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TONIC. and Voluum

TONIC. is a traffic monetization service that sends visitors to related search engine result pages (SERP). Visitors may click one of the search results that interest them and then be directed to a concrete offer. This is a gist of the traffic arbitrage model that TONIC. uses. It is not an affiliate network in a traditional sense, it is however treated as such in Voluum because of it's position in a campaign funnel.

Integration available: The following document describes the setup for setting up postbacks for various event types from TONIC. However, Voluum also supports API integration with TONIC. that allows for passing data for the 'Final revenue' event with this connection that without this integration has to be uploaded to Voluum manually with CSV files.

Before you start

The following things are required before setting up tracking:

  • An active Voluum account
  • An active TONIC. publishers account

Once you have everything, proceed with the guide.

I. Add an affiliate network from a template

  1. In Voluum, go to the Affiliate networks tab and click the Create button.

  2. Select the TONIC. template and click the Next button.

  3. Click the Copy button next to the postback URL to copy it to the clipboard.

  4. Click the Save button.

II. Set Up a Postback URL

TONIC. enables you to track several event types with postbacks. There are the following event types:

  • Redirect - a tracking link is activated
  • View - a SERP page is fully loaded
  • Viewrt - A SERP page is fully loaded and a keyword is passed
  • Click - a click on a search result
  • Pre-estimation - revenue estimated immediately after click based on historical data
  • Estimation - more accurate estimation based on actual RPC available 2 hours after click
  • Final revenue - actual revenue

Voluum provides you with one postback for all these events. You can however distinguish between different event types using Custom conversions, as TONIC. supports et or 'event type' token. The instructions on setting up custom conversions are available in the next step.

Paste the postback URL that you have copied from Voluum into event types you want to track:

For the 'click' or 'viewrt' events, you can add the param1={keyword} parameter after the & character to pass the related keyword to Voluum.

III. Set Up Custom Conversions

Custom conversions allow you to differentiate between various conversion types. The way i works is as follows: postback URL has to pass the event type token paired with et parameter name. You then set up conversion types in Custom conversions and decide, if they should be included in the 'Revenue' column.

Voluum Note: For the 'Pre-estimate' and 'Estimate' event types, we recommend making sure that the 'Include in the 'Revenue' column box is not checked. Only 'Final revenue' event should have this box ticked. This way you won't register a revenue for one event several times.

  1. In Voluum, click the button to go to the Settings page.
  2. Go to Custom conversions and click the Add button.

  3. Set up a custom conversion for each event type you want to track:

    • Click: Provide 'click' as a custom conversion event name. Leave the Include in 'Revenue' column box unchecked. Check the Include in 'Conversions' column box.

    • Pre-estimated revenue: Provide 'preestimated_revenue' as a custom conversion event name. Leave the Include in 'Conversions' column and Include in 'Revenue' column boxes unchecked.

    • Estimated revenue: Provide 'estimated_revenue' as a custom conversion event name. Leave the Include in 'Conversions' column and Include in 'Revenue' column boxes unchecked.

    • Final revenue: Provide 'final_revenue' as a custom conversion event name and tick the Include in 'Revenue' column box.

      Voluum Note: TONIC. cannot fire a postback for the 'Final revenue' event type. You have to upload conversions manually using the Conversion Upload feature. Export from TONIC. a CSV file with the Voluum click IDs and their final revenue values. Prepare/edit a CSV or make sure it has correct format. Upload conversions to Voluum using the Conversion Upload feature. The process needs to be repeated regularly ex. once per day, as new clicks (conversions) are coming. You can also skip this and use the TONIC. integration that allows for passing data for the 'Final revenue' event through API. Read the TONIC. integration article to learn more.

IV. Grab a link from TONIC.

  1. In TONIC., go to New campaign.
  2. Select a country.
  3. Select an offer.
  4. Provide a name for your campaign.

  5. Click the Create New Campaign button.

  6. Click the pencil icon to go to the campaign's properties.

  7. Copy the tracking link.

    Voluum Note: TONIC. requires that the following parameters will be passed in each offer URL: 'network', 'site', 'adtitle'. If you monetize traffic from your own pre-approved sites, you can hardcode these values in the link. If you monetize traffic from allowed traffic sources, you need to pass values from these sources for the 'site' and 'adtitle' parameters. Each traffic source passes certain values that are later pair with Voluum's custom variable. For example, check out Taboola traffic source element in Voluum. Notice that 'site' and 'adtitle' values are paired with Voluum custom variable 1 {var1} and custom variable 3 {var3}. So your offer link with Taboola traffic would look something like this: https://fcdf9d.mxmwsffhxf.com?network=taboola&site={var1}&adtitle={var3}

  8. You may set up additional options, if needed.

V. Add a TONIC link as an offer to Voluum

  1. In Voluum, go to the Offers tab and click the New offer button.
  2. Select the TONIC. affiliate network from the drop-down menu.
  3. Provide a name for the offer.
  4. Paste the offer link that you have copied from TONIC. It should look like this:
     https://fcdf9d.mxmwsffhxf.com?network=taboola&site={var1}&ad_title={var3}
  5. Add the subid1={clickid} parameter to the offer URL after the & character. It should look like this:
     https://fcdf9d.mxmwsffhxf.com?network=taboola&site={var1}&ad_title={var3}&subid1={clickid}

  6. Click the Save button.

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