What is postback in traffic arbitrage and how to set it up

What is Postback in Affiliate Marketing?

Postback is a way to track conversions in Traffic Arbitrage. When you buy traffic from a source such as an affiliate network or an ad site, you need a way to know if that traffic resulted in any action on your site, such as a purchase or registration. That's what postback does.

Postback makes traffic arbitrage much more lucrative because it allows you to monetize not only clicks, but conversions as well. If you want to take your business to the next level, setting up postback is one of the most important steps.

How to Customize Postback

To set up postback, you need to follow these steps:

1. Create a trackable action on your site. It can be a "buy now" button, a signup form, or something else. Assign a unique identifier to this action, such as a product ID or form ID.
2. Add that ID to the link or ad you buy. For example, if you buy a link, the link might look like this: yoursite.com/buy?id=123.
3. When a user clicks on that link and takes a targeted action, your site sends a "postback" - an HTTP request to the postback URL of the traffic source. This request contains an action ID so that the traffic source knows that a conversion has occurred.
4. The traffic source can then track the conversions associated with your ad campaign and optimize the traffic for better performance.

First of all, you should find a traffic source that supports postbacks. This could be pay-per-click networks, pay-per-action networks, or affiliate program networks. When you find a source, they will usually provide the postback URL to which you need to send conversion data.

Then you need to set up conversion tracking on your website. This can be a tracking code, pixel, or other method. You need to record user details like ID, traffic source, and other information.

Once the user takes a targeted action, such as a purchase or registration, your conversion tracking code should send this information to the postback URL provided by the traffic source. They can then verify and approve the conversion.

Postbacks are a great way to make money working with different networks. When you set up postbacks properly, you can scale your business and increase your revenue. With postbacks, you only pay for actual conversions, not just clicks. This makes traffic arbitrage much more profitable!

Benefits of Using Postback

Using postback in your traffic campaigns provides some key benefits that can help increase your profits.

Increased ROI

Postback allows you to track your traffic sources and see which ones are actually converting into sales or leads. You can then adjust your budgets so that you spend more on the most effective sources and less on the under-performing ones. This targeted approach means you don't waste money on traffic that doesn't convert and can achieve a higher ROI.

Conversion Optimization

When you know which traffic sources are driving conversions, you can optimize your landing pages and offers specifically for those sources. You may find that certain sources respond better to certain types of creative or messaging. By tailoring your campaigns to the source, you can increase conversion rates and boost revenue.

Fraud Protection

Postback also allows you to detect fraudulent activity in your campaigns so you don't pay for fake traffic or leads. Most postback systems analyze traffic for patterns that indicate fraud and filter out such sources. They may detect things like repeated clicks from the same IP address or clicks that come in too fast to be legitimate. By blocking fraud at the source itself, you save money and ensure that the traffic you pay for is of high quality.

Performance information

Postback data provides valuable insights into how your campaigns are performing overall. You can see metrics such as clicks, conversions, revenue per click, and ROI over time. Analyzing trends in the data can help you make strategic decisions about budget allocation, changing bids, and acquiring new traffic sources. The more you optimize based on specific performance data, the more profitable your campaigns can become.

Utilizing postback is the key to running a successful traffic arbitrage business. The benefits of optimization, fraud prevention, and data analytics allow you to maximize your profits and scale your campaigns with confidence. The right postback solution will give you the tools you need to thrive.

Possible problems with postbacks

Postbacks are an important part of traffic arbitrage, but they don't always go according to plan. A few problems can arise, but don't worry - they're often easy to fix.

Invalid clicks

Sometimes clicks are invalid or fraudulent, meaning they are generated by a bot or spammer rather than a real person. This leads to postbacks not being triggered or revenue not accruing as expected. To prevent invalid clicks, use a fraud detection service and block suspicious traffic sources. You should also optimize landing pages to better attract real visitors.

Tracking issues

Your backlink URLs may not be tracking properly or are failing for some reason. Double check that your backlink URLs are entered correctly in your traffic sources and that click IDs and sub-IDs are being added correctly. Check the fallback URLs to make sure they are actually calling your server. It may also help to enable click logging to see if clicks are reaching your landing page.

Server-side problems

Server-side problems can also disrupt backlinks. Make sure your server can handle the volume of postback requests. Check for errors in the postback code. Clear the server cache if there is old postback data stored in it. For complex server-side issues, you may need developer assistance.

Traffic source errors

In some cases, the problem is related to the traffic source. Their postback system may be experiencing technical difficulties or errors that cause the postback to fail. Contact their support team to report the problem. Provide details about your campaign, postback URLs, and anything else that can help them find the problem. Ask for postbacks to be tracked retroactively when the problem is resolved.

With careful monitoring and testing, you can minimize problems with returns. But if problems do occur, stay calm and methodically test tracking systems, traffic sources, and server side to determine the cause. Most problems can be resolved quickly by contacting support or making simple fixes. Keep optimizing to increase the likelihood of successful postbacks in the future. With experience, postbacks can become second nature.

Conclusion

That's it, now you know what postback is and how to set it up for traffic arbitrage. It's not that difficult, but it requires some effort and care. The main thing is to choose a reliable partner with whom you can build a long-term relationship, because traffic arbitrage is not a one-time deal, but a constant work.

Set up a postback, test it, make sure that everything works as it should. And then just keep an eye on the statistics and optimize your campaigns for maximum benefit. And good luck in this difficult but so interesting endeavor! Everything will work out if you show patience and diligence.