I just purchased xtreme conversion and so far I'm not impressed (to say the least) it appears very buggy (like a prototype) and their support forum is close to dead. Anyone on DP using that software to track real sales? I might ask for a refund which is really too bad since I need a tool like it. Also if you know of a working tool or have real feedback (no just trying to make an aff. sale) let me know. Before buying this software I looked into keywordxray (looks basic but good) and affiliate radar (a little expensive for such a new product...). Also if we get 10 to 20 affiliates together and we each pitch-in $100-$200 we can probably get a kick ass tool using the cheap service of some foreign (but competent) php developer. In turn we could sale this tool (it's a must for any serious affiliate) and we know this tool would work in the real world. Cheers, Chris
I didn't try Xtreme Conversions, but if you don't like Xtreme Conversions, then try Keyword Radar. They're pretty much have same functions.. but different in their own way. Implementing it is pretty much like xtreme conversions. Add some code on the page that needs to be tracked. Replace the place where your sub/tracking id should be with "keywordradartrackingid". There's some minor issues with the traffic report (such as googlebots) but Brian said he'll be updating all of the stuffs soon. If you want to see a video of the sales report (it's really cool!).. go to auction-review . org/keywordradar P.S. Yeah, sorry for my first post. Was just doing some research and stumbled onto this post.
I also have Keyword Radar and highly recommend it. Cheaper than XtremeConversions yet can get you even more data.
Appreciate the feedback... Your link takes forever to load...but thanks for the images (also nice that it looks like it tracks ips). Is KeywordRadar PHP or Javascript ? I frankly would prefer hosting my own solution since the data is so sensitive (keywords + conversions). Since how long have you guys used this product and do or did you have concerns about some leakage (ie some of your campaigns tanked after you signup) ? Thanks, Chris
Honestly, I really don't have any fears about leakage. Brian has addressed this concern even on the FAQ. http://www.keywordradar.com/faq.html Here are some other screenshots of the tracking reports. http://www.keywordradar.com/screenshots.html
I've compared all of the tracking tools. People are asking what is the best tool....well what's your #1 goal? Maximize Profits Constraints? Time How? If you want to make a profit with PPC, you simply have to know which keywords are converting, and which ones are just costing you money. That's it RIGHT? Well, there's more things that some tools have and some don't. I've gone with Affiliate Radar after looking into Keyword Radar (claims to compete perfectly -- it does 80% but the 20% Aff Radar does is critical), Xtreme (much better than Xray but there's better), and XRAY (outdated). Here's the thing about conversion tracking though... it's tedious! When you have to hand-code all of the links and try to get your tracking code on a merchant's site, it's not only difficult... sometimes it's impossible. There are plenty of so-called gurus who will try to tell you how to make money with PPC... but I'm always looking for people with results. Mark Roth is a guy who has come out of nowhere to earn more than $1.2 million in his first full year online. Not bad. For one, he made it easy to use because he's not a tech guy himself... they host it on their server, it's user friendly, the works. You can literally create your own PPC empire from within Affiliate Radar. It works with: - direct linking - landing pages - and even other traffic sources like autoresponders and forum links. It's so simple to set up... but don't let that fool you, because the information it delivers is worth gold. It tells you exactly what keywords are converting, so you can eliminate the losers and cut down on your PPC costs. Can you say higher profits? For anyone who's running large campaigns in Google AdWords, you can't miss this feature... Mark's Campaign Launcher lets you take your Google campaigns and export them with one click to Yahoo or MSN, with all of the formatting and conversion tracking taken care of automatically. This is a huge time-saver, and a great way to diversify your traffic. Can you use other tools? Yup. It's just that you pay for what you get...Keyword Radar -- the "next best thing" lacks the ability to search for offers (Offer Vault), seamlessly create MSN, Yahoo campaigns etc. You can also download the book here (you have to opt-in first): tinyurl.com/ - since I'm new - I can't post live links Best of luck...don't give up. I know how hard it is when you start but remember the 80/20 rule. Just prepare for the 20% of success by tracking.
That does sound and look like a "sales posting". Talk has always been cheap with the internet talk is even cheaper. That's the real problem with all these tools. I'm a techie so I actually prefer when the products lists "why and how" they will help you. Not just "teasing" statements about how they will increase your bottom line and help you become the "next internet millionaire". So far when you raise a technical question no one responds (see my previous posts) giving you the impression that the only people that talk about these tool are aff. marketers scouting the web to try to make another sale. Most probably they don't even use the tool themselves... Tracking is basic stuff and it does not make "magic money". It saves you time so you can do more things. You can do everything these tracking tools do, on your own (ie by hand with Excel). But a good tool will simply save you time and time can become money. Now you will probably notice that all the sales pages for these tools, advertise themselfs like some kind of miracle. Like they discovered some kind of secret... this makes it real hard to cut the "bull" (pardon my French) and figure out in minutes using technical specs to compare these products, which one is a better fit for the price. I've been slowly trying to use Xtreme v3. Bad timing since it appears Amir (the author) is on vacation since I sign-up. Most responses to my posts and tickets (and the other ones in the "nearly dead support forum") are slow and incomplete. My main concern is that some entries in the tool appear with no $bid_keyword $actual_keyword $referer_domain when it appears the Apache Log was able to capture that information. WTF? I also have been trying to get a "test case" to verify that the software is working correctly... none yet. So I've been trying to ask questions about how the $tracking_id is allocated (ie the rules of allocating a new id). Same thing....so far nothing... In fact I've been asked back "why do you ask?"... I tested the "import sales from CJ" function using a very "slow" product (ie got 1 sale on that 1 day) so I proceeded to import that tiny (ie 1 sale) CVS file from CJ into the tool. Bang "error the date format is incorrect". WTF ? Is anyone really using this tool for such a basic bug to still exist, months after the software was released....am I the only one using CJ to also use xtreme ?!??! scary .....can you say RED FLAG !?!?! If I still do not have answers in a few weeks but before 30 days, I will go for a refund and write my experience. For the next product I will ask upfront "is your tool a "real world" tool or some kind of half hacked, un reliable piece of s***" developed by a part-time, underpaid and incompetent programmer"... Frankly "Aff Radar" looks promising but for $97/m I expect an impeccable product and since it was just released (1 months ago?) I'm suspecting many power users or actually paying to be "beta testers". My first impressions about AffRadar: - Too expensive (need scaling price) - Dangerous because it makes you reliant on someone else (that has been in business since just a few months!!!) to do your business - Dangerous because the person has all you campaign data and conversions!!! - Dangerous because the company could go under any time and without notice... - Too new, will probably take at least 6 months to be stable and really usable ?!? - Does not track $real_keywords when that data is availabe to log (a sign of sloppy work ?). Cheers, Chris
Hi, let me help you out instead of pitching you this time and tell you why AR fits the bill for all of the issues you put aside. I provided a quick review and of course my affiliate link was there. I tried to provide an even balance and make it less technical for readers new to the game. Technically, it's superior and it depends what you want. Support-wise... I get everything answered in a few hours. keyword insertion...yes analytics integrated...yes campaign launching cross platform...yes Now, feature-wise - check out the comparison chart on their website: - Too expensive (need scaling price) * Time savings are worth it in my opinion and I'm not sure if you're familiar with the other features You're right though...this is the biggest drawback. The ability to launch campaigns seemlessly and the other time saving features are worth it for me. - Dangerous because it makes you reliant on someone else (that has been in business since just a few months!!!) to do your business and dangerous because the person has all you campaign data and conversions!!! *privacy policy is clear and the guy has deep pockets so he would be a good lawsuit target - Dangerous because the company could go under any time and without notice... *again, deep pockets - Too new, will probably take at least 6 months to be stable and really usable ?!? *It works fine now - they even have analytics and page gen fine - Does not track $real_keywords when that data is available to log (a sign of sloppy work ?). *aff radar tracks both ads and keywords, which are both important If you plan to try it out, PM me and I'll send you a list of tutorials, and some integrated tools to save you time. Anything else? Happy Tuesday.
Hi, That's more like a real answer thanks. So you actually use AffRadar witn many campaigns? and it's ben working fine for you, no problems? The question "- Does not track $real_keywords when that data is availabe to log (a sign of sloppy work ?)." is because I read that somewhere (wforum I think). Not sure you understood my question. Here it is again in more words: For example, if you "phrase" bid on the keyword "cheap watches". A customer searches for "buy cheap watches", will AffRadar capture that data so we can see what the "real" searches were ? Thanks, Chris
If you can afford the Affiliate Radar, it is a good sales pitch. But I don't see a sales link anywhere. I thought it was a good review on the product.
Not sure what document you are referring to but I don't recommend KeywordRadar anymore now that there is a free affiliate tracking software that does the same thing -- except even better http://tracking202.com/
Hexatrack also has free tracking also. But personally, I prefer and have been using tracking202 for a while now. Granted its free and works well, but its a very unstable system and occasionally goes down every once in a while. Note that when ever it does go down, tracking stops, and redirecting stops which can impact your PPC campaigns if you're driving heavy volume. Anyways, I may have to switch back to Xtreme Conversions soon though.
Yeah, they made a post about fixing that today... looks like it's all fixed and stable now. http://tracking202.com/blog/trackin...action-click-count-and-epc-calculations-fixed