[quote]And that’s what I’m trying to get out of lakerlady. I won’t be able
to help with much of anything, but more information is required
from her in order to figure out exactly what needs to be done.
[/quote]
If it is, the basic idea is to have a script that accepts input like this
http://www.example.com/track.cgi?ref=google0001
…or something.
Have a database table that contains a description of what google0001, ad0001, etc. actually are. Every time that URL is hit, insert a row into another table with the date/time of the hit and any other useful information. Then, redirect the user to the proper page on your site and set a ‘referred by’ cookie which is then passed along to your purchasing script so that you can track how many purchases (or whatever) are associated with each ad.
With some basic math you can determine that X% of the people who clicked through using the ad made a purchase. Apply even more math using your sales records and ad budget and you can extrapolate from that how much money you make per ad.
I personally would set the link up this way:
http://www.example.com/track.cgi?ref=google&ad=0001
…that way, you can track ‘classes’ of ads and identify the best and worst performers.
I’m sure there are some pre-written scripts that do this sort of thing, though I’ve never used them. The script itself would be pretty simple - The real trick is integrating it into whatever shopping cart or purchasing tool you are using. That’s where the help of a good web developer can be invaluable.
- Jeff @ DreamHost
- DH Discussion Forum Admin