DarkBlue Advertiser Installation Manager

What is an Affiliate Network?

What is the difference between DarkBlue and other affiliate networks?

What is CPA?

What is required to become a DarkBlue advertiser?

Are there any fees or costs to join DarkBlue?

How does DarkBlue make money if they don't take a commission?

How does DarkBlue track my sales/leads?

Adding pixel tracking code to my site, Flat Rate commision

Adding pixel tracking code to my site, Sale/Lead commision

Adding pixel tracking code to my site, Percentage of Sale/Lead commision

How do I add initial and additional funds to my account?

What does DarkBlue do to promote my campaign when it goes live?

I've created an account with DarkBlue. How do I log in?

How do I Decline-Approve Geographic Sales-Leads

What is an Affiliate Network?

An affiliate network is a way for advertisers to extend the distribution of their products and services through a virtual sales force made up of any number of any kind of other web sites. In other words, having other websites promote your products and services. By setting up an affiliate program for your products and services, you can greatly extend your marketing reach.

An affiliate network is made up of two primary parties- Advertisers (You) and Affiliates.

You are required to simply create a campaign within your DarkBlue advertiser account. An example campaign- "You will offer affiliates $5 commission for every sale that they refer to your site."

An affiliate will log into their account in the affiliate section of DarkBlue and can see your campaign. This affiliate may think that they could sell a lot of your product, so they signup to your campaign. By doing this, they now have a banner of yours which they place on their website.

Internet users enter the affiliates website and come across your banner. The user clicks on your banner and is sent to your site. Whilst at your site, the user may buy something (sale) or fill in a form (lead). If they do this, you then have to pay the affiliate for the customer that they have referred to you. Eg. If the customer bought a clock for $39.95, you have to pay them $5.00 commission ("You will offer affiliates $5 commission for every sale that they refer to your site.").

What is the difference between DarkBlue and other affiliate networks?

CPA- All the Way
Most affiliate networks take a substantial slice of commission (Up to 30%) out of their advertiser's CPA, before giving the remainder to the affiliate. This means that if you specify a CPA of $10, $3 will automatically go straight into the hands of the network, while your affiliate will end up receiving only around $7. Think of how many more affiliates your program could attract if your network didn’t charge a commission fee. If you specify a CPA of $10, that is exactly what your affiliates will receive when a transaction is completed via their website.

Affordable Advertising
Some major affiliate networks charge costly signup fees, transaction fees, technical fees, support fees, ad serving charges, maintenance fees and monthly minimum payments. DarkBlue offers FREE signup, support, transaction, business and technical support, ad serving, maintenance, and no minimum monthly payments for advertisers.

Service with a Smile
DarkBlue is committed to providing the highest levels of real time (24 hour) service and support to international advertisers and affiliates. The friendly staff and customer support team are experienced, qualified, and ready to assist advertisers with any questions, comments and/or concerns.

A Piece of Cake
Advertiser signup and managing your DarkBlue account is as simple as 1 2 3. Some affiliate networks and programs can take days, or even weeks, to join and implement into a website. At DarkBlue you can complete your signup, campaign creation, deposit of funds and tracking in under 15 minutes with the new Installation Manager. For the advertiser's convenience, DarkBlue provides a user-friendly interface and a basic step-by-step process to remove the stress, effort and complication from affiliate network management.

What is CPA?

DarkBlue runs programs based on a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition/Action) model. An example of a CPA campaign for you may be: Your Company will pay affiliates $1 per sale. In this instance, you only pay when you "acquire" a customer. Other programs may charge you on CPM or CPC rates, which means you pay per banner impression or per click, but you're not guaranteed business or quality leads.

CPA programs allow you to pay top dollar to get the best quality leads for your business and you only have to pay when you make money.

What is required to become a DarkBlue advertiser?

There are a number of requirements a potential DarkBlue advertiser must meet, regarding their website and company, before they will be approved to join and participate in the network. These requirements are:

You must be the owner/operator of your website. DarkBlue does not accept other third parties or affiliate networks.

You must have a website of high standard.

You must have access to the code on your confirmation of sales page and the ability to edit this code (A number of third party shopping carts are not compatible with the DarkBlue pixel tracking requirements).

Your product must be, in DarkBlue's sole opinion, commercially viable with our affiliate's traffic base.

Are there any fees or costs to join DarkBlue?

There are no set-up costs, monthly fees, serving fees, or any other standard costs that other networks may charge. All of the money you put into your account, goes to paying your affiliates when they generate sales/leads. DarkBlue does not take any commission like some of the other networks.

When you signup to DarkBlue, a minimum of $USD500 is required to go live in the network. This is not a fee but an opening balance for your commission payments. As you make sales via the affiliates, we deduct your account by the amount/rate that you set, and pay it in full to the affiliate.

Any unused funds, including your initial $USD500, are refundable at anytime and you are under no obligation to stay with DarkBlue. This is an absolute no risk marketing venture for you, as you decide your level of involvement completely.

It is your responsibility to maintain a positive balance in your account, to ensure there is always enough funds to pay your affiliate commissions. DarkBlue will also notify you when your balance requires additional funds.

How does DarkBlue make money if they don't take a commission?

DarkBlue does not take any commission like some other networks. There are no set-up costs, monthly fees, serving fees, or any other standard costs that other networks may charge. All of the money you put into your account, goes to paying your affiliates when they generate sales or leads.

DarkBlue makes money from a pop-under that is generated from the affiliate's website on the exit of a banner click. The exit console contains a set of Roar.com pay per click search engine results. It doesn't affect the loading of the advertiser's site in any way, and the visitor doesn't even know it's there until they exit the advertiser's site. Plus, we give all advertisers 50% of any revenue that is generated from the pop-under. This money gets credited to their account.

Here are 2 examples of how the DarkBlue Affiliate Network operates.

To follow a step-by-step online example with instructions, go to http://www.darkblue.com/advertisers/example/.

Alternatively, you can check out a live working version at www.googlism.com. To begin the example, simply click on the banner below the search box.

How does DarkBlue track my sales/leads?

The primary tracking supplied by DarkBlue is Pixel Tracking, but customized methods including Direct API Tracking are also offered. The pixel tracking method can take as little as 10 minutes for a programmer to implement. Using this method involves placing an image onto your website site, on the confirmation of sales page. DarkBlue's pixel tracking utilizes an invisible image that communicates back to the DarkBlue secure tracking servers, information it needs to collate all the navigation details, sales and revenue to the appropriate affiliate.

I am offering a flat rate commission for my campaign, and I'd like to add pixel tracking code to my site. How do I do this?

All you need to do is have the HTML image below in your sales confirmation page. This is the page after you have confirmed the sale or lead. It will generally have an invoice number and/or thank-you on it.

Example:

<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/00.00/reference" style="width:0; height:0; border-width:0;">


98765= SiteID
Sale= Sale or Lead
00.00= Commission Amount

The sales confirmation script has to replace "reference" with a unique reference or invoice number that identifies the sale. It has to be unique to every sale.

Example:
If a customer signs up to your 25.50/sale campaign as member 12345 the tracking would be:
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/25.50/12345" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

PHP script example
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/ sale/25.50/'.$uniqueinvoicenumber.'" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

If your sales confirmation page is not on a secure server, you would change the 'https' to 'http'.

I am offering a percentage per sale/lead commission for my campaign, and I'd like to add pixel tracking code to my site. How do I do this?

All you need to do is have the HTML image below in your sales confirmation page. This is the page after you have confirmed the sale or lead. It will generally have an invoice number and/or thank-you on it.

Example:

<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/00.00/reference" style="width:0; height:0; border-width:0;">


98765= SiteID
Sale= Sale or Lead

The sales confirmation script has to replace "reference" with a unique reference or invoice number that identifies the sale. It has to be unique to every sale.

Example:
If a user by the name of john001 buys a $19.95 item from your site, the code will look like this:
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/ 19.95/john001" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

PHP script example
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/ sale/'.$saleamount.'/'.$uniqueinvoicenumber.'" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

If your sales confirmation page is not on a secure server, you would change the 'https' to 'http'.

I am offering a percentage per sale/lead commission for my campaign, and I'd like to add pixel tracking code to my site. How do I do this?

All you need to do is have the HTML image below in your sales confirmation page. This is the page after you have confirmed the sale or lead. It will generally have an invoice number and/or thank-you on it.

Example:

<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/revenue/reference" style="width:0; height:0; border-width:0;">


98765= SiteID
Sale= Sale or Lead

The sales confirmation script has to replace "reference"> with a unique reference or invoice number that identifies the sale. It has to be unique to every sale. It also has to replace "revenue" with the dollar amount of the sale (not the amount you are going to pay the affiliate).

Example:
If a user by the name of john001 buys a $19.95 item from your site, the code will look like this:
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/19.95/john001" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

PHP script example
<img src="https://dbbsrv.com/record/98765/sale/'.$saleamount.'/'.$uniqueinvoicenumber.'" style="height:0; width:0; border-width:0;">

If your sales confirmation page is not on a secure server, you would change the 'https' to 'http'.

How do I add initial and additional funds to my account?

Log into your DarkBlue account and click on the 'Manage Your Account' link on the left-hand menu under 'Your Account'. You will have to firstly add a credit card if this is your first initial deposit. Fill in your details in the form provided, and then press the 'Add Card' button. You now have to add funds. Simply select the amount you would like to add from the drop-down menu, and submit. To verify the funds have been added to your account, go back to your homepage (The 'Home' link on the top right hand corner), and check to see that the funds have been added in the orange section under 'Account Details'. Your account has now been credited with the amount you added.

What does DarkBlue do to promote my campaign when it goes live?

When an advertiser's status is actioned to live, there are a number of activities that DarkBlue undertakes to ensure the new campaign will receive effective results.

Firstly, the campaign is announced on every affiliate's DarkBlue homepage as a newsitem. Secondly, DarkBlue lists the new advertiser's campaign in the upcoming monthly newsletter. Finally, DarkBlue directly e-mails related and successful affiliates about the new campaign to encourage affiliate partnerships.

If an advertiser is unhappy with the results they receive from this launch, DarkBlue is happy to then discuss further marketing strategies in the network.

I've created an account with DarkBlue. How do I log in?

To log into your DarkBlue advertiser account, simply go to http://advertiser.darkblue.com/ and enter your login details in the form provided.
Username: name@email.com
Password: password

When logged into your advertiser account, you can review your Quick Statistics for your campaign/s, your Account Details, including your available account balance, and the DarkBlue News.

If you are unable to log into your account via http://advertiser.darkblue.com/, you may still be completing your Installation Manager account, in which case you would not have access to the complete suite of tools.

To log into your Installation Manager account, simply go to http://www.darkblue.com/installmanager/ (Installation Manager) and enter your login details in the form provided.
Username: name@email.com
Password: password

What if I want to pay for sales from only the UK or US? How do I decline/approve sales/leads in my account? What if it takes me a week to approve a sale/lead? Do all sales/leads get automatically approved?

Each month you are required to login to your DarkBlue account to decline/approve all sales/leads for payments to your affiliates. If you do not complete this, all sales/leads will be auto-approved.

If an advertiser receives a sale/lead from a country that they do not desire (This must be specified in the title and description of the campaign E.g. US Sales Only! or UK Leads Only!), they can decline it under the "Payments Manager" in their account.

When an advertiser declines a sale/lead, they must keep in mind that there is the possibility of losing the affiliate who delivered this sale/lead. Affiliates do drop campaigns when they do not get paid for the traffic they refer to advertisers. It is the advertiser's choice to decline sales/leads, and it is also the affiliates choice to drop a program at their will. The affiliation between the two parties is based on honesty and trust.

DarkBlue is developing a technology called "Filtering", whereby advertisers can identify where they would like sales/leads to come from in the world. This tool is not yet available, and therefore, advertisers should recognise that Internet traffic is global, and even when Filtering is available, they will still receive sales/leads from parts of the world that they may not desire.