Blog: Publisher Corner

The Publisher Transaction Details reporting allows an unprecedented level of customization for Inuvo Publishers.  This is done via a set of filters which allows only the the specific data to be displayed that a publisher is looking for at that time. 

To begin running this report, select the “Reports” tab located in the navigation.  

Now select “Transaction Details”. 

Several search criteria filters are available to narrow the search and display only relevant information the publisher is in need of.

Select By Status:

• Date Created- Search for a specific transaction based on when it was created 
  
  • Pending:  We strongly encourage that all transactions are set to auto-approval.  However, if you decided you’d prefer manually approving transactions you will notice when a transaction first occurs it is given a pending status until you take action.  From the pending status, you have the option of either approving or denying the transaction.  
  • Denied:  transactions which are not valid and you will not pay for.
  • Approved: transactions you have deemed valid and will become paid.
  • Charged Back:  If you need to deny a transaction which you originally approved, and it has been approved long enough to have updated to paid status, this is called a chargeback.
  • Paid:  Once you decide to approve a transaction, it will update to paid status at midnight EST on the same day.  The transaction is now in a payable state and the publisher will receive payment for the transaction on their next pay date. 
  • Paid and Include Chargebacks:  Enables advertisers to view transactions that have been paid but charged back at some point.
• Date Approved- This filter is important since Inuvo bills by the date approved.
  
  

Filters:

• Offers:  This filter is all offers the publisher is running from different advertisers.  The number leading the offer name is called the Offfer ID. 
• Order ID: Gives publishers the ability to look for a transaction by a specific Order ID.
  • An Order ID is usually comprised of numeric and non-numeric components.  An example would be: PAU100-3746380.
     
• Sub IDs (1-3):  This filter allows the publisher to view transactions by their different traffic sources, or Sub IDs. Often publishers use more than one way of generating traffic/leads.  Publishers assign Sub IDs to these different sources to track traffic/leads. This means that the only way to filter down the report is by using the publisher’s Sub IDs.  Publishers use these Sub IDs to track leads from different traffic generating sources and use this information to pay them out. 

• IP Address & Country:  A publisher has the ability to search for transactions generated from a specific lead’s IP address and country.  Under location in the Transaction report the originating country is listed above the IP address. 

Date:

• Timeframe:  Publishers can select from a list of general   time frames for quick reference.
• Date Range:  Publishers can select a specific date range across many months, years, days, etc. 

Output:

• Max Results:  Use this option to select how many transaction results to include in the report. 
• Results per Page:  How many results per page to include. 
  • Export to CSV: Use this to export the report to a CSV file for personal reference.
• Reset Filters Tab:  The Transactions Reporting Page now has an automatic ability to quickly reset all the filters back to their original settings.  To do this, select the blue text “Reset Filters” tab in the bottom left corner of the screen.
• Hide Filters Tab: After selecting “View Report” the screen will automatically scroll down and display the transaction report data.  If the only desirable content on the page is the transaction report data, click the “Hide Filters” tab to hide the filters at the top of the page and display only the transaction report. 

A legend is available to show the status of each transaction.

Within the Publisher Transaction Report, publishers can sort the data by selecting any of the names in the data columns and making a selection from the drop down menu. 

Report Data Display:

• Date and Time
  • Date Created
  • Date Approved
• Location
  • Country of Origin of Lead
  • Lead's IP Address
• Order ID & Transaction ID- Listed in respective order
• Offer and Creative
• Commission- Tier Specific
• Sub IDs
  • Inuvo allows each Publisher up to 3  SUB IDs (if needed)
• Status of the Transaction- See Legend for verification
• Totals
  • Number of Transactions
  • Amount to be Paid

To easily navigate through pages use the blue paging icons in the far left corner of the report.  Also, notice that the number of transaction results that were returned are located in the far right corner.

Did you know…
Nearly 14 billion online searches occur every month!    

It’s no secret that Google rules the Search Marketing world while Yahoo! and Bing are trailing a close second.  Because of the huge portion of the market they comprise, it’s safe to assume that typical PPC advertisers aren’t exactly anxious to spend their PPC ad dollars outside of these three engines. Not a bad strategy!

Obtaining website visitors through search engine tactics falls into two major categories: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and Search Engine Optimization (SEO).  Here is a look at both of these important marketing approaches and how they can work together to your benefit.

SEM- Paid Search

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the act of marketing a website via search engines by improving rank in organic/natural listings, paid/sponsored listings, or a combination of the both.  SEM is usually accomplished through the use of what Google calls "sponsored links" and what Yahoo! calls "sponsor results." These are the listings that appear at the top or along the right column of a search results page, and are usually separated by a shaded box or border.  

A successful SEM campaign includes the following:

• Search Engine Optimization – I’ll cover this in depth in the next article of this blog series!  Stay tuned for it later this week.
• Search Engine and Directory Submission Management - A web directory in simplest form is a human indexed search engine.  This practice entails submitting a site to a directory that indexes websites for the purpose of driving a large amount of quality traffic to the site.  
• Paid Inclusion - This is a great option for dynamic websites which search engines cannot find.  In order for potential visitors to easily find a website, it’s critical that the website’s pages are included in search engine databases.  A Pay-For-Inclusion agreement means a website pays a search engine to include pages from the website in its database, or index. However, there is no guarantee by doing this that the website will be ranked higher than others.  On the other hand, the site will be guaranteed that the pages submitted will be included in, and won’t be dropped from, the search engine's index for a specified period of time.
• Paid-Ad-Placement (PPC) -    

• Expected ROI -  According to a 2009 NY Times study, ROI should convert as follows:

Average value of visitor via Paid search Link:  $2.38

Average value of visitor via Organic search result: $1.35

SEM vs. SEO - How do they differ?  Check back later this week to find out!
 

When it comes to HTML email creative, there seems to be two well-defined camps.  One side wants the images to be hosted for them, so they can just copy and paste the HTML code and run with it.  The other side prefers to host all of the files themselves.  Personally, I’m with the latter team.  I’ll explain why I think this is the better option.

It may be quick and easy to grab some HTML code and paste it into your email solution so you can get as many email drops out as possible. However, I feel you are doing yourself a disservice in the long run.  If you prefer the files to be hosted for you because you don’t know HTML, rest assured that it is quite easy to learn and you will only need a basic level of understanding in order to be able to host the files yourself and properly update the links in Dreamweaver or a comparable program.

You work hard to maintain a clean reputation and be CAN-SPAM compliant.  Hosting your own files will help you keep your deliverability high and make sure your emails aren’t wrongly getting flagged as SPAM.  If you are having the files in your HTML email hosted by someone else, you are putting your reputation in their hands and even in the hands of other publishers you don’t even know about. 

What does this mean?  If the individual hosting the files hasn’t been CAN-SPAM compliant in the past, or if they are letting other not-so-hot publishers also use those hosted files, your deliverability will be lowered and your income potential will take a hit.  This means that less people will have the opportunity to even see your email because of actions from third parties which are completely out of your control.

Why not reap the full rewards of your hard work?

There’s a new craze that is spreading across the Inuvosphere (all the way up to our CEO!) – the S2H (Switch2Health) Replay!  Earlier this week in the Inuvo Blog, we announced a NikeRunning.com challenge that we are hosting.  Today, we are going to tell you about an awesome product available in the Inuvo Platform for you to promote as an Inuvo Publisher.  This is also a perfect match for anyone participating in the running challenge because you earn rewards for being active.

What is this product? The S2H Replay is a wristband you wear during exercising which lets you earn points you can redeem for rewards for every hour of activity you log. 

How does it work?  The wristband houses a proprietary motion sensing technology which records when you are engaged in physical activity.  For every hour of activity recorded, you will receive a code to enter in at S2H.com. 

How do you earn rewards? Each hour of activity is worth 60 points.  These points are then available for redemption for exciting rewards from retailers such as iTunes, Best Buy, Toys R Us, Sports Authority, Fandango, Snapfish, Barnes & Noble and more!  As you can see, they have a wide variety of rewards that are attractive to adults and children alike.  They even have rewards available for as low as only 60 points.

What do you get as a publisher? Switch2Health is offering a generous 10% commission per sale to Inuvo Publishers.  Purchases are accepted from the United States, Canada, Australia and United Kingdom.  Additionally, you are free to promote this offer via social media, email, banners and search. 

Here are some thoughts on the S2H Replay from some of your favorite people at Inuvo:

“I bought one for myself and my 10 year old son and the two of us have been having a great time exercising together then uploading our points so he can acquire enough to get an Xbox – someone should be calling every local school in the country and collaborating with them to promote this product as a way to get our kids off their butts!” – Richard K. Howe, CEO

“I’ve received more compliments on my S2H replay in the past two weeks than I can even count.  Once I tell them that it’s more than just a watch they want to know where to order one for themselves!” – John Vehlewald, Vice President of Affiliate Products

"S2H makes perfect sense for anyone who is already active, or looking to start a workout routine.  I already exercise for an hour each day, so why not earn discounts at my favorite stores?" – Chris Gerbick, Business Development Manager

“I just purchased the S2H replay for me and my son and it shipped within a couple of hours.  I feel this is a great way, not only to keep us active, but to help him learn that hard work gets rewarded.” – Stacey Farooqui, Community Manager

Share your experience with the S2H Replay in the comments section below!