This page takes you from an empty workspace to one that records clicks, leads, and conversions. Read it once before you start clicking, because two of the decisions here are easier to make now than to change later.
Decide two things first
Workspace currency
One currency for the whole workspace. Reports convert every amount into it and show one total, while transactions, balances, and invoices stay in the currency of the offer they belong to. See Currency.
Users cannot pick their own. Everybody in the workspace sees the workspace currency.
It can be changed later, but the change recalculates historical report values, so it is not something to do casually. Pick the currency you invoice in.
Workspace language
The workspace has a default language, and each registered user can switch to their own. Nothing depends on it beyond what people read.
Use the defaults
A new workspace comes with prepared defaults, including a default advertiser and a default commission group. They exist so you can build the whole chain now and fill in the detail later.
Everything below can be created without completing every field. Offers, commissions, and accounts all accept the minimum and let you come back.
Step 1: create an offer
Most settings are already sensible. What you actually need to decide:
Commission amounts
Two numbers, what your partner gets and what the advertiser pays you.
- A network earns the difference between the two.
- An advertiser is setting a maximum CPA, which the profit per partner is measured against.
- An affiliate with their own workspace can set both the same. It is for you and any sub-affiliates later.
ROI and the other derived metrics come from the difference between them. See Commission amount.
A commission is a rule saying when a transaction is created from a conversion. Some conversions PalDock creates itself, such as clicks and leads. Others arrive through tracking, such as prospects and sales. See Conversion, Commission, Transaction.
Commission group and advertiser
- Stay with the default commission group for now. Custom groups are how you pay different partners differently, and affiliates can be assigned to them later.
- Assign the correct advertiser before you go live. The default advertiser gets you moving, but conversion tracking depends on the real one being there.
Promotion method
Choose affiliate link, iframe, or API. See Allowed Delivery method.
- Affiliate link: paste the advertiser’s URL and add the tracking parameter
pcid. It carries the Origin ID of the click, which is what the advertiser sends back with the conversion. See Affiliate link. - iframe: configure the form structure and pick a design. The defaults work to start with.
- API: configure the form structure as well. The API does not deliver anything until the offer has distribution channels paired with an integration, which you can add later. See API integration.
Save the offer.
Step 2: set up tracking
The minimum is a postback from the advertiser, with a pixel as backup. Relying on one method means a misconfiguration on their side costs you conversions.
- Postback: in Tracking, Incoming Postback. Generate the documentation and send it to the advertiser so they call the right URL with the right parameters. See Tracking S2S Postback.
- Conversion pixel: in Settings, Tracking, Conversion types and pixels. Pick the conversion type, prospect, sale, or your own, and the create action. See How to set up pixel tracking.
- Update pixel: same place, update action. This is what adds cookie and URL data, such as Google or Meta identifiers, to a lead that already exists. See Update pixel.
Whatever method the advertiser uses, they have to send an identifier. The Origin ID, the value your link carried as pcid, or their own external ID together with the advertiser ID. Without one of those, a conversion cannot be matched to anything. See Conversion IDs explained.
They can also send more, such as a value for percentage payouts, or a transaction type to separate prospects from sales. See Tracking parameters.
If affiliate links are all you need, you are done here.
Step 3: build the integration
Only for iframe and API, where PalDock has to deliver the lead somewhere. It is a good moment for it, since you are waiting on the advertiser anyway.
First, update the default form structure or create one matching the data you want to collect and pass on, then adjust the form design.
Then create the integration in the Integrations section. It works like Zapier or Make: add nodes, connect them, apply conditions and modifications, and build against the advertiser’s API documentation. See How to integrate anything.
Four things the integration has to define:
- Which request prechecks the lead, and what response means it may continue. Optional.
- Which request sends the lead, and what response means it was accepted. Required.
- Where the advertiser’s external ID is in the response. Store it. Without it a later postback has nothing to match against, and you need it whenever they cannot return the Origin ID.
- Where the redirect URL is, if the customer should be sent on. Optional.
Then test it
Do not wait for real traffic to find out whether it works. See Test the Offers, and when something does not appear, the logs tell you where it stopped.
