I used to have a system that allowed each of our affiliates to have a simple URL and I'm looking for a similar solution:
Here's how it worked:
1. Each user would type in the name of any of our websites with /username at the end. For example, if their username was tom they could type:
http://www.masterytv.com/tom
http://www.gelfactor.com/tom
2. We set the 404 error to redirect to a page /identity.aspx
3. Identity.aspx would parse out the username and redirect the visitor to the home page with the affiliate information in tact.
http://masterytv.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx?id=tom
The system would track them by cookie and by passing the id to each page so if they enrolled the advertising affiliate would get the credit.
4. I don't know if DNN will accept ?id=tom or how it deals with affiliates and 404 errors (I'm a marketing guy with some tech knowledge) but I'm looking for a similar solution.
5. I'm also looking for some reporting tools for each affiliate (hits, page visits, live visitors, converted visitors, etc..)
6. I know there are several modules who have solved some of these problems. I know if we work together we could have the ultimate Affiliate module.
DNNShortCut -- Craig at PublishingSoft does a great job at creating shortcuts for each page. He creates a directory with an empty default.aspx file and then does some magic to redirect you to the right page. For example I can use www.masterytv.com/video This is fine for each page but if I use this for affiliates I could end up having 100,000 directories. However, it would be great if we could use his module like this www.masterytv.com/video/tom or www.masterytv.com/video?id=tom
ClickTrackerPro w/ Source -- I haven't purchased this because it is not DNN 4.0 ready and the developer seems to be on to other things. I'm also not sure if it does much more than the DNN affiliate tracking module in 4.0. But the key is simplicity in reporting.
DNNFusion My Profile 1.3 -- we have this module and it's great for a myspace look and feel. Lucas is very helpful and has done a great job. He allows you to go to www.masterytv.com/tomwood but I can't get it to work on my system and as far as I can tell it will only redirect to the MyProfile page. I need the user to be able to redirect to any page, including the home page, and then track wherever the user goes so when they enroll, the sponsor will get credit.
FINAL THOUGHT
DNN is an AMAZING PROGRAM. I invested more than $250,000 to get a system that was half as good (this was 10 years ago when I had that kind of money... think dot com bomb). There is a MASSIVE amount of business for developers, consultants, etc if DNN had cutting edge MARKETING TOOLS. The new business could be worth WAY more than the module revenues. I'll help you with marketing if you help with technology. I'm looking for solid, reputable and independent joint venture partners on this, but I can also just pay for your time if that's what you need right now.
Tom Wood
CEO/President
MasteryTV.com
760-230-0076