If you are already using some sort of lead management system and you still some of the problems described in the checklist, then it may be good time to reevaluate your software solution and match with your business requirements.

#1 Too much time spent in emailing leads: Are you spending too much time in emailing the leads received from your lead generation websites? When you started the business, probably it was good idea to focus on lead gen and business development. You could have emailed the few leads received to a handful of lead buyers. But, if you are following the same process, then you are not growing your business.

#2 Leads fall through the cracks: Are you missing the leads and the captured leads never reach the intended customers? Every lead missed is money wasted – in terms of lead generation efforts and cost. When you go on vacation, what happens to the leads? Either you need to subordinate to take care or your customers might slip away from you.

#3 Wasting time in re-formatting Emails to Customers: Even if you are dealing in a specific vertical such as Education Leads or Insurance Leads, each of your customer may be needing the lead data emailed to them in a specific format. If you sign-up more customers, more pronounced will be this problem. Your lead distribution and management system will support multiple email layouts and format to meet each customer’s requirement.

#4 Have to ignore potential buyers since they need automated Lead Delivery: I am sure that every has to avoid signing up one or two clients for some important reason. However, ignoring customers for want of an automated lead delivery management system will fatal to the business. Sophisticated / savvy / large customers will demand more automation features.

#5 Have more than a handful of websites or leads generated: If you have a more than a few websites, then managing the capture and distribution process is tedious. Also, measuring the performance of each website is essential to optimize your leadgen efforts. Even if you have one or two lead capture websites, if the volume of leads generated is high, then you will face the same issues.

#6 Using Google / Yahoo / Bing PPC for leadgen: Are you using PPC (pay per click) programs with Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and Bing AdCenter to drive web traffic and generate leads? If so, you cannot live without a solid lead management system to manage and analyze the leads captured on your PPC landing pages. Don’t waste your inbound marketing efforts without fully monetizing.

#7 Don’t find enough time for Lead Generation: Are you spending too much time on your operations management? You must be focusing on traffic generation strategies and activities. Another important aspect needing most of your time is the business development and enrolling more customers. Deployment of a lead company operations management system can take care of capture, delivery and tracking.

#8 Lead Buyers complain about delay in lead delivery: Have you heard any complaints from your lead clients that leads are not reaching them on time? If you promise real time leads, the leads should be delivered in real time. It means that the data should be delivered within a few minutes, not after 30 minutes. Remember, the first responders have the advantage of converting the prospect to a customer.

#9 Losing Revenue: Are you leaving money on the table? If you don’t automate the distribution process, you may not route the prospects to all buyers. If you are promising multiple quotes for the prospects, you need to deliver the lead info to multiple customers. For example, if you are generating insurance or mortgage leads and the routing is based on geography (zip code or state), imaging how error prone the delivery routing process will be.

#10 Spending time on analyzing leads: Do you know where the leads are coming from and how these are distributed? What is your profitable lead source? Unless you know answers for these questions you cannot optimize your investment and generate revenue. If you are not using a good lead distribution database system which will provide instant answers on questions such as these, you will be wasting time in trying to get a grip of the business operations.

If you think that even one or two signs are visible, then it is time to take an in-depth look at your business operations / practices and analyze if an automatic lead distribution system can help you.

#1 Lead Posting / Integration Options to meet your Customer Requirements

Most lead buyers will be have different lead posting requirements depending on their lead distribution, delivery and management system. The following are some of the options, which in turn will need customization or minor tweaking:

• Basic HTTP Posting
• Advanced HTTP Posting with return of critical information
• SOAP based API
• Advanced Authentication
• Fixed / Converted  data formats

If your lead provider cannot have multiple lead posting options with flexibility, you may not be able to satisfy certain customer requirements.

#2 Capabilities of Lead Vendor’s Technical Team

Even if the lead posting system is flexible enough, the customers will come with a ton of custom requests. Unless your vendor’s technical team is capable and willing to address these requirements, customer needs cannot be met.

#3 Response Time to address Technical Requests

The vendor support team should be agile and quick to respond to the requests. The turnaround time should be short enough to service the customers. Your lead providers should be flexible to accommodate the work at short notice. For example, if you need to post 100 sample leads to a large customer’s lead management or CRM system, the same should be done within hours; not in days or weeks, unless it requires super customization!

#4 Quality of Leads

Assuming that the vendor is able to deliver leads in time, the quality plays an important role in lead conversion rate. Understanding Vendor’s Web Traffic Generation strategies and processes might help you get an insight into the lead quality. Other traditional methods such as reference check will add great value in this area.

#5 Optimum Pricing

As pricing is relative to the quality and performance of the leads, evaluating and arriving at an optimum price is critical. The pricing is very elastic and hence the vendor’s pricing should be assesses based on both objective and subjective factors.

While evaluating lead vendors and partners, the above considerations should be factored in. If you are new to the business you may be content with your lead generation using Search Engine Marketing (SEO and PPC) and Social Media / Web 2.0 strategies. However using lead gen vendors who specialize in specific verticals and have long experience is required to scale up your lead business operations. Any missteps in lead buying will lead to customer churn and loss of revenue. Hence spend some time researching the vendors and their processes, ask questions and make a decision that will be a win-win for both the all the parties concerned.

Here are 5 key considerations that you should take into account while choosing a Lead Distribution Software Service for your business.

#1 Flexible Software System

The lead distribution software should be flexible to accommodate all your requirements. A large / complex system may not necessarily mean it is flexible. You should weigh your current requirements and needs in the near future. If you are new to the lead generation and distribution business, invest some time in understanding the systems in the marketplace, industry practices, and technology developments. Remember that online lead generation and distribution business is closely tied to the internet technology trends.

#2 Match your business requirements

As mentioned above, a ton of features in the lead system may not address your business specific requirements. Understand your verticals, do some research or consult with couple online lead generation and distribution consultants. Money spent on these aspects will be worth the investment in terms of risk avoidance and mitigation.

#3 Agile technical support and services

If the software service provider is a behemoth and you are small business organization, probably they may not match your speed. Success of internet lead generation and distribution is all about timing and great customer support. You cannot be waiting for days and weeks to address specific technical support requirements. Remember that the internet works 24X7 and consumer lead requests are generated 24X7. If someone says that “our implementation team lead is on vacation for couple of days and hence the lead posting integration has to wait until next week”, better watch out. You customers (lead buyers) can just opt for another lead provider in a matter of minutes.

#4 Full Service as an option – a must

While you may prefer to go with self service options in the initial phases of your lead business, full service option will be way to go once you establish yourself. You must focus on generating leads and signing up customers, not on day to day technical operations management, unless you are restricted to a small niche which will leave you with plenty of free time. Make sure that your lead distribution software provider has the full service option when you need it.

#5 Double as your Business Consultant

As I mentioned above, the internet industry and online lead generation practices undergo constant change. You might be often needing help in using the technology trends to your advantage. A good lead system service provider can help you leverage the technology in terms of lead generation as well as distribution and delivery improvements. Small customizations and tweaks to the processes would be able to bring in significant benefits and maximize profit. For example, if you are generating internet leads using Pay Per Click (PPC) method with Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., managing the campaigns could be integrated with the real time lead delivery system, so  that you can save money when sufficient lead orders are not available. If your system can help in Tracking and managing the demand for real time leads, it will be a great help for you as a business owner / executive. You would be able to figure out other improvements and benefits by working with your service provider acting as a consultant.

While there are several other factors to be considered while choosing a lead distribution system, these five key considerations should be the top ones in your mind. Whether you are operating in one lead vertical or in multiple industry segments, you can leverage lead distribution the tool to grow your business.

Many lead generation firms and vendors focus their energies on affiliate management, web traffic generation, lead acquisition, lead quality and lead distribution processes, but often times forget to develop their own client base. Acquiring leads for their customers and signing up their own buyers are equally important tasks for one to be successful in the lead generation business.

Lead Back Office Systems

If you are using a lead capture and distribution system such as LeadPro247, you can easily leverage the lead back office solution offered as part of the software for client acquisition and retention. The back office systems can serve the following functions, depending on your software version and subscription plan:

• Lead Retrieval
• Credit Request
• Sales Tracking
• Lead Nurturing

Lead Retrieval

While you may be delivering leads to the lead buyer by email or SMS text messaging, it is preferable to provide a back-office access so that the client can login and retrieve the leads. Many savvy and experienced lead buyers insist on a back office access as part of the contract. Lead retrieval system access also allows them to download the leads at their convenience and they won’t miss any leads due to email issues.

Credit Request for Invalid Leads

It is natural that a small percentage of leads delivered to your client will be invalid. Using a lead back office system automates the entire process of credit request and approval. The clients can make requests online and you would be able to review the requests and process at your convenience. There is no need to use email.

Sales Tracking

If your customers are end users of the leads purchased from you, you can provide a value addition by providing the sales lead tracking and management feature as part of the lead retrieval system. Your customers need not go for lead tracking and management software from another service provider. You may provide this service as free or charge a small monthly fee. Your customers can capture their own leads in the system along with leads provided by you.

Lead Nurturing

The lead buyers can leverage the drip email messaging feature available with lead retrieval and management systems to nurture their leads until conversion to sales. Drip email marketing is a lead nurturing process where the system sends marketing and informational emails automatically to the prospects based on certain triggers and events. This will be a great value addition to your lead buyers and if they are the end users of the leads.

Lead Distribution Systems

Lead distribution software systems such as LeadPro247 include these value added functions. You may have to select the required version based on your customer requirements. By leveraging such services, you can step out of the basic “lead generation” business and become a full fledged “lead service provider”.

You may also refer to this earlier post on Back Office System features and comparison of functions.

]]> http://www.lead-distribution-software.com/how-to-use-back-office-lead-systems-to-acquire-and-retain-lead-buyers/feed 0 http://www.lead-distribution-software.com/how-to-make-lead-conversion-pages-from-landing-pages http://www.lead-distribution-software.com/how-to-make-lead-conversion-pages-from-landing-pages#comments Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:02:31 +0000 Paddu http://www.lead-distribution-software.com/?p=87 Now that the internet lead generation practice has gained critical mass, website landing pages have become the core components of the online marketing and demand generation process. Unfortunately many online marketers, professionals and businesses treat the landing page as just that – a visitor-landing page. And they keep driving the traffic to these landing pages and losing boat loads of money in the process! Whether you are B2B or B2C lead company or an independent marketer, this holds good for everyone.

Landing Pages

The very purpose of landing pages is to convert the web visitors into leads (or prospects). While it serves as a funnel to attract the web site visitors, unless the visitors are converted to leads with contact information there is no meaning in attracting the traffic. In others words, landing pages should be treated as conversion pages.

Typically web site traffic (for lead generation) is generated via one or more of the following practices and visitors are sent to the lead capture pages:

• PPC (Pay Per Click)
• SEO / Search Engines
• Email Marketing
• Blogs and Web 2.0 sites
• Social Networking Media
• Direct Mail (with web URL)

All of these traffic sources costs money and significant efforts. While some may term traffic from social media and SEO as free, it is really not free. Search engine optimization and social media maintenance is a time taking and long term process.

Lead Conversion Pages

How to convert the money loosing sign-up pages to profitable lead-conversion pages? While every step of the page design, development and deployment is a candidate for improvement, the following key factors are to be taken into consideration.

• Layout and Design are primary components to attract and convert visitors. Make them simple, clear and precise.
• Avoid distractions and unwanted links on the page. Address the specific product or service.
• Provide Clear Call to Action. If you want them to fill up a form, tell them clearly what to do and why they should do so.
• Include a Compelling Offer. Whether it is a Whitepaper, Quote, or a Free Trial, make it compelling.
• If you are using Advertising (such as PPC) to drive traffic, make sure the Ad and the Landing Page talk about the same offer
• Page content should be relevant, short and to the point.
• If you are using Lead Capture form on the page, make it as short as possible, unless all the data fields are required to fulfill the offer.
• Let the sign-up form be above fold on the page.
• If required, make multiple lead capture pages for different  purposes and different target audience, so that the content will be relevant.
• Validate all sign-up form fields for required content and type, ideally using JavaScript (rather than separate error pages)
• Capture the meta data such as source web site, publisher, key words, etc. which will help in the sales process.
• Provide a meaningful Thank You page with relevant information. This will set the right expectation for the prospect and will help in closing the sale.
• Lastly, do not forget to use a good lead management and tracking database system in order to track the entire conversion process.

Again, this is a post-lead-capture process and hence you can not prohibit the bad leads hitting your marketing / leads database. However, by deploying a suitable Online Lead Verification Service you can verify the lead parameters and then make a decision whether to pass on the lead to the lead buyer or your sales team.

The lead verification is carried out generally online and hence it can be used in real time lead generation and distribution situations. Once the lead information is received from the landing pages, the lead management system will subject the key data elements to dozens of tests and determine the quality of the lead.

Lead Verification Properties

The following lead profile parameters are used to verify the lead. Obviously, if the lead captured does not contain all these data elements, then the quality assessment results will be less accurate.

• First name
• Last name
• Email Address
• Address
• Phone Number
• Gender
• Date of Birth
• IP Address

Based on the input values, the verification process will return the corrected values as well as a set of useful quality parameters (which may vary from system to system).

Most of useful results from Lead Verification process will be:

• Overall Quality score
• Overall Quality Result
• Type / technology of telephone numbers

It may also provide alternate telephone number and address.

At the highest level, the Overall Lead Quality Score can be used to take an instant decision and treat the lead accordingly. For example, if the score is less than 50, probably the quality may not be very high and hence you may avoid selling it to your high value customers.

Benefits of Lead Verification

Adding a Lead Verification service feature in the lead capture and tracking system will be a great boon to those dealing with mortgage leads, debt settlement leads, financial services and other consumer (B2C) leads. There are several advantages and benefits of using an online lead verification process in your demand generation and distribution efforts. Here is a check list. These benefits are self explanatory. However we will revisit these in future posts.

• Increased Customer Satisfaction
• Increased Lead Conversion Rate
• Decrease in Wasted Time and Efforts by your Buyers / Sales Team
• Decrease in Lead Cost in the long term
• Identification of poor quality lead sources and providers
• Increased ROI
• Decrease on Price (for Lead Buyers)

Verification Services

Since Lead Verification involves comparision and mathcing with millions of public and proprietory database records, the verification services are generally provided as a per transaction fee based service. The typical cost per transaction varies from 25 cents to 35 cents based on volume of leads verified on monthly basis.

There are a number of verification service providers in the market place. The services include TargusInfo, ServiceObjects, LeadQC, and AccurateAppend among others. You may directly contact the data service provider and request your technical team to establish the interface for online verification.

On the other hand, Lead Distribution and Management service providers, such as LeadPro247, include Lead Verification as an optional service in their lead management and distribution platform. These services use one or more of the database service providers as their back-end partners and hence you can not only get the same benefit as going to the primary provider but better service and more choices. Choosing such a lead management platform might solve a lot of technical issues and maintenance efforts for your team. And your lead buyers and sales team will be happy that you addressing their pain points!

If you are direct user of the leads generated, then you will be wasting your sales team’s time and efforts with poor quality leads. Implementing Lead Verification as part of your lead generation, capture and distribution will help you control lead costs and improve the lead generation methods.

Business to Consumer (B2C) leads are prone to much more misuse and quality issues, when compared with Business to Business (B2B) leads. However, Lead verification can be used for both type of leads. As an aside, you may take a look at an earlier post on 10 Tips to Improve Lead Quality in Lead Generation, if you have not seen it earlier.

Lead Quality Improvement

The quality of leads reaching the sales team or the lead buyers can be controlled to a great extent by employing multiple methods. These include:

• Lead Scrubbing
• Lead Validation
• Lead Verification

Note that these are post-capture processes and hence you cannot control the quality of leads at the point of sign-up, registration or generation. Let us discuss the Point of Lead Capture quality considerations in other posts.

Lead Scrubbing

Lead Scrubbing is a simple lead cleansing process. A set of words or text strings generally used by the online fraudsters are used as a reference point and the key properties of incoming leads are matched against the same. Any matches are marked as such and scrubbed. The following lead profile properties are used for scrubbing:

• Email Address
• First Name
• Last Name
• Company Name

Lead Validation

Lead Validation is the process of validating the lead data for correct format and layout. Examples of lead properties used for Lead Validation are:

• Email Address
• First Name
• Last Name
• Phone / Fax Numbers
• Zip / Postal Code
• State / Province Code
• Country Code
• Numeric Data fields

The lead distribution and management system can validate the formats and flag the leads, if found to be invalid. Note that most of these validations can be performed on the landing pages and hence you can save a bunch of money if you can implement these checks at the point of sign-up! However, if you are buying leads from affiliates and publishers, and not directing traffic to your own landing pages, then you may not have much control on your landing pages. Post-capture validation is the only option in such cases.

Lead Verification

Online Lead Verification is the most valuable and intensive quality assessment process which comes to the aid of lead generation companies and distributors. Again, this is a post-lead-capture process and hence you can not prohibit the bad leads hitting your marketing / leads database. However, by deploying suitable Lead Verification process, you can verify the lead parameters and then make a decision whether to pass on the lead to the lead buyer or your sales team.

As the name suggests, the lead verification is carried out generally online and hence can be used in real time lead generation and distribution situations. Once the lead information is received from the landing pages, the lead management system will subject the key data elements to dozens of tests and determine the quality of the lead.

The following lead parameters are used to verify the lead. Obviously, if the lead captured does not contain all these data elements, then the quality assessment will be less accurate.

• First name

• Last name

• Email Address

• Address

• Phone Number

• Gender

• Date of Birth

• IP Address

Based on the input values, the verification process will return the corrected values as well as a set of useful quality parameters (which may vary from system to system). Most of useful will be Overall Quality score, Overall Quality Result, and type / technology of telephone numbers provided. It may also provide alternate telephone number and address. Let us dedicate any post entirely for Lead Verification processes and services.

At the highest level, the Overall Quality Score can be used to take an instant decision and treat the lead accordingly. For example, if the score is leass than 50, probably the quality may not be very high and hence you may avoid selling it to your high value customers.

Since Lead Verification involves comparision with millions of publich and proprietory database records, the verification services are generally provided as a per transaction fee based service. The typical cost per transaction varies from 25 cents to 35 cents based on volume of leads verified on monthly basis.

Conclusion

Choosing and employing the lead quality assessment strategies is a scenario specific one. What is highly recommened for a specific scenario may not be suitable for another business case. Hence you need to weigh your specific use and determine the optimum deployment. If you can offord the cost and resources and required inputs are available, certainly employing more than one process is recommended. As a note of caution, employing the lead verification process does not mean that you can rest easy; you have to constantly reassess the lead sources, processes, and results and improve the procedures as required.

Satisfying the Clients with Lead Quality

First and foremost objective is to satisfy the client. There are several factor which influence the customer satisfaction in this scenario; prime among them are:

1. delivering leads on time, as promised
2. making sure that the leads are genuine (and not bogus)
3. ensuring that the lead information is correct and complete
4. pricing it optimally

As you would have noticed, the prime criteria for customer satisfaction turns out to be the Lead Quality (and not necessarily quantity). Using right affiliates / networks, genuine lead generation methods avoiding deception and incentives, scrubbing the leads (for incomplete information, duplicate leads, etc.) and adding lead verification techniques where necessary will lead to high quality leads and hence increased lead client satisfaction.

Lead Delivery via Emails

Another important factor that lead companies and sellers often overlook is the lead delivery process and back office systems. If you are selling leads to end users who are mostly small businesses without strong technical capabilities (which will be the case 70% of the time), you will be in for a big surprise. Even if your lead distribution software system supports multiple lead delivery methods, there is no guarantee that they would have evaluated all methods and finalized a suitable method to fit their specific scenario.

Most of the clients will go with email alert notifications in real time. While this is a required and essential process, at least 30% of the emails will not get into your client’s attention. Either the email will not land in their email inbox or fall into the junk mail / bulk mail folder. Or even the client may delete some lead alerts when trying to  sort out all the spammy looking stuff in their inbox.

Even if they receive your lead via email alert, it might slip through the crack and they will never follow up with the prospect for hours or even days. Ultimately, as the new emails keep piling up in the box, older emails will lose their relevance and visibility. Unfortunately, the client will conveniently put the blame on the quality of leads (in other word, you, the lead seller) and will stop placing repeat lead orders with you! In worst case scenario, you may not get your money for the leads already delivered, if you have provided a post payment caption. Keep in mind that none of this is in your control or your fault!

Leveraging Back Office Systems

You can leverage the back office system feature of lead distribution systems to increase customer satisfaction and contribute to increase your client’s business. Yes, there is an important role to be played by you as a lead generation company and lead seller in educating and encouraging your clients to adopt the to the usage and benefits of back office systems for thier own good.

Every major lead generation and distribution management software system comes with some sort of back office system access feature for the lead buyers. Using these system not only guarantee the delivery of the lead, but also will help the clients increase the lead conversion rates by using the lead retrieval, tracking and management functions.

Flavors of Lead Back Office Systems

Advanced lead distribution systems such as LeadPro247 will have mutiple flavors of back office systems in order to meet the requirements of various lead buyers. Either you may absorb the cost (which is generally low and affordable) of these systems or pass it on to your customers. Considering their total value, it may be useful if offer the back office system as an added benefit!

The following three versions / types /flavors are most commonly found in the lead company software systems such a LeadPro247:

1. Basic version: Lead Retrieval System
2. Medium level: Lead Tracking and Management System
3. Premium level: Lead Tracking and Marketing Automation System

Lead Retrieval System

When the leads are distributed, the clients can immediately access the leads in the lead retrieval system. They can also see the purchase orders placed by them and the status of the orders. This will provide a real time view of the leads delivered and pending quantity. Access to the lead retrieval system provides peace of mind to the buyers and helps you reduce your customer support and  hand holding efforts. You can focus on your business – generating and delivering quality leads!

Lead Tracking and Management System

This version of customer access goes one step further and help your clients manage and track their leads as they follow up with their end customers. In other words, your lead distribution system back office turns into a mini CRM (customer relationship management) system for your clients. The leads delivered by you can be assigned to one or more sales reps within their organization for follow up. The clients can also track customer conversions, follow-up and call back reminders, etc. A wealth of lead tracking reports will be available for your customers.

Lead Tracking and Marketing Automation System

This is the premier level of back office access that can be provided to your lead buyers. In addition to lead retrieval and tracking management, the system can be used a full fledged marketing automation system. Drip Email Marketing is used to follow-up and nurture the leads. Depending on your buyers’ requirements, they can opt for self-payment depending on their drip email campaign volume, survey response volume, etc. This back office system would be useful for your sophisticated and deserving customers who would like to use an online marketing automation system.

Conclusion

Finally, a word of caution. Many of your lead buyers may not be ready to go the full extent of leveraging the functions and features of your lead distribution back office systems. However, you should encourage the clients to use the Lead Retrieval system at the minimum, which will pay back in no time for both of your organizations.

Determination of Priority Criteria

Lead Distribution can be carried out based on several priority criteria, such as:

• Pricing
• Volume
• Loyalty of the Customer
• Lead Availability (Demand and Supply)
• Lead Profile Filters (as such Geography, Demography, Services, Source, etc.)

When you are dealing with a number of customers and large volume of leads, it will not be easy to apply rules manually and determine the priority.

Lead Distribution Software

Employing a suitable Lead Distribution Software will help automating the lead distribution process to a great extent. However, note that it is not a panacea for all ills. Still considerable thoughts and efforts are to be invested in crafting the distribution rules and strategies.

For example, as a lead seller, you can assign a higher priority for a customer based on their loyalty and past business.

If you are in real time lead distribution business, it becomes all the more difficult. When a new lead comes in from a lead generation source, a decision has to be made in seconds. Obviously, price offered by a lead buyer alone may not be a suitable criterion. For example, a buyer who intends to purchase a small volume of leads might offer a high price; however your long term buyer may be offering a slightly lower price, but the volume may be much higher.

Lead Distribution Rules

Depending on your business and nature of operations, following rules can be used to distribute the leads:

• Based on Exclusivity:

• Exclusive Leads (Lead will be sold to ONE exclusive buyer)
• Semi-Exclusive Leads (Lead will be sold to TWO semi-exclusive buyers)
• Non-Exclusive Leads (Lead will be sold to multiple non-exclusive buyers, subject to Maximum Number of Times a Lead can be sold)
• None (Exclusivity not specified – Can be sold to one or more buyers based on the demand)

• Based on Round Robin Method
• Based on Price Offered (Highest Bidder)
• Based on Buyer Priority

The lead filters will be applied before determining the price, as the filters might impact the final price of the lead. If every other parameter remains equal for more than one lead buyer, then a round robin rule can be applied – in addition to other rules. Depending on your vertical and industry practice, combined with your specific scenario, you have to decide on the strategies to be employed such as round-robin, ping tree / auction /bidding, or buyer loyalty. Usage of a flexible lead distribution and sales tracking software solution helps you to apply these rules with ease.

Ad Tracking Software

There are several ad tracking software tools available in the market. Tracking202 is one of the leading software tools used by several online advertisers. It is available as an open source, self-installable software as well as a free, hosted software. Obviously, if you are a Pro, you should consider using the Tracking 202 Pro version, which is based on monthly subscription pricing model. The following picture shows some of the other tracking software products available in the marketplace. I would suggest using a hosted solution, so that you can get going immediately without the hassles of installation, hosting setup and maintenance.

Ad Tracking helps you to easily monitor your PPC campaigns through Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc. Some of the tools provide Click Fraud tracking protection too.

Lead Distribution Software

Please do not assume that if you are using a Lead Distribution Solution (such as LeadPro247), you can do the ad tracking using that software. Generally, lead capture, distribution and sale tracking software does not include ad tracking function, as online ad tracking is a totally different domain.

If you are using Ad Networks referred to as CPA / CPM networks  (other than Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.) and bulk media buying strategies, then your ad tracking requirements may be significantly different. You may be needing ad tracking at Ad Publisher level. And note that each network may be different in serving your ads through their publishers and how they code and track the URLs. Let us reserve the discussion on handling and tracking the ads served through the networks for a future post. You may also start with basic tracking and then grow as your advertisement reach increases.