James H. Zisch - Computer Services

Solutions : Ecommerce : Banner Affiliate System

 

Banner Affiliate System

PRICE:  $449.99 (subject to change without notice)

Description
Requirements
Usage
FAQs

Description

Banner Affiliate System provides an affiliate referral system with hyperlinked banner and text display at affiliate websites, banner displays and click-thru tracking, affiliate click-thru sales crediting and real-time activity affiliates reports for their viewing online.

Providing an incentive based tracking that encourages affiliates to provide you optimum exposure with a tiered crediting structure, Banner Affiliate System also integrates with Shopping Cart supporting click-thru resulting sales crediting to affiliates.

Banner Affiliate System's Components:

  • Member Facility - a front-end component used by both new and existing Members to create and manage account information and view their account activity.

  • Administrative Facility - a back-end component used by your organization. It provides a series functions to manage affiliate accounts.

  • Operational Component - provides activity tracking, remote banner transmission, and click-thru routing.

How Banner Affiliate System Works

You invite other websites with links at your website to create an affiliate account. They then display banner ads hyperlinked to your website. Banners reside on your web server keeping you in control of their integrity. Affiliates simply insert automatically generated markup into pages at their website. Each time a banner is displayed and/or clicked it's tracked and credited to the affiliate allowing you to offer credits or discounts based on banner displays and/or click-thru activity, or when integrated with JHZ-CS Shopping Cart your can include per item credit for click-thrus resulting sales.

The Member Facility

The front-end affiliate member facility provides new account creation with automated markup code generation and account management with real-time activity reporting of displays, click-thrus and click-thru sales hourly, daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly.

Member Access

Access is streamlined. Upon new account creation a Member cookie provides direct access, or when they use a different browser by entering their e-mail address and account password.

Affiliate Markup Generator

Members simply create their account and their affiliate specific markup is automatically generated for them. The affiliate simply chooses the desired affiliate link, then "copies" and "pastes" the markup into the desired pages at their website. The markup generator is available to active affiliates at any time.

Adding and modifying banners is a snap! The Affiliate Markup Generator is dynamically built each time an affiliate accesses it. You simply define the new banners in the Banner Management function and the appear automatically along with their banner specific markup.

Affiliate Activity Reporting

Affiliate Activity is available online for your affiliates to view real-time up-to-the minute activity information with graphical representation of the past 24 hour click-thru activity and daily totals for the current week.

Other Member Functions

The Member Facility also allows active affiliates to request their forgotten password using their "security word" they define during account creation process, and allowing them to update their member account information, change their existing password or request termination of their account. These functions allow members to manage and update their account information reducing the time required to manage the system.

The Administrative Facility

The Administrative Facility provides account management and reporting functions.

Banner Management

The Banner Management function is used to manage affiliate banner definitions with your web browsers with changes being immediately reflected in the Affiliate Markup Generator. Banners are managed and maintained on your web server, keeping you in charge of their display and assuring their integrity. And, since they are resident on your web server they use your bandwidth as opposed to the affiliates encouraging more affiliates to join and add links to your website.

Sales Returns and Credits

Banner Affiliate System provides a mechanism for handling "sales returns" for sales originating from a click-thrus; especially important if you activate the click-thru resulting sale crediting mechanism. The function also supports exchanges as well as returns allowing for adjustments (both increases or decreases) to the initial affiliate credit for the sale allowing you to set your own policies as opposed to being restricted to Banner Affiliates System's rules.

Other Administrative Functions

The other Administrative Functions include Account Reporting (a single account or all accounts), Process Commissions (output is transmitted directly to the administrators PC in MS Excel format) for verification and payout, Affiliate Account Update to update information the affiliate is not permitted to change and facilitating offline account information change requests as well as changing its status, Clear Account to reset an accounts activity, and Delete Account to remove an affiliate account (terminated accounts are maintained on the system until deleted).

Operational Component

The remote banner display and click-thru routing functions of Banner Affiliate System are performed by the Operational Component. This component is referenced by the affiliate markup HTML in the hyperlink anchor "href" and banner image "src" URL definitions.

Web Server Requirements:

  • Operating Systems Supported: Unix, Linux, Macintosh OS X® and Windows®
  • HTTP 1.x with CGI (Common Gateway Interface) PERL 5.x (check with your ISP or Server Administrator; this requirement is typically supported on most systems)
  • SENDMAIL (supported on most all Unix/Linux platforms), or PERL NET:SMTP (available from CPAN) (commonly used on Windows® server platforms) with an SMTP system pre-installed and configured
  • SSL (Secured Sockets Layer) optional, but strongly recommended.

Banner Affiliate System
Installation and Usage

FILENAME: bas.html

DEPENDENCIES:

bas.pl - Banner Affiliate System configuration and common logic modules (see: pg.html)
pr.pl
jhzcs.pl - JHZ-CS configuration and common logic modules (see: jhzcs.html)
IID (Item Information Dataset)

REQUIREMENTS:

bas.cgi
ceptor.cgi
display.cgi
ssl/be/admin.cgi
ssl/be/maint.cgi
ssl/fe/activity.cgi
ssl/fe/admin.cgi
ssl/fe/links.cgi
ssl/fe/maint.cgi

NOTE: Front End (fe) and Back End (be) components are reflected by the subdirectory where they reside; i.e., "ssl/be/admin.cgi" is the Back End admin module, as opposed to "ssl/fe/admin.cgi" is the Front End admin module.

PACKING (PARTS) LIST

PACKING LIST
PRODUCT ID: BA
COMPONENT TYPE SIZE AUTH*
BAS/policy.html TEXT 426 750
cgi-bin/geog.pl TEXT 11750 750
cgi-bin/jhzcs.pl TEXT 47225 750
cgi-bin/license.incl TEXT 7565 700
cgi-bin/pr/bas/bas.incl TEXT 24632 700
cgi-bin/pr/bas/bas.pl TEXT 21634 750
cgi-bin/pr/bas/ceptor.cgi TEXT 11121 750
cgi-bin/pr/bas/display.cgi TEXT 13793 750
cgi-bin/pr/pr.pl TEXT 2112 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/be/admin.cgi TEXT 19831 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/be/maint.cgi TEXT 63804 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/fe/activity.cgi TEXT 53087 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/fe/admin.cgi TEXT 9447 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/fe/links.cgi TEXT 26329 750
cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/fe/maint.cgi TEXT 55770 750
css/pr/bas/bas.css TEXT 1919 750
css/pr/bas/be/func.css TEXT 3481 750
css/pr/bas/be/proc.css TEXT 827 750
data/bas/access.dat TEXT 2616 700
data/bas/banners.dat TEXT 338 700
data/bas/dispctrs/index.html TEXT 251 750
data/bas/privctrs/index.html TEXT 251 750
data_ssl/bas/fe/ba_secure.dat TEXT 0 700
images/JHZCS.gif BINARY 745 750
images/bas/banners/BAS_sample_lg1.gif BINARY 2050 750
images/bas/banners/BAS_sample_lg2.gif BINARY 2060 750
images/bas/banners/BAS_sample_sm1.jpg BINARY 2152 750
images/bas/banners/BAS_sample_sm2.jpg BINARY 2160 750
images/bas/banners/ba_ht.gif BINARY 49 750
images/bas/report/BAS_hori_TB_gray.gif BINARY 45 750
images/bas/report/BAS_hori_gray.gif BINARY 59 750
images/bas/report/BAS_vertbar.gif BINARY 64 750
images/bas/report/BAS_vertbar_blank.gif BINARY 55 750
images/bas/report/clicks.gif BINARY 287 750
images/bas/report/t12am.gif BINARY 143 750
images/bas/report/t12pm.gif BINARY 140 750
images/bas/report/t3am.gif BINARY 136 750
images/bas/report/t3pm.gif BINARY 135 750
images/bas/report/t6am.gif BINARY 139 750
images/bas/report/t6pm.gif BINARY 138 750
images/bas/report/t9am.gif BINARY 139 750
images/bas/report/t9pm.gif BINARY 139 750
images/bas/report/tick.gif BINARY 61 750
images/items/sample_lg.jpg BINARY 2572 750
images/items/sample_sm.jpg BINARY 1707 750
images/products/BAS_sample_product_image.jpg BINARY 3358 750
logs/errorlog.txt TEXT 91 750
*AUTH - Authorization/permissions octal equilvalents where:
7=RWX, 6=RW, 5=RX, 4=R (R=Read W=Write X=Executable)
1 char indicates Octal number
2 char Owner
3 char Group
4 char All Others

INSTALLATION:

It is strongly recommended that you read the entire installation process steps prior to performing any installations. Each solution has specific instruction that must be followed precisely.

The Installation Process

The installation process follows this order:

  1. Download solution to PC development platform and expand installation package (use any standard archive application such as WinZip®, StuffIt Expander® or TAR command)
  2. Modify configuration settings
  3. Upload to server
  4. Set access authorization permissions
  5. Test
  6. Customize Templates
  7. Test

Authorize non-Logic Components

Authorize non-logic components as follows:

  • authorized all images for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all static HTML ".html" documents for read access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all HTML Templates ".htm" documents for read access at the logic level; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below
  • authorized all images for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS below.

NOTE FOR NON-LOGIC COMPONENTS: Use the minimum required permissions to achieve most secure configuration; permission requirements for non-logic modules are dependent on the server configuration whether authorization is required for group only or for both group and other.

Modify Logic Components

Modify all logic components "*.cgi" and "*.pl" logic modules as follows:

  • first line of code (#!) correctly points to the PERL executable on the server (use command "which perl" or consult your server administrator)
  • all "requires" statements contained in all "*.cgi" and "*.pl" logic modules must use absolute directory paths (beginning with a forward slash "/")

Authorize Logic Components

Authorize logic components and dependent components (HTML and Email templates, and others) as follows:

  • authorized as all "*.pl" logic modules for read access; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below.
  • authorized as all "*.cgi" logic modules for read and execute access; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below.
  • authorized all HTML and Email Templates documents for read access at the logic level; see NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS below

NOTE FOR LOGIC COMPONENTS: Use the minimum required permissions to achieve most secure configuration; permission requirements for logic modules are dependent on the server configuration whether authorization is required for owner only (i.e., Apache with SUExec active), or for both owner and group.

Modify "BAS/policy.html" to reflect the desired policies for your affiliate members.

Determine which existing banners you desire to use for your affiliate banners, or create new ones. Then, following initial installation, use the back-end Administrator (cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/be/admin.cgi) facility to define them to your system.

Uploading to Web Server

All dependent and required components must be installed and successfully configured. All components, with the excpetion of images, must be FTP uploaded as TEXT. Images must be FTP uploaded as BINARY.

TEMPLATES:

Customize new account special markup template contain in "links.cgi". Use care not to modify the logic code in that module. This section is marked as follow: 

sub set_tmpls {
############################################################
#
#	MODIFY THIS SECTION TO CHANGE APPEARANCE OF
#	CODE GENERATION SECTION
#
#	IMPORTANT!  Use caution not to modify the logical references
#	indicated by "$" variables; e.g., $BAS_css and $BAS_fe_disp
#
############################################################

...


############################################################
#
#	END OF MODIFIABLE SECTION - DO NOT MODIFY BELOW THIS POINT
#
############################################################
}

It is recommended that you make a backup copy of this module each time you make modifications. This will allow you to recover in the event an error is introduced when you make changes.

Add links to invoke the account management front-end interfaces using "ssl/fe/admin.cgi" as the link URL or appropriate if installed using a modified configuration.

USAGE:

Front End

Accessed by non-members and members using the same URL: 

/cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/fe/admin.cgi

New members - click "New Account" to enter their information to establish an account. Member considering joining may click the "Images & Links" to learn what is required to add affiliate banners and links at their website once they become a member.

Existing members - enter the member administrative functions automatically when accessing from the same web browser where their affiliate cookie has been set; otherwise, they enter their email address and password to access the functions. If they have forgotten their password, they may request it and it will be automatically emailed to them.

Front End Functions

  • NEW ACCOUNT - to establish a new account

  • IMAGES & LINKS - affiliate markup code generator. When accessed by an existing member that has logged in with their email and password, or their affiliate cookie is present, the code is dynamically generated using their account specific information and instructions are significantly simplified with a simple copy and paste. When accessed by a non-member or a member that is not logged in, the code generated contains placeholders which are to be replaced by the user according to the instructions that are displayed.

  • REVIEW ACCOUNT - affiliate report showing displays, click-thrus and click-thru sales for the current day, past seven days and past three quarters. The current day is reflected in a graphical bar chart. The statistics are generated in real time to give up to the minute reporting.

  • REQUEST PASSWORD - request a forgotten password. The user enters their security word they provided at time of registration and their password is automatically emailed to the email address defined to their account.

  • UPDATE ACCOUNT - modify affiliate account information

  • CHANGE PASSWORD - change affiliate password

  • TERMINATE ACCOUNT - request termination of affiliate account.

Back End

Accessed by website administrator using URL: 

/cgi-bin/ssl/pr/bas/be/admin.cgi

There are a series of functions available for managing the affiliate accounts. Each functions contains instructions. Use these functions to perform the various tasks including debiting and crediting accounts, updating accounts, viewing reports and others.

Back End Functions

  • BANNER MANAGEMENT - define banners making them available to affiliates and automatically causing them to be included in the Front End "Links & Images" affiliate markup code generator function. Banners may be added or modified. Banner definitions are not permitted to be deleted as they may be currently referenced by affiliates at their websites; to effectively remove a banner from use, simply modify it to be the same as a existing banner. Banner images may be modified without changing the banner's definition as long as the width and height of the image is not modified.

  • ACCOUNT REPORTS - displays reports for one or more accounts.

  • PROCESS COMMISSIONS - generates a payout report for the current payment cycle.

  • CREDITS/RETURNS - process click-thru sales credits and returns for sales that are modified following initial check out; such as exchanges of different values, returns of sold items and cancellation of orders.

  • UPDATE ACCOUNT - modify a members account information and status. (when an account is terminated the members information may be retained for later use if the member decide to reactivate their account. use the "Clear Account" and "Delete Account" to permanently remove a member account.)

  • CLEAR ACCOUNT - clear information for a terminated account.

  • DELETE ACCOUNT - permanently remove a terminated account. (If a member decided to later reactivate their account and their account has been deleted, it is necessary for them to establish a new account.)

Operational Components

The operational components provide the back-end functions supporting the transmission of banners referenced at affiliate websites and routing of affiliate link click-thrus. In addition, when JHZ-CS Banner Affiliate and JHZ-CS Shopping Cart are configured to support click-thru sales crediting to affiliates, the operational components provide support to register the level of credit to be awarded if a sale results from a click-thru session.

FAQs

Is an RDBMS require?

No.

Is my UNIX web server supported?

UNIX, Linux, and Windows web server platforms are supported. Check the "Web Server System Requirements" on the Banner Affiliate System description page for additional requirements.

Can I change my affiliate banner images?

Yes. You may not remove a banner defined to the banner data file as some of your affiliates may be referring to it, but you may change its content to display a different/updated graphic. This is one of the reasons the banner images reside on your web server and not on the affiliates.

If I configure to credit affiliates for click-thrus that result in a sale at my website, then that customer returns the product, how do I handle that transaction?

Use the back-end Administrator and select the "Returns" function. The affiliates account will reflect a debit for the sale. It is recommended that your affiliate credit policy and your customer return policy time frames are compatible to assure customer returns are processed prior to affiliate crediting. However, if the affiliate has already been credited for a sale that is returned, the debit will apply toward subsequent credits.

JHZ-CS Solutions are distributed exclusively under terms and conditions of the JHZ-CS Software License Agreement.