Help with Reflexive Channels

[J Fizzle]

I'm not sure how to do this. It says:

The Channel URL is used by the "Other Games" button in the game wrapper. If you like, you can add the following codes in your Channel URL which will be replaced with the Channel ID and Game ID accordingly: <%CID%> and <%AID%>.
This is probably obvious to more web savvy users, but I don't really know what to do here. Do I have to create a separate page for each channel? I think I need some more explanation on this. I just want to track the effectiveness of each of my marketing methods.

Thanks.

[ice]

Do I have to create a separate page for each channel?

Channels offer a way to track downloads and sales, such as for an ad campaign, a special promotion, or links from other sites. An affiliate account starts out with a default channel. You do not have to create any more channels in order to sell games. The GameCenterSolution reporting system will allow you to see a breakdown of downloads and sales by channel.

When a user downloads a game, the game is branded with the channel that it was downloaded through. That way, when the user clicks the "Other Games" shortcut or similar button in the game wrapper, he will be taken to the URL you specify in Channel Details page. In general, you would set that URL to point to your website, so that the user can download more games. That is where the <%CID%> and <%AID%> come in.

The <%CID%> and <%AID%> are optional variables that you can add to your Channel URL that will automatically get replaced with the corresponding Channel ID and Game ID, when the user clicks the "Other Games" link. This allows you to use that information on your website to customize the user experience.

For example, you could set your Channel URL to point to a OtherGames.php page that checks to see which channel the user is coming from. If the user comes from a channel that you used for a special promotion, you could show text on your page thanking him for downloading and playing the game via the promotion, etc. Likewise, you could see which Game ID the user is coming from and offer other games that the user might enjoy based off of that Game ID.

Lastly, I should say that if you create new channels and leave their Channel URLs blank, they will use the URL specified in your default Channel.

Enjoy!

[J Fizzle]

Ok, so the channel url will only change where the "Other Games" button links to, right? That's confusing to me. I keep thinking that these channels are just like Google Campaigns (http://www.google.com/support/googleanalytics/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=55540). I don't understand how I can track sales & downloads if I'm only changing the "Other Games" link from within each game.

Let's say I have two links out on the web promoting my site. One is my sig link on forums, and the other is my youtube link. I want a channel for each of them: The Forum Sig Channel, and the Youtube Channel, so I can see which traffic source is downloading/buying games. Is this possible to do?

[Maupin]

Let's say I have two links out on the web promoting my site. One is my sig link on forums, and the other is my youtube link. I want a channel for each of them: The Forum Sig Channel, and the Youtube Channel, so I can see which traffic source is downloading/buying games. Is this possible to do?

Yes. You can create two channels (one for each campaign) and then change the channel id in the game link accordingly. (CID=x where x is your channel id)

And then generate reports for each channel on GameCenterSolution. That will tell you how your downloads and sales are split between your two links.