Monetizer and ClickFlare Integration Guide

• The offer URL is your Monetizer Direct Link, with the ClickFlare click ID in it.
• The postback URL sends the click ID back to ClickFlare with every conversion, together with the payout and a transaction ID. Monetizer has one Global Postback for your whole account.

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How the data flows

Ad click
  → https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/r/CAMPAIGN?...
     (ClickFlare records the click and generates the click ID)
  → [optional lander → CTA uses the ClickFlare click URL]
  → https://your-monetizer-domain.com/?utm_medium=LINK_HASH&cid=CF_CLICK_ID
     (Monetizer stores the value from the link's Click ID field)
  → Monetizer routes the visitor to an offer, and the visitor converts
  → Monetizer fires your Global Postback:
     https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id=CF_CLICK_ID&payout=0.85&txid=MONETIZER_TRANSACTION_ID
     (ClickFlare matches the conversion to the original click)

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What you’ll need

• An active ClickFlare account with your own tracking domain set up. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. See Tracking domains.
• A Monetizer account.
• A domain added to your Monetizer account, with its SSL certificate generated. Monetizer won’t create a Direct Link without one. This is a separate step from your ClickFlare tracking domain.

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What the Monetizer template contains

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Setup

1

Set up your own tracking domain

Add a custom tracking domain before anything else, for example trk.yourdomain.com. The postback URL is built on this domain, so changing it later means updating your Monetizer Global Postback too. See Tracking domains.

2

Report conversions by postback time

Go to Settings → General Settings and set Conversion registration time reporting to Postback Timestamp.With the default Visit Timestamp, ClickFlare reports a conversion on the day of the original click. A conversion that comes in later then lands on a different date than in Monetizer’s stats. See Conversion registration time.

This is an account-wide setting. It changes the date conversions are reported on for every campaign.

3

Create the campaign

Go to Campaigns → New Campaign, choose Redirect tracking, pick your traffic source and select your tracking domain. See Creating a campaign.

4

Create the Monetizer affiliate network

While creating the offer for the campaign, create a new affiliate network in its Affiliate Network field. You can also create it first under Affiliate Networks → + New. Either way:

1. Search for Monetizer and pick the Monetizer template.
2. Keep the name, or add your account to it if you run more than one.
3. Check the parameters: Click Id {clickID}, Payout {amount}, Transaction ID {transactionID}.
4. Leave Event Type empty.
5. Under Conversion tracking, select your own Tracking Domain and keep S2S Postback URL as the tracking method.
6. Set Payout currency to the currency Monetizer pays you in. The dashboard shows amounts in US dollars.

ClickFlare builds the postback URL from these fields:

https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id={clickID}&payout={amount}&txid={transactionID}

Copy the postback URL and save the network.

5

Add a domain in Monetizer

A Direct Link runs on a domain you add to your Monetizer account. Add one there and wait until Monetizer has generated its SSL certificate. Until then, Monetizer shows a message asking you to add a domain and wait for the certificate, and won’t create the Direct Link.

6

Create the link in Monetizer

In Monetizer, create a new link. The form has these fields:

Field	What to do
Link Name	A name you’ll recognize, for example the ClickFlare campaign name
League	The offer group or vertical to send traffic to
Smart Fallback	Yes sends traffic that doesn’t match the offer’s targeting to another offer, at a different payout. No loses that traffic.
Campaign Name	Optional
Click ID	Type {cf_click_id}
Tracking Keyword	Optional

The Click ID field has quick-insert buttons for other trackers’ tokens, such as {clickid} and #clickid#. Don’t use them: type {cf_click_id} yourself, with braces. On an existing link, the same field is called Click ID/Subid under General Settings when you edit the link. Keyword 1 to Keyword 5 there take up to five more values from your traffic source.

7

Copy the Direct Link and check it

In your link list, click Get Direct Link on the link. Monetizer builds it from your domain and the link’s settings, and leaves out empty fields:

https://your-monetizer-domain.com/?utm_medium=LINK_HASH&cid={cf_click_id}

Before you copy it, check that {cf_click_id} is in the link, braces included. In the current dashboard it follows cid=. See Which parameter carries the click ID.The Direct Link dialog also offers two optional switches: add &np=1 to skip push subscription collection and go straight to the offer, or &np=2 to skip it and go to an offer that doesn’t collect subscribers.

8

Create the offer in ClickFlare

In the offer form:

1. Name the offer.
2. Select the Monetizer affiliate network you just created.
3. Paste the Direct Link into Offer URL as it is, with cid={cf_click_id} already in it.
4. Leave Append Click ID to Offer Url off. The toggle would add clickID={cf_click_id} from the template’s Click Id macro, which isn’t the parameter the Direct Link uses.

Write {cf_click_id} with braces. Without them Monetizer stores the literal text cf_click_id, the postback returns that text, and the conversion cannot be matched to a click.

Set the payout to Auto so ClickFlare uses the payout value from the postback. Monetizer routes each visitor to a different offer, and Smart Fallback changes the payout, so a fixed payout would be wrong.

9

Add the Global Postback in Monetizer

In Monetizer, open your profile’s account settings and find Global Postback. Paste the ClickFlare postback URL into the field and save.

• The field holds up to 320 characters. The basic ClickFlare URL fits easily. Watch the length if you add extra parameters.
• Monetizer checks the macros when you save. A misspelled macro gives the error “Unsupported macro in ‘Global Postback’.”
• There are no event, goal or status options. The postback fires for your conversions, whatever the offer.

There is one Global Postback per account. It can only point to one tracker. If it already holds another tracker’s URL, replacing it moves all your Monetizer conversions to ClickFlare.

10

Add a lander (optional)

If you send traffic through a lander before the offer, the lander’s CTA must use the ClickFlare click URL, not the Monetizer Direct Link. ClickFlare then adds the click ID when it redirects to the offer. See Paths with landers and offers.

11

Save the campaign and launch

Save the campaign, copy the campaign URL from the Tracking tab and use it in your ads. Before you spend money on traffic, run the checks in Verify the setup.

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Which parameter carries the click ID

• The Direct Link builder in the current dashboard puts the Click ID field’s value in cid=.
• Some tracker guides tell you to append clickID= to the link instead. That may be an older or alternative name. We couldn’t confirm that Monetizer still reads it.

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What the postback macros send

https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id={clickID}&payout={amount}&txid={transactionID}&param1={offer}&param2={advertiserID}

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Other Monetizer postbacks

• Push Subscription Postback fires when a visitor subscribes to push notifications. Monetizer describes it as informational only, with no revenue. Its macros include {clickID} and {subscriptionid}.
• App Link postback is set per app link and takes {clickID} and {payout}.
• League Postback URL is for network and partner accounts.

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Verify the setup

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Troubleshooting

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FAQ

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