Smart tip: This handbook is also designed to be printed... set your printer's page orientation to landscape format, so there is enough space to place hand-written notes on the left and right margin easily.
 

In a common environment, we recommend to create a new sub-directory within the existing "cgi-bin" folder to separate the software from other already installed products.

Required "template.en" directory:

Inside the directory you desired for installation, please create a new sub-directory called "template.en". It's used to hold the content of "template.en" directory delivered with your software package.

Required "data" directory:

Inside the directory you desired for installation, please create a new sub-directory called "data". It's used to hold the content of "data" directory delivered with your software package.

Adjust path to Perl:

Open all program files (*.pl and *.cgi) in a text editor and change the first line "#!/usr/bin/perl" that it reflects the correct path to Perl 5 (or higher version) on your system. This is required to let your server know where the Perl interpreter is located.

Usage note: On most systems, /usr/bin/perl is already the default path to Perl and so no modifications are required.
 

Detailed file table: Scheme: [filename | suggested place to upload (short description); file permission]:
 

Filename...	Description...	Filename...	Description...
*	cgi-bin (program & data files); 755	template.en/*	template.en (templates); 666
		data/*	data (basic data files); 666

Important notes: Please double-check file permissions and transfer mode, otherwise the software may not work as intended. Depending upon the server configuration, different file permissions than the ones stated above may be necessary.

Smart tip: Our installation helper install.cgi makes it easier... just call it from your web browsing software (requires correct installation of this script) and it automatically checks your entire installation, adjusts permissions and fixes typical errors.
 

Before you proceed, it is highly recommended to set an administration password. After this is done, access to the admin panel is granted only by using "admin" as login together with the chosen password.

Now click on the button "Edit system parameters" and configure the shown parameters according your needs.

Usage note: Since all parameters are automatically filled with correct values, modifications on your side may not be required.

Directories and files:
 

Name of parameter to set...	Description...
CGI files directory Example: /usr/www/cgi-bin/ya	Absolute path to the location of YourAffiliates on your server.

Platform specific settings:
 

Name of parameter to set...	Description...
Mailing program (for Unix only) Example: /usr/bin/sendmail	Absolute path to Sendmail (or compatible) application on your server.
SMTP server Example: smtp.sunnyscript.com	SMTP server for handling mails; when left blank, the default mail application is used. This setting is required for non-Unix systems, otherwise optional.
Don't use flock Example: Unchecked	"flock" is normally supported directly by the operating system; should it be unavailable for any reason (e.g. on Win9x, WinMe), mark this checkbox.
Don't use fork Example: Unchecked	"fork" is normally supported directly by the operating system; should it be unavailable for any reason, mark this checkbox.
Forked process respawn interval (seconds) Example: 60	Respawn interval for processes; recommended range: 30 to 60 seconds.
Admin e-mail address Example: admin@sunnycript.com	E-mail address of the system administrator (e.g. webmaster).

URLs:
 

Name of parameter to set...	Description...
URL of CGI files directory Example: http://www.sunnyscript.com/cgi-bin/ya	URL to the location of YourAffiliates on your server.
URL of user's help document (optional) Example: http://www.sunnyscript.com/myhelp.htm	URL to an optional help document (not included); may also consist of an e-mail link (e.g. "mailto:support@sunnyscript.com"). Usage note: Should contain a link to your company's terms of business, customer service details or any other related document.

Various parameters:
 

Name of parameter to set...	Description...
Authentication time (in seconds) Example: 10800	Time frame keeping user authentications active (after expiration, people must log in again); recommended value: 10.800 seconds (3 hours).

After you have verified all settings carefully, click on the button "Save parameters" to take over modifications to the system. It is also possible to bring back previous values with the "Let the script restore defaults" button.
 

It is possible to manage multiple affiliate programs at once (e.g. different product groups, departments or company subsidiaries, standard/premium programs with individual commission levels), each coming with its own preference settings.

Click-through based systems:

Affiliates receive commissions for each visitor forwarded to your website or any other online location (e.g. web shop).

Lead based systems:

Similar to the click-through system above, however commissions are granted for carrying out specific actions, like newsletter registrations or submissions of application forms.

Sale based systems:

Affiliates receive commissions for each sale made by a visitor referred to your website. Depending upon the used web shop or e-commerce system, you can also pay variable and recurring commissions based upon sale totals (or other countable units).

Smart tip: Have a look at SunnyScript's SunnyShop - powerful e-commerce software to built Internet-based shopping solutions.

Multi-level systems (up to four tiers):

Affiliates receive commissions for click-throughs, leads and/or sales generated by affiliates originally referred through them.

YourAffiliates is able to handle up to four levels, where each level is configurable independently from others. And all kinds of commissions (even for recurring sales) are supported by the multi-level system.

Engaging new affiliates (as part of the multi-level system):

Beside of paying commissions for click-throughs, leads and/or sales, you may also grant commissions to affiliates for referring new people signing-up as affiliates (regardless or with care of their future success).

Combined affiliate systems:

YourAffiliates allows any combination of the previously described systems - it doesn't matter whether you intend to pay just a click-through commission or want to handle a complex multi-level system.
 

Click on the button "Edit YourAffiliates parameters" available on the main admin menu in order to set up new affiliate programs and manage existing ones. Please refer to the following chapters for more details.

What is the affiliate lounge ?

The affiliate lounge provides an interactive platform for existing affiliates to let them handle their profiles online in a comfortable way (including statistics and payment history as well as download of banners and HTML codes).

Additionally, the affiliate lounge is also the right place for people who are interested in becoming new affiliates to learn more about the business opportunities you have to offer.

How does the software recognize an affiliate ?

Each time a visitor comes to your website through an affiliate (each affiliate uses its own URL to link to your site), YourAffiliates will save a cookie on concerned visitor's computer to mark this person as somebody coming from an affiliate.

YourAffiliates can read out this cookie later at any time (or as long as you decide to let it alive) to grant commissions to the affiliate(s). Even if the visitor disconnects from the Internet and comes back after days, the commissions are paid correctly.

Which software (e.g. shopping carts) is supported ?

YourAffiliates works together with most shopping carts, e-commerce providers and payment processors. For more information, please refer to the following chapters or contact our customer service.

If you wish to pay variable* commissions based upon the sale totals, you need a compatible e-commerce system which hands over the total amount to YourAffiliates. We recommend products from SunnyScript, designed for working together perfectly.

* Fix commissions are possible with most 3rd-party products.

YourAffiliates supports the following SunnyScript products directly:
 

SunnyShop** - click-throughs, sales (processed orders) AccessGuardian** - click-throughs, sales (memberships) AdvertisingSuite** - click-throughs, sales (advertising campaigns) MailingStar (plus) - click-throughs, leads (subscriptions) PowerForm** - click-throughs, leads, sales and recurring sales

** These products support variable commissions based upon the sale totals.

Smart tip: Have a look at SunnyScript - intelligent software technology for today's Internet commerce.

How to access the affiliate lounge (registered users area, affiliate subscriptions):
 

The top menu line provides additional selections (depending on the current system status):
 

General settings:
 

Security settings:
 

"Welcome new affiliate" message:
 

Currency settings:
 

Affiliate control panel layout:
 

Payment settings:
 

* Important note: "Payment period" and "First payment period start date" should be only set once (during the software setup). If you change these settings after closing the first payment period, future calculations may be incorrect !

If you find it necessary to alter "Payment period", click on "Recalculate statistics" (main admin menu) first before proceeding - however please be aware that some commissions could be counted twice for the current payment period.

Multi-level affiliate program:
 

Data maintenance:

Each time data maintenance runs, the following actions are performed:
 

* Refresh the table of registered affiliates and the "daily statistics" table. * Report suspicious fraudulent actions via e-mail. * Update all static statistics and shortcut pages. * Clean expired records (click/lead/sale records, statistics). * Pay recurring commissions.

Important note: Executing data maintenance is required and needs "fork" function to be enabled (see "System parameters"). If it is disabled due to technical limitations of the server, please follow the instructions below.
 

Data maintenance with disabled "fork" function:

Schedule the file cron_run.pl (the file is located in the software directory of YourAffiliates) to be ran regularly by your server (recommended scheduling: each hour). You may use Cron or your server's scheduling tool in order to manage this task.

Technical note: Even when starting data maintenance in this way, ensure to fill in the parameters above.

By the way: If you are new at scheduling server actions, please contact your webhoster for details or refer to available literature. Alternatively you may use the Cron editor we provide (call cron_edt.pl from the command line, e.g. "perl5 cron_edt.pl").

Public statistics pages content update:

This feature is explained more detailed in the next chapter.

Static HTML pages as shortcuts for referring links:

This feature is explained more detailed at the chapter "Helpful hints and technical reference".
 

Fraud detection:

YourAffiliates compares actual and historical data of each affiliate profile to detect possible fraudulent actions (e.g. affiliate uses a special script to achieve a high number of click-throughs or tries to generate invalid leads).

If such actions are detected, YourAffiliates can contact you by e-mail sending a notification. Then you have the chance to investigate this case further and either remove concerned profiles or reduce their earnings.
 

Mailing:
 

Technical note: The text scheme used for all these reports is stored in editable templates. Please refer to the chapter "Affiliate lounge and template management" for more details.

Notifications:
 

Technical note: The text scheme used for all these notifications is stored in editable templates. Please refer to the chapter "Affiliate lounge and template management" for more details.
 

What is an affiliate program ?

An affiliate program allows you to pay commissions to people registered as affiliates for referred visitors and customers.

It is possible to manage multiple affiliate programs at once (e.g. different product groups, departments or company subsidiaries, standard/premium programs with individual commission levels), each coming with its own preference settings.

How to create a new affiliate program:

Type in an abbreviation of the new affiliate program (e.g. "software") and click on the button "Create new".

How to edit / remove an affiliate program:

Select the program from the list, click on "Delete" or "Edit" and follow the provided instructions.

By the way: Modifications made to existing affiliate programs (e.g. changed commissions) take effect after the next data maintenance was performed. So you may have to wait a few hours before you see all modifications active.

How to change the sorting of affiliate programs:

Select the one you wish to move around and click on either "Move up" or "Move down" button to change its position (this affects the program's position within the affiliate lounge).
 

Paid advertising methods:
 

When you have done all settings, please click on the button "Save parameters" in order to take over the changes to the system or to create the new affiliate program.

Usage notes: You can make modifications to your affiliate programs whenever you like. Each affiliate can have also custom commission settings, please refer to the next chapter for details.

For details about implementation of YourAffiliates into existing software (e.g. e-commerce systems and payment processors), please refer to the next chapter "Advanced features, tasks and applications".
 

In the following we want to show how to implement YourAffiliates into an existing software or service solution.

By the way: If you run SunnyScript software, please take a look at the chapter "Helpful hints and technical reference" to get more information about how to achieve cooperation between YourAffiliates and our other products.

Technical note: The 3rd-party software products (e.g. shop systems) or services (e.g. payment processors) may be installed on different servers and may also use different domain names - YourAffiliates will work in all cases.

Enhanced compatible 3rd-party products:

Some 3rd-party products may support YourAffiliates in a special way, like setting affiliate IDs and program codes automatically as well as taking over sale/lead/click-through logging to YourAffiliates' databases.

If a 3rd-party product provides such enhanced features to support YourAffiliates, please follow the provided instructions within its user manual in order to configure the software and YourAffiliates correctly.
 

All your affiliates have to do, is to choose from the HTML codes of the affiliate lounge and add them to their websites.
 

Overview about implementation:

Modify the "thank you" / confirmation page template of the 3rd-party product by implementing YourAffiliates' lead tracking script lead.cgi as hidden image into it (or an equivalent way required by concerned solution).

Important note: This method also works, if the 3rd-party product provides a special parameter to specify a lead tracking script.

3rd-party software pre-requisites:

* Possibility to place an image to the "thank you" / confirmation page template (or equivalent way).
* Optional: Ability to use placeholders for variables' contents (reference ID) within this template.

Step 1... Configuration of YourAffiliates:

There is no special configuration required.

Step 2... Configuration of the 3rd-party product:

Usage note: This step is only mandatory, if the 3rd-party product uses placeholders for system content and you want to submit these information to YourAffiliates - e.g. to prevent abuse, because each unique reference ID is allowed only once.

Determine the name of the placeholder that will be replaced by the 3rd-party product with the reference ID.

Take a look at the schemes below and change our sample placeholder #var1# with the one used by the 3rd-party product (when just leaving ours, it does not work very likely).

Step 3... Implementing lead tracking to the 3rd-party product:

After you have modified the scheme, you should either implement it as IMG tag somewhere to the "thank you" / confirmation page as shown below (location varies on your system, of course) or in the way required by the 3rd-party product.

Scheme to call the lead tracking script without placeholders:
 

lead.cgi

Scheme to call the lead tracking script with placeholder:
 

lead.cgi?reference_id=#var1#

Sample implementation as hidden image (without placeholder):
 

<IMG SRC="http://www.sunnyscript.com/cgi-bin/ya/lead.cgi" HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1 BORDER=0>

Sample implementation as hidden image (with placeholder):
 

<IMG SRC="http://www.sunnyscript.com/cgi-bin/ya/lead.cgi?reference_id=#var1#" HEIGHT=1 WIDTH=1 BORDER=0>

By the way: Because of layout reasons, the IMG tag may be shown broken, but it has to be entered as one single line.

Lead based affiliate programs - method 2:

Overview about implementation:

Replace the "thank you" / confirmation page shown after successfully processed leads by YourAffiliates' lead.cgi script. It will manage affiliate tracking (if any) and then forwards the customer transparently to the originally intended page.

3rd-party software pre-requisites:

* Possibility to replace the "thank you" / confirmation page with an URL of your choice.
* Optional one variable is supported to recognize a particular lead, like a reference ID (POST and GET submissions works).

Step 1... Configuration of YourAffiliates:

Customization of variable names:

Go to the screen "Edit YourAffiliates parameters" and select the affiliate program you wish to edit. On the following screen, please go to the part "Paid advertising methods" and take a look at "Pay-per-lead"...

There you find parameters to customize the name of the variables holding the reference ID. Change it according specifications of the 3rd-party product (usage of this variable is optional; reference ID must be individual per action).

Technical note: If you don't want to track a reference ID, please skip this step.