." or "Save Link As..." in Netscape, etc.). Then open it in any text editor (Wordpad, Textpad, etc.) for instructions on how to use it at your site.

If you do not have the ability to modify your web site, consider using a third party redirect service like TinyURL.


Website Integration - Tracking Actions

Aside from tracking the responses to your ads, Adminder can also track "actions" such as the filling out of a survey, ezine subscriptions, software downloads, etc. once the visitor has reached your website. The possibilities for tracking "actions" are limited only to your imagination.

As long as you have the ability to add a simple line of HTML code to the "confirmation" page that appears on a user's screen after such an action has been completed, you can integrate Adminder into the process and your visitors will never know the difference.

Note:  If you do not have access to the "confirmation" page, see if the person who does control that page will implement the Universal Tracking Feature solution for you and any other people who are sending traffic to the confirmation page owner's web site.  This solution allows the owner to place one piece of code on their "confirmation" page which then allows any Adminder customers who referred a sale to the owner's site to track their sales.

All you need to do is add the following HTML code to your action confirmation pages:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/a.cgi?user=User" />

Note: In these examples, you must replace User with YOUR Username.

Once you add this line of HTML code to your confirmation page(s), Adminder will begin tracking the actions completed by visitors who reached your site via one of your Adminder tracking URLs. There is no need to modify anything else on your end - if a visitor reached your site in some other way this will not affect anything at all. There is no need to setup multiple confirmation pages, etc.

Technical Note: The effect of this HTML code on your page is that Adminder will output a tiny invisible image wherever you insert the HTML code. This will not affect the look of your confirmation page, and your visitors won't know a thing. We suggest that you add this line of HTML code near the top of your page, right after the opening <body> tag. This will ensure that it loads quickly.

If you need to track different types of actions, you can also supply an optional description. For example, say you offer a free software download and a free ezine subscription at your site. On the download confirmation page you would add this HTML code:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/a.cgi?user=User&desc=download" />

Then, on the ezine subscription confirmation page you could add this HTML:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/a.cgi?user=User&desc=subscribe" />

This way Adminder will be able to track different types of actions for you, and your Control Panel will report how many of each type of action was generated by each of your ads.

Important: If included, the optional Description must be 50 characters or less.  It may include just about any characters, except  | \ " and TAB.


Website Integration - Tracking Sales

Aside from tracking the responses to your ads, and other various actions, Adminder can also track the purchases that your visitors make once they reach your website.

As long as you have the ability to add a line of HTML code to the "confirmation" page that appears on a user's screen after a sale has been completed, you can integrate Adminder into the process and your visitors will never know the difference.

Note:  If you do not have access to the "confirmation" page, see if the person who does control that page will implement the Universal Tracking Feature solution for you and any other people who are sending traffic to the confirmation page owner's web site.  This solution allows the owner to place one piece of code on their "confirmation" page which then allows any Adminder customers who referred a sale to the owner's site to track their sales.

All you need to do is add the following HTML code to your sales confirmation pages:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User" />

Note: In these examples, you must replace User with YOUR Username.

Once you add this line of HTML code to your confirmation page(s), Adminder will begin tracking the purchases made by visitors who reached your site via one of your Adminder tracking URLs. There is no need to modify anything else on your end - if a visitor reached your site in some other way this will not affect anything at all. There is no need to setup multiple confirmation pages, etc.

Technical Note: The effect of this HTML code on your page is that Adminder will output a tiny invisible image wherever you insert the HTML code. This will not affect the look of your confirmation page, and your visitors won't know a thing. We suggest that you add this line of HTML code near the top of your page, right after the opening <body> tag. This will ensure that it loads quickly.

But wait, it gets even better. There are also two optional variables that you can supply to Adminder via the above HTML code - the Sale Amount and/or Order ID. You simply include either or both of these optional pieces of data in the HTML code as shown below. First the Sale Amount:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User&amount=9.95" />

This tells Adminder that your visitor just bought something from you for $9.95, and this too will be logged for use in various calculations that will help you to manage your ad campaigns. If your order processing system assigns a unique Order ID to each order you can also include that like this:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User&id=123" />

Or supply both pieces of optional information like this:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User&amount=9.95&id=123" />

If you sell multiple products for different prices you might be wondering how you can track them all since you can't hard-code the price into the HTML code as shown above. Likewise with the Order ID ... if each order has a unique order ID how can you add it into the HTML code?

The answer is that you don't -- you need to have your order processing system do this. Each order processing system is different, but any system worth its salt will store the sale Amount and/or Order ID in a variable that you should be able to use in the HTML code like this:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User&amount=$amount" />

or ...

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=User&id=$order_id" />

... or combine them both if you want. We can't tell you exactly what variable names to use because every system is different, so you will need to consult the documentation that came with your system or contact the vendor that you purchased it from. They will know the answer.

If you do not have access to these variables or this information in some way you will not be able to track multiple products with different prices, and you should really consider upgrading your order processing system. Chances are you are missing out on lots of other useful features too.

Important: If included, the Sale Amount must be provided in the format shown above - with NO dollar sign ($) and one or two decimal places. If you also want to include an Order ID, it must be 50 characters or less, and can include just about any character except  | \ " and TAB.

Technical Note: With any of the sample code above, you can change "http" to "https" in order to interface with Adminder's sale tracking module in a secure fashion. You will only want to do this if your sales confirmation pages are https secure, in order to prevent a browser warning.


Web Site Integration - Universal Tracking

If you are a vendor and have a number of affiliates who want to add a 1x1 confirmation pixel to your "thank you" page, you would have to place a 1x1 pixel for each and every affiliate, regardless of which tracking system they use.  For example, if you have 10 affiliates who all use Adminder to track their sales at your site, you'd have to implement 10 1x1 pixels like this:

<IMG SRC="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=affiliate1" />
<IMG SRC="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=affiliate2" />
...
<IMG SRC="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?user=affiliate10" />

Now, you can avoid this by using the Adminder Universal Tracking Feature using a unique Universal Tracking Name, like this:

<IMG SRC="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?ut=acmesales" />

where acmesales is simply a unique name of your choosing.  This code would track all sales for your affiliates who use Adminder to track their campaigns.

Likewise, you could do the same for tracking actions:

<IMG SRC="http://www.adminder.com/a.cgi?ut=acmesales" />

IMPORTANT:  Your group name must be unique from all other Adminder users.  Therefore, you must register your Universal Tracking Name with Adminder to insure there are no duplicates.
 
Click here to create and register your Universal Tracking Name.

Next, simply tell your affiliates who are using Adminder to track their actions or sales at your site to simply add the name of your registered Universal Tracking Name to the end of their Gateway or Click URL.  For example, an affiliate link would go from:

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?affiliate1&adcode1

to

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?affiliate1&adcode1&acmesales

Now, anytime an action or sale is made at your site, Adminder will record the action or sale in the affiliate's Adminder ad tracking account whose Gateway or Click URL contained the acmesales name.  If more than one affiliate has referred the current action or sale, the most recent affiliate will receive the credit.

You may also append any other optional variables to the 1x1 tracking pixel as you normally would, except for a specific Adminder account username.  For example, here is all the data you could capture for a sale using the Universal Tracking Feature:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/s.cgi?ut=acmesales&amount=9.95&id=123" />

And here is all the data you could capture for actions:

<img src="http://www.adminder.com/a.cgi?ut=acmesales&desc=download" />

In other words, you can't specify a specific Adminder user account name AND a Universal Tracking Feature name when tracking actions and/or sales.  You must choose one or the other.

If you are the vendor and you have your own Adminder account to track your sales, you can still record actions and sales for generated through your ad campaigns.  To do this, simply pretend you are an affiliate and use your Universal Tracking Feature name in your Gateway or Click URLs.  For example, if your Adminder account name is acmeinc, and your Universal Tracking Name is acmesales, then use this in your click URLs:

http://www.adminder.com/c.cgi?acmeinc&adcode1&acmesales