Location
Here: Affiliates > Maintenance > Gear Icon > Vanity Domains
Or: Affiliates > Maintenance > Info Icon 1 > Click "Edit Account Info" > Extras
Summary
Within the system, you have one initial primary domain that all of your tracking runs through, but HitPath will also give you the option to have multiple domains you can run tracking through. Vanity domains are assigned to affiliates, so when the affiliate logs into their affiliate portal, they will see the same vanity domain for all of their campaign links and creatives. This is very useful for display ads as HitPath can buy on your behalf any domain that is available, also, this is useful as vanity domains can be quickly switched out if a domain gets burnt.
Assigning Vanity Domains to Affiliates
Assign to One or More: Go to Affiliates > Maintenance > Gear Icon > Vanity Domains and click on the pencil icon next to the domain you want. The next screen will allow you to select affiliates to assign to the vanity domain.
Assign to Individual Affiliates: Go to Affiliates > Maintenance > Search for the affiliate and click on the account info icon 1 to the left. The Affiliate Summary will open in a pop-up. Click "Edit Account Info", and navigate to Extras tab to assign the vanity domain there.
Tip: The ability to control or edit these settings may be limited to certain users, so contact HitPath Support if you are unsure on how to enable this.
Reasons to Use Vanity Domains
1. Marketing & SEO - provides better user experience causing higher conversion rates. Users will be more likely to click a link if the name appears similar to the offer. Additionally, search engine results may be impacted by the domain name, so having the vanity domain resemble what the advertiser's landing page says will optimize the search engine results.
2. Spam Issues - protects your primary domain from being connected to Spam complaints when bypassing the primary domain is set up correctly. Unlike the primary domain, they can be changed out quickly if they are connected to Spam complaints.
Bypassing Primary Domain Basics
Bypassing the primary domain prevents others from seeing your network or HitPath domain in the redirect process, essentially taking the user from the vanity domain directly to the advertiser's landing page. If you set your campaigns to completely bypass the primary domain during the redirection process, then database tracking must be enabled for tracking sales. If you are passing the Hit ID to the advertiser in the Redirect URL, and the advertiser is firing your pixel back with the Hit ID, then database tracking is working and not relying on cookies. When database tracking is working, you may set the affiliate and campaigns to bypass the primary domain without any tracking problems.
Refer to System > Tutorials > Mechanics > Tracking to see how database tracking can be used in your campaigns. Quick instructions for checking your tracking method is in the right sidebar!
Setting Up Campaigns and Affiliates to Bypass the Primary Domain
Lastly, to bypass the primary domain, requires three steps:
1. Assign the vanity domain to the affiliate (see sidebar to the right for more info)
2. For affiliate, set "Bypass Primary if Campaign Allows" to "Yes" by going to Affiliates > Maintenance > Info (for affiliate) > click "Edit Account Info" and navigate to Extras tab
3. For campaign, set "Allow vanity domains to Bypass primary domains" to "Yes" by going to Campaigns > Maintenance > Edit (for campaign) > 3. Links & Redirectors
When both the affiliate and campaign are set this way, your primary domain http://affiliate.domain.com will not be visible as part of the redirection process. You can user HttpFox (FireFox extension) or any other HTTP analyzer to test this.
Requesting Vanity Domains -
1. Pick out possible domains you want.
2. Go to name.com to check availability of these domains.
3. Contact HitPath Support, and they make out a form to purchase domains for you.
4. HitPath Support sends you the form to complete.
5. Fill it out & send it back to HitPath Support.
6. Domains are purchased for you & installed in your system.
7. HitPath Support contacts you to walk through using them!
Every time new domains need to be acquired, repeat the steps above.
Check Campaign's Tracking Method
1. Go to Tools > Pixel Logging, then search for the campaign and click "Run Report".
2. Find a pixel fire that has the green sale icon on the left, and double-click that row to open the drawer.
3. The Method will be listed as either "Postback" (aka database tracking) or "Cookie".
4. If you see "Postback" as the Method, you are safe to bypass the primary domain!
If the Method is "Cookie", then the campaign is tracking only via cookies, and therefore bypassing the primary domain will break tracking. First, check to make sure you are passing the Hit ID to the advertiser by going to Campaigns > Maintenance > click edit icon for the campaign > 3. Links & Redirection to make sure that jjhitjj (dynamically populates the Hit ID to pass to advertiser) is included in your Redirectors External URL (see Tutorials > Mechanics > Tracking for more info). If you are passing the Hit ID, then check with the advertiser to see if they can pass back the Hit ID in the pixel.
